You may have seen more horror movies directed by women than you even realize. While many of the best horror movies are anchored by a great lead performance from a female actor – such as Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween or Neve Campbell in Scream – female horror movie directors have rarely received the credit they deserve over the years, with “horror auteur” more often attributed to men like John Carpenter or the late Wes Craven.
Luckily, as female filmmakers have become more prevalent and acclaimed in the industry, so have female horror auteurs, such as Coralie Fargeat, whose latest film, The Substance, is being called one of 2024’s best movies. In that regard, let’s begin our celebration of the most esteemed macabre masterpieces by the most talented horror movie Scream Queens from behind the camera by revisiting the French director’s feature debut.
Revenge (2018)
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Starring: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens
What it’s about: A young woman sets out to violently retaliate against her married boyfriend and his hunting buddies after they leave her for dead in the Moroccan desert.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: The aptly titled Revenge (also available with a Shudder subscription) is easily one of the best revenge movies in recent memory for Coralie Fargeat’s brilliantly unique use of the wild thriller’s subtextual themes.
How to watch Revenge
American Psycho (2000)
Director: Mary Harron
Starring: Christian Bale, Chloë Sevigny
What it’s about: A successful yuppie begins to succumb to his homicidal tendencies in 1980s Manhattan.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Mary Harron brings a distinctly cheeky and endlessly fascinating flavor to her brutal adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, American Psycho, which is an indictment on toxic masculinity way ahead of its time.
How to watch American Psycho
- Stream American Psycho on Netflix
- Rent or buy American Psycho on Amazon
- Buy American Psycho on Blu-ray on Amazon
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Director: Halina Reijn
Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova
What it’s about: A group of twenty-somethings try to figure out who among them is a murderer when one of them mysteriously turns up dead.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: With her second directorial effort, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Halina Reijn turned out one of the best A24 horror movies for its bold Gen-Z satire and clever whodunnit reinventions.
How to watch Bodies Bodies Bodies
- Stream Bodies Bodies Bodies on Paramount+ with Showtime add-on
- Rent or buy Bodies Bodies Bodies on Amazon
- Buy Bodies Bodies Bodies on Blu-ray on Amazon
Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)
Director: Michelle Garza Cervera
Starring: Natalia Solián, Alfonso Dosal
What it’s about: A woman’s dream of getting pregnant comes true, only to curdle into an inexplicable nightmare.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Michelle Garza Cervera (who also co-writes) mixes a real Mexican folklore legend with profound themes of parenthood and sexual identity to craft her intense Spanish-language thriller, Huesera: The Bone Woman.
How to watch Huesera: The Bone Woman
The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
Director: Amy Holden Jones
Starring: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille
What it’s about: A group of high school girls stalked by a power-drill wielding, escaped maniac during a suburban sleepover.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Based on the title alone, The Slumber Party Massacre sounds like just another trashy B-movie, but is lauded today as one of the greatest ‘80s slasher movies for Amy Holden Jones’ commentary on female representation in the horror genre at the time.
How to watch The Slumber Party Massacre
- Stream The Slumber Party Massacre on Amazon Prime
- Buy The Slumber Party Massacre on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Babadook (2014)
Director: Jennifer Kent
Starring: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman
What it’s about: A widowed single mother suspects that a character from her son’s pop-up book is real and poses a dangerous threat to them.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Australian writer and director Jennifer Kent’s bleak, relentlessly unnerving feature-length debut, The Babadook, is one of the best horror movies to address grief, as metaphorically represented by its ominous, titular villain.
How to watch The Babadook
- Stream The Babadook on Netflix
- Rent or buy The Babadook on Amazon
- Buy The Babadook on Blu-ray on Amazon
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried
What it’s about: A meek high school student discovers that a satanic ritual turned her popular best friend into a man-eating succubus.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Another horror flick with overlooked nuanced commentary is director Karyn Kusama and Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody’s Jennifer’s Body – one of the best Megan Fox movies for its poignant analysis of teen sexualization and demonizing social politics in high school.
How to watch Jennifer’s Body
- Stream Jennifer’s Body on Hulu
- Stream Jennifer’s Body on Peacock
- Stream Jennifer’s Body on Paramount+
- Rent or buy Jennifer’s Body on Amazon
- Buy Jennifer’s Body on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Invitation (2015)
Director: Karyn Kusama
Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Emayatzy Corinealdi
What it’s about: While attending a dinner party hosted by his ex-wife and her new boyfriend, a man begins to have haunting suspicions of the gathering’s true purpose.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: A more disturbing and earnest thriller from director Karyn Kusama is The Invitation – a masterpiece of slow-burn horror that keeps the tension high all the way to its gut-punch ending.
