[WiHM] Interview with Bloody Bedroom Creator, Dylyn
Tell us a little bit about yourself! What is your role in the horror community?
My name is Dylyn C.S., but I’m usually mononymic (lately), so you can just call me Dylyn! I’m a queer, Jewish, and disabled writer and have adored horror since babyhood but only recently entered the industry itself.
Since last autumn, I’ve been fortunate enough to join the most kind, compassionate, and loving community in the world and have since written for multiple review outlets including this one, Monster Thoughts, Slay Away, and Horror Obsessive. I am also deeply honored to have been included in the first volume of Hear Us Scream’s book: Hear Us Scream: The Voices of Horror.
At the beginning of 2022, I began my own personal genre review site, Bloody Bedroom, which explores all things horror through a chronically ill, disabled, and neurodivergent lens. Currently, I’m also developing a film podcast with my mom about cinema, Judaism…and the devil. Anyway! Later this year, I hope to attend graduate school to study mythology, folklore, extra-terrestrials, and ghosts (many thanks to Cat Benstead for literally coming up with my major!) and I also hope to eventually write a few books on the subject as well.
What was the first thing you encountered that made you fall in love with horror?
My mom introduced me to horror films at a very young age and it was like this Romeo and Juliet ultra-magnetic-love-at-first-sight type thing. Every time I watched a scary movie, all of my mortal fears would just melt away into the background like ice cream, blessing me with havens I may have never otherwise known. I remember reading Goosebumps books in elementary school and just knowing then that inhaling horror is akin to knowing peace.
What does the horror community mean to you?
Because I’m such an advocate for chosen family, I have to say that the horror community comprises a great deal of mine. To me, the horror community is a big, beautiful, thoughtful, and compassionate family that enables me to finally be exactly as I am, not who others want me to be. I am no longer chastised or punished for being the “weird,” “nerdy,” or “awkward” kid. When I’m around my horror friends, I am simply me and that’s okay. They constantly remind me that that’s okay.
Who are your favourite women in horror?
I could write novel after novel about my favorite women in horror. I have so many that there simply isn’t enough breath to name them all, but to list only a few: I am massively inspired by Cat Benstead, my dear friend and brilliant founder of Hear Us Scream, Violet Burns, co-editor of HUS and found footage queen and aficionado, S.C. Parris, endlessly wonderful vampire novelist and founder of Monster Thoughts, Reneé Hunter Vasquez, the co-host of my favorite podcast Pod Mortem and literal earth angel with a heart of gold and impeccable taste, Mae Murray, editor of my new favorite anthology The Book of Queer Saints, Aj and Jonne, the incredible creators of the D180 podcast, Ashley, co-host of the Dead and Married podcast and beautiful crocheter (her Etsy is Magpie Creations! Check it out!), and Kay Lynch, director and founder of the AMAZING Salem Horror Fest, which I was lucky enough to attend virtually last year. As far as my favorite directors go: Nia DaCosta is, of course, on my love list. She directed 2021’s Candyman, which is a major must-see and striking cinematic force. I also love Karyn Kusama, who never EVER misses and directed Yellowjackets as well as the crushingly underrated Jennifer’s Body and, finally, Kier-La Janisse, who directed 2021’s folk horror documentary Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched and wrote one of the best books in the entire world House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films. Again, this list is by no means comprehensive as I could talk about my favorite women in horror forever and ever and ever and ever and ever…
If you could invite one woman from horror to dinner who would you invite and why?
My stars, this is one hell of a fun question. If we’re talking real life people here, I’d love to invite Gillian Anderson to dinner. I would make her many cookies and anything else she wanted and ask her all about what it was like to star on Hannibal and The X-Files! Now, if we’re talking fictional characters on the other hand, please call Jessica Fletcher for me (on a rotary phone, mind you) and tell her I have tea, chocolate, and unsolved mysteries for us to devour at her earliest convenience.
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?
I feel that the importance of Women in Horror Month—as well as every other month of the year, to be honest—is to highlight, uplift, and elevate marginalized voices in the community, to pay them (metaphorically and LITERALLY) the tribute that they deeply deserve yet often do not receive, and to connect them with as many opportunities in the horror world as possible. We should truly be doing this every single day of the year, 24/7/365, and it’s a damn shame we haven’t. We must do better, because horror and, really, Hollywood in general has a terrible tendency of neglecting the marginalized. It’s abhorrent and must be fixed immediately.
In honour of celebrating Women in Horror, who do you believe readers should keep an eye on in terms of women in horror (creatives, content creators, podcasts, movies, television shows)?
Not to be a broken record here, but I believe that to truly celebrate women in horror, we must be doing so 24/7/365. This means we must constantly uplift and support BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, and other marginalized creators year-round. I HIGHLY recommend that any and all horror fans follow the creators I listed above as well as the TerrorNova podcast, Girl, That’s Scary, the Ghoulfriends podcast, After Dark with Super Marcey, the Slash Her podcast, and the Nightmare on Fierce Street podcast. As far as some killer TV and movie recs featuring badass women, check out Brand New Cherry Flavor, Yellowjackets (as aforementioned), Lovecraft Country, Ma, The Perfection, As Boas Maneiras, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Los Espookys, and Us.
What do you have coming in 2022 that you can talk to us about?
Starting next week actually (my, how time flies), I’ll be conducting monthly interviews with iconic disabled/neurodivergent/chronically ill icons in the horror community for my website. I also plan on unleashing my devilish film podcast Lox & Lucifer upon the world in the next month or two and am super excited to become more deeply immersed in the cosplay world as 2022 rolls on. I have so many fun plans for my website in general and I hope all my horror angels love my new projects! My fingers are also crossed a million times over that I can complete one book manuscript by All Hallows Eve.
