31 Essential Horror Movies Directed by Women
Featuring films by Julia Ducournau, Coralie Fargeat, and Zoë Kravitz
by Alex Kaan & Lana Thorn 26 October 2026
Oscilloscope Laboratories
As October 31st approaches, we’ve gathered 31 women-directed horror movies to consider for your Halloween watch party. From queer horror comedies (Jennifer’s Body) to wince-inducing body horror (The Substance), from cult satires (American Psycho) to Southern Gothic horror dramas (Eve’s Bayou), we have something for everyone this spooky season.
Note: We’ve capped it at one entry per director to feature as much of a variety as possible.
Jennifer’s Body (Karyn Kusama)
20th Century Studios
Atmospheric, hilarious, and chock-full of one-liners (“You’re killing people?” “No, I’m killing boys”), this Diablo Cody-penned queer horror cult classic follows the fraught relationship between a popular girl (Megan Fox) and her bookworm best friend (Amanda Seyfried) as the former is possessed by a bloodthirsty demon.
The Substance (Coralie Fargeat)
MUBI
Winning Best Screenplay at Cannes and opening up the conversation around horror cinema’s historic exclusion from awards season, this French body horror feminist satire of ageism and beauty standards follows a fading celebrity (Demi Moore) who uses a black market drug to transform into a younger, “perfect” version of herself (Margaret Qualley).
American Psycho (Mary Harron)
Lionsgate
Ironically beloved by certain male viewers who ignore the social commentary, this darkly funny psychological horror satire of 80s yuppie culture saw feminist filmmaker Mary Harron turn Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel into a cult film with a sensational lead performance from Christian Bale as the now-notorious Patrick Bateman.
Huesera: The Bone Woman (Michelle Garza Cervera)
XYZ Films
In this queer Mexican body horror film, the pregnant Valeria (Natalia Solián) must navigate familial expectations, buried desires, and increasingly disturbing visions of a faceless woman whose body makes loud, bone-cracking noises.
The Ugly Stepsister (Emilie Blichfeldt)
IFC and Shudder
Complete with gruesome, Oscar-nominated SFX, this Norwegian satirical body horror reframes the classic Cinderella tale around one of her stepsisters (Lea Myren) as she subjects herself to increasingly grotesque cosmetic procedures to catch the eye of a handsome prince.
The Babadook (Jennifer Kent)
Umbrella Entertainment
When a widowed single mother (Essie Davis) reads her son (Noah Wiseman) a mysterious pop-up book about a “Mister Babadook”, the horrific monster from the pages begins to haunt their home. This Australian psychological thriller is an early, essential entry in the wave of 2010s elevated horror.
Lisa Frankenstein (Zelda Williams)
Focus Features
Marking writer Diablo Cody’s return to horror comedies after Jennifer’s Body, this 1980s-set Gothic romance plays like a lost Tim Burton movie and pairs a misunderstood high schooler (scream queen Kathryn Newton) with a reanimated Victorian-era corpse (Cole Sprouse) as they embark on a star-crossed killing spree.
Eve’s Bayou (Kasi Lemmons)
Trimark Pictures
The most successful indie film of 1997, this hazy Southern Gothic horror drama follows a family filled with secrets and hoodoo spells. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Lynn Whitfield, it was selected in 2018 by the Library of Congress for preservation in the US National Film Registry.
The Velvet Vampire (Stephanie Rothman)
New World Pictures
This cult 1971 erotic horror film sees a married couple (Michael Blodgett and Sherry Miles) accept an invitation from a mysterious woman (Celeste Yarnall) to visit her secluded desert estate. Unaware that their host is a bloodsucker, they soon realise they are both the objects of her seduction.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Nia DaCosta)
Sony Pictures Releasing
Picking up right where Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later left off, this post-apocalyptic horror film follows young Spike (Alfie Williams) as he is indoctrinated into a satanic cult led by Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), while Ralph Fiennes’ Dr. Kelson strikes up a strange friendship with one of the infected.
The Lure (Agnieszka Smoczyńska)
Janus Films
Reworking “The Little Mermaid” into an 80s-set horror musical, this Polish film follows two carnivorous mermaid sisters who begin performing a sing-and-strip act at a nightclub, but they face a series of bloody choices when one of them falls in love with a young man.
Helter Skelter (Mika Ninagawa)
Asmik Ace Entertainment
Adapted from the manga of the same name, this Japanese psychological body horror tells the story of a top model (Erika Sawajiri) who undergoes a series of illegal plastic surgeries to achieve her dream body. But a series of disturbing side effects threaten to unravel her perfect life.
Titane (Julia Ducournau)
NEON
After an accident leaves her with a titanium plate in her head, Alexia (Agathe Rousselle) becomes a murderous car model with an erotic obsession with automobiles worthy of James Spader’s in Cronenberg’s Crash. The French body horror film won the 2021 Palme d’Or at Cannes.
The Serpent’s Skin (Alice Maio Mackay)
Dark Star Pictures
A witchy sapphic horror film in the mould of a 90s TV pilot, The Serpent’s Skin is as indebted to the early films of Gregg Araki as it is to Buffy. This sixth feature from trans horror auteur Alice Maio Mackay sees a young woman (Alexandra McVicker) develop dangerous supernatural abilities—powers that she shares with her mysterious love interest (Avalon Fast).
