Ginger snaps back: generic permutations of porn performance within the films of Ginger Lynn Allen

Abstract

ABSTRACT Chad Ferrin’s 2023 film Pig Killer provides a dramatization of Robert ‘Willy’ Pickton, who murdered 49 women during the 1980s and 1990s. The film is notable for unnerving performances by cult actor Jake Busey and former adult star Ginger Lynn Allen (aka Ginger Lynn). It cements Allen’s status as a porn performer whose career rebirth has been filtered through a range of horror film roles. These performances remain notable for the ways in which they subvert and often critique Lynn’s status as an object of erotic spectacle. This article comprises an interview with Ginger Lynn Allen alongside a contextual analysis of her wider career. It situates Allen’s casting as a horror matriarch against her extensive profile in 1980s and 1990s pornography. Through these comparisons, the article charts possible gender and genre permutations between these narratives whilst offering new ways of understanding the changing status of adult performers within genre cinema.