How to watch The Invitation
- Stream The Invitation on Amazon Prime
- Stream The Invitation on Tubi
- Buy The Invitation on Blu-ray on Amazon
XX (2017)
Director: Jovanka Vuckovic, Annie Clark, Roxanne Benjamin, Karyn Kusama
Starring: Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey
What it’s about: A couple grows concerned when their son refuses to eat, a woman tries to hide her husband’s corpse on the day of her daughter’s birthday, and other strange and scary tales.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Karyn Kusama also wrote and directed "Her Only Living Son" from XX – the horror anthology movie exclusively featuring segments helmed by women, including Jovanka Vucokovic’s "The Box), Roxanne Benjamin’s "Don't Fall", and Annie “St. Vincent” Clark’s "The Birthday Cake."
How to watch XX
Saint Maud (2020)
Director: Rose Glass
Starring: Morfydd Clark, Jennifer Ehle
What it’s about: A Welsh former nurse and devout Catholic believes God has chosen her to rescue a terminally ill dancer from damnation.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Rose Glass (who later made another great A24 movie with Love Lies Bleeding) brilliantly toys with your expectations of whether or not our titular hero is truly the saint she strives to be until the startling final moment of one of the best horror movies on Amazon Prime, Saint Maud.
How to watch Saint Maud
Candyman (2021)
Director: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris
What it’s about: A Chicago-based artist becomes dangerously obsessed with an infamous urban legend.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Much like the 1992 Clive Barker adaptation of the same name that proceeds it, Candyman is a profound example of the powerful social commentary that horror is capable of, thanks in part to the entrancing visual style of director Nia DaCosta.
How to watch Candyman
Fresh (2022)
Director: Mimi Cave
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sebastian Stan
What it’s about: A woman thinks she has finally found the man of her dreams, until his true intentions for her are revealed.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: One of the best horror movies on Hulu is Fresh – writer Lauryn Kahn’s brilliant modern dating commentary that Mimi Cave makes into a dazzling, intense, and even surprisingly tasteful visual feast once it evolves into a nightmare.
How to watch Fresh
Raw (2016)
Director: Julia Ducournau
Starring: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf
What it’s about: A veterinary student’s strictly vegetarian diet is challenged when she begins to develop a strange, new appetite.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: If you enjoyed Fresh, but were hoping for something a little less reserved in its graphic nature, try Raw – French filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s feature-length debut, which proved she is a master of the surreal.
How to watch Raw
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (2014)
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
Starring: Arash Marandi, Sheila Vand
What it’s about: A romance begins to blossom between an emotionally troubled young man and a mysterious woman hiding an unusual and deadly secret in a small, Iranian town.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Shot in black and white, Ana Lily Amirpour’s feature-length debut from 2014, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, is one of the most unique vampire movies ever made, for its amusing contrast between its quiet tone and grounded story elements with startling instances of classic horror elements.
How to watch A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
- Rent or buy A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night on Amazon
- Buy A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night on Blu-ray on Amazon
Near Dark (1987)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Adrian Pasdar, Jenny Wright
What it’s about: A troubled man from a small town crosses paths with a beautiful woman who belongs to a traveling group of bloodsuckers.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: If you enjoyed A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night but were hoping for something a bit bloodier and more action-packed, try Near Dark – the wild, punk rock vampire tale that put Kathryn Bigelow on the map years before she became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker.
How to watch Near Dark
Pet Sematary (1989)
Director: Mary Lambert
Starring: Dale Midkiff, Fred Gwynne
What it’s about: A doctor and family man is seduced by the death-defying power of a Native American burial ground close to his new home.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Following a career mostly in directing music videos, Mary Lambert made her feature debut with the 1989 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, which is considered one of the best films based on the author’s work, for its strong take on themes of grief and even its campy moments.
How to watch Pet Sematary
The Fear Street Trilogy (2021)
Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Sadie Sink
What it’s about: A group of teens race against time to uncover the dark secrets plaguing their town in order to break a deadly curse.
Why it is one of the best horror movies from a female director: Leigh Janiak’s triple feature loosely inspired by Goosebumps author R.L. Stine’s young adult series, Fear Street, makes up some of the best horror movies on Netflix, by spanning different time periods and styles of classic horror filmmaking in a thoroughly entertaining fashion.
How to watch the Fear Street trilogy
With how many strong thrillers focus heavily on female characters (whether it is from the perspective of a heroic Scream Queen or a female horror villain), women have a special – if not better – understanding of the genre than even some of the greatest male horror filmmakers ever. So it really should come as no surprise that women were at the helm of so many classic favorites and recent hidden gems.
