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Somewhere along the way, men got it into their heads that women can’t stand horror movies — just like we all hate beer, football, and video games, right? The truth is, while earlier horror movies definitely employed some sexist tropes and questionable imagery, there are tons of female horror fans out there. More importantly, there are plenty of horror films that serve their female audiences just as much as their male audiences, if not more so. After all, horror movies like Alien and Halloween gave us iconic strong female stars in Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis over 40 years ago. And new horror heroines like Florence Pugh in Midsommar or Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch just keep on coming.
Horror movies made today don’t just feature strong women — they also take on women’s lived experiences as the premise for the horror, and often in an incredibly fascinating way. It Follows, a horror movie about a woman who becomes haunted by a curse after having sex for the first time, mimics the way sexual shame and stigma can follow young women. Hereditary, a horror movie about a twisted family trying to change its fate, explores motherhood and what passes between generations. Sure, men (and many women!) may have honed an appreciation for jump scares and gore, but the psychological aspects of horror, now more than ever, speak especially to the female condition.
So, whether you’re reclaiming the genre for yourself or just settling in for another horror binge, where to begin? Here are 25 horror movies that have special meaning for their female fans.
A version of this article was originally published on June 2020.
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‘Totally Killer’
Image Credit: ©Amazon/Courtesy Everett Collection In this recent Prime Video release, Totally Killer follows Kiernan Shipka’s character Jamie as she accidentally travels back in time to 1987 to stop the infamous “Sweet Sixteen Killer” from beginning his killing spree in the first place.
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‘The Menu’
Image Credit: © Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection Oscar-nominated movie The Menu follows Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult as the couple Tyler and Margot as they embark on an unexpected culinary experience that is nothing like any of the guests imagined.
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‘Pearl’
Image Credit: Christopher Moss /© A24 /Courtesy Everett Collection Starring Mia Goth, 2022’s Pearl follows a small-town girl named Pearl who’s willing to do just about anything to live out the glamorous life she’s seen in movies.
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‘Evil Dead’
Image Credit: Kirsty Griffin/©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collecton Evil Dead, starring Jane Levy, follows five friends as they mysteriously find and unlock the Book of Demons and awaken its malevolent force.
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‘X’
Image Credit: ph: Christopher Moss / © A24 / Courtesy Everett Collection. A group of young filmmakers, including the iconic and mysterious actor Maxine (Mia Goth) set out to make an adult film, but when the elderly and religious hosts catch them, it gets more murderous than sexy.
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‘Happy Death Day’
Image Credit: ©Universal Studios/courtesy Everett Collection. Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) must relive the day of her murder over and over again, and the only way to stop the cycle is find and destroy her killer.
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‘Carrie’
Image Credit: Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images. When 16-year-old Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is mercilessly mocked by her peers and abused by her mother, her telekinetic powers explode beyond her control — ending in one of the most memorable prom scenes in film history.
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‘Midsommar’
Image Credit: © A24 / courtesy Everett Collection. A young woman (Florence Pugh) travels to Sweden to observe a midsummer ritual with her boyfriend and his friends after suffering a personal tragedy. The idyllic community quickly reveals that not all its rituals are so peaceful.
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‘Ready or Not’
Image Credit: TM & copyright © Fox Searchlight Pictures. All rights reserved. / courtesy Everett Collection. Grace (Samara Weaving) is living her dream, having married Daniel in a fabulous wedding at his family’s palatial estate. Then, they announce they’ll be playing a game of hide-and-seek from midnight until dawn, with a twist: if they find her, she’s dead.
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‘Us’
Image Credit: © Universal / courtesy Everett Collection. A pleasant family vacation goes horribly wrong when Adelaide (Lupita Nyong’o) returns to a town where she had a traumatic experience as a young girl. Soon after, the family’s “doubles” arrive — and they want their shot at living the family’s life.
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‘Rosemary’s Baby’
Image Credit: Everett Collection. When Rosemary (Mia Farrow) becomes pregnant after moving to a new apartment, her overly nosy neighbors start to invade every aspect of her life — and the truth doesn’t come out until it’s too late.
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‘Halloween’
Image Credit: ph: Ryan Green/© Universal/courtesy Everett Collection. When Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) goes to babysit one Halloween night, she has no idea that the strange boy she’s been seeing around is an escaped murderer from a nearby sanitarium.
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‘The Silence Of The Lambs’
Image Credit: Everett Collection. FBI trainee Clarice (Jodie Foster) is tasked with using imprisoned cannibal Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) to help solve the case of a new serial killer cannibal who goes by Buffalo Bill and skins his victims.
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‘Scream’
Image Credit: Everett Collection. A group of high school students are stalked and terrorized by a killer with mysterious patterns. The town is thrown into high alert to find the killer, and accusations quickly start to fly.
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‘Black Swan’
Image Credit: TM and copyright ©Fox Searchlight Pictures. All rights reserved./Courtesy Everett Collection. Ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) has dedicated her entire life to dance, and finally landed the starring role in Swan Lake. When a newcomer (Mila Kunis) threatens her position, Nina quickly begins to unravel.
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‘The Witch’
Image Credit: ©A24/courtesy Everett Collection. A Puritan family in 1630s New England falls apart after the mysterious disappearance of their baby son Samuel. When the family blames sister Thomasina (Anya Taylor-Joy) and accuses her of witchcraft, attacks continue.
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‘Under The Skin’
Image Credit: ©A24/Courtesy Everett Collection. An extraterrestrial (Scarlett Johansson) travels Scotland with one mission: to lure in as many men as she can, then erase them from planet Earth.
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‘The Ring’
Image Credit: (c) DreamWorks/courtesy Everett Collection. When Rachel (Naomi Watts) is asked to investigate a mysterious tape that kills people seven days after they watch it, she sets out to uncover the root of its dark powers before her own time is up.
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‘Alien’
Image Credit: ©20th Century-Fox Film Corporation, TM & Copyright / courtesy Everett Collection. On a space ship traveling back to earth, a rogue call from a nearby moon derails the travelers and brings a powerful, growing alien on board with a taste for blood.
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‘Hereditary’
Image Credit: ph: Reid Chavis /© A24 /Courtesy Everett Collection. When Annie (Toni Collette) loses her mother, she and her children slowly uncover horrifying truths about their family history — one they may be doomed to repeat.
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‘It Follows’
Image Credit: ©RADiUS-TWC/Courtesy Everett Collection. When Jay (Maika Monroe) loses her virginity to her boyfriend, she suddenly becomes chased by a death curse that passes through sex, and would-be killers start to appear at every turn.
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‘The Conjuring’
Image Credit: © New Line Cinema / courtesy Everett Collection. Ed and Lorraine Warren are called to a house in Rhode Island that the Perron family believes is home to evil spirits. As they try to nail down the source of these strange happenings, the spirits’ attacks become more vicious.
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‘The Hunger’
Image Credit: ©MGM/courtesy Everett Collection. When John (David Bowie) realizes he won’t have eternal youth as a vampire, he seeks out doctor Sarah (Susan Sarandon) to help him reverse the aging. Sarah is drawn in to John’s relationship with fellow vampire Miriam (Catherine Deneuve), and quickly uncovers the rules of their strange world.
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‘The Grudge’
Image Credit: (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection. When the Saeki family die under conditions of extreme distress, their vengeful spirits live on, attacking the new American family that moves into their home. As more and more succumb to these spirits, they try to destroy the source of their power.
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‘A Quiet Place’
Image Credit: ph: Jonny Cournoyer / © Paramount /Courtesy Everett Collection. Lee (John Krasinski) and his pregnant wife Evelyn (Emily Blunt) are thrown into a fight for survival as a species of monsters that hunt by sound take over. The family must navigate escaping to safer ground and protecting their newborn baby without making a sound.
Watch it on Netflix.
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‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’
Image Credit: c)New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett Collection. Don’t go to sleep! In this classic horror flick, Freddy Krueger hunts teenagers down in their dreams and they must figure out how to draw him into real life and get rid of him for good.
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‘Ginger Snaps’
Image Credit: (c) Unapix Entertainment/ Courtesy: Everett Collection. Two outcast sisters have to deal with the fact that Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) was bitten by a deadly werewolf. Will their sisterly love help them in the end, or be their downfall?
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‘Suspiria’
Image Credit: ph: Alessio Bolzoni/© Amazon Studios/courtesy Everett Collection. Suzy (Dakota Johnson) auditions for a prestigious dance company and immediately snags the role as lead dancer, causing a breakdown in her predecessor. An investigating psychotherapist discovers there’s much more to the company than meets the eye.
Watch it on Tubi.
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‘The Craft’
Image Credit: (c) Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection. A girl with telekinetic powers (Neve Campbell) joins together with a group of three aspiring witches to hone their craft, and quickly let the power go to their heads.
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‘Jennifer’s Body’
Image Credit: Ph: Doane Gregory/TM and ©Copyright Fox Atomic. All rights reserved./Courtesy Everett Collection. Jennifer (Megan Fox) is the hottest girl in high school. When she’s possessed by a demon with a taste for blood, she decides to make her suitors’ dreams come true — or so they think.
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‘The Final Girls’
Image Credit: ©Vertical Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection. While Max (Taissa Farmiga) is grieving the loss of her mother (Malin Akerman), who was a famous horror actress from the 1980s, she and her friends are somehow pushed into her mother’s most famous movie. Now, they all have to come together to face the killer or be killed themselves in the movie.
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‘Little Monsters’
Image Credit: © Hulu / Neon / courtesy Everett Collection. During the zombie apocalypse, a musician named Miss Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o) teams up with a group of adults to protect a group of kids.
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‘The Love Witch’
Image Credit: © Oscilloscope / courtesy Everett Collection. A witch named Elaine (Samantha Robinson) is hell-bent on finding a man to love her, creating spells and potions that end up going awry (and having her result in murder!)
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‘Housebound’
Image Credit: ©XLrator Media/courtesy Everett Collection. A former addict and jailbird named Kylie (Morgana O’Reilly) is forced to be on house arrest in her childhood home with her mom Miriam (Rima Te Wiata). However, things are definitely not as they seem, and they suspect something sinister is going on in their house.
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‘Stoker’
Image Credit: ph: Macall Polay/©Fox Searchlight/courtesy Everett Collection. After India’s (Mia Wasikowska) father dies, her Uncle Charlie moves in with and her mother Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and a very inappropriate (and deadly) relationship arise.
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‘The Cabin in the Woods’
Image Credit: ph: Diyah Pera/©Lionsgate/courtesy Everett Collection. The Cabin in the Woods follows a group of friends who go to a remote cabin, where things get a lot scarier (and more meta) than anyone expected.
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‘The Invisible Man’
Image Credit: © Universal Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection. Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) is convinced her abusive ex’s suicide was a hoax. And ever since he died, she’s also convinced an invisible force is stalking her.
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‘Malignant’
Image Credit: © Warner Bros. /Courtesy Everett Collection. Madison (Annabelle Wallis) keeps getting visions of grisly murders, and she soon realizes these are more than just night terrors.
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‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’
Image Credit: ©Kino Lorber/Courtesy Everett Collection The townspeople of Iranian ghost-town Bad City are unaware they are being stalked by a vampire, and everyone can be a victim.
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‘Hellraiser’
Image Credit: © New World Pictures / Courtesy: Everett Collection. When Kristy (Ashley Laurence) discovers the body of her brother-in-law, she starts killing for him to bring him back to life and eliminate the demons haunting their family.
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‘Neon Demon’
Image Credit: © Broad Green Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection An aspiring model named Jesse (Elle Fanning) joins the industry, which makes her fellow model colleagues extremely jealous, and then everything changes when a deadly deed happens.
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‘April Fool’s Day’
Image Credit: (c)Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection. Nothing is as it seems when a group of college friends go to their friend Muffy’s (Deborah Foreman) remote island. Let’s just say, you need to get ready for twists, turns, and a whole lot of murder.
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‘Nocturne’
Image Credit: ph: Kevin Estrada /© Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection. Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) is determined to do whatever it takes to beat out her sister for the only spot in the prestigious institution for classical musicians like herself.
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‘I Still See You’
Image Credit: ph: Allen Fraser / © Lionsgate Home Entertainment / courtesy Everett Collection. Over a decade after the big event that made ghosts a part of everyday life, friends Veronica (Bella Thorne) and Kirk (Richard Harmon) find themselves in a decades-long mystery that’ll put the town upside down.
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