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Posted on Apr 27, 2016

10 Feminist Friendly Horror Movies

Horror, a genre where women routinely meet their end by knife, chainsaw, or the occasional doggy door, has a reputation for not being female-friendly. So if you love horror and want to impress that pro-choice babe you know, or you ARE that babe, fear not: I’ve done the dirty work for you. Without further ado, here are some horror movies least likely to prompt a righteously furious rant about the Bechdel test.

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The continued survival of Scream's #1 Final Girl Sidney Prescott has earned her, as far as I’m concerned, the title of “feminist hero”— every installment in the Scream series features her kicking ass and growing increasingly powerful. Sidney’s peaceful, dog-walking happy ending in Scream 3 warmed my heart, but her taking out the killer in Scream 4 and telling them “Don’t fuck with the original” buttered my bread. If Sidney Prescott can survive 10+ years of Ghostface, maybe there’s hope for us all. — youtube.com

The continued survival of Scream's #1 Final Girl Sidney Prescott has earned her, as far as I’m concerned, the title of “feminist hero”— every installment in the Scream series features her kicking ass and growing increasingly powerful. Sidney’s peaceful, dog-walking happy ending in Scream 3 warmed my heart, but her taking out the killer in Scream 4 and telling them “Don’t fuck with the original” buttered my bread. If Sidney Prescott can survive 10+ years of Ghostface, maybe there’s hope for us all.

youtube.com

The continued survival of Scream's #1 Final Girl Sidney Prescott has earned her, as far as I’m concerned, the title of “feminist hero”— every installment in the Scream series features her kicking ass and growing increasingly powerful. Sidney’s peaceful, dog-walking happy ending in Scream 3 warmed my heart, but her taking out the killer in Scream 4 and telling them “Don’t fuck with the original” buttered my bread. If Sidney Prescott can survive 10+ years of Ghostface, maybe there’s hope for us all.

Replacing Ash, the groovy leading man, with Mia, the unknown woman, was a bold move by Evil Dead's director Fede Alvarez; bold enough, perhaps, to make up for the inclusion of the rape tree from the original The Evil Dead. Women like Mia (see also: flawed, heroin-addicted, human) aren't usually allowed to make it to the end credits so to see her overcome demons both literal and figurative felt revolutionary. Plus, the raining blood scene is up there with elevator in The Shining for "best movie moments to reference when complaining about your period." — youtube.com

Replacing Ash, the groovy leading man, with Mia, the unknown woman, was a bold move by Evil Dead's director Fede Alvarez; bold enough, perhaps, to make up for the inclusion of the rape tree from the original The Evil Dead. Women like Mia (see also: flawed, heroin-addicted, human) aren't usually allowed to make it to the end credits so to see her overcome demons both literal and figurative felt revolutionary. Plus, the raining blood scene is up there with elevator in The Shining for "best movie moments to reference when complaining about your period."

youtube.com

Replacing Ash, the groovy leading man, with Mia, the unknown woman, was a bold move by Evil Dead's director Fede Alvarez; bold enough, perhaps, to make up for the inclusion of the rape tree from the original The Evil Dead. Women like Mia (see also: flawed, heroin-addicted, human) aren't usually allowed to make it to the end credits so to see her overcome demons both literal and figurative felt revolutionary. Plus, the raining blood scene is up there with elevator in The Shining for "best movie moments to reference when complaining about your period."

First things first: the exploration of sisterhood found in Ginger Snaps’ Fitzgerald sisters is a thing of beauty. Second things second: the scene where Trina Sinclair, the archetypal bully, is fleshed out during a fight with one of the main characters broke my heart; what may seem like a throwaway line, “just once, someone shouldn't give that fucker the satisfaction”, provides Trina with an origin story and reveals that Ginger, a werewolf, wasn’t the only girl who got turned into a monster by a dog. Ginger Snaps is a film dedicated to the portrayal of how vast women are, of all their multitudes, and it earned all the hype it’s been given. — youtube.com

First things first: the exploration of sisterhood found in Ginger Snaps’ Fitzgerald sisters is a thing of beauty. Second things second: the scene where Trina Sinclair, the archetypal bully, is fleshed out during a fight with one of the main characters broke my heart; what may seem like a throwaway line, “just once, someone shouldn't give that fucker the satisfaction”, provides Trina with an origin story and reveals that Ginger, a werewolf, wasn’t the only girl who got turned into a monster by a dog. Ginger Snaps is a film dedicated to the portrayal of how vast women are, of all their multitudes, and it earned all the hype it’s been given.

youtube.com

First things first: the exploration of sisterhood found in Ginger Snaps’ Fitzgerald sisters is a thing of beauty. Second things second: the scene where Trina Sinclair, the archetypal bully, is fleshed out during a fight with one of the main characters broke my heart; what may seem like a throwaway line, “just once, someone shouldn't give that fucker the satisfaction”, provides Trina with an origin story and reveals that Ginger, a werewolf, wasn’t the only girl who got turned into a monster by a dog. Ginger Snaps is a film dedicated to the portrayal of how vast women are, of all their multitudes, and it earned all the hype it’s been given.

