TERM PAPER

The Evilution of Women in Horror Movies

By Aubrey McKnight
Professor Lee
History 1700-68
Salt Lake Community College

TERM PAPER

The Evilution of Women in Horror Movies

The first horror movie ever made was recorded by the very imaginative French
filmmaker Georges Melies in 1896. The film Le Manoir Du Diable (The Devil's Castle) featured
a medieval castle filled with bats, skeletons, ghosts, and of course, witches (Dirks, 2016). Since
that time, a complicated relationship between women and horror films has developed. Gender
studies theorists and film historians have studied this relationship for decades because gender
roles are crucial to horror films. Horror movies have long come under fire for the way they
objectify women and use negative female stereotypes. The way that women have been portrayed
in horror movies has evolved over the years and there has been some positive change with the
introduction of some stronger female characters that defy horror genre stereotypes, but women in
horror films continue to be portrayed as monstrous. This view of women as the monster
reinforces male dominance and gender inequality (Scream Queens, 2015).
When horror first emerged as a distinct genre of film, women were primarily depicted as
damsels in distress. These women were weak, helpless, and were put in precarious situations
just to be rescued by the male hero. Classic films such as King Kong and The Creature from the
Black Lagoon are great examples of this stereotype. In the 1933 film King Kong, Fay Wrays
character is helpless. She completely relies on men to rescue her from the fifty-foot tall ape that
has abducted her and taken her to the top of the Empire State Building (Mank, 1999, p. 149-168).
The 1940s and 1950s then gave birth to the femme fatale. These sexually promiscuous women
were made to suffer for their sins. One of the most notable femme fatale demises is that of Linda
Darnells character in Hangover Square. The film is set in Victorian London where a composer
who suffers from amnesia is suspected of being a murderer. Darnells character is strangled, her

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body is then dressed up as a masked dummy and then her corpse is cremated atop a bonfire. All
this because she wears fishnet stockings, paints her mouth, and seduces men (Mank, 1999, p. 2).
Reflecting the rise of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, female protagonists in horror
movies began to fight back. They were no longer going to be the helpless victim. Carol J. Clover,
a feminist and author, argues in her book Men, Women, and Chainsaws, that horror movie
viewers identify with the female victims in horror movies and they experience a moment of
female power through the actions of the last girl standing, the only survivor at the end of a horror
flick, the Final Girl. According to Clover, She alone looks death in the face, but she alone also
finds the strength either to stay the killer long enough to be rescued (ending A) or to kill him
herself (ending B) (Clover, 1992, p. 35). The Final Girl is present in nearly every slasher movie
that comes to mind. Easily recognized movies such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street,
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Friday the 13th have all used the Final Girl archetype.
Even though the Final Girl represents some positive change in how women have been
portrayed in horror, Clover goes on to say that the Final Girl is simply an agreed-upon fiction
and the male viewers use of her as a vehicle for his own sadomasochistic fantasies - an act of
perhaps timeless dishonesty (Clover, 1992, p. 53) and The willingness and even eagerness of
the male viewer to throw in his emotional lot, if only temporarily, with not only a woman but a
woman in fear and pain, at least in the first instance, would seem to suggest that he has a
vicarious stake in that fear and pain (Clover, 1992, p. 61). Clover I suggesting that some men
watch these movies in order to revel in the fear and pain of the women being terrorized on
screen.

