Oh, the horror
Women are under-represented in most aspects of life except when it comes to the supernatural. From folklore to Hollywood, why are women mostly typecast as either the victim or the villain? Let’s take a Deep Dive.
👻 Picture a male ghost. Casper, right? Now, a female ghost... You’re probably imagining those creepy twins from The Shining or Samara crawling out of the TV.
🫣 From the Pontianak to Rusalka, ancient folklore is filled with spooky tales featuring vengeful and angry female ghosts, a trope that still resonates today.
☠️ The themes explored in scary movies often echo women’s realities, from the protective mother to women facing the horrors of an inequitable society.
🪓 Women in horror are subject to the male gaze and are easily disposable, as reflected by the “first girl” trope.
QUOTABLE
“The violence in the movie was really a way to take out all the violence that I felt within me. I felt the need to express all this regarding how you are seen and what your body looks like. You keep comparing yourself and evaluating your value based on that. And I said, ‘Okay, this is the right time for me to take the horror genre to express this violence.’”— Coralie Fargeat, director of The Substance, on using horror to portray the realities of ageing women
BY THE NUMBERS
43% A 2023 report showed that horror films boasted 43 per cent female leads, more than any other genre.
34.3% While adventure movies are the most popular genre in Hollywood, capturing 66.2 per cent of the box office revenue, horror movies raked in 34.3 per cent from 1995 to 2023 in the US and Canada.
$2.3 billion The Conjuring Universe, which features several female ghost characters, raked in US$2.2 billion in revenue.
QUIZ
Which of these horror movies featuring female leads as ghosts is based on a true story?
A. The Ring
B. The Woman in Black
C. The Conjuring
Scroll to the bottom for the answer.
DID YOU KNOW?
The concept of the woman in white originates from folklore across many cultures and often symbolises tragic loss or betrayal. In some traditions, she is a benevolent spirit, while in others, she is a harbinger of doom.
THE EDIT
🫠 Scream queens. From the fear of ageing to the demands of caregiving, a modern crop of intelligent horror movies highlights the inner demons and external threats women face today.
🫦 Weaponised sexuality. Sex and horror go hand-in-hand, leveraging popular tropes such as sexual shaming and rewarding the virgin. However, actresses like Mia Goth are using their sexuality to their advantage.
🦹 Chamber of horrors. From outspoken women to the threat of invasion, horror tales are said to mirror what we fear as a society.
THE FULL PICTURE
Horror films with male leads dominate the list of most profitable horror movies of all time, calculated based on the percentage return on their production budget.
KEY PLAYER
Jennifer Kent
Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook is a landmark psychological horror film that reframed the genre through a feminist lens. The film explores the monstrous nature of grief and the intense emotional burdens often placed on women, personified by the terrifying Babadook creature.
HONOUREE TO KNOW
Kenneth Dagatan
Horror filmmaker Kenneth Dagatan has won several awards for his movies including his 2015 directorial debut Sanctissima. His third feature, In My Mother’s Skin (2023), is the only non-English language and first Philippine horror film to screen in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival.
