Top Ten Horror Features by Female, Trans, or Non-Binary Directors
by Gabrielle Reeder - a curation of horror films from the lens of female, trans, and nonbinary directors.
The male gaze over saturates horror. While some of the greatest horror films come from male directors, female, trans, and non-binary directors offer revitalizing insight into the genre awash with male voices. Non-male storytellers add a layer of deftness absent from male-directed horror pieces since the story comes from lived experience. Non-male or female characters in non-male directed films undergo deeper transformations, submitting authentic portrayals to film. The viewer witnesses fleshed-out characters as opposed to two-dimensional character sketches.
Encompassing French visionaries, Welsh storytellers, and superb auteurs, we’ve compiled a list of ten of the greatest horror films directed by female, trans, and non-binary voices.
List of Selected Films
Raw - Julia Ducournau (2017, United States)
We’re All Going to The World’s Fair - Jane Schoenbrun (2022, United States)
Censor - Prano-Bailey Bond (2021, United States)
Watcher - Chloe Okuno (2022, United States)
Bodies Bodies Bodies - Halina Reijn (2022, United States)
We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lynne Ramsay (2012, United States)
Saint Maud - Rose Glass (2020, United Kingdom)
XX - Roxanne Benjamin, Jovanka Vuckovic, Karyn Kusama, St. Vincent (2017, Canada)
The Babadook - Jennifer Kent (2014, United States)
Prevenge - Alice Lowe (2017, United States)
Raw
Julia Ducournau’s debut horror masterpiece, Raw, centers around vegetarian student Justine, an avid animal environmentalist and soon-to-be veterinarian, approaching her first days of veterinary school. When she arrives at university, her older sister, Alexia, greets her and invites her to join the hazing rituals. Initially, Justine refuses, sticking to her unwavering practice of vegetarianism; however, as hazing goes, Justine lasts a finite amount of time before she’s doused in blood and downing a gray rabbit kidney. After swallowing the animal organ, Justine’s hunger for flesh, of all kinds, awakens.
Raw presents an intimate glimpse into the journey from adolescence to adulthood and the beautiful concept of actualizing identity through jarring imagery and eerie visuals. Wisps of Ducournau’s voice permeates Justine’s dynamic character. Through her nuances, Ducournau grants the viewer a rare glimpse into a grossly misrepresented and exploited theme in cinema: female sexuality.
We’re All Going to The World’s Fair
This film serves as a love letter to creepypastas and the internet’s ability to safeguard those turning to it for an escape. Trans and non-binary director Jane Schoenbrun’s feature film adaptation focuses on friendless protagonist Casey and her desire to play the World’s Fair Challenge—a popular internet horror game claiming to change the experience and lives of players.
The World’s Fair grants a safe space for Casey, someone who isn’t quite sure where she belongs in the world or if she wants to stay. The film’s pacing plays with perception of reality, muddying truth and fantasy. As Casey leans farther and farther into the comforting hug of the game, we fall with her, unable to discern fact from fiction.
Schoenbrun spoke to the undercurrents of trans identity in this film: Accepting yourself in all veins: weird, beautiful, the unknown, and giving yourself room to escape to an atmosphere where your thoughts can exist sans body.
Watch We’re All Going to The World’s Fair on HBO MAX or Amazon Prime.
Censor
Prano-Bailey Bond’s Censor highlights the timeline of the 1980s British video nasties trend from the perspective of a censor that works with banned videos. Several hired individuals viewed content, deeming it offensive or harmful to the public. But, to censor something, someone is exposed. Right?
Censor’s protagonist, Enid, loves her job. She makes it her duty to rid the world of any offensive, harmful, and slightly garish content. After a gruesome crime occurs, the media claims the perpetrator drew inspiration from the approved film. Who approved the film but Enid? After this accusation, a filmmaker approaches Enid, asking her to view his upcoming film. The film unleashes many repressed memories about her sister’s disappearance, thus thrusting Enid into a frenzied search for her missing sister. Enid believes her sister is still alive; however, her parents don’t.
Censor begs a few arguments: does film influence murder and crime? Can we censor our own life to align with society’s standards? Who makes those choices?
Watch Censor on Hulu or Amazon Prime.
Watcher
Moving to a foreign country is terrifying, especially when you don’t speak a lick of the language. Maika Monroe stars in Chloe Okuno’s debut as Julia, a woman that moves to Romania in support of her partner Francis’ promotion. Francis spends most of his time away from the apartment, working long hours, leaving Julia to survive in a foreign country with little knowledge about her surroundings. When Francis does come home, she voices growing concern for her safety, claiming one of their neighbors watches her. Francis brushes off the concerns, gaslighting Julia for the majority of the film.
This slow-burn, psychological-horror film achieves mastery in its final moments. The ending shot flips the tried and tired male gaze, honing in on the female’s point of view, granting viewers a gratifying “screw-you.”
If a male directed Watcher, the film would be an on-the-nose, heavy-handed mess. Instead, we have a terrifying episode focused on everyday horrors women experience.
Watch Watcher on Hulu or Sling TV.
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Bodies Bodies Bodies exemplifies an expert take on the satirical slasher aimed at a Gen Z crowd. Director Halina Reijn knows her audience. The self-aware slasher spins the whodunit film into an expertly crafted black comedy. Bodies Bodies Bodies revolves around a group of wealthy 20-year-olds partying at a friend’s mansion during a thunderstorm. When a party-goer suggests playing Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and one of the lavish kids ends up dead, the group of friends turns on each other, trying to pinpoint the killer.
