Horror is my favorite movie genre, so obviously, October gives me an excuse to watch even more of it than usual. I’ve always found it interesting how many memorable horror movies have women at the center of them. For Halloween this year, I decided to rewatch seven female-led horror movies in seven days. I had already watched all of them before, but I wanted to see what I would notice about the women when I watched the movies back-to-back. Since I was starting with a movie from 1968 and ending with one from 2019, I was also curious to see how women in horror have changed for over 50 years. Movie spoilers ahead!
Day 1: Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Starting the week with Rosemary’s Baby was kind of sad, though its unique premise fascinates me. Rosemary Woodhouse moves to an apartment in New York with her husband, Guy, and becomes close with her older neighbors, the Castevets. Once Rosemary gets pregnant, things get weird. She experiences terrible pain and drastic weight loss, among other symptoms, but Guy and her doctor dismiss her worries as though everything is completely normal. The Castevets are acting suspiciously too, and Rosemary eventually figures out why: they are part of a Satanic coven that plans to use her to give birth to Satan’s son. Even worse, Guy has been helping them because they promised to make him a successful actor.
What bothered me the most about this movie was seeing how little control Rosemary had over her own pregnancy. Even when she manages to find another doctor, he doesn’t believe her and calls Guy to come get her. I kept wishing she would stand up for herself sooner, but it’s hard to blame her when everyone around her keeps making her doubt herself. Unlike other female protagonists in modern horror movies, Rosemary never gets the chance to fight back. I think that’s what makes her story so upsetting. She’s surrounded by people she trusts, but they’re the ones putting her in danger, and there’s almost nothing she can do about it.
Day 2: Halloween (1978)
I was really excited for night two because Halloween is one of those movies I can watch over and over without getting bored, even though I know exactly what happens. I also think the music is incredible.
Laurie Strode is a high school student who’s very intelligent and generally more responsible than her friends. During the course of a normal day, she begins to notice a strange individual following her around town. This man is Michael Myers. He killed his older sister at age 6 back in 1963 and has recently escaped from a psychiatric hospital to threaten his hometown. At first, Laurie has no clue who this man is or why he continues to appear. Later that evening, she babysits Tommy Doyle and eventually Lindsey Wallace while Michael goes after her friends.
After Laurie discovers her friends’ bodies, Michael comes after her too. I’ve always liked how visibly afraid she is throughout the rest of the movie, yet she somehow manages to think rationally. She fights Michael with whatever she can find while trying to keep the children safe. What I especially appreciate about Laurie is that the qualities we see in her at the beginning become essential to her survival. She’s incredibly resourceful, considering she has no experience defending herself against someone like Michael. I’ve watched Halloween many times, but I still find myself so engrossed in the movie that I root for her survival even though I already know she does make it.
Day 3: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
After Halloween, I watched A Nightmare on Elm Street, which probably depicts one of the most frightening circumstances to find yourself in. I mean, how do you protect yourself from somebody that kills you in your sleep? Nancy Thompson and her friends begin to have nightmares about Freddy Krueger, a burned man with blades on his gloves. Initially, none of them understand exactly what is happening. But after her friends are murdered while asleep, Nancy discovers that Freddy was a child murderer who was burned alive by a group of parents, including her own. Now, he has returned to kill their children through their dreams.
I recalled liking Nancy, but I think I liked her even more during this viewing. She actually pays attention to what’s happening and starts figuring things out on her own. Upon realizing that she can remove objects from her dreams and bring them into the physical world, Nancy decides to do exactly that with Freddy. She even sets up traps around her house before doing it, which I love. I found it frustrating that the adults around her knew about Freddy’s past but still wouldn’t take her seriously. What I liked most about Nancy was that she didn’t just keep running away from Freddy. She actually came up with a plan to confront him, and I can definitely see why she’s considered one of the smartest “final girls” in horror.
Day 4: The Craft (1996)
By day four, I got a break from watching a woman get chased around by a man trying to kill her. Sort of. The Craft follows Sarah Bailey after she moves to Los Angeles and becomes friends with Nancy, Bonnie, and Rochelle. The three girls practice witchcraft and think Sarah could be the fourth person they need for their coven; once Sarah joins them, their spells start actually working. At first, they use magic to change things in their lives, but it doesn’t stay harmless for long. Nancy becomes increasingly violent, and Sarah eventually realizes that the power they were so excited to have can actually be dangerous.
