Women in Horror: Featuring Mari Cielo Pajares

As you may know, February is "Women in Horror" month. To celebrate, PromoteHorror.com asked women from different professions if they would like to answer some questions about being a "Woman in Horror." One of the women, who were kind enough to answer our questions, was the amazing Mari Cielo Pajares. Lets see what she said about being a “Woman in Horror”…

-When did you first become a horror fan?

I guess I was born a fan. I always loved the dark side! When I was a kid all girls loved princess pink dresses & dolls, I liked to dress in black & vampires! Everyone was happy when they killed Darth Vader in Star Wars. I was actually pissed. I thought he has his reasons & all the right to be an asshole (lol!).

-Was there a specific moment when you realized that you wanted to go from being a fan of horror to a woman who contributes to the genre, or did it just kind of happen naturally?

There was a moment I remember that make me actually want to create horror. I was 7 years old & I was watching for the 1st time the music video Thriller (Michael Jackson), my parents & the rest of the family jumped from the sofa when he turned into a wear-wolf, I just thought "Oh wow! I want to do that & make people jump from the sofa too!"

-What does having a "Women in Horror" month mean to you?

Is sad that we NEED one, but is actually an incentive to push us to create more, catch people's attention & show them what we got. In the past people just think that women in horror was just a crazy naked blonde yelling & running from a monster in movies, but actually there is a lot of us that give life to those monsters & know how to create scary moments for the audience behind the camera.

-Is there a woman in horror who you consider a role model?

I'm a woman & I create horror, but I'm not a feminist. Actually who inspired me was a man, Alfred Hitchcock. He did more thriller than horror but I love that perfect mix in between, (I never thought that because I'm a woman I couldn't be as my role model man) & of course I admire the twisted mind of Stephen King & the elegance of Shyamalan. This doesn't mean I didn't enjoy that a woman like Agatha Christie killed thousands of characters, or the dope Frankenstain monster of Mary Shelley but they wasn't one of my favorite writers. 

-How do you think the role of women in horror has changed over the years?

Well I think we always had the potential & I'm lucky to be born into an era in which equality between women & men has progressed a lot, but in my opinion the role changed because bold women took the chance & open the door to all of us while they called them freaks just for the fact to be talented.

-What do you think the future holds for women in horror?

I like to think that one day we don't need a "woman in horror month", because people stop thinking in what we have in between the legs & start paying attention to the creations & talent regardless if they are men or women the ones that write a story & direct or produce horror. It's sad that we actually have to separate genres to impulse women, I just believe in talented people regardless if they are a woman or a man.

Mari Cielo Pajares was born on May 30, 1976 in Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She is an actress and writer, known for Koma (2011), Rodando Rodando (2012) and The Fear Box: 666 Telemarketing (2014). (bio from her IMDB page)

Check out our recent promotion for “The Fear Box: 666 Telemarketing" at:

http://www.promotehorror.com/2015/02/trailer-time-fear-box-666-telemarketing.html

For more information about Mari, please visit her IMDB page!

You can also find more on Twitter, and Facebook!

We thank Mari Cielo Pajares for taking the time to answer our questions, but more importantly for her contribution to horror!