The Horror, The Horror: On the Hunt for Feminist-Friendly Horror Films

My housemate, Emma and I tend to hack and slash (ha) our way through the horror section of any video store with a sort of reverence that normal people reserve for political debates or reality shows. This surprises a lot of people, I imagine partially given I’m 5’2 and have a passion for  fuzzy animals and pink kitchen utensils, but mostly due to the fact that I am a raging feminist and the horror genre doesn’t really lend itself to feminist values. Or, you know, any woman-not-as-meat-bag-values - you gotta keep in mind that one of the most popular subgenres in recent times is torture porn. Which brings up a good point, because horror isn't simply a genre that glorifies sexism and misogyny by language, character or tone, but by punishment and overtly sexualised violence. From Rosemary's Baby to Hostel, an enormous portion of horror relies on getting their lady characters naked, covering them in bodily fluids and generally putting something inside them, whether that be human/ghostly/devil penis (this is occasionally consensual, usually dubcon, frequently explicitly non-consensually) or knife or some other horrifying phallic device.

Joey Comeau of A Softer World fame recently compiled a list of good, rape-free, trigger-free horrors and it really is an interesting exploration of a minority field of the genre. Emma and I are in the process of getting our hands on the ones we haven't seen, but I find myself disagreeing with quite a few of the ones on the list that I have watched already. Let the Right One In for instance, (which after a few comments akin to mine has been removed from the list) I believe has heavily implied sexualised violence. I also argue whether or not The Ruins can be considered a good film (Spoiler alert: it's not). 

The list is a good one though, and it's been making me think a lot if I can name any sort of addition, can supply some sort of alternative in time for Halloween. I could name a dozen Hitchcock films for sure (A Shadow of a Doubt, people, watch it), but I'm not sure if they classify as horror as much as they do thriller, even if they deal with horrific themes. 
I also always want to include Scream, The Last House on the Left and the original Nightmare on Elm Street in any horror list of recommendation I make, but whilst I certainly think all three have compelling female characters and even some feminist-friendly values, they're all definitively about the effect sexualised violence has had on a protagonist. The Others, which is included in Comeau's list, is certainly a good one that escapes the rape-trap, involving a pretty awesome lady lead. Likewise with the first Paranormal Activity (that said, there is certainly rapey-implications in this one, and definitely all-out rape in movie 3). Comeau's post certainly inspired some thought into the genre though, and Emma and I are going to be on the hunt for some better feminist-friendly horror. Do you know of any yourself?

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