Ariel McCleese is a feminist horror writer-director based in Los Angeles, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Bloodletter Magazine. Her work carves out space in horror for women, trans, and non-binary people as agentive subjects rather than passive victims, activating the unique potential of the genre to speak to stigmatized themes. Her shorts have screened at prestigious festivals around the globe, her essays have been published in eminent horror magazines, and her screenplays have placed in internationally-recognized competitions including The Page Awards, The Screencraft Fellowship, and Killer Shorts. Ariel holds an MFA in Fine Art with an emphasis in Critical Theory from University of California Irvine.