Izzy Lee is an American filmmaker and writer, known for her short films Re-Home (2019),[1]The Obliteration of the Chickens (2019),[2]My Monster (2018), and Innsmouth, which she produced through her company Nihil Noctem.[3][4] She has written for multiple outlets such as Birth.Movies.Death,[5]Rue Morgue,[6]TwitchFilm, and Fangoria and has also helped program and curate film festivals like the Boston Underground and the Boston Sci-Fi Fest.[7][8]
Lee began showing an interest in horror in kindergarten and later attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she received a BFA in illustration.[7][8] She initially started as an actor and writer, but branched out into filmmaking in order to "see if I could do it".[8]
Lee started her filmmaking career in Massachusetts, where she was featured on WCVB Channel 5’s news show, Chronicle. in 2021.[9] Lee has gained a following leading up to articles which shine a light on her talent as an up-and-coming director, such as "one of 10 female horror directors Blumhouse should hire" from The A.V. Club,[10] as well as from author and film festival programmer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, who stated that "...Izzy Lee... is going to be massive once she gets the break that she deserves" in Entertainment Weekly.[11]
Lee often works with socio-political themes in horror and thrillers, as well as cult or weird genres.[12][13] Lee's first short film, Legitimate, was released in 2013 and was partially inspired by Representative Todd Akin's comments about "legitimate" rape.[7] The following year, Lee directed a trailer, Come Out and Play, for Christopher Golden's 2014 novel Snowblind.[14] In 2015 Lee released Innsmouth, which was inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft, particularly The Shadow over Innsmouth.[15][16] The short received some media attention for Lee's choice to feature a predominantly female cast, which she did in order to "make [Lovecraft] roll over in his grave a little by having the cast 98% female and switching the gender roles.”[17]
Her short film Re-Home (2019) started as a reaction to the promise of a wall built between the United States and Mexico.[18] Lee has also tackled abuse within the Catholic Church with Rites of Vengeance (2017)[19] and revenge porn with For A Good Time, Call... (2017).[20]
In 2023, her short film, Meat Friend[21] starring Marnie McKendry[22] (daughter of fellow horror filmmakers Rebekah and David McKendry),[23] Megan Duffy, and Steve Johanson, was nominated for Best Short by Fangoria for their annual Chainsaw Awards.[24]
The filmmaker often casts other directors in her short films, such as: Gigi Saul Guerrero[25] in Re-Home; Brea Grant and Daniel Isn't Real director, Adam Egypt Mortimer in My Monster; Silvia Graziano and The Ranger producer Heather Buckley in Rites of Vengeance; and Sophia Cacciola in Innsmouth. The author Bracken MacLeod[26] provided the voiceover for the experimental, Werner Herzog-influenced The Obliteration of the Chickens (2019),[27] while Lee herself narrated Disco Graveyard (2020).[28]
