I had such high speciations about this book, the two main reasons are 1) I’m a feminist and 2) I’m a huge, HUGE, horror movie fan. So I obviously thought this was right up my alley, and not gonna lie, the first two chapters were great, I was very into them…. until my cynicism showed up and made me realized… the author was actually reaching. This is going to be long… 🫩

Let me explain, because I feel like I could just be overreacting, but I don’t think I am. Let’s start for the first two books she tackle: Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, two semi-different books, both with one thing in common devilish entity. The author said both movies are what’s commonly known as domestic horrors and I think that is correct, but not in the sense she says they are.

The *domestic horror books and movies are called domestic horror mostly because they happen inside a house to a family, in this specific case, the devilish entity, the alien and the hotel is the horror that happens to a specific family, The Woodhouse’s, the MacNeil’s, the Eberhart’s, the Thorn’s, the Torrence’s and Ripley (I don’t think Alien is a ”domestic horror”, I’ll get to that) not so much the abuse and rape that happens in each story, and while yes, obviously both things are horrifying, they are not the main plot of the story.

I don’t think Ira Levin wrote Rosemary’s baby as a critique for the lack of women’s right back in the 60’s, I also don’t think he was advocating for them, back then men didn’t give two shits about that, hell, they don’t give two shits now! My dude got an idea ”a pregnant woman with a non-human fetus” and ran with it, that’s it, there’s no side plot, there’s no politics involve, no critique towards the government, just a plain idea that works because how horrifying to be pregnant with Satan’s child. Just a horror movie with no alternative reason for its existing rather than exist in the horror world. Also, let’s not forget who directed the movie… he obviously was not trying to criticize anything, I mean, he’s an actual abuser and the fact that the author was able to overthink the movie and think of it as a “critique of the lack of women’s rights” it’s a total coincidence.

Same thing happens with The Exorcist, this book/movie has never been about domestic abuse, or a feminist movie (the author actually said that) it’s always been about a demonic possession and what that does to a family, yes, both Regan and her mom were abused by the devil, but that is not the focus of the story, it’s the possession itself, both book and movie were made for shocked value. Back then, exorcisms were a taboo topic, but also something people were curious about and if you think about it, it’s about how Jesus, faith and the church can save you from your possession and change your life, because that’s what happened to Regan and Chris at the end, they were saved by a man.. a priest, by the power of good. How is that feminism?

Ira Levin clearly was a man with a twisted mind, because writing a horror book about a town where all women are robots, it’s in fact terrifying, but then again, it’s not a critique about the lack of autonomy women had back then. If you think about it, it’s a horror dystopian with the premise of ”what if men were able to do that? Would they?”, because let’s be honest, men totally would. But that’s beside the point. The horror of the book is not that Walter decided to do that to her wife, the actual horror of the book (and movie) is that there’s an actual fucking town where all women are fucking robots and nobody is blinking and eye, and it’s also a satire about, exactly, trad-wives, a satire, not a critique in any way shape or form. If you even think about it, the horror of the book… are the fucking men and yes what they do is abusive as fuck, but again, it’s not the kind of abuse and commentary the author thinks it is. Also, I highly believe the Remake is great, I love the comedic tone and the more satirical take the director took, I also think the ending is better, hell, this is more feminist and even more of a commentary on women’s right than the original film.

The Omen and The Shinning are also not a commentary on the cultural panorama back then, hell the women in these movies are not even the important part of the story, in the Omen Kathy is the least important character, damn, she dies half way thru the movie, it’s her husband and son, they are the main attraction, it’s the final show down, she’s just a medium, an inconsequential character to the story, just there because Demian needed a mother, at least for 40 fucking minutes, that’s it. Stephen King wrote the The Sinning please don’t make me explain why or how Wendy is not a feminist icon and why this book/movie is not a critique con kidnapping, child and spouse abuse… we are talking about the man who wrote a bunch of 12 year olds having an orgy.

Alien is not a critique or ERA, it’s also not a commentary on women in the military, it’s a movie about a fucking Alien who wants to get to earth and found itself in the wrong ship, because yes, Ripley is a fucking badass, and, this ain’t a ”domestic horror”, because if this movie is one, then so is The Thing. 🙄 It’s basically the same fucking movie, but without the baby aliens and Ripley.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the author is wrong, these movie could be a great way to teach about women’s rights if you want to, they have the premise for it, but I do not think that was the goal of the authors and directors of these films and books, we are allowed to contextualize and interpret the media we consume as we please, but to assert that it was made with an specific intention, specially knowing all of them were directed and written by MEN… I just cannot take her seriously, to me she was just overthinking the plot of each one of them and yes, these movies came out at a certain point in time where women were in fact fighting for their rights, but that doesn’t mean they were made as a commentary or support for women’s causes.

