Women have long had a vexed relationship with horror, which, as a genre, often goes out of its way to punish its female characters, particularly those who dare to own their sexuality. Every so often, however, a horror film comes along that challenges the patriarchal imagination, either in terms of its narrative or in terms of its sensibility. Ranging from the 1930s to the present, these are the types of films that manage to be scary and thought-provoking. Whether directed by men or women, the most notable feminist horror films draw attention to the positions that
Women often occupy in a male-dominated world. 'Don’t Worry Darling' Florence Pugh stars in Don’t Worry Darling , in which she portrays Alice Chambers, who, along with her husband Jack (played by Harry Styles ), lives in a seemingly idyllic 1950s-esque neighborhood. As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. Alice and her fellow women have been drugged, and their consciousness is fed into a simulated reality so that their husbands can live their ideal male reality. As such, the film is a not particularly subtle allegory for the ways that women are often imprisoned within patriarchy, denied all agency in a world not of their own making. 'Rosemary’s Baby' Mia Farrow gives a harrowing and wrenching performance in Rosemary’s Baby , in which she plays Rosemary Woodhouse. Recently married, Rosemary becomes increasingly convinced her neighbors, who appear to be a kindly elderly couple, are using her to bring the Antichrist into the world. It’s a fascinating and disturbing film about the way that women are so often positioned in patriarchy, denied both bodily autonomy and gaslit into accepting their fate. While Mia Farrow is remarkable in the film, she is matched by Ruth Gordon, who plays Minnie Castevet, one of those in charge of the cult. She is the perfect blend of grandmotherly and unholy terror. 'Dracula’s Daughter' Dracula’s Daughter is one of those 1930s Universal horror films that has been shamefully neglected by subsequent history. Gloria Holden is chilling and compelling as Countess Marya Zaleska, the title character, a rather reluctant vampire. She has the right kind of patrician grace to make her believable in the role, and the film has become particularly beloved among LGBTQ+ audiences due to the ways that the Countess is not-so-subtly queer-coded. While the film might want the viewer to see her as a threat and as a danger, the truth is that the Countess, like so many other vampires before her, is as alluring as she is destructive. 'Pearl' The character of Pearl made quite a disturbing impression when she was first introduced in Ti West’s X . In the suitably-titled Pearl , she at last gets her own story, and it’s immediately clear she is a troubled and damaged soul whose frustrations have turned her into a murderous monster. It’s to Mia Goth’s credit that she turns Pearl into someone who is compelling and even sympathetic, even though she is more than willing to destroy anyone who thwarts her dreams, including her own parents. There’s something slyly and subversively feminist about Pearl, who lives life on her own rules, and she shows that sometimes it’s good to be bad. 'The Hunger' Catherine Deneuve is the sinister but beautiful vampire Miriam Blaylock in The Hunger , released in 1983. The film oozes sensuality and sexuality, particularly once Miriam turns her hungry attention to her new prey, Susan Sarandon ’s Sarah Roberts (in the process, leaving behind her former lover, David Bowie’s John Blaylock). The film makes a few strange narrative turns, particularly during the end, but there’s no denying that Deneuve’s Miriam is a character who commands the viewer to look at her. Something is exciting and terrifying about seeing this nearly all-powerful creature follow her desires wherever they might lead, even if it’s her own destruction. 'The Silence of the Lambs' Jodie Foster gives one of the most memorable and powerful performances of her career in The Silence of the Lambs , in which she plays Clarice Starling, the fledgling
FBI agent who sets out to apprehend the killer known as Buffalo Bill. Along the way, she establishes an unsettling bond with the charismatic but deadly Hannibal Lecter. The film is a fascinating study of the things that women in law enforcement often have to do in order to gain respect in a male-dominated field. Even though its depiction of LGBTQ+ people is still glaringly problematic, Clarice remains the gold standard of formidable women in horror. 'Promising Young Woman' ı Emerald Fennell ’s Promising Young Woman is a skilled blend of black
comedy, thriller, and horror, focusing on Carey Mulligan ’s Cassie, a young woman who sets out to gain revenge on those who were responsible for the
Sexual Assault and subsequent suıcide of her friend. It’s arguably one of the best movies about rapė culture of the 21st century. Moreover, Cassie’s crusade as an avenging angel ends in its own form or tragedy, although, in typical horror
fashion, there is some measure of restoration by the film’s end. 'Black Christmas' As a rule, the slasher film has not been particularly friendly to women, who often end up on the business end of the killer’s weapon of choice. Black
Christmas , which has come to be seen as one of the most notable slashers, focuses on a group of young women who are stalked and murdered by a serial killer. Its main character, Jess, is arguably a feminist icon in her own right since she decides to have an abortion, a remarkable moment of female agency both at the time of the film’s release (1974) and today, when
abortion is once again a hot-button topic. 'The Stepford Wives' Based on the novel by Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives focuses on Joanna Eberhart, a married woman who moves with her family to the seemingly perfect community of Stepford, Connecticut. Very soon, she realizes something isn’t right because the women there seem completely devoid of anything resembling a personality. The film’s final revelation — that the men of the village have been replacing their wives with robots — is as horrifying now as it was when the film was made. If anything, the film’s message about the perils of patriarchy and the exploitation of women is even more pertinent today than it was then, which is the mark of a truly great horror film. 'Teeth' Few horror films have worn their feminism as proudly as Teeth , which focuses on Dawn, a young woman who discovers that her private parts have grown teeth. As one would expect from a horror film, this leads to a number of mishaps, particularly when several men try to assault her. Though Dawn begins the film as someone who has bought into the ideology of abstinence, by the end, she has become a powerful figure who knows how to use her body to exact well-deserved vengeance on those who have wronged her or tried to take advantage of her body. Blending horror with comedy, the film is as unsettling as it is hilarious. 