Anyone but her husband: Roberta Findlay revisited
Between 1966 and 1989, Roberta Findlay directed, wrote, produced, shot, edited, and occasionally acted in countless exploitation, horror, and pornographic films, often under pseudonyms or in production contexts where the precise nature of her involvement was unclear (and subsequently obfuscated by Findlay’s own shifting stories on the subject). At her company Reeltime, she also managed the distribution of many of these works across North America and, at least to some extent, in foreign territories, first for her adult work and then, between 1985 and 1988, for the cheap horror and exploitation films she made with the VHS market in mind. Despite this considerable and quite singular oeuvre, Findlay remains an elusive character whose films and pugnacious public comments thwart the tidy auteurist and especially feminist readings well-meaning fans apply to them.