Immaculate, The First Omen and Apartment 7A are also not here to make commentary on anything, Immaculate is here only because Sidney Sweeney is currently in fashion and men want to capitalize on her looks, the movie is not even that good and both The First Omen and Apartment 74 are here for nostalgic reason, and also because studios refuse to let go of legacy sequels/prequels, that’s it. However, those are actually good and everyone should watch them.

Finally, I would like to clarify a statement the author made when she said that Doctor Sleep was a remake of The Shinning, that’s false, it’s a sequel.

If you made it all the way here, hello and thank you, and bye.

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea is witches, I respect the hell of those who call themselves ones, maybe because I come from a country where brujería, santería, egg cleansing and so on, are such a prevalent things, we believe in it and the people who claim to be able to so such things.

This was a fascinating read, not because of the witchcraft itself, but because witch hunting is something that never really went away, men in powerful positions are still hunting us, they are doing everything in their power to strip us out of our rights every fucking day, just like they did back then to those who they believed were wicked, always with the false accusations, always with the sole purpose of feeding their fragile little fucking egos, only because they know we are smarter and stronger than they will ever be.

”Women are still too often seen as potentially dangerous and so must be controlled”…

That phrased resonated so much because it’s true, that’s why the world was made to accommodate men, they must control us or else, we could outsmart them in every aspect and field possible and they are very much aware of it, they’re just to egocentric to admit it. 😌

I also think it’s important to recognize the women who died during the witch hunting period, this book does an amazing job exposing the injustice they suffered by telling their stories and how they were mistreated by the time and people, they deserved so much better and I’m glad a lot of the were acquitted, even if it was post-mortem, a little win for them, I guess. 😮‍💨

We have so much fucking work left and I know the view is dark, and I know it seems impossible right now, but I also know we can do it, we can make a better world for ourselves, because if we don’t do it, no one else will, specially not men, it’s our responsibility to riot if necessary.

Overall, I think this was a necessary book, every single women should read it, it’s eye opening, and the research is very well done and put together.

PS: Please don’t think I hate men, I seldom like my dad and I love my husband, I do want to punch him in the face sometimes, but he’s a nice guy and I have a lot of male friends to (I also want to punch sometimes), so no, I don’t hate (all) men. 🙂‍↔️

PS2: My only “complain” could be the amount of foot notes, they took me out of the book, specially when they were only the authors notes and not additional information, but it was not that annoying tbh.

The first ting I want to say is that I have so much respect for journalist and journalistic work. My mom is a journalist, I’ve seen things and heard things I shouldn’t have seen as a child (I have many great stories 🫣) , real and good journalists risk a lot to get the truth out and that is something I admire a lot.

I read Kantor and Twohey’s article back when it came out, I thought it was a great article, I thought this kind of work and this kind of actions were (and are) worth reporting, the truth about how men treat women has to be out there. I’m glad the reporters decided to to go with it, it did waves, more women came out with their own stories.

Weinstein will die in jail paying for what he did to those women, and he should because he’s a fucking pig and I really hope he’s miserable for the rest of his life.

I’m someone who is always giving people the benefit of the doubt, I will never jump to conclusions on anything, that’s not who I am, I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman, I always try to be neutral… however… men make de difficult for me to be neutral, I’ve heard male friends say how they will shut up if one of them is cheating, or abusing or even shit talking their partners… men make it difficult for us women to even like them or support them, they gang against us, they lie to protect each other, we live in a world created for them and we have to endure so much shit from them and the system, it’s tiring.

I really hope we can get thru this shit, because honestly, everything right now is against us, the world, the governments, everyone is trying to erase us and strip us from our rights and womanhood, it’s sad and disgusting how we’re being treated, I was so angry listening to this book, how the system does anything and everything to protect men and does nothing to protect us, how it they deny the accusation then we are obviously lying and they come out on top.

Some men’s life have been destroyed by accusations, but honestly, it’s not fucking enough.

I’m glad I finally got to read this, it’s been on my TBR for years, it was totally eye opening and I cannot wait to read more books like this.