Top 10 Woman-Directed Horror Films

February is “Women in Horror” month and we’re celebrating with a list of my 10 favorite horror films directed by women. Although there have been prominent women in filmmaking throughout the industry’s history, the occasions have been unfortunately rare. It’s becoming a bit more common, but we’ve got a long way to go in terms of providing avenues for and promoting unique voices in the genre. These fresh perspectives are helping horror — which already allows great latitude in subject matter and approach — evolve further. The movies discussed here are some of my favorite and most original, and often groundbreaking, in the scene. Active women horror filmmakers like Karyn Kusama, Claire Denis, Jennifer Kent, Coralie Fargeat, Ana Lily Amirpour, Jill Gevargizian, Natasha Kermani, Brea Grant, Jenn Wexler, Issa Lopez, Alice Lowe, Leigh Janiak, Romola Garai, and others are a promising crop whose future work is definitely worth following. I feel like I should acknowledge a few obvious omissions from this list, such as Near Dark (dir: Kathryn Bigelow), which I haven’t seen because I’m a poser, and The Babadook (dir: Jennifer Kent) and American Psycho (dir: Mary Harron), of which I’m just not a huge fan.

10. The Velvet Vampire (1971; dir: Stephanie Rothman)

Although Rothman’s sensual vampire tale perhaps isn’t as successful as some of the others from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, it’s a compelling American film with European flavor, with a stunning lead in Celeste Yarnall. Rothman, best known for The Student Nurses (1970), helmed this under Roger Corman, which makes its somewhat tasteful arthouse leanings and subtlety sort of a minor miracle.

9. In My Skin (2002; dir: Marina de Van)

This is the first French movie on this list to feature the consumption of human flesh, but it ain’t the last. Marina de Van wrote, directed, and starred in this film about a woman who becomes fascinated with her own skin after an injury, eventually leading to increasingly devastating acts of self-mutilation and cannibalism. It’s a harrowing, nihilistic film that sticks with you long after the credits.

8. Raw (2016; dir: Julia Ducournau)

Another French film, Raw has a lot in common with the country’s horror boom in the early 2000s, although it’s not quite as brutal as its forebears. Ms. Ducournau adorns the at-times grisly film with a very empathetic coming-of-age framing that almost makes you forget it’s about cannibalism. The film posits eating another person as an intimate act of love, a concept that may have been inspired by another French movie on this list.

7. Pet Sematary (1989; dir: Mary Lambert)

Mary Lambert, who took over directing duties after George A. Romero had to drop out of production, has the honor of having made one of the better Stephen King adaptations of the ‘80s. So many elements of the film are part of the horror lexicon now and Lambert does a great job of building suspense despite literally everyone knowing that Judd is gonna fuck things up.

6. The Invitation (2015; dir: Karyn Kusama)

Kusama’s first horror flick, Jennifer’s Body (2009), was kind of a misunderstood flop when it first came out and has since been critically re-evaluated for its portrayal of strong female characters. But her follow-up is a much more assured and rounded film. The Invitation is an incredibly tense yet emotive and fair examination of the lengths parents go to in mourning the death of a child.

5. The Slumber Party Massacre (1982; dir: Amy Holden Jones)

Although what makes it onscreen is probably not as feminist as the screenwriter (Rita Mae Brown) and director may have wanted (it was produced by Roger Corman, after all), The Slumber Party Massacre is still a great ‘80s slasher that subverts many of the expectations we have for this kind of movie while delivering on the gore and T&A typical for these flicks — and does it much better than most films it’s lampooning.

4. The Love Witch (2016; dir: Anna Biller)

Anna Biller’s love letter to early Hollywood and European horror of the ‘60s and ‘70s and feminist critique is one of the most singular productions of the 2000s. Though not entirely horror, there are definite nods to the genre and its overall uniqueness makes it completely unforgettable. And moreso than every other movie on this list, it’s entirely the product of its creator, who was directly involved in almost every aspect of production.

3. Trouble Every Day (2001; dir: Claire Denis)

Well, here we are again: Another French film about eating human flesh directed by a French woman. Like Raw, Claire Denis’ arthouse masterpiece theorizes that cannibalism and love are both acts of intimacy that can’t necessarily be separated. Trouble Every Day also helped usher in the New French Extremity movement that put the country square in the horror spotlight and helped expose the world to Béatrice Dalle, an absolutely unique screen presence.

2. Ravenous (1999; dir: Antonia Bird)

This Western expansion-set cannibal film was such a weird thing to be released when it was. As a result, it hasn’t gotten as much recognition as it should for its masterful concoction of surrealism, absurd comedy, atmospherics, allegory, and suspense. Although Bird wasn’t the original director (or even the first replacement), she ended up with a beautifully crafted product, one of the very best to emerge from the ‘90s.

1. Messiah of Evil (1973; co-dir: Gloria Katz)

Gloria Katz is only one-half of the creative team behind this wonderfully eerie Lovecraftian vampire flick (along with partner Willard Huyck), but she had a very strong hand in crafting its atmospheric dread. She apparently doesn’t think very fondly of it in retrospect, but that’s okay — it does understated terror better than so many other, higher-profile films.