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In the horror movie genre there are several other stereotypes that show women as
monsters: the vengeful woman, the domineering mother, the demon seductress, and the vessel, a
female who is either possessed or gives birth to a demon child (Freleng, 2014). Many horror
films use more than one of these stereotypes in their narratives. The vengeful woman stereotype
is one that depicts a young woman who has been wronged or harmed in some way. This young
victim then retaliates by seeking revenge against her attacker(s), usually in horrific ways. This
stereotype can be found in the 1976 film Carrie. In the film, the title character is teased and
tormented by classmates who end up humiliating her by drenching her in pigs blood after
awarding her prom queen at the senior prom. This humiliation leads Carrie to unleash her newly
developed telekinetic powers in order to exact revenge against those who have wronged her
(Scream Queens, 2015).
Carrie also features another of the common horror film stereotypes: the domineering
mother. Carries mother is an ultra-religious fanatic whose domineering attitude and punishments
add to Carries ultimate decline into angry revenge (Sacks, 2013). In horror movies, the
domineering mother can also be depicted as driving her male child to become a killer. In her
book Maternal Horror Film: Melodrama and Motherhood, author Sarah Arnold addresses Alfred
Hitchcocks 1960 film Psycho by saying Norman Bates violent sexuality is attributed to his
mothers sadistic outbursts in which she scolds Norman for desiring another woman (Arnold,
2013, p. 96). Their sick mother-son relationship is shown to be the root of his psychopathic
tendencies. This particular stereotype is quite popular as there is a long list of horror movies that
use this clich.
The demon seductress stereotype portrays women as a predatory monster. This female
character is similar to the femme fatale, the difference being that the demon seductress is usually

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a supernatural creature whereas the femme fatale is wholly human. The demon seductress uses
her sexuality as a tool to deceive men and then uses violence against them (Freleng, 2014). The
recent horror film Jennifers Body is an excellent example of this stereotype. In the film, the
main character has been accidentally turned into a succubus, which is a demon in female form.
She uses her sexuality to lure young men into her trap because she needs sex and blood to
survive (Standley, 2009). Anita Sarkeesian, who is a media critic and blogger, made this
statement in one of her Tropes vs. Women videos: When an evil demon seductress is on screen,
men get to objectify her while having these sexist, preconceived notions reconfirmed that women
are indeed manipulative and deceitful (Freleng, 2014).
The most popular and overused female horror movie stereotype is probably that of the
vessel. The female characters in these films are hosts to evil in the form of demonic possession
or by giving birth to an evil or satanic child. The list of horror films that have used this
stereotype is long and full of well-known films such as Rosemarys Baby, where Mia Farrows
character gives birth to the child of Satan and The Exorcist, which shows a young woman in the
midst of demonic possession. This particular stereotype may be the most damaging because the
female body itself is presented as being a source of guilt, shame, and evil. This is evident in the
way that the young woman in The Exorcist actually attempts to stab herself in the vagina with a
crucifix during the possession (Freleng, 2014).
The 1970s and 1980s gave rise to the slasher film, a subgenre of horror film that is
defined by graphic violence and sexual titillation (Jung, 2009). Slasher films highly sexualize the
female victims. The films themselves are usually a metaphor for punishing teenage sexual
behavior. Pre-marital sex is a death sentence for female teens in these movies. In an essay
entitled The Appeal of Horror and Suspense, authors Mary Beth Oliver and Meghan Sanders

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address this topic. The authors conclude that In slasher films the message appears to be that
sexual women get killed and only the pure women survive (Oliver, 2004, p. 254). The 1996
movie Scream famously spoofed this clich when the character Randy lists the rules that need to
be followed in order to survive a horror movie. The first and most important rule on the list:
never have sex because sex equals death in a horror film (Craven, 1996).
In 1980, famous movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert produced a special episode
of their television show Sneak Previews to talk about trends in the movie industry that they found
disturbing. What was the topic? They addressed the way that horror films portray women. The
two men criticized women in danger movies for showing independent, sexual, liberated
women being stalked, terrorized, raped, and killed by sexually frustrated men. They drew
attention to the fact that the audience comes to identify with the killer rather than the female
victim because the films are frequently shown from the killers point of view rather than the
victims. In the episode, Gene Siskel says: The nudity is always gratuitous. Its just put in the
film only to titillate the audience and maybe make one other point: that women who dress this
way or merely uncover their bodies are somehow asking for trouble and somehow deserve the
trouble they get. Thats a very sick idea. They theorized that the rise in production of these
movies was backlash from the growth of the womens movement in America. Men were trying to
put women back in their place (L., 2011).
There are some exceptions, of course. Not all horror movies objectify or demean women.
Some of the most memorable horror movies of the last few decades have featured strong female
characters that were not stereotypes and did not take off their clothing. Films like The Silence of
the Lambs, Scream, and The Descent feature flawed but strong female characters that are
terrorized but use their own intelligence and skill, rather than their sexuality, to come out on top.

