[WiHM] Interview with Filmmaker, Founder and Co-Host of Ride The Omnibus, Ariel Baska
Tell us a little bit about yourself! What is your role in the horror community?
I am an openly disabled horror and documentary filmmaker. As a former teacher, I am deeply interested in film’s potential to shape the future, leading to my deep abiding love of social justice projects in horror. My first live-action film, a horror short about medical gaslighting, Our First Priority, which I wrote and directed, premiered at Final Girls Berlin this year. Additionally, I am producing a number of other documentary projects, while writing and developing my own horror projects.
I spoke at SXSW on the topic of accessibility in the film and TV industry this year, and presented Our Monsters as Our Selves, at Cine-Excess, the UK conference on cult cinema.
I am the founder, co-host and executive producer of Ride the Omnibus, a podcast parked at the intersection of pop culture and social justice. I write about disability representation for my column in Ghouls Magazine, where I regularly contribute film reviews and analysis. Within horror, I’m passionate about the disturbing, the extreme, and any well-crafted tale with intersectional representation.
What was the first thing you encountered that made you fall in love with horror?
At age 3, a bad babysitter brought over her boyfriend, some weed and a VHS of A Nightmare on Elm Street. From the instant I saw Freddy Krueger, I recognized both the reflection of my own congenital disfigurement onscreen for the first time, as well as a terrifying figure that got my pulse pounding as I hid under the coffee table. As scared as I was, I knew I wanted more adrenaline and more monsters I saw as myself.
What does the horror community mean to you?
The horror community is the warmest and strongest and tightest community I have ever been a part of. I grew up with parents who hated horror and couldn’t understand for a moment why I was watching “that crap.” But slumber parties with my friends were a joy, to commune with others over horror in middle school and high school not only meant nightmares about Tim Curry’s Pennywise but also cinema that made me feel something on a truly visceral level. As time has gone on, and my taste has expanded, I’ve come to understand exactly how healing I find horror, and the community of horror lovers who share this common bond.
Who are your favourite women in horror?
There are so very many powerful and empowering women in horror. Starting from the work of Alice Guy Blaché and Lois Weber, who innovated many of the original forms of cinema itself, there’s a lengthy history of women working in horror and kicking ass. While there are so many current directors I could mention, my favorite is Mattie Do, whose new film, The Long Walk, just came out and is well worth a look. I love what Nia DaCosta is doing in her career, between both Little Woods and Candyman - I can’t wait to see what she develops next. In the field of academic writing, it doesn’t get much better than Kier-La Janisse’s House of Psychotic Women and literally anything by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. Her chronicle of Women in Horror is not to be missed, nor are her essential guides to giallo, rape revenge, and masks in horror cinema.
If you could invite one woman from horror to dinner who would you invite and why?
Anvita Dutt, the director of Bulbbul (2020). She has such a fascinating blend of social themes, dark humor, and trauma in her work, combined with a truly epic color palette. I would just love to pick her brain!
Women in horror have been making progress, but it’s clear that a lot of work is still needed to ensure that representation is correct and widespread . What is the importance of Women in Horror Month?
To me, the importance of this month is to celebrate the work that went unrecognized for so long, whether behind the scenes or in front of the camera. It’s about acknowledging the sacrifices women have made for genre, and recognizing the important contributions made by women like Shelley Duvall and Isabel Adjani who were traumatized by some really shitty people in the industry (e.g. Kubrick, Zulawski, etc). To me, it’s about reclaiming power from the celebrated tyrannical auteurs and uplifting the bad-ass bitches who scream for us, who write for us, who die for us.
In honour of celebrating Women in Horror, who do you believe readers should keep an eye on in terms of women in horror?d
I think people should keep an eye out for some truly amazing things coming from Mimi Cave, whose film FRESH this year took me completely by surprise. As I mentioned before, I can’t wait for more from Nia DaCosta. In the world of podcasting, I always want to hear more from Bloody Broads podcast, Girl That’s Scary, and writer Sharai Bohannon of Dread Central and the podcast Nightmare on Fierce Street. The women running genre festivals are also pulling out all the stops these days with some really powerful programming - Final Girls Berlin, Etheria, Nyx, Ax Wound, Wench and I’m sure many more I don’t know about yet. They’re doing the tough work of putting women front and center and advocating year-round for women in this space. Attend and support those festivals if you want to know what’s really going on and who is about to take off!
What do you have coming in 2022 that you can talk to us about?
Our First Priority is continuing to play the festival circuit, as are two films I produced, File Not Found and The Crying Boy. I’m also currently working on another horror short, Shining in the Dark, set inside a movie theatre, about a blind projectionist who sees her dead daughter everywhere. We start shooting that over the summer. Meanwhile, I’m also working on the feature-length version of Our First Priority, which I hope to get funded by the end of this year.
