A still from The Love Witch, written and directed by podcast guest Anna Biller. Oscilloscope

Even if you know people who like horror and sci-fi, it can still be hard to convince your friends to watch them, especially in age when there's hours and hours worth of free puppy content on the internet. Would you really rather watch a slasher movie than a corgi getting vacuumed? For some people, however, the answer is yes. That's part of the premise behind Switchblade Sisters, a new podcast created by former LA Weekly film critic April Wolfe.

In each episode, April invites a different female-identifying filmmaker to discuss one of her favorite genre movies, be it horror, sci-fi, exploitation, or otherwise. Jennifer's Body director Karyn Kusama came on to talk about Near Dark, Stranger Things writer Jessie Nickson-Lopez has discussed Rosemary's Baby, and The Love Witch director Anna Biller went deep on the Joan Crawford noir Sudden Fear. Whether you come for the guest or the movie being discussed, you'll stay for the friendly conversation and a never-ending list of movies to add to your watch list. Here, April talks about why she decided to start Switchblade Sisters, how she feels about separating art from the artist, and why female film critics are so necessary.

What made you want to create this podcast?

In my capacity at LA Weekly I had done a lot to try to spotlight female filmmakers, and I would seek out female-directed films that I thought weren’t getting a lot of attention. But at the same time, when I would talk to people I would realize that they couldn’t name even 10 female filmmakers that were working, and they definitely couldn’t name more than 10. Even I would stumble trying to remember people’s names, so I’d always been trying to find ways to get women filmmakers in front of other people in memorable ways so that they can remember not just that they directed a film but why they directed something, what their feelings were, what their backgrounds were, and how they approach filmmaking. Switchblade Sisters was a way to slyly put these filmmakers in front of people because they would be talking about another film that might be in someone else’s consciousness already.

In the Rosemary's Baby episode, you also say that it’s also kind of like a support group for women who like genre movies, which I thought was a great way of putting it.

I get a lot of letters from people — specifically women — who are like, "I can’t believe that this is happening now, I’ve been a genre film fan for two decades and there was never a community like this that’s coming up." Switchblade Sisters is one part of so many other communities that are popping up. Podcasts have made this really accessible. One person wrote to me from rural Canada — she’s disabled, she doesn’t make a lot of money, but she listens to the podcast and is so happy. It was such a heartwarming letter that she felt that she had found kindred spirits and sisters in this whole thing. Not everyone loves gory stuff, not everyone loves violent things, not everyone loves action sequences or thrillers or ghosts, but this is one place where all of that is OK to like and you’re not judged for it and we analyze it.

There’s still a popular perception that women don’t like those things, so then they’re not as represented when it comes to discussion about those types of movies. Would you say that's accurate?

It’s always hard to be a horror or genre fan and then on top of that be a woman who is told over and over that you shouldn’t like those things, that you shouldn’t revel in violence. That’s always been so strange to me. Because growing up female and presenting as female, I experienced the threat of violence constantly. It’s something that is woven through every part of my life, so the idea that I wouldn’t want to exorcise those demons in film, that seems ridiculous. Why wouldn’t I? That’s what I know. Tracy Oliver, who co-wrote Girls Trip from this past year, she was asked in an interview recently about [her] next script, and she said that she had wanted to do a horror film but someone passed on it because they said black women didn’t like horror. That’s a whole other thing, where you talk about people of color, specifically women of color, who are relegated even further.



Do your guests choose which movies they want to discuss?

They do. It has to be genre film and it can’t have been chosen already. I loved when Emily Gordon, who co-wrote The Big Sick, chose one of the most brutal films I’ve ever seen in the first episode. The things that she writes are so human and so thoughtful, but [her pick Bone Tomahawk] has just enormous violence to it and I was like, "Yes!" I want to see these sides of women because we’re not always allowed to show that side, that we like something darker, that we kind of revel in it.

Who are your dream Switchblade Sisters guests?

I really want to get Kathryn Bigelow on here because she did direct one of my favorite horror films, Near Dark. I would love to get Ava DuVernay on. That would be really wonderful because she’s directing a sci-fi movie, A Wrinkle in Time, and I would love for her to come on and talk about another favorite sci-fi or action or even horror film. Because I know that every person — every woman — has at least one that really spoke to them.



