Tanya Twombly asked Michael A. Arnzen:

Recently there's been an increase in female-centric, women-directed horror films (many receiving industry, audience, & critical acclaim). Since horror is often viewed as a "masculine" genre (esp. in terms of target audience) and has been accused of deeply misogynistic tropes, do you feel the increased deployment of the "female gaze" might change and maybe even revive the horror industry?

Michael A. Arnzen I hope so, but I think all ways of seeing can be fragmented and transformed by the genre, by male and female authors/directors alike. Ever since reading Carol Clover's MEN, WOMEN AND CHAINSAWS, I've learned to see how complicated the psychomachia of all this stuff really is. These films indulge voyeurism but also punish us for it. Horror is sadomasochistic. And in that way, horror is a great equalizer. We're all meat in the grinder in a horror film, and the painful grit of the grinding sometimes spits out new ways of thinking about humanity in the process.

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