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Horror Pride Month: Award Winning Filmmaker and Actress Rakefet Abergel

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I first met Rakefet Abergel at Nightmares Film Festival in 2017 after she appeared on a panel discussion about social progress in the horror genre. She was, perhaps, the most infectiously funny person I’d ever met.

She was also the most easily scared!

One evening, the festival had scare actors mixed in the crowd and when I looked over the railing from the upstairs lounge to discover who had let out the most fantastic scream downstairs, there was Rakefet, clutching her drink with her eyes closed as a menacing voodoo queen disappeared back into the crowd.

Months later, as I began putting messages out online that I was looking for a series of interviews for iHorror’s Horror Pride Month celebration, I got a message from Rakefet on Facebook.

“I’m one the of the Bs in LGBT,” she said. “but the B is silent.”

To say I was intrigued was an understatement. I was unaware when we met that she was a member of the LGBTQ community at all, but something more was there in that statement that I couldn’t put my finger on.

After a bit of a scheduling debacle, we finally manage to carve out time to chat about her experiences as a bisexual in the film industry and how, even after she included her bisexuality in her award-winning short thriller Jax in Love, no one seemed to notice.

Naturally, my first question in our interview was, “What do you mean the B is silent?”

“Well, it isn’t silent for me!” Abergel laughed. “I’m very open about who I am, but I feel like in the LGBTQ community the B is really silent. Sometimes it feels like the community doesn’t take us seriously.”

Suddenly, her previous statement not only made sense, but it seemed a heavy weight to carry, and as she went on to relate her experiences earlier in the life while touring with a lesbian comedy troupe, the weight of that statement grew even heavier.

She appeared on the tour, along with her wife whom she was in a relationship with for 13 years, when some of the other comedians began making snide remarks about how she didn’t really belong there because she talked openly about her bisexuality in her act.

Some of these women had lived their entire lives as straight, only coming out in their 40s and 50s after having husbands and children for years. And yet, they pointed their fingers at her as if she was the one who didn’t really belong.

“They didn’t want anyone to judge them,” she said, “but they were really good at handing out judgement themselves.”

Abergel took a lot of the frustration and pain she’d felt over the years and poured it into Jax in Love, creating a cold-blooded serial killer who just wants someone to return the love she’s so willing to give.

And yet, though Jax, who Abergel has won numerous awards for playing in the film, is attracted to both men and women, no one seems to bring it up at all.

“I don’t recall anyone ever mentioning it,” Abergel said. “That either means that it was done so normally that no one questioned it, or that aspect of the character was just ignored.”

I’d like to think it’s the former reason, and Abergel agreed that this normalized view was what she hoped for in the long run.

The film is quite terrifying as Jax can switch from “I love you” to “I’ll kill you” very quickly, and Abergel admits she was afraid she might be perpetuating the worst stereotype about the bisexual community.

“People, both straight and LGBT, will come right out and say things like ‘So, that means you’re attracted to everyone, right?'” Rakefet laughed. “And I’m like ‘Are you attracted to every man or woman in the world? No!'”

It’s a problem in every aspect of the film industry. Normalized portrayal of bisexual characters seems to be non-existent, and Abergel wondered what she might do in another film to help correct this.

She even joked that maybe the answer was aliens.

“Getting rid of all the boxes won’t happen until the aliens come,” she said. “There can only be two boxes then, and it’ll either be the alien box or the human box when they attack our asses. It’s what happens in every sci-fi/horror movie with aliens.”

I’d personally love to see what Abergel could do with that idea, but her next big film project will actually be a supernatural horror film about ghosts and possession with subtle hints of What Lies Beneath in its DNA, though she admitted she had not seen the Harrison Ford/Michelle Pfeiffer film herself.

As for future representation both within the horror genre and without, she said that she hopes that filmmakers will learn to portray the reality of bisexuality.

“I’d like to see characters where it isn’t a phase,” she said. “It’s not someone who is confused either. The way I explain it to people is that I’m attracted to a person, not a gender, and that’s what I’d like to see someone get right for a change.”

We’re with you on that, Rakefet.

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‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt

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Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.

In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.

The Strangers

This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.

The Strangers

Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

The Strangers

The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”

The Strangers

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.

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‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time

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It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?

It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.

Fede Alvarez and Ridley Scott

Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.

Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.

Great Movie Ride

The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.

It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.

Alien Romulus
Alien (1979)

The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.

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Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween

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Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.

The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.

Home Depot Skeleton Prop

This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.

This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.

“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”

Home Depot Prop

But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.

This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.

Terror Dog Prop
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