0
0
Editor’s Note: In each Wild Women with Steak Knives entry, author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas explores women directors in the horror genre, highlighting films that are largely overlooked or forgotten. Read them all here!
British indie production house Proportion Productions might not be a familiar name to most horror fans, but since its creation in 2014, it has released a steady stream of horror movies and thrillers, many of which are directed or co-directed by women. Of particular note is producer, actress, writer, director and all-round horror renaissance woman Becca Hirani (also credited as Rebecca J. Matthews), one of the original co-founders of Proportion Productions.
I have a real taste for low-budget indie horror, and I take real joy in watching how filmmakers adapt to working with what are often quite tight budgets. This is how I discovered Hirani’s work; my introduction was her 2020 film The Candy Witch, which if I am not mistaken I believe may be the first film I have ever seen at least where a character is castrated with a candy cane. Needless to say, I became an instant fan.
Hirani has a lot of horror movies under her belt, and as director (or co-director) alone her credits include Pet Graveyard, Bad Nun: Deadly Vows, Bats, Cannibal Troll, Hatched, The Gardener, Exorcist Vengeance, Nutcracker Massacre, and The Elevator.
But of all her horror features, the one I love the most is 2020’s Amityville Witches (AKA Witches of Amityville Academy). Despite the eponymous reference to the famous horror series, that Amityville is the location of this film’s action is where the association ends. It might be a gimmick, but everyone needs a hook, right?
Beginning in 1602, when we see three accused witches lynched by an angry mob, we cut to the present and find that they have been reborn as the kind yet powerful Belle sisters, who also happen to be white witches. They live near a local girls’ academy run by the evil witch Dominique (Amanda-Jade Tyler), and as Dominique seeks to grow her coven in order to access dark power, the Belle sisters use all their skills to try and stop her.
It’s a fairly simple set up, but there is such a pervasive sense of joy in this film that its spirit of fun is almost contagious. There are some delightfully silly special effects, and the three women who play the Belle sisters have fantastic chemistry. Indeed, it is in their role as protectors and teachers that the film provides a refreshing focus on women aged 50+ as viable, engaging protagonists. Smart, sexy, and funny, the Amityville witches of the title may not be for everyone, but they forever won my heart.
Read more Wild Women with Steak Knives, and if you’re looking for more horror showcasing mature women in the spotlight, check out Barbara Crampton in Jakob’s Wife.