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour)
Kino Lorber
Billed as “the first Iranian vampire Western” and shot in black and white, this feminist noir follows a chador-wearing, skateboarding bloodsucker (Sheila Vand), known only as “The Girl”, through the desolate “Bad City” as she preys on malicious men.
The First Omen (Arkasha Stevenson)
20th Century Studios
In 1971, an American nun (Nell Tiger Free) travels to a Catholic orphanage in Rome, where she uncovers a conspiracy about the birth of the Antichrist. The feature debut from Arkasha Stevenson, who next has an A24 vampire thriller lined up with Hunter Schafer, delivers a brutal prequel to horror classic The Omen.
Forbidden Fruits (Meredith Alloway)
IFC and Shudder
Putting a witchy spin on cult classics like Heathers and Jawbreaker, this horror comedy from producer Diablo Cody (Jennifer’s Body) follows a fashionable coven (Lili Reinhart, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp) whose bond is tested by the arrival of a new member (Lola Tung).
Ghostwatch (Lesley Manning)
BBC
On Halloween night, 1992, BBC1 broadcast this British supernatural horror film, a pseudo-documentary investigating a threat inspired by the Enfield Poltergeist, and presented it as live television. It frightened 11 million viewers and prompted 30,000 of the most distressed to call the BBC in anger.
The Slumber Party Massacre (Amy Holden Jones)
New World Pictures
Conceived as a parody of the slasher genre by feminist author Rita Mae Brown but played relatively seriously, the cult 1982 film follows a high school slumber party disrupted by a power drill-wielding killer.
Pet Sematary (Mary Lambert)
Paramount Pictures
The first adaptation of Stephen King’s 1983 novel of the same name, this 1989 supernatural horror classic follows a doctor who moves his family to a rural Maine home. When their cat is accidentally killed, they bury it in a mysterious cemetery, an act that brings their pet back to life but with disastrous side effects.
Atlantics (Mati Diop)
Netflix
In this ghostly supernatural romance, young Ada (Mame Bineta Sane), who is arranged to marry a rich man (Babacar Sylla), is crushed when her true love (Ibrahima Traoré) goes missing at Sea during a migration attempt. But otherworldly forces will help them reunite.
Watcher (Chloe Okuno)
IFC
Scream queen Maika Monroe stars as Julia, a young woman who moves to Bucharest with her partner. Disturbed by stories of a local serial killer known as the Spider, she starts to suspect she has become the target of a sinister voyeur (Burn Gorman) watching her from across the street.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (Halina Reijn)
A24
On a stormy night at a secluded mansion, a murder in the dark-style party game spirals out of control when the players suspect a real killer may be at large. This queer horror comedy satirising Gen Z features Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Pete Davidson, and Lee Pace.
Goodnight Mommy (Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala)
Radius-TWC
In a remote house in the heat of an idyllic summer, a mother returns to her 10-year-old twin sons after undergoing cosmetic facial surgery. Acting strangely, and with only her eyes and mouth visible beneath the bandages, the boys begin to suspect the woman is not their real mother in this Austrian psychological horror film.
Love Lies Bleeding (Rose Glass)
A24
A genre-bending film if ever there was one, Rose Glass’ surreal horror crime thriller follows a reclusive gym manager (Kristen Stewart) and an ambitious bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) who get wrapped up in a Bonnie and Clyde-style romance after a grisly murder.
The Love Witch (Anna Biller)
Oscilloscope Laboratories
Shot on 35mm, this 2016 tribute to 1960s horror and Technicolour films follows a modern-day witch (Samantha Robinson) who uses spells to make men fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
Blink Twice (Zoë Kravitz)
Amazon MGM Studios
In this harrowing psychological horror film, a waitress and aspiring artist (Naomi Ackie) is invited to a billionaire tech mogul’s (Channing Tatum) private island, where bizarre occurrences and strange lapses in memory lead her to suspect something sinister may be afoot. Adria Arjona, Christian Slater, and Kyle MacLachlan also star.
Queens of the Dead (Tina Romero)
IFC and Shudder
Directed by the daughter of Night of the Living Dead director George A. Romero, this queer spin on the zombie genre follows a ragtag group of drag queens and club kids who must put aside their differences to survive a zombie apocalypse. Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding) and Jack Haven (Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma) star.
Dead Lover (Grace Glowicki)
Lightbulb Film Distribution
A Sundance indie darling that reimagines Frankenstein through a blend of German expressionism and Monty Python, this horror comedy is a charmingly off-centre love story about a gravedigger’s ill-begotten attempt to resurrect her dream man.
American Mary (Jen and Sylvia Soska)
IndustryWorks Pictures
This cult body horror film sees scream queen Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) play a young med student drawn deeper and deeper into the underground world of extreme body modification.
Your Monster (Caroline Lindy)
Vertical
After a devastating breakup, a theatre actor (Melissa Barrera of the Scream franchise) moves back into her childhood home to wallow in self-pity, only to find a real-life monster in her closet (Tommy Dewey). As he helps her get back on her feet, the pair start to fall for each other in this horror rom-com spin on Beauty and the Beast.