There is a reason that Carrie is still so culturally relevant and that reason is that teen girls hold within themselves an infinite source of terror. All teenage girls, both current and former, know this to be true. While most of us did not respond to this terror by setting our graduating class on fire and killing our mothers, there is a certain catharsis in watching Carrie get it done. Through the creation and depiction of Carrie White, Stephen King & Brian De Palma made it clear that horror is a woman’s game. Anyone who disagrees can feel free to plug it up. — youtube.com

There is a reason that Carrie is still so culturally relevant and that reason is that teen girls hold within themselves an infinite source of terror. All teenage girls, both current and former, know this to be true. While most of us did not respond to this terror by setting our graduating class on fire and killing our mothers, there is a certain catharsis in watching Carrie get it done. Through the creation and depiction of Carrie White, Stephen King & Brian De Palma made it clear that horror is a woman’s game. Anyone who disagrees can feel free to plug it up.

youtube.com

There is a reason that Carrie is still so culturally relevant and that reason is that teen girls hold within themselves an infinite source of terror. All teenage girls, both current and former, know this to be true. While most of us did not respond to this terror by setting our graduating class on fire and killing our mothers, there is a certain catharsis in watching Carrie get it done. Through the creation and depiction of Carrie White, Stephen King & Brian De Palma made it clear that horror is a woman’s game. Anyone who disagrees can feel free to plug it up.

That at the heart of The Babadook is a mentally ill woman who isn't portrayed as a monster is nothing short of amazing. Especially given that, historically, women who didn't meet the barely-there standards of acceptable womanhood were often institutionalized, sterilized, forced into conversion therapy, or burned at the stake. The Babadook provides a realistic portrayal of depression and how it’s not a monster you can defeat — all you can do is isolate it and keep pulling its teeth out as they grow back so that it can’t eat you alive. — youtube.com

That at the heart of The Babadook is a mentally ill woman who isn't portrayed as a monster is nothing short of amazing. Especially given that, historically, women who didn't meet the barely-there standards of acceptable womanhood were often institutionalized, sterilized, forced into conversion therapy, or burned at the stake. The Babadook provides a realistic portrayal of depression and how it’s not a monster you can defeat — all you can do is isolate it and keep pulling its teeth out as they grow back so that it can’t eat you alive.

youtube.com

That at the heart of The Babadook is a mentally ill woman who isn't portrayed as a monster is nothing short of amazing. Especially given that, historically, women who didn't meet the barely-there standards of acceptable womanhood were often institutionalized, sterilized, forced into conversion therapy, or burned at the stake. The Babadook provides a realistic portrayal of depression and how it’s not a monster you can defeat — all you can do is isolate it and keep pulling its teeth out as they grow back so that it can’t eat you alive.

David Robert Mitchell took the “Don't have sex because you'll get pregnant and die” scene from Mean Girls to its logical conclusion and made one of the greatest horror movies of the decade. It Follows manages to study the connection between sex, growing up, and mortality without moralizing. If anything, the film could be described as being sex neutral; it reminds us that all of these things are natural and will happen no matter what (or who!) you do. In a genre where young women are often harmed in some way because of their sexuality, It Follows is a breath of fresh air with its non-judgmental attitude towards the main character's sex life. — youtube.com

David Robert Mitchell took the “Don't have sex because you'll get pregnant and die” scene from Mean Girls to its logical conclusion and made one of the greatest horror movies of the decade. It Follows manages to study the connection between sex, growing up, and mortality without moralizing. If anything, the film could be described as being sex neutral; it reminds us that all of these things are natural and will happen no matter what (or who!) you do. In a genre where young women are often harmed in some way because of their sexuality, It Follows is a breath of fresh air with its non-judgmental attitude towards the main character's sex life.

youtube.com

David Robert Mitchell took the “Don't have sex because you'll get pregnant and die” scene from Mean Girls to its logical conclusion and made one of the greatest horror movies of the decade. It Follows manages to study the connection between sex, growing up, and mortality without moralizing. If anything, the film could be described as being sex neutral; it reminds us that all of these things are natural and will happen no matter what (or who!) you do. In a genre where young women are often harmed in some way because of their sexuality, It Follows is a breath of fresh air with its non-judgmental attitude towards the main character's sex life.

Erin, the hero of You’re Next, is what would happen if you took every Final Girl in film history and created a Frankenstein's monster out of them. That should be good enough for anyone, but it gets better with the inclusion of The Blender Scene. There are so many levels to one of the most notable scenes in the movie being when Erin gets creative with a blender — visually it’s absolutely disgusting in the way a horror movie should be, but to use something so clearly associated with domesticity to kill someone? Someone, please put this woman on the two dollar bill. — youtube.com

Erin, the hero of You’re Next, is what would happen if you took every Final Girl in film history and created a Frankenstein's monster out of them. That should be good enough for anyone, but it gets better with the inclusion of The Blender Scene. There are so many levels to one of the most notable scenes in the movie being when Erin gets creative with a blender — visually it’s absolutely disgusting in the way a horror movie should be, but to use something so clearly associated with domesticity to kill someone? Someone, please put this woman on the two dollar bill.

youtube.com

Erin, the hero of You’re Next, is what would happen if you took every Final Girl in film history and created a Frankenstein's monster out of them. That should be good enough for anyone, but it gets better with the inclusion of The Blender Scene. There are so many levels to one of the most notable scenes in the movie being when Erin gets creative with a blender — visually it’s absolutely disgusting in the way a horror movie should be, but to use something so clearly associated with domesticity to kill someone? Someone, please put this woman on the two dollar bill.

