A few years ago, Aaron Christensen and I started hosting these little lectures at the Sultzer Region Library in Chicago that we called Terror Tuesdays. The 1-night lecture then turned into a 4-week series, which we’ve been doing for a few years now. While it is a bit of prep work ahead of time, it’s a lot of fun and we’ve built up a good audience over those years.

This year’s subject was Women in Horror, where we covered directors, actresses, writers, and finally, iconic female characters from the genre. Each week, we have a different Power Point show, highlighting some of the talent in each of those categories. I have to say, being a lifelong horror fan that has spent many hours studying the history of said genre, I was embarrassing surprised to find the number of women involved in the very beginning of cinema, working as directors. In fact, while praise is always being given to Georges Méliès, and rightfully so, but that why isn’t Alice Guy-Blaché (pictured below) mentioned with the same vigor and consistencies, since she is the one that created the first narrative film?

So yes, while we were giving out facts and information to an eager crowd that come to our lectures, I can’t remember a time when I, myself, learned so much more about the genre I love. It just shows you that no matter how long you’ve been doing it, there is always more for you to learn.

Even though it is a bit of work to get these slide shows done, and driving into Chicago every Tuesday night in October can be a challenge, at the end of it all, it is a lot of fun, and our audiences have been just great, and make all the work and travel more than worth it.

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