The Best Horror Movies Directed by Women: 7 Essential Films to Watch
From Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark to Jane Schoenbrun's I Saw the TV Glow, these are the best horror films directed by women.
Women’s History Month felt like the right time to put together a list I’ve been meaning to publish for a while. Horror is one of those genres where female directors have quietly been doing some of the most interesting work in cinema, and of course, a lot of it doesn’t get the credit it deserves. These are seven movies directed by women that I think every horror fan needs to see - some classics, some hidden gems, and a couple recent enough that they might still be on your watch list.
What strikes me about these films the most is that I do not think a man could have directed any of them. Several of these movies deal with experiences that I will never fully understand, and yet they communicated those experiences to me in ways I couldn’t shake. That’s what great horror does best - it makes you think and evaluate your own perspectives.
1. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982) · Directed by Amy Holden Jones · Written by Rita Mae Brown
This is a prime example of a film that is amazing precisely because of who made it. The Slumber Party Massacre was directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown. Brown wrote the original screenplay as an explicit parody and satire of the slasher genre. The studio, doing studio things, had it shot as a straight slasher. And yet the original message of the script still bleeds through every frame.
The result is something genuinely strange and brilliant. This is a movie that functions perfectly well as a by-the-numbers 80s slasher. It has gratuitous nudity and gore, a drill-wielding maniac, and all the exploitation trappings you’d expect, while simultaneously operating as a feminist critique of all of it. The killer’s giant power drill is not subtle symbolism...
Whether you watch it as a fun, cheesy genre exercise or a knowing satire depends entirely on your mind set. Either way, it’s a blast, and its back story, two women at the helm of a Roger Corman production in 1982, makes it historically fascinating.
Where to watch: Shudder · Prime Video · Tubi (free) · Plex (free) · Pluto TV (free)
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
2. Near Dark (1987) · Written and Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow made an incredible vampire movie that still scares people all these years later. She might be the most successful female director in Hollywood history - including becoming the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Director, for The Hurt Locker - and Near Dark is the film that announced her arrival. You can see the threads of everything she’d go on to do right here: the tension, the brutality, and the ability to make something deeply uncomfortable feel completely cinematic.
The film stars an incredible ensemble cast of 80s legends including Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen, and Jenette Goldstein. It is basically the cast of Aliens relocated to the American Southwest (no complaints there) and the combination of western mythology and vampire horror is unlike anything else from the era. The cinematography is dark and gorgeous, the violence can be shocking, and the whole thing has a bit of a punk-rock, sun-scorched energy that feels completely fresh for the genre.
Near Dark is truly like a proof of concept for Bigelow’s entire career. She was always more interested in masculinity, violence, and moral ambiguity than she was in playing it safe, and this film, made in 1987, showed she could be tougher and more stylish than nearly anyone else working at the time. It is an unbelievable solo film debut that deserves far more attention.
Where to watch: Shudder
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
3. The Babadook (2014) · Directed by Jennifer Kent
This is one of the most chilling movies on this list, especially for the mothers out there. The grief, the trauma, the child who cannot get it together and is clearly disturbed by events in his life - its terrifying. All of the troubles are filtered through the lens of a paranormal entity that will absolutely give you nightmares. As an owner of one of the original Babadook pop-up books from the film (humble brag), this one holds a close place in my heart.
This is another debut feature film, and yet another masterpiece from director Jennifer Kent. The Babadook is one of the most precise and devastating portraits of grief and maternal exhaustion ever committed to film. Essie Davis gives a performance that is raw and hard to watch in the best possible way. Noah Wiseman plays her son, who many fans consider to be one of the most annoying characters in horror history. But that takes a special kind of performance to achieve as well. He was meant to be annoying and unbearable, and he nailed it. The horror is all terrifying on a surface level, but the real dread comes from watching a woman be slowly consumed by something she cannot name and cannot escape. I genuinely believe only a woman could have directed this film and made it work.
This was also one of the first films of what would become the “elevated horror” or “auteur horror” wave - the movement that gave us films like Hereditary, It Follows, The Witch, and a decade’s worth of horror that took the genre to new heights. Jennifer Kent helped kick all of that off.
Where to watch: Hulu · Shudder · AMC+ · Tubi (free) · Kanopy (free)
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
4. Jennifer’s Body (2009) · Directed by Karyn Kusama · Written by Diablo Cody
Karyn Kusama made a movie that was so far ahead of its time that it bombed at the box office and got dismissed as a dumb Megan Fox horror comedy. But slowly, over the next 15 years, it has gained the cult status it always deserved. This film is one of the most misunderstood studio horror movies of the 2000s, and I am always happy to see viewers re-assessing and re-discovering its genius.
It is a slasher movie, a dark romantic comedy, a high school party movie, and above all else a deeply gory horror film with a lot on its mind. The themes are heavier than the surface of the film lets on, about how women deal with exploitation, male attention, the predatory music industry, and beauty standards. These themes are all delivered through the language of a cheerleader-turned-demon, and somehow, it works. The cast alone is stacked, featuring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Kyle Gallner, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Johnny Simmons, and Chris Pratt. And best of all, the storytelling is fast and funny in the way that Diablo Cody scripts always are.
