Emma Westwood

Emma Westwood is a writer, journalist, film historian, screenwriter and dedicated aesthete of extreme cinema from Melbourne, Australia. As a media correspondent, her writing has appeared in numerous magazines, websites and newspapers including Empire (Australia), Screen Education (Australia), Fangoria (USA), Filmink (Australia), Screem (USA), Senses of Cinema (Australia), ReviewAsia (Hong Kong), Diabolique (UK) and Metro (Australia). She has also dabbled in travel journalism for the likes of FRV (Bali) and Essentials (Australia). Emma was arts editor for Melbourne weekly street press, The Music (formerly Inpress), for four years from 2000; penned a weekly performing arts column for The Age called 'Curtain Call' for two years; and enjoyed a six-month stint as a researcher on the one-and-only season of ABC's arts panel television show, Vulture. As an arts professional, she has written and edited program guides, synopses and press releases for the likes of the Melbourne International Film Festival, Greek Film Festival, Melbourne International Jazz Festival, Palace Cinemas, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, to name a few. Emma's first clandestine viewing of The Exorcist at age 11 kicked off a love affair with the horror genre, which saw her write her first book, Monster Movies, in 2008. Her second non-fiction book on David Cronenberg's The Fly was released in 2018, and she is writing a book on James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein (1935). In the meantime, you can hear her talking about film live every Monday (or in podcast form) with her esteemed colleagues on Triple R's Plato's Cave, or on numerous DVD audio commentaries for the likes of Umbrella (Australia), Kino Lorber (USA) and Indicator (UK), of which her work with Lee Gambin on William Castle's Strait-Jacket was nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best DVD Commentary. Emma is also proud to be Queen and Worker Bee of her own content creation and storytelling enterprise, Bakewood - www.bakewood.com.au.