Incredible Horror Films Directed By Female Filmmakers

Women have always been an integral part of horror movies, but the early years of cinema created regularly repeated tropes. Often playing the victim, female protagonists escalated to reluctant heroes in the ’70s and ’80s and, in 2017, actresses have given audiences some of the toughest, coolest, and badass heroes in all of cinema.

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Many horror films are written and directed by men, even when the film focuses on an awesome female protagonist, but there are countless horror movies made by incredibly talented women who demonstrate a welcome change in females kicking butt both behind and in front of the camera.

In honor of women around the world banding together to participate in Women’s Marches around the world, as well as the Sundance Film Festival premiere this week of XX, a horror anthology directed by female filmmakers, here’s just a sampling of some of the amazing horror movies made by women. It’s worth noting that these aren’t just great movies that female filmmakers created, but these are all fantastic horror films that happen to have featured females in charge of the production.

Who are your favorite female filmmakers? Let us know in the comments!

Near Dark (1987) – Dir. Kathryn Bigelow

In recent years, Bigelow has earned an Oscar-worthy reputation of delivering audiences gripping political thrillers like The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, but she’s long been a favorite filmmaker in genre cinema. One of her first movies (which she also co-wrote) was Near Dark, a romantic western vampire horror movie starring Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen. In case The Lost Boys was full of too many pretty boys Near Dark gave us grizzled vampires roaming the country looking for their next meal, no matter who served as nourishment.

[H/T YouTube/wampyresoul]

Pet Sematary (1989) – Dir. Mary Lambert

Based on the Stephen King novel, Mary Lambert brought to life the tale of a supernatural graveyard that could bring living things back to life. As the main characters find out, you must be careful what you wish for if you think you can bring your deceased toddler back to life and think everything will work out fine. As if a bloodthirsty toddler isn’t terrifying enough, Pet Sematary also gave us the physically deformed Zelda, whose sequences in this movie are some of the most unsettling in any horror movie from the ’80s.

[H/T YouTube/SpookyTube]

Ravenous (1999) – Dir. Antonia Bird

Set in the 19th century, a group of soldiers welcome a strange visitor at a military fort who makes astounding claims of how he survived the bitter winter. When a squad goes out to investigate his story, they soon realize that the man survived his ordeal by killing and eating the people in his party, giving him an insatiable hunger for human flesh that comes along with otherworldly abilities. Although the film never found much financial success, Ravenous is easily one of the more underrated horror gems of the ’90s, featuring strong performances from Robert Carlyle and Guy Pearce, as well as a wonderful music score from Michael Nyman and Blur’s Damon Albarn. Also, Bird gave us an incredible final sequence that is one of the most grueling confrontations in any horror film in the last 20 years.

[H/T YouTube/ScreamFactoryTV]

American Psycho (2000) – Dir. Mary Harron

Who better to explore the ’80s epitome of excess and masculinity than a female director? Mary Harron channeled Christian Bale’s ferocity as Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street player by day and serial killer by night. An adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, American Psycho gave us an altogether new breed of psychopath in Bateman, as well as giving us a scene where a Batman murders a Joker set to Huey Lewis. The film still feels incredibly relevant as an exploration of the wealthy being able to get away with anything they want in a world more obsessed with what font you use on a business card than someone admitting to committing murders.

[H/T YouTube/ChiefBrodyRules]

American Mary (2012) – Dirs. Jen and Sylvia Soska

There has only been, and will ever be, one David Cronenberg, but if he doesn’t make movies often enough featuring disturbing body horror, the Soska Sisters gave us American Mary. A burgeoning surgical student realizes that it might be more profitable for her to explore the world of extreme body modification, performing unsanctioned surgeries in hopes of helping clients realize their ultimate selves. Their first feature, American Mary helped the Soskas gain a cult following which has led to directing See No Evil 2, a horror-based reality competition TV show, and ever writing comics for Marvel.

[H/T YouTube/UniversalMoviesINTL]

The Babadook (2014) – Dir. Jennifer Kent

With The Babadook, writer/director Jennifer Kent gave us one of the most terrifying monsters of the 2010s with Mr. Babadook, a mysterious monster who is seemingly unstoppable. Kent gave us an emotionally compelling story about how the grief can be more omnipresent and crippling than any other type of monster, featuring an astonishing performance by Essie Davis. It’s not understatement to say that Kent is one of the most promising filmmakers in all of horror of any gender.

[H/T YouTube/Movieclips Trailers]

The Invitation (2015) – Dir. Karyn Kusama

We’ve all been at dinner parties where we felt uncomfortable and were forced to have awkward conversations with people we didn’t know well, but hopefully we’ve never been to a dinner party like one in The Invitation. After a couple has disappeared for a few years, they return to their friend’s live and invite them all over for a dinner party to tell them about discovering a collective of people called “The Invitation,” which helped the couple deal with grief. The more people learn about The Invitation, the more mysterious it seems, and Kusama delivers a tense, gripping thriller that will leave you guessing right up until the end.

[H/T YouTube/Movieclips Film Festivals & Indie Films]

Raw (2016) – Dir. Julia Ducournau

Slated for release in March, the French Raw is sexy, stylish, and gruesome coming-of-age cannibal flick written and directed by Julia Ducournau. As a veterinary student forced to take part in a series of hazing rituals, Justine (Garance Marillier) has a strange reaction to eating meat after being a life-long vegetarian. For better or worse, Justine is never the same, as meat creates a terrifying hunger that she goes to extremes to satiate. Both the look of the film and the story itself is incredibly refreshing and is exactly the kind of movie the horror world needs now.