Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
Acting
Biography
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas is an Australian film critic and historian who has written several books in fields like horror film and women in film, including Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study (2011) and Masks in Horror Cinema (2019). She is co-editor of ReFocus: The Films of Elaine May (2019). Heller-Nicholas appears in Alexandre O. Philippe's 2024 documentary Chain Reactions, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Tobe Hooper's 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, interviewed alongside Stephen King, Patton Oswalt, Karyn Kusama and Takashi Miike. Her 2020 book 1000 Women in Horror, 1895 - 2020 was made into a feature documentary in 2025 which Heller-Nicholas wrote and appeared in, directed by Donna Davies.
Known For
An exploration of the cinematic history of the folk horror, from its beginnings in the UK in the late sixties; through its proliferation on British television in the seventies and its many manifestations, culturally specific, in other countries; to its resurgence in the last decade.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror
Is horror a man’s world? You might assume so – but you won’t be thinking that way for long once you investigate the vast contribution women have made to horror movies for well over a century. In 2020, award-winning Australian critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas released the definitive book on the subject: 1000 Women in Horror, 1895–2018, an encyclopaedic work celebrating the many women – filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – who have shaped the genre since the moment cinema’s light first flickered.
1000 Women in Horror
An exploration of the legacy of Tobe Hooper's classic 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
Chain Reactions
Features new interviews with the cast and crew, along with expert opinions and unearthed behind-the-scenes footage, to explore the enduring legacy and creepy realism of the mockumentary.
Lake Mungo Revisited
The documentary tracks the origins of the found footage technique and how it transformed with technological changes throughout the last few decades.
The Found Footage Phenomenon
A documentary feature that explores 1973's Messiah of Evil in the context of American independent cinema of the 70s, as well as examining the film's allegiance to several subgenres of horror.
What the Blood Moon Brings: Messiah of Evil, A New American Nightmare
A new video essay by author and critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas on the evolution of the Ringu series.
Circumnavigating Ring
In this visual essay, author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas reflects on the recurring theme or perception in Dario Argento's filmography.
The Power of Perception
Filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe and archivist Lauren Newport-Quinn, the latter of whom can 'hear' silent films, hunt for lost NOSFERATU prints to rebuild Murnau's classic from decayed versions.
In Search of Nosferatu
A video essay by Alexandra Heller-Nicolas about Dangerous Game.
Abel Ferrara's Game of Mirrors
A video essay by author and historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas