The last few years have seen women directors and creatives in the film industry make tremendous strides. The last two winners of the Best Director Oscar award were both women: Chloé Zhao for her docudrama on American poverty Nomadland; and Jane Campion for her psychological western The Power of the Dog. Genres that have traditionally been dominated by men like science fiction and action have been invigorated by women on both sides of the camera, from Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman and the Wachowski sisters’ Matrix films to Michelle Yeoh’s recent acclaimed role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, the film genre where women have had the most impact recently has been horror. Women have had a long history in the horror genre, but their influence and impact have become more apparent – and thereby more substantial – only in the last decade or so.
Last week, we discussed the horror renaissance that has emerged in the last several years. One of the reasons behind this renaissance has been the inclusion of more and more diverse voices, both in re-interpreting older films from the genre and making new works that become successful with critics and audiences. The horror genre has been especially criticized over the decades for its treatment of women, but now more than ever women are playing a key role in shaping the genre's past, present, and future. Critics and audiences are not only re-discovering older horror works, but finding that some carry feminist themes or work to disrupt the patriarchal order.
Moreover, women filmmakers are playing a bigger role in the genre today. Directors like Kathryn Bigelow and Sofia Coppola have experimented with horror and thriller films, and newer filmmakers like Jennifer Kent have made the genre their bread and butter. Women have even met success in the arthouse and festival circuit, most recently with French director Julia Ducournau winning the Palme d'Or last year for her body horror film Titane. Even male directors like Ari Aster and Alex Garland have made women characters their central focus in works like Midsommar and Men. As the horror genre continues to expand and grow, women are becoming more of a vocal presence and an artistic force – and have substantially contributed to making the horror renaissance thrive.
Changing Victimization to Empowerment
Beginning with the popularity of the slasher film in the 1980s, many women critics and audiences responded negatively to the horror genre for its violence towards its female characters. Works like Halloween and Friday the 13th used long P.O.V. shots to put the audience in the killer’s perspective as he stalked and brutally killed his victims. These slasher movies also heavily relied on female nudity to specifically attract a younger, male audience. The women in many of these films were ultimately seen by many as one-dimensional stereotypes.
However, other critics and scholars were warier in reducing slasher films and the horror genre in general as misogynistic fare. Also apparent in films like Halloween and Friday the 13th was the “final girl,” a young woman who realizes something is amiss and is able to save herself – and others – from the killer. These women are not simply characterized as lucky survivors, but as smart and capable. Examples include Laurie Strode in Halloween; Ripley in Alien; and Nancy Thompson in Nightmare on Elm Street. While the final girl phenomenon doesn’t make a horror film feminist, it does complicate the film and opens up differing ways for critics and audiences to interpret it.
Scream Queens & Horror Icons
Beyond the final girl trope, other horror films have also been re-examined as feminist or containing feminist themes, ranging across both different eras and cultures. The 1942 horror film Cat People, in its tale of a woman who fears she will transform into a cat, has been analyzed as being about repressed female sexual desire. Jonathan Demme’s serial killer film The Silence of the Lambs uses the director’s unique formal style to emphasize the anxieties protagonist Clarice Starling feels as the only woman in a male-dominated FBI investigation. The infamous Japanese horror movie Audition upends what seems to be a traditional romance to provide a fiery critique of how women are mistreated by men in Japanese society. All these works and more illustrate how the horror genre can disrupt or challenge patriarchal order and carry feminist themes or ideas to its audience.
Some of the most iconic figures in horror have been its leading women, often referred to as “scream queens.” Jamie Lee Curtis broke through to the mainstream as Laurie Strode in Halloween, and has returned to the role time and again over the next four decades of her career. Linda Blair’s acclaimed breakout role in The Exorcist as the possessed girl Regan helped propel her to a long career making similar horror and exploitation films throughout the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, Mia Goth has gotten considerable recognition this year for her leading roles in Ti West’s slashers X and Pearl, and other actresses like Florence Pugh and Jessie Buckley have received acclaim for roles in horror films like Midsommar and Men.
“Pearl seems destined to be overlooked as a serious acting showcase. Horror is perennially ignored when it comes to awards attention. Some of the most indelible performances of the last decade have been slighted, simply because of genre: Florence Pugh in Midsommar, Lupita Nyong’o in Us, Toni Collette in Hereditary, Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch.
Yet Goth flexes every muscle during the film, nailing moments both absurd and sincere. For every shattering monologue there’s a comedic beat around the corner, or simply a startling visual of Pearl skipping along wielding a bloody axe. And while acting categories will inevitably be filled with tear-jerking performances about the pain of growing up or the grief of losing a family member, how many roles call on the lead to accidentally get too high and dry-hump a scarecrow to orgasm? That’s a range Oscar voters should get behind.”
— Variety film critic William Earl on Mia Goth’s performance in Pearl
Behind the Camera
While there are some exceptions, women filmmakers began entering the horror genre in earnest during the early 1980s. Amy Holden Jones’s The Slumber Party Massacre was a financial success and is considered as a subtle parody of the slasher format, going on to inspire two sequels (both of those also directed by women). Kathryn Bigelow got her start in feature filmmaking with the vampire western Near Dark; though it wasn’t an immediate success, the film has gone on to be a cult classic for its gorgeous cinematography and hypnotic score by Tangerine Dream. One of the many Stephen King adaptations of the 1980s, Pet Sematary, was directed by Mary Lambert, who was also known for her work in directing music videos for Madonna and Janet Jackson.
In more recent years, other women have emerged as successful and popular horror filmmakers. Australian actress and director Jennifer Kent had an international breakthrough with her film The Babadook, centered around a widow who must fend off a monster created from her young son’s fear. The Babadook was acclaimed upon its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014, and made over $10 million at the international box office. Karyn Kusama has worked in a variety of genres, including horror and thriller films. Though negatively received at first, the horror comedy Jennifer’s Body is now regarded as both a cult classic and a feminist horror film. Kusama’s next film The Invitation, a psychological horror movie, premiered at South by Southwest in 2015 and was acclaimed for its direction and tone.
The horror genre has never been limited to Hollywood or independent filmmaking. Many women filmmakers from across the world have found great success making horror films that gained success on the international festival circuit before being released. Over the course of her career, French arthouse director Claire Denis has made several thrillers and some horror films, including the vampire film Trouble Every Day and the science fiction movie High Life. Mentioned above, Julia Ducournau has also made a career in horror films, both with Titane and her earlier debut Raw, about a young woman who becomes obsessed with eating meat. Lastly, director Ana Lily Amirpour gained international acclaim with her black-and-white debut A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, set in Iran and shot in the Persian language.
Reworking and Redefining Horror
As shown in the chart above, there is still much improvement within the industry that needs to be done to achieve closer gender equity in the horror genre and at large. Nevertheless, a big reason the recent horror renaissance began and keeps on flourishing is because of the growing diversity of both horror audiences and industry creatives working in the genre. The role of women in the genre – both in front of and behind the camera – has been long under-appreciated or simply unnoticed. Not only are women taking more power and creative control over the horror genre through their films, but audiences for the genre are becoming more diverse than ever before and are eager to hear from a similar range of artistic voices. While there are still many gains to be made for women and other groups who have been largely shut out of the horror genre, this renaissance shows just how much progress has been accomplished – and how much progress both the film industry and audiences have to continue to fight for in the years ahead.
Horror Movie Collections
If you’re a horror fan or interested in exploring the genre further, be sure to check out these iGEMS collections:
The 10 Scariest Movies of All Time: From serial killers to the supernatural, these films represent the best and most frightening the genre has to offer.
Midnight Madness: Inspired by our recent article on midnight movies, this collection contains a mixture of horror, experimental, and other infamous movies that have become cult classics and audience hits.
Halloween Movies for Families: These scary movies are just as thrilling and entertaining for children as they can be for adults, ranging from comedies like Ghostbusters to animated hits like Coraline.
Countdown to Halloween - Sci-Fi Thriller Collection: We kicked off October with a list of our favorite sci-fi and thriller horror films, crafted by visionary storytellers and filled with creative visual effects.
Countdown to Halloween - Found Footage Collection: Found footage has become one of the most successful sub-genres in horror lately, and this collection honors some of the best examples, from early successes like The Blair Witch Project to under-appreciated works like Lake Mungo.
The Mine was created by the iGEMS team. To subscribe to our iGEMSpro Weekly Report with industry updates and resources, click here. To receive our Weekly iGEMStv Guide, with newly curated picks to stream, click here.
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