In the Rosemary's Baby episode, you and Jessie Nickson-Lopez get into a conversation about separating the art from the artist, which has been coming up a lot lately because of #MeToo and Time's Up. What are your thoughts on separating the two?

For me it’s become almost like a case by case thing. In a general way, I say that it’s nearly impossible to separate the art from the artist. There are a few cases where I feel like I can, which also scares me, and then it makes me question why. It’s an ongoing conversation that I have in my head constantly. I’m still thinking about things that I said during the Rosemary’s Baby conversation, where maybe I would say something different now or maybe I would say something different in two years. I still haven’t arrived at any specific final thing, but we’re all hypocrites. That’s what I’ve realized.

You also make the point in that episode that you can't credit a movie to just the director — Rosemary's Baby is also what it is because of Mia Farrow, etc.

Film is collaborative. It’s really funny to think of Roman Polanski being called an auteur for Rosemary’s Baby because I guarantee you that if you were on set you would be watching, like, the grip and electric crew completely creating this environment. It’s not just him, it’s hundreds of people who are involved. Their work, especially the women who work with the men, should be honored. But at the same time, you’ve got Woody Allen, who’s continuing to make films. And I have very complicated feelings about that too.



And Justin Timberlake, who was just in a Woody Allen movie, showing up at the Golden Globes wearing a Time’s Up pin.

Yeah. It’s tough because Rosemary’s Baby is something that I lived with for a long time before I understood what had happened with Roman Polanski. Woody Allen is still making movies. We know what his thoughts are, we know who he is. He’s been telling us from the beginning, but he’s still making movies and people are still being in them. Which I think is different from looking back at a film that was made pre-revelations and examining that and examining why you like it. It’s harder for me to separate art and artist when it comes to Woody Allen specifically because there’s no shame. Because he’s still making movies!

The past few years have seen a lot of discussion about the disparity between the number of men and women behind the camera, but that disparity extends to film criticism and discussion as well. Lay it out — why is it important that more film criticism be written by women?

I’ll give you a quick example of something that happened to me this week. I was writing a review of a movie, a crime noir kind of updated dark comedy. On the surface it was just OK, but the things that were really glaring at me that I wasn’t trying to look for was that there were very sexy, nude, dead bodies of women all over the screen. There was always another nude sexy lady who was dead! The script and the filmmakers didn’t seem to notice that, it just happened to be commonplace. Then there was a weird comment about, like, a 45-year-old man who would be dating a 19-year-old girl and it would be totally fine, like a 19-year-old girl who was in the hospital and was unconscious. It’s one of those things where I’ve read reviews of this film from men who did not notice any of that at all. To me it was so glaring, where I was just like, "This is all over the place, how can you not see this element of craft and not comment upon it?" I think that that’s something that maybe women critics can see a little bit easier than some male critics, and it’s necessary to examine them. I find certain things that are cliché that are portrayed about women in films to be just really lazy writing and lazy filmmaking, but they’re not called out. It should be examined because it’s a part of the film...I know some people don’t like thinking about that, but I also don’t either. I don’t want to be the one who sees all of these naked dead women around! I just don’t want that to be a thing anymore. And maybe if we say that we think it’s lazy filmmaking, then maybe it will stop.

Get Out is a rare genre movie that’s in awards contention this year, but are there any others you wish were in the race too?

. It’s a French film and it’s not in the Oscars [shortlist] for foreign language at all or anything. It’s such a tough sell because you’re telling people that it’s a cannibal movie, but the thing is it’s a sister movie. On a technical level it is one of the best directed, best written films I think I’ve ever seen. The second that I saw it I knew it was going to be classic. It has this really specific vision from this woman Julia Ducournau. She has a really expansive look at filmmaking and can tell you down to the smallest detail why she made a decision in a film. I cannot believe that it’s not nominated for a million awards, but that’s being a genre film fan. You’re disappointed consistently!

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Eliza Thompson senior entertainment editor I’m the senior entertainment editor at Cosmopolitan.com, which means my DVR is always 98 percent full.

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