With commentary on cancel culture, the evolution of misused language: and racism, 2022 was the perfect year for this film to drop. The lighting in this film evokes the perfect ambiance you expect from an a24 art house film, and Rachel Sennott’s masterclass in comedy is worth the watch alone. Plus, the soundtrack features iconic electropop stars like Slayyyter and Charli XCX.
Watch Bodies Bodies Bodies on Vudu or Amazon Prime.
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Can mothers forgive their children? Lynne Ramsay’s chilling tale provides a mother’s lens toward their child. Tilda Swinton stars in this film as Eva, Kevin’s guilt-riddled, grieving mother.
Ezra Miller plays Kevin, a vile child who voices strong disdain toward his mother. The bulk of the film relies on flashbacks and retellings through the mother’s point of view, leading up to a tragedy led by Kevin, but the opening sequences showcase Eva’s neighbors expressing their resentment toward her and her son. The viewer learns later on what crime Kevin perpetrated, but the point of the film isn’t what he did. It’s how it affects his mother. We see Eva’s resilient battle with an ungrateful boy, causing us to wince at the aftermath of her son’s actions.
The cinematography is dark and dreary; even with sun-kissed frames, the film's tone never achieves a positive mood. I don’t think I smiled at all during my three viewings.
Watch We Need to Talk About Kevin on Tubi, Amazon Prime, or Peacock.
Saint Maud
Rose Glass’s Saint Maud recounts a story about home health aid, Maud, who realizes newfound religious potential while caring for her patients. Maud’s newest patient, a former actress named Amanda, admits she does not believe in God and fears the loneliness following Earthly existence. Maud views her confession as a sign from God, possessing her to save Amanda’s soul before she dies.
Maud’s descent into religious extremism costs her her profession and sanity, believing the only real thing in this world is the almighty God. After losing her job, Maud resorts to blasphemous activities, proving her worth in a disturbing nail visual. Saint Maud introduces the hardest-hitting final image in a horror film of the past ten years, burning a permanent picture in your brain.
Watch Saint Maud on Amazon Prime.Photo by Felix Mooneeram on Unsplash
XX
XX presents an original anthology from four fabulous female directors, Roxanne Benjamin, Jovanka Vuckovic, Karyn Kusama, and Annie Clark, or St. Vincent. My favorite XX short is Jovanka Vuckovic’s “The Box.” During an afternoon train ride, a man clad in an outfit repping Freddy Krueger’s closet clutches a small wooden box. A curious child questions the box's entrails, yet after seeing the contents, the boy ceases eating. His parents embark on an unyielding quest to discover what is in the box. This spine-tingling short evokes terror within the viewer while asking an important question, why is society obsessed with knowing the answer to every question?
XX’s other shorts, “The Birthday Party,” “Don’t Fall,” and “Her Only Living Son,” supply novel takes on satan, evil, possession, and the quirkiest seventh birthday party ever. Sofia Carrillo’s macabre stop-motion shorts interlace the four tales, elevating the anthology’s creep factor.
Watch XX on Amazon Prime or Vudu.
The Babadook
ennifer Kent’s The Babadook presents a touching tale of grief, complete with one of the most annoying kids in horror movie history. Amelia is a distressed widow tasked with raising her son, Sam, on her lonesome. Sam begins to grow violent, determined to defend himself against a monster. Amelia soothes Sam, promising monsters are fictitious. Soon, Sam implores Amelia to read a new bedtime story, one that she can’t remember purchasing or placing in his room. The titular character rises out of the confines of the book binds, following them, provoking the readers and testing their sanity. Sam grows increasingly scared of monsters, and Amelia continues to refute his worries.
Society equates femininity with motherhood. Kent’s masterpiece dismantles any optimistic beliefs about motherhood and questions the darker side of becoming a mom. Kent explores an avenue rarely discussed, remorse and regret about parenting.
The Babadook offers a look into the horrifying world of depression. What happens when you push it away, and what happens when you
acknowledge the disorder?
Watch The Babadook on Tubi, Amazon Prime, or Vudu.
Prevenge
Alice Lowe wrote, directed, and starred in Prevenge, a refreshing spin on the slasher genre. Prevenge follows a pregnant woman, Ruth, determined to kill those who mistreat her, led by none other than the human growing inside her. Lowe shot the film while in her third trimester, delivering a believable performance as opposed to those who “play” pregnant. Ruth’s partner died in a rock climbing accident the day she learned of the pregnancy. The nefarious unborn baby instructs her mother to seek revenge upon those who caused the father’s death or those who look at Ruth in a contemptuous manner. Prevenge succeeds in that it never takes itself too seriously. The baby’s voice matches that of a Spirit Halloween British animatronic, and most of the kills contain some comedic value.
Prevenge avoids submitting to the male gaze everpresent in slasher films, focusing on two fabulous final girls, Ruth and her child in utero, leading to the question, are pregnant people really in control of their bodies?
Watch Prevenge on Shudder or Amazon Prime.
Femme Finale
Non-male directors imbue films with tastes of veracity that male voices in the industry stray from, exploit, and misrepresent. Since horror is such an exploratory and inventive genre, the uptick in female and non-binary voices adds a layer of commentary to an area subjugated through male lenses and reinvigorates the expanding genre, urging its progression.
About Gabrielle Reed
Gabrielle Reeder is a St. Petersburg, Florida-based entertainment writer. She enjoys dissecting intersections within pop culture and analyzing films and music. When she isn't writing, you can find her at a music festival, at the movie theater, or solving a Rubik's cube.