House of Psychotic Women (Paperback): An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films

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It's a film about memory, identity, and how well any of us can trust our own perception. In this way, it reminds me of "Mulholland Drive" (2001) and "L'Avventura" (1960). The aforementioned are better films, but "Footprints" is worth watching for the wonderful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro (this release contains a lengthy interview with him) and a killer performance by Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan, who also stars in "A Lizard in a Woman's Skin," among many other eurotrash films that I've immediately added to my watch list. Balkan's cheekbones could cut a bitch. "The Other Side of the Underneath" "The Other Side of the Underneath" is the only British feature film of the 1970s solo-directed by a woman. If this image doesn't convince you to watch it, I don't know what will. If you've been reading this blog for a while or have listened to my podcast, you've probably heard me mention "House of Psychotic Women" many times over the years. Like Janisse, I have always used movies (and books) to help me understand myself; unlike Janisse, I don't have the guts to put my inner demons out there for other people to consume and dissect. For those who have missed my previous spiels about this fantastic book, here's a brief rundown.

HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN – Kier-La Janisse

Imagine my surprise and delight when I first encountered Kier-La Janisse's "House of Psychotic Women," a book that seamlessly blends film analysis with memoir. By using movies to help her understand her own life, Janisse leads both herself and the reader to more meaningful conclusions than any piece of detached academic writing ever could. Early on, she writes, "We have more patience, or perhaps even empathy, for fictional characters than we do their real-life counterparts. Faced with neurosis in film or literature, we want to investigate rather than avoid." By combining the two genres, Janisse breathes life into the "psychotic women" we see on screen by explaining how they fit into her own narrative. It's a book that still feels radical in its methodology and vulnerability, even ten years after its first release. The book is worth reading for its discussion of "Possession" (1981) alone. This is a highly idiosyncratic book combining film scholarship with autobiography, in which author Kier-la Janisse uses examples from horror movies involving "crazy" women to illustrate an account of her own turbulent life, particularly her relationship with her mother. Janisse is fearless in her self-examination, and often seems determined to portray herself in the most unflattering terms possible. Her writing is strong and blunt, and the autobiographical elements are fascinating. In addition, her knowledge of horror film history runs very deep and her critical faculties are extremely sharp, so that I found myself wanting to see every single movie she discussed. House of Psychotic Women” levitates above the niche sub-genre of autobiography through cinema. Layers of knowledge, confession, and imagination mingle to produce a narrative that invites re-reading and re-interpretation. On one level, it is a memoir of personal trauma expressed through horror heroines everywhere from classic horror to giallo to exploitation to more arthouse fare like Robert Altman’s “Images.”Yet author Kier-La Janisse‘s book — intriguingly subtitled “An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films”—reaches beyond both autobiography and cinema to conjure a space where collective female neurosis is a sane response to insane circumstances.Janisse's twin obsession with psychological horror and bloody gore reminds me of an awkward exchange from "Siskel & Ebert" that is frequently quoted in my household: Kier-la Janisse's encyclopedic, impassioned knowledge of film would overwhelm even Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino. a rape scene is the single greatest justification for anything else in the film that follows—no matter how illogical, unbelievable, sadistic, misanthropic, graphic or tortuous. The audience will accept any direction the story takes because, culturally, rape is worse than death. Suffield, Trevor (2010-03-25). "Mar 2010: Horror film course promises to be a real scream". Winnipeg Free Press . Retrieved 2021-06-19.

Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll - Wikipedia Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll - Wikipedia

Janisse is particularly engaged in discussing the rape-revenge sub-genre, and cites many examples. For her the pinnacle of these is Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45, a tough watch psychologically (though not explicitly graphic to the degree of many other such films) but one that thinks through the tropes of these films much further than most. I saw this many years ago, kind of liked it but didn’t love it, but her analysis is interesting enough that maybe I should rewatch it. As the movie builds towards a few different chaotic set pieces, we're left questioning if, to regain their sanity, these women must first go insane, and if they aren't being liberated through their various experiences. Finishing up the extras on the disc is a trailer for Penny Slinger: Out Of The Shadows, menus and chapter selection options. This disc also includes Light Of The Moon — An Interview With Cinematographer Vittorio Storaro that runs for an hour and eighteen minutes. This lengthy and in-depth discussion goes over how he came to work in the industry thanks to his father's position as a cameraman, meeting people who he would form lifelong friendships with, getting his start in the business, meeting Bazzoni and coming to work with him, the state of Italy at this period in time and how it affected different projects, working with Corbucci and Franco Nero, becoming part of a group of filmmakers all interested in putting their creativity on screen. As the piece goes on, he talks about working with Franco Rossi, moving on from doing shorts to features, making the move from camera operator to cinematographer, what he tried to bring to various projects with his compositions, the importance of collaboration and the specifics of shooting Footprints. To The Moon — An Interview With Actress Ida Galli runs twelve minutes and sees the actress better known as Evelyn Stewart discuss how she always loved seeing famous actors do cameos in films, how she wound up getting into acting, wanting to appear in as many films as possible regardless of genre, her thoughts on Footprints, how much energy Bolkan had while making the movie, thoughts on the lighting and the directing and how she feels about the movie and her work in in many years later.Named after the U.S.-retitling of Carlos Aured's Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll, HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN is an examination of these characters through a daringly personal autobiographical lens. If you don’t have her book HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN you are missing something. A melange of misfit movies and very personal agony, there is just nothing like it in the universe. Others may attempt a similar approach, but Kier-La did it first and did it best. This is a book that will never be topped.”– Jimmy McDonough, author, Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography and The Ghastly One: The 42nd Street Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan This is my own interpretation of what I think Ms. Janisse might consider some of the key films discussed, based on how passionately she engages with them. (Oh, and you might notice not every film is strictly speaking horror; Kier-La is flexible.) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (weirdly, everyone remembers this wrong; it’s not camp, it’s bleak and somber, and brilliant)