Sarah notices Nancy has gone too far, and by then, the same girls who were her friends turn against her and begin using their magic to terrorize her. Now she has to figure out how to defend herself from the same people she learned witchcraft with. I think The Craft was probably the most interesting movie in the lineup because Sarah isn’t completely helpless against the people threatening her. She has powers of her own and isn’t afraid to use them when she needs to. I was a little disappointed to see her friendships fall apart, especially since she seemed happy to have finally found a group she belonged to. Still, I loved watching her stand up for herself. Plus, I’m a huge fan of the whole ‘90s witchy vibe, so I enjoyed rewatching this one even when things got completely out of hand.
Day 5: Hush (2016)
I already knew what would happen in Hush, and it still stressed me out. Maddie Young is a deaf-mute writer who lives alone in the woods. One night, a masked man kills her neighbor outside her house and realizes Maddie can’t hear him. He decides to go after her next and basically starts playing with her because he knows she’s trapped. At one point, he sneaks into her house and takes her phone without her noticing, which adds to the tension. Once he decides to stay outside to toy with her, Maddie knows he’s there and that she can’t call for help or wait for anybody to magically show up and save her.
A lot of Hush is literally just Maddie trying to figure out what she can do next, and I think that’s what makes her such a compelling protagonist. At one point, Maddie considers running into the woods but realizes she’s too injured to run far enough away from the house to escape the masked man. As a result, she decides to change her approach and try to fight him. I liked that Maddie is able to be courageous and clever without being portrayed as someone who’s never afraid. She has some failed plans and gets injured; however, she continues to develop plans and attempts to survive. Out of all of the characters in this week’s movies, Maddie probably made me feel the greatest amount of anxiety due to the fact that there was no place for her to run or hide.
Day 6: Happy Death Day (2017)
I needed something less serious after Hush, so thankfully day six was Happy Death Day. Tree Gelbman wakes up on her birthday after a night of drinking in the dorm room of Carter, a fellow college student she met the night before, and goes through her day like she normally would. Then, that night, someone in a baby mask kills her. She wakes up in Carter’s room again. Eventually, Tree realizes she’s stuck reliving the same birthday, and every time she gets murdered, she has to start the whole day over again.
Tree starts using the loop to figure out who is killing her, but during this watch I found myself more interested in her than in finding out who the killer was. She’s pretty mean at the beginning, and I honestly didn’t like her very much. But as she keeps reliving the same day, we start seeing a different side of her. She begins recognizing how badly she’s treated people and finally deals with the fact that she’s been avoiding her dad since her mom died. I actually started feeling bad for her, and by the end, I wanted her to get another chance at life for reasons beyond simply surviving the killer. I remembered this movie being a fun one, but I’d forgotten how much I liked watching Tree change throughout it.
Day 7: Midsommar (2019)
Ending with Midsommar was… a choice. Fun fact: this one is on my favorites list on Letterboxd. This movie follows Dani Ardor, who loses her entire family at the beginning after her sister kills their parents and herself. At the same time, her already-troubled relationship with her boyfriend, Christian, begins to fall apart even more. A few months later, Dani ends up going with Christian and his friends to Sweden to visit the Hårga, the community where their friend Pelle grew up. Everything is bright and pretty when they get there, but then two older people jump off a cliff in front of everyone as part of a ritual. So, yeah. The nice vacation part doesn’t last very long, and the cult goes on to target the friend group in disturbing ways.
Everything Dani went through stayed on my mind long after watching the movie. I felt terrible for her, especially watching how she constantly worried about being too much of a burden to Christian after losing her family. When the Hårga start making her feel welcome, I could understand why she would want to stay with them, even knowing how disturbing their traditions were. Ultimately, she’s become their May Queen and chooses Christian as the final sacrifice. Watching her smile as he burns was one of the most unsettling moments of the movie for me. Although part of me wanted to feel happy for her, I couldn’t ignore how the Hårga had taken advantage of her grief to make her feel like she belonged. What initially seems like a happy ending becomes much darker when you realize how much control they’ve gained over her.
final thoughts
After seven nights of watching women deal with killers, nightmares, cults, and everything in between, I ended up noticing way more differences between them than I expected. I thought there would be a pretty obvious progression from Rosemary having no control over what happens to her to the women in the newer movies having more power, but it wasn’t that simple. Every woman handled what threatened her differently, and having more control didn’t always mean things ended well for her either. Without a doubt, watching the movies back-to-back made it clear that there has never been just one type of woman in horror. I started the week thinking that watching seven horror movies for Halloween sounded fun, but I finished it with a much deeper appreciation for the women at the center of these stories.