The boldly transgressive films of Stephanie Rothman use the conventions of low-budget exploitation cinema to cannily subvert patriarchal systems and the male gaze. Beginning her career as an assistant to Roger Corman, she made the leap to director at his newly formed production company New World Pictures, where she brought her distinctive vision to a string of fascinating films—including her hugely successful debut THE STUDENT NURSES and the stylish art-horror cult classic THE VELVET VAMPIRE —that fused the requisite grindhouse titillation with a sophisticated auteur sensibility informed by her own feminist and progressive values.