'The Witch' Robert Eggers proved to be a remarkable voice in horror filmmaking with the release of his first film, The Witch , which takes place during the early days of the English colonization of America. At the heart of the story is Anya Taylor-Joy’s Thomasin, a young woman who, along with her family, is banished to the woods, where they have to contend with the witch who also calls it home. As the film goes on and the family falls into paranoia and self-destruction, Thomasin is ultimately given the chance to embrace the darkness and “live deliciously.” 'Scream' Wes Craven’s Scream franchise remains one of the most enduring in the horror genre, and much of this can be chalked up to its feminist sensibility. The series has always been at its best when it involves Neve Campbell ’s Sidney Prescott, a young woman who has endured a great deal throughout her time in the series. Time and again, however, she has shown herself to be more than just a horror final girl; she is a true heroine. Even though it seems likely she won’t be in the franchise going forward, her impact will continue to be felt. 'Carrie' Carrie , the film based on the novel by Stephen King, remains a powerful piece of horror filmmaking, thanks in no small part to the powerful performance from Sissy Spacek as the title character. At its heart, the film is very much about the double bind that women face, as Carrie is punished both by her religiously zealous mother and her cruel classmates. As so often in horror, her transition into puberty awakens her telekinetic powers, with tragedy to follow. While she may become something of a violent monster by the film’s end, Carrie also demonstrates that there can be something paradoxically powerful about finally lashing out at the forces of repression. 'Alien' Alien remains one of Ridley Scott ’s most memorable films because he captured the horrors of space and because its heroine, Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley, remains one of the most formidable characters of the sci-fi genre. Unlike so many other women in the genre, who are often reduced to mere eye candy, Ripley is a hero in the mold of so many other 1970s and 1980s. Rather than cowering in fear, she fights back and ends up being the only one who manages to survive the film. Given how powerful of a hero she is, it’s easy to see why she would be the focal point of several more films. 'Midsommar' The second feature film from Ari Aster, Midsommar focuses on Florence Pugh’s Dani as she goes abroad with her boyfriend and a group of
Friends, where they all find themselves ensnared by a group of cultists in
Sweden. Dani’s boyfriend is a pretty thoughtless jerk, but Dani ultimately gets the last laugh when she gets to decide whether he will survive or be sacrificed in the final rite. One of the film’s last images is of Dani, dressed up as the May
Queen, gradually
BREAKING out into a sinister smile. She has at last emerged from her trauma to claim her own destiny and her own life, even though she had to watch her old life burn down to do it. 'Cat People' Directed by Jacques Tourneur, the original Cat People focuses on a young woman, Irena Dubrovna, who believes she is descended from a strange race of cat people who transform into panthers when they experience heightened emotions. As the film goes on, her jealousy starts to sink its claws into her, and she begins to transform, ultimately killing a man. The film takes the subject of female desire seriously, even as it also uses Irena’s plight to demonstrate the extent to which they are often forced to turn against themselves. Its ending is remarkably poignant and tragic. 'Ginger Snaps' The werewolf is one of the most enduring horror figures, representing the terrifying porousness that always exists between the human and the animal. In Ginger Snaps , the figure gets a feminist gloss as the film focuses on Ginger Fitzgerald, who begins transforming into a werewolf, her metamorphosis mirroring her own transition into adolescence. The film, like all great feminist horror, uses the tropes of the genre to comment on the experiences of young women, and the combination of sly humor and unsettling practical effects make this a humorous and sharp piece of social commentary. 'Titane' Titane is unlike almost any other feminist horror film. Unapologetically strange, it follows Alexia, a young woman with a plate in her head who, after having sex with a car, becomes pregnant by it and then passes herself off as a boy who went missing a decade before the film takes place. She even manages to fool the boy’s father, or so it seems. The fact that Alexia is a serial killer adds a further layer of disturbing danger to what is definitely one of the most disturbing body horror pictures of the 2020s. Unsettling, grotesque, and beautiful, like the best feminist horror films, it asks the viewer to consider the limits and porousness of the human body. 'Lisa Frankenstein' Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Zelda Williams (in her feature debut), Lisa Frankenstein focuses on Lisa Swallows, a young woman who inadvertently brings a Victorian man back to life by wishing at his grave (a lightning strike certainly helps). Chaos and a strange romance ensue when he starts to pursue her, and the two of them start salvaging body parts to restore him to wholeness. The film is unrepentantly silly and fun, and it is the perfect combination of horror and rom-com tropes. Moreover, it is refreshing to see Lisa take control of her desires and obtain happiness on her terms. 'Jennifer’s Body' Written by Diablo Cody, Jennifer’s Body features a remarkable performance by Megan Fox as Jennifer Check, a young woman who is sacrificed by a band but ultimately becomes a man-devouring demon. There’s a seductive and sly sense of humor to this film, which uses the conventions of horror to point out how young women are often caught in a double bind within a patriarchal culture. In particular, there’s a savage pleasure in seeing Jennifer finally gain some control of her own body, which she is only too happy to use to destroy those who sought to use her for their own gain. Thomas J. West III earned a PhD in film and screen studies from Syracuse University in 2018. His writing on film and TV has appeared at Screen Rant, Screenology, FanFare, Primetimer, Cinemania, and in a number of scholarly journals and edited collections. He co-hosts the Queens of the B's podcast and writes a regular newsletter, Omnivorous, on Substack. He is also an active member of GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics.