Describe Yourself in 3 Horror Characters

I saw this twist on Twitter’s ‘Describe Yourself in 3 Fictional Characters’ hashtag on Bloody Disgusting and thought it made a pretty sweet prompt for today’s post. Especially since Horror is my first love, and is awash with some of the greatest females in cinematic history.

So today, I give you:

Describe Yourself in 3 Horror Characters

Julia Cotton in Hellraiser (1987) – played by Claire Higgins

I relate to Julia because of the step mother thing. While my relationship with my step son is way more harmonious that the one she has with her husband’s daughter, Kirsty, I appreciate seeing any depiction of step parents in film and television, no matter how exaggerated.

Julia’s a fairy tale villainess, cold to her family, mean to her step daughter and consumed by her own lust and greed. She allows her desire to overshadow anything good and pure in her life (much like my Netflix obsession), and it always makes me wonder if she was ever truly good. Could any one of us normal folk become Julia? She’s so deliciously bad by the end but must have married Larry with good intentions, shortly before her one true love appeared in her life.

Still, haven’t we all acted out a little when if comes to love? Julia sure loves Frank, her husband’s hedonistic brother and sexual traveller – even though he’s manipulating her and making no attempt to hide it. He needs blood, yo and she’s the saucy enabler, it’s a simple arrangement.

I’ve been there myself (minus the honey trap/blood letting), I know what it’s like when the one you want hurts you so good. Plus she’s ginger. Add a cigarette and a power suit and man, it feels good to be Julia.

Mary Mason in American Mary (2012) – played by Katharine Isabelle

Mary is a hell of a lot more academic that my tired old arse but we share characteristics. We’re both fascinated by body mod, aren’t scared to do what’s necessary to get by and we both have a connection to the turkey. (Mary practices her sutures on them, I plucked them for 20 minutes back in the Christmas of 1993). See? Similarities.

I feel like I have a smidgen of Mary’s sweetness and a certain amount of her bedside manner, as well as a morbid curiosity about people and why they do the things they do. Look, using Mary to describe myself is flimsy wish-fulfillment at best but I love the film and her character more than almost every other in the horror genre and I think, if I got over my own queasiness, I could be an underground Florence Nightingale, just like our kid.

Mary is already dabbling in the dark world of anything goes before she’s forced to begin her tale of revenge but I feel her. She starts to change because of a horrifying event and becomes the darkness. But she never loses that inner flicker of light and good, and that my friends is why she’s the best.

Mia Allen in The Evil Dead (2013) – Played by Jane Levy

Mia is addicted to Heroin and I throw a whitey every time I’m within a foot of someone else smoking marijuana but I do understand addiction on a smaller scale (food, Netflix, Nic Cage movies)*. Mia goes through pure hell in this Evil Dead remake (which I love) and I feel for her, as she confronts not only her internal demons but an ancient and fucking relentless actual demon.

Rocking up to a cabin in the woods (not a good idea at the best of times) to unwittingly go cold turkey under the supervision of her brother David, his boo and their horror movie stereotype friends, there’s no escape for Mia, no matter how hard she tries. And she does try.

What I identify with most is the rage, of feeling out of control of your own life and hurting the ones you love. It happens and most of the time we get the luxury of being able to fix things. In Mia’s case she loses her brother before her final fight to the death but the added pain and fury helps her put that demonic bitch to rest (or does she?). Whatever, the girl kicks serious arse.

Exactly how I’d be in the same situation. Obviously.

***

What we learn from this is that I obviously fancy myself as something of a badass. Dig deeper and I chose my holy trinity based on their desire to survive, against all odds. Yes, even Julia who does what she has to keep hold of the thing she most wants, sickening though all that seeping blood and kissing the waking dead is.

I’m going to post more soon about the concept of the Final Girl but two of the three are prime FGs – strong, relentless survivors (to a point) – they’re a joy to watch and characters you can firmly root for. Here’s a secret: I also root for Julia because you just know half those men she picks up are up to no good. Fuck ’em!

Who do you choose and why?

*Not trivialising addiction, just being silly.
**I don’t really condone murder of cheaters. Sort of.