Stacie Ponder

The Scare-ening: The Pretty/Scary - Final Girl Podcast, hosted by Pretty/Scary Editor Heidi Martinuzzi and Final Girl writer Stacie Ponder will join forces to bring you a radio show! Join the people who brought you Ghostella's Haunted Tomb for our LAUNCH EPISODE! Wednesday, March 10 at 8pm PST. We'll be talking about February 2010's 'Women in Horror Month', horror bloggers, Rondo Awards, and the Terrible Film of the Week. There will even be (GASP) special guests Andrew Shearer, Monica Puller, Hannah Foreman, Rachael Deacon, horror bloggers B-J C and B-Sol, and Sean Patrick Flanery!* Call-ins welcome.

The weirdly male, 50's-ish monster-kid-oriented Rondo Awards are happening yet again, and while no one really knows who would nominate almost unheard-of blogs like Obscure Hollow (really? last review on Dec 20, 2009? Is it abandoned?) or newbies like Dollar Bin Horror (seriously? two-paragraph, badly-written reviews?) there are some women nominated who really deserve a look before you vote!

First off is our pick for best blog, Final Girl, run by staff contributor Stacie Ponder. Funny, mostly sarcastic, silly, and much more enjoyable than the films reviewed, Final Girl has our official endorsement. There are also surprising nominees for best article, best TV episode, and more that you need to check out before you vote because they show that women have taken a really effective part in this year's horror phenomenon...

Interview by Stacie Ponder

Given my enthusiastic response to the film, when the ladies of Bitch Slap walked into the interview room it was a little difficult for me not to turn into some awful parody of that old Chris Farley character. "Ooh, ooh, that part? Where you punched her in the boob? That was awesome. And that one line was so funny- can you say that one line? Man, I liked this movie. And then? When you're all wailing on each other? Ummm...you're pretty." Thankfully, I managed a quick moment of meditation to focus my mind so I could actually, you know, ask some questions of actresses Erin Cummings, America Olivo, and Julia Voth...oh yeah, and stunt coordinator Zoe Bell...

Directed by Rick Jacobson
Written by Eric Gruendemann and Rick Jacobson
Featuring America Olivo, Erin Cummings, Julia Voth, Kevin Sorbo, Lucy Lawless, Zoe Bell, Minae Noji, Debbie Lee Carrington
Review by Stacie Ponder

The problem with the "exploitation" label is that it's used so liberally that the viewer rarely knows what to expect from a film boasting that it's oh so grindhouse. Will the film feature naughty nuns fucking each other with crucifixes, or Nazi prison wardens torturing naked chicks? Bikers, cannibals, or biker-cannibals? When you're a female (or, to qualify, a female who cares about the portrayals of women in film) even more questions arise- most notably, will the movie be so offensive that my vagina itself will grab a megaphone and stage some sort of protest? Should you be wrestling with any of these issues before checking out Bitch Slap, well, you can rest easy. In fact, rather than marching out and starting a protest after seeing the film, my vagina wanted to wear a Bitch Slap t-shirt. I told her that this is physically impossible, but she's a girl so she doesn't really understand science...

EVENT: The Women in Horror Appreciation Film Festival (a two-hour program of horror shorts directed by women!) Athens Film Fest will include shorts by: Stacie Ponder, Val O. Morris, Monica Puller, Heidi Martinuzzi, Dayna Knoffke, Countess Samela

DATE: Saturday, February 27th 2010//ONE DAY ONLY EVENT

PLACE: Athens Ciné (www.athenscine.com) Athens, GA

CONTACT: Andrew Shearer //gonzorifficfilms@myspace.com

The Home Run Inn Pizza company is having a contest - a Halloween video contest! Stacie Ponder (Ghostella, Ludlow) directed an entry, involving zombies and the udnead's love for pizza, called They Won't Stay Fed!.

Winner gets free pizza for a YEAR (which is Stacie's dream come true) and 2500 dollars, which Stacie will use towards video games and making more horror movies. Round one ends on October 18th!!!!

Vote! and watch below...

On Sunday October 4th, 2009 the Madison Horror Film Festival will have a Women in Horror panel hosted by Elske McCain and Scarlet Salem, followed by screenings of short films Sisters (directed by Belinda Green-Smith), Death in Charge (directed by Devi Snively) and Taste of Flesh, Taste of Fear (directed by Stacie Ponder.)

The panel and shorts will happen 2-4:20 pm.

On Sunday October 4th, 2009 the Madison Horror Film Festival will have a Women in Horror panel hosted by Elske McCain and Scarlet Salem, followed by screenings of short films Sisters (directed by Belinda Green-Smith), Death in Charge (directed by Devi Snively) and Taste of Flesh, Taste of Fear

The panel and shorts will happen 2-4:20 pm.

If you're anything like me, picking out a movie at the video store can be a trying process. I've been known to stand staring slack-jawed at the shelves for upwards of 45 minutes whilst searching for that perfect title to bring home. I'll pick up a DVD case, give it a read!but like Goldilocks, I'll find some reason why the movie isn't 'just right'- it looks too gross, it doesn't look gross enough, it's dubbed a 'rollercoaster thrill ride I'll never forget', it stars Paul Reiser- and back to the shelf it goes, ad nauseum. All in all, it seems I spend more time searching for movies than I actually do watching them...

By Stacie Ponder

'I met him fifteen years ago. I was told there was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong. I met this six-year-old child, with this blind, pale, emotionless face and the blackest eyes... the DEVIL'S eyes!