In Retrospective... Tristan Risk
Tristan Risk, or as many may know her by her Burlesque star name, Little Miss Risk, is a Canadian actress whose early career has made a big impact in the world of horror. Not only has she starred in one of this decade’s most important films (AMERICAN MARY) but has also shown that the final girl need not always be the victim.
At 36 years of age, the Canadian starlet is able to stand on her own two feet and make any role her own. When in 2011 she was approached by friends Sylvia and Jennifer Soska to star in a female revenge thriller that would also resurge the career of another Canadian scream queen (Katherine Isabelle, GINGER SNAPS), little did she know that her life would hit the front page of any gorefest news site and magazine.
Portraying a body mod addicted woman whose passion for Bette Boop had literally given her a new life, Risk bought to screen a broken character and one that showed that while body modification is still hissed at by the sheep of society, her own comfort meant that she was a strong companion for Isabelle’s Mary as she entered a word she never knew existed. It’s hard to watch AMERICAN MARY and not be enticed by Risks performance which often takes centre stage due to her ditsy nature yet knowledgeable outlook on life and despite not being the central lead, it’s even harder to imagine anyone else taking the role.
Yet before she entered her breakthrough role in cinema, a young Tristan Risk had already made her foray into horror with her career as a Burlesque star, often cosying up with the bloody nature of horror and often using her performances as an expression to share her love for the genre. Photo shoots found across the internet can see a near unrecognisable Risk caked in blood and disturbing positions proving once more that she is no mouse when it comes to fear.
Since she broke through in 2012’s instant classic, her career has seen her with an ample choice in roles and as the strong female’s she portrays on film, is not afraid to show the men where her balls are. Short films INNSMOUTH and CALL GIRL have seen her take a sinister evil over her victims and in Jill Gevargizian’s 6 minute short, shows a luring Laurence Harvey how predators should be treated while her role in Izzy Lee’s INNSMOUTH, her approach to murder is not only ghastly but also more akin to the charm of the works of gothic literature from Edgar Allen Poe and Bram Stoker. Furthermore, a return to work with the Soska Twins in 2014’s ABC’S OF DEATH 2 saw her love for sea creatures evolve (I’m lead to believe she’s a mermaid in disguise) as a tentacled siren makes for one of the more terrifying entries to the anthology.
In between shoots, Risk still holds her day job as a star of stage and is now a resident of the Carnival of Creeps, the touring circus act and often joins with her fellow stars of the Sweet Soul Burlesque recently showing off a Sailor Moon routine.
Tristan Risk is a role model to the world and takes no shit from those who live in their totalitarian ways, she’s not only a campaigner for women’s rights but also isn’t afraid to show who’s boss in her personal life as well as on screen. Where many are happy to play to the male fantasy of women on screen, Risk has proven that with roles such as that of Val in FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS that there’s no reason why the badass can’t be a female and that the final girl doesn’t have to “survive”.
The next time we will see Tristan is in lesbian revenge thriller MANIA in which she stars alongside another great Scream Queen, Ellie Church (FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS, HARVEST LAKE) and is directed by none other than Jessica Cameron who gave us one of 2014’s most fucked up movies, TRUTH OR DARE. The duo will be thrust into mayhem after a murder in their hometown to disastrous results. Accompanying that is Staci Layne Wilson's FETISH FACTORY, a homage to B-Movie madness and puts Tristan Risk right at home as a burlesque star in what can only be described and the best ensemble for a horror movie since HATCHET.
Since 2012 when Risk’s name hot the lips of every horror fan, she’s taken the community by storm. Not only through her choice of work but also the effort she’s put into each performance. Whether it be a vampire hunting her prey (CALL GIRL), a gothic presence (INNSMOUTH), Manson follower (HOUSE OF MANSON) or B-movie scream queen (FETISH FACTORY), there’s never enough of Miss Risk to go around and with no less than 13 films in development (according to IMDb) including the highly anticipated AYLA (from director Elias Ganster) with horror veteran Dee Wallace (LORDS OF SALEM, CUJO, THE HOWLING) this certainly is not the last we will see.
Lock up your sons and let your daughters free, this is the revolution and no longer does a scream queen fight for survival, she leads it.
FETISH FACTORY, MANIA, FRANKENSTEIN CREATED BIKERS and AYLA arrives in 2017
AMERICAN MARY, THE EDITOR and ABC'S OF DEATH 2 are out now.
INNSMOUTH is available to watch through Shudder.