It bombed because it was made for women, by women, and marketed by men to other men who didn’t get it. This is another one where the female authorship is essential. Kusama and Cody understood exactly what they were doing, even if studio execs did not, and you need a woman behind the camera to make it read correctly.
Where to watch: Starz · Philo
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
5. Censor (2021) · Written and Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond
This is one of my favorite hidden gem horror movies that I love to pull out as a recommendation. Censor follows a woman named Enid who works for the British Board of Film Classification in the 1980s, right in the middle of the “video nasties” craze. The “video nasties” came from the moral panic around gory VHS horror films (think Evil Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacfe) that led to mass bans and even arrest and prosecutions in Thatcher-era Britain. It is a genuinely fascinating piece of film and cultural history, and the way Prano Bailey-Bond works the censorship of horror movies and the making of these grimy b-movies into its own horror film is perfectly meta and appealing to hardcore genre fans like myself.
The visuals in this movie are completely mesmerizing. Bailey-Bond shot the film with 80s period texture, moving between the beige world of the censors’ office and the colorful grain of the exploitation films Enid reviews. As Enid begins to lose her grip on reality, those worlds bleed into each other in ways that are deeply unsettling. Niamh Algar is extraordinary in the lead role, going through a wide range of emotions and intense situations throughout the film.
The story takes twists and turns right up to the final scene, and the ending is one of those genuinely “what did I just watch” moments you’ll be thinking about for days. What’s real? What isn’t? We may never know. But I know that Censor kicks ass.
Where to watch: Shudder · fuboTV · Kanopy (free) · Hoopla (free)
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
6. I Saw the TV Glow (2024) · Written and Directed by Jane Schoenbrun
Jane Schoenbrun made one of the most chilling movies I have ever seen with I Saw The TV Glow. I don’t know that I will ever fully understand the trans experience as a straight man, but this film felt like it explained it better than any other piece of media I’ve encountered. It communicates something about the terror of not being able to inhabit your own body in a way that goes straight past anything words can do and hits you right in the soul with pure feeling.
The scenes at the end with Justice Smith absolutely wrecked me. It’s heartbreaking and terrifying, but not in the way you would expect. The scares come from the reality and weight of the situation. It shakes you with an empathetic guilt from knowing there are many others who feel the same way as Smith’s character, and are stuck.
The way Schoenbrun weaves a Goosebumps/Are You Afraid of the Dark-era supernatural TV show into the story is a lot of fun for genre fans who grew up in the 90s. That aesthetic hits a very specific nostalgia, and watching it get slowly corrupted and distorted is deeply effective for viewers of the right age. The practical effects are awesome, the score is incredible, and the whole thing is visually unlike anything else.
This is a slow burn with a lot of metaphor and a lot of ambiguity, and I understand it’s not for everyone. But if it connects with you, it will feel like a gut punch you didn’t see coming. Schoenbrun is one of the most distinctive voices in American cinema right now and I am very excited for whatever she does next.
Where to watch: Prime Video · Max · Kanopy (free) · Hoopla (free) · Plex (free)
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
7. Watcher (2022) · Directed by Chloe Okuno
Chloe Okuno made one of the best serial killer mysteries I’ve seen in some time with Watcher. Think Rear Window meets Silence of the Lambs - high praise, but it earns it. As a man, this film made me genuinely better understand the constant fear that women navigate in the world, and that alone makes it essential viewing.
The setup is straightforward and simple: Julia moves to Bucharest with her husband for his job, becomes isolated by a language barrier and new country, and begins to notice a man in the apartment across the street who seems to be watching her. Is he following her? Is he a creep? Is he a killer? Or is he just an odd guy who happens to live nearby? The film forces you to sit with that ambiguity - the same ambiguity that women live with every single day - and it is genuinely frightening in a way that’s hard to articulate. It’s something I thankfully do not have to think about in my day-to-day life, and Watcher made that gap in my experience very clear.
Maika Monroe is absolutely incredible here. She is a true horror legend at this point, between this film, It Follows, The Guest, and Longlegs. Do not sleep on this one - an you may not sleep after watching it either.
Where to watch: Netflix · Shudder · AMC+
Find all streaming options at JustWatch
Women in horror are doing some of the best work in the genre right now. After being shut out for so many years in Hollywood, regardless of the genre, it does seem like the horror world has been more welcoming and open to these stories, and I am glad they are. Don’t miss any of the films on this list, and please add more recommendations in the comments! And to all my women readers - happy Women’s History Month! I hope we get many more additions to this list in the future.
Thanks for the recs, Jeff! Particularly intrigued by Censor 👀
Great topic! I appreciate you putting a spotlight on female directors. All the more so for horror. And you're right that these movies clearly have a different perspective than well-known, male-directed horror films. Which shows the value of having a diversity of perspectives behind the camera and/or script.