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The female protagonist in The Silence of the Lambs, Clarice Starling, defied previous horror
genre stereotypes. Starling, a female FBI agent, was intelligent and driven. She was able to
succeed on her own terms, without relying on a male to rescue her (Leab, 2011).
Unfortunately, there has been some recent backsliding in the way horror films portray
women. Many of the recent horror movie releases have been remakes, like Friday the 13th,
Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street. The female characters in these films are throwbacks to
their predecessors, women are shown as being weak, nave, and in need of rescuing (Blakeley,
2010). The remake of Friday the 13th received more word-of-mouth for the nudity and sex in the
film than for any other reason (Klenthur, 2014). Carlos Segura, an editor on the film site
Cinespect, had this to say: I would argue that since Scream, we havent seen any major
developments so far as the roles of women are concerned in the American horror film. Horror
isnt in right now, so theres not much room for risk taking (Blakeley, 2010).
The way women have been portrayed in horror films has evolved over the years, from the
nave damsel in distress to the more empowering Final Girl. Unfortunately, it seems that
Hollywood is reverting to type. Most horror movie releases stick to using the same tired formula
that has existed in the genre for decades. Because horror movies continue to show women as the
monster, utilizing unflattering female stereotypes and objectifying the female form, male
dominance is being reinforced. In his book Deformed and Destructive Beings: The Purpose of
Horror Films, author George Ochoa states that The primary purpose of the horror film is to
make the audience know the monster (Ochoa, 2011, p. 1). Using that argument, it appears that
Hollywood has spoken and that monster is woman.

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References
Arnold, S. (2013). Maternal horror film: Melodrama and motherhood. New York, NY: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Blakeley, K. (2010, August 26). Women In Horror Films. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from
http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/26/horror-films-actresses-hollywood-forbes-womantime-female-audiences.html
Clover, C. J. (1992). Men, women, and chain saws: Gender in the modern horror film. Princeton,
NJ: Princeton University Press.
Craven, W. (Director). (1996). Scream [Motion picture on DVD]. United States: Buena Vista
Pictures Distribution.
Dirks, T. (2016). Horror Films. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html
Freleng, M. (2014, February 20). Pretty Bloody: Women and Stereotypes in Horror Movies.
Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://vitaminw.co/culture-society/horror-movies-womenand-stereotypes
Jung, J. H. (2009, October 30). Women In Fear The [Non?] Evolution of the Female Role in
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Klenthur, H. (2014, February 16). Do Horror Movies Objectify Women? Retrieved April 24,
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L. (2011, June 06). Siskel & Ebert 1980 Women In Danger Part 1. Retrieved April 24, 2016,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz2N6BMOsyQ

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L. (2011, June 06). Siskel & Ebert 1980 Women In Danger Part 2. Retrieved April 24, 2016,
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgA1OE-XS0
Leab, A. (2011, October 24). Horror Week 2011: The Silence of the Lambs. Retrieved April 24,
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Mank, G. W. (1999). Women in horror films, 1930s. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
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Sacks, E. (2013, October 13). Julianne Moore screams up a storm in 'Carrie' Retrieved April 24,
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Scream Queens and Final Girls: The Portrayal of Women in Postmodern Horror Films - Cardiff
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Standley, L. (2009, September 23). Horror film reverses gender roles. Retrieved April 24, 2016,
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