Woman Directors - How They Are “Making It”

Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman in a scene from “The Babadook.”

If you never seen the supernatural horror movie The Babadook, you may want to add it to your list of movies to see this summer. One simple reason would be that first-time director, Jennifer Kent, who helmed the horror film, has just been announced to direct the next huge Marvel franchise movie Captain Marvel. And if you want to read a review of why this movie is important, check out ‘The Babadook’ LA Times article when the movie was still making its rounds at prestigious film festivals like Sundance in 2014. Even Stephen King gave it a very positive review as “something to experience” rather than just watch.

As I’m a self-professed “comic-phile” and have written indie horror movies, I know the importance this movie has to women working in film. The character herself, Captain Marvel (known as Carol Danvers in the comic universe), is the equivalent to Wonder Woman in strength, but has some very oddball characteristics that make her very lovable and distinct in her own right. And so does choosing a female director, who helmed a horror movie, serves as a poignant reminder to a concept I’ve been throwing out there for years now. All great blockbuster movie directors, at least a vast majority of them, start off with directing horror movies first. Consider Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Slummy Millionaire), Peter Jackson (Dead Alive, Lord of the Rings) and David Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, Batman vs. Superman). These men are just a few examples I can think of off the top of my head.-But why does this trend seem so prevalent and relevant to tomorrow’s blockbusters?

For a long time, horror movies have been seen as the “underdogs” as far as film genres go. Not since the “hay-day" of high-concept horror movies, like Rosemary’s Baby, have we actually seen a horror movie win an Oscar. But we’re getting close with the film Mad Max: Fury Road garnering attention for its technical (and lyrical) chops. Let's circle this back to why Jennifer Kent was chosen for the next blockbuster Marvel comic movie. The reality is, man or woman director, if a film creative can make a $2 million-dollar movie thrive and get international acclaim for it, then it would be reasonable to reach-out to said creatives to helm an even bigger project.

Horror movie writer/director Jennifer Kent

It doesn’t get much bigger than Marvel Studios nowadays as the average budget for a graphic novel adaptation is a cool $200 million. But if the studios is to go with any underdog, they chose the right one with Kent. She has been working in the film industry for over 20 years and knows how to make something, as simply as a boogeyman, seem frightful, ominous and something that ultimately points back to the oddities of human relationships. All these themes play-out and combine beautifully in the comic movie genre where characters often seem very detached from their “humanness”. We can only hope that Kent will bring a beloved superhero’s soul back onto the big screen. My bet is that she will.