Creating a Giallo film about ballerinas where the women aren’t sexualized and a horror movie where the witches aren’t crones should have earned Dario Argento every possible Academy Award. Suspiria is what would happen if Stefon from Saturday Night Live was a filmmaker because it has EVERYTHING: witches, ballerinas, gorgeous cinematography, AND a prog rock soundtrack by a band named Goblin. Admittedly, Suspiria is hard to follow so it’s the palate cleanser of the list; perfect for when you want to decompress after arguing about the wage gap with some cornball at a frat party. — youtube.com

Creating a Giallo film about ballerinas where the women aren’t sexualized and a horror movie where the witches aren’t crones should have earned Dario Argento every possible Academy Award. Suspiria is what would happen if Stefon from Saturday Night Live was a filmmaker because it has EVERYTHING: witches, ballerinas, gorgeous cinematography, AND a prog rock soundtrack by a band named Goblin. Admittedly, Suspiria is hard to follow so it’s the palate cleanser of the list; perfect for when you want to decompress after arguing about the wage gap with some cornball at a frat party.

youtube.com

Creating a Giallo film about ballerinas where the women aren’t sexualized and a horror movie where the witches aren’t crones should have earned Dario Argento every possible Academy Award. Suspiria is what would happen if Stefon from Saturday Night Live was a filmmaker because it has EVERYTHING: witches, ballerinas, gorgeous cinematography, AND a prog rock soundtrack by a band named Goblin. Admittedly, Suspiria is hard to follow so it’s the palate cleanser of the list; perfect for when you want to decompress after arguing about the wage gap with some cornball at a frat party.

Did anyone else get the feeling that Diablo Cody wrote this script after years of spying on you and your best friend from high school? That’s how real the friendship between Jennifer and Needy, the two main characters, felt — right down to the fluctuation between frenemies and straight up sapphism (pun intended.) Jennifer’s Body, at its core, is a movie about the bond that girls share and how it can run deep enough to conquer demons. Well, that and eating boys. Plus, Cody’s quip-heavy style of writing works perfectly for a horror-comedy. You can’t possibly go wrong here. — youtube.com

Did anyone else get the feeling that Diablo Cody wrote this script after years of spying on you and your best friend from high school? That’s how real the friendship between Jennifer and Needy, the two main characters, felt — right down to the fluctuation between frenemies and straight up sapphism (pun intended.) Jennifer’s Body, at its core, is a movie about the bond that girls share and how it can run deep enough to conquer demons. Well, that and eating boys. Plus, Cody’s quip-heavy style of writing works perfectly for a horror-comedy. You can’t possibly go wrong here.

youtube.com

Did anyone else get the feeling that Diablo Cody wrote this script after years of spying on you and your best friend from high school? That’s how real the friendship between Jennifer and Needy, the two main characters, felt — right down to the fluctuation between frenemies and straight up sapphism (pun intended.) Jennifer’s Body, at its core, is a movie about the bond that girls share and how it can run deep enough to conquer demons. Well, that and eating boys. Plus, Cody’s quip-heavy style of writing works perfectly for a horror-comedy. You can’t possibly go wrong here.

I know, I know, but stay with me here: the script for this movie is exactly what would happen if someone read several A Voice for Men articles to a group of chimpanzees and then let them go to town on some typewriters for a few days. The fun of The Wicker Man, truth be told, is that it’s a look at what a matriarchy might be like. That is to say, it's a bunch of broads doing it all for the honey. And the fun cannot be understated: once Ellen Burstyn breaks out the Braveheart makeup, the movie just goes completely bees to the wall. Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week. — youtube.com

I know, I know, but stay with me here: the script for this movie is exactly what would happen if someone read several A Voice for Men articles to a group of chimpanzees and then let them go to town on some typewriters for a few days. The fun of The Wicker Man, truth be told, is that it’s a look at what a matriarchy might be like. That is to say, it's a bunch of broads doing it all for the honey. And the fun cannot be understated: once Ellen Burstyn breaks out the Braveheart makeup, the movie just goes completely bees to the wall. Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week.

youtube.com

I know, I know, but stay with me here: the script for this movie is exactly what would happen if someone read several A Voice for Men articles to a group of chimpanzees and then let them go to town on some typewriters for a few days. The fun of The Wicker Man, truth be told, is that it’s a look at what a matriarchy might be like. That is to say, it's a bunch of broads doing it all for the honey. And the fun cannot be understated: once Ellen Burstyn breaks out the Braveheart makeup, the movie just goes completely bees to the wall. Thanks folks, I’ll be here all week.

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