499 Nights of Female-Fronted Frights

487 movies   3 TV shows  

With the horrors of 2020, do you need a horror movie a day to keep the demons at bay? I do, and if you do too, challenge yourself to discover more of the powers of women in cinema. Many believe female horror directors and their films are impossible to find, particularly certain, ahem, studio execs. To prove them wrong, aid others in pursuit of a good scare, and challenge myself, I decided to put together a list of female-directed horror to watch and rate. To date, I have found almost 500 feature-length creeps and scares from women all over the world, with many more coming out in 2020. In this list, I have organized the films I’ve found so far by title. I encourage others to use this list as a jumping-off point to dive into new discoveries in horror. A warning: some inclusions are multi-genre or have major horror elements used for dramatic purposes while not being horror per se. I aggregated many other people’s lists and did a lot of my own research and digging, but can’t verify anything until I complete this watching project myself. Suggestions for additions welcome! Big thanks to Lyzette’s <a href="https://boxd.it/tz9G">list of Women-Made Horror</a>, which helped me form the basis for this list. Not on Letterboxd: Let’s Go Home (2019).

Movie

Horror Stories (2012)
무서운 이야기 WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 6.4 48 ratings
洪智暎 / 林大雄 … actor: 金贤秀 / 罗映姫 …
other title: 恐怖故事 / 무서운 이야기 …
A teenager is abducted and forced to tell the scariest tales she knows, leading to this anthology of four stories: a brother and sister are under siege while home alone; a killer escapes police custody mid-flight; step-sisters take plastic surgery to nightmarishly macabre extremes; a paramedic and mother standoff over her infected young daughter.

Movie

Hotel Inferno 2: The Cathedral of Pain (2017)
Hotel Inferno 2: The Cathedral of Pain IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 地狱旅店 2 / 地獄旅店 2 …
You, Frank Zimosa, are dead - brutally killed by the Mistandrian Cultists and trapped in the nightmarish Hotel Inferno: a special layer of Hell where demons co-exist with cultists, providing them dark, forbidden knowledge in exchange for endless pain and suffering. Alongside another tormented soul, trapped in the inferno since the Middle Ages, you must locate the five elements comprising the human soul - so that you may reclaim your physical form on Earth - before your body rots away. Do you have the strength to face the hordes of hell and take the first element - The Fire - from the hands of its powerful, ancient protector? There's only one way to find out.

Movie

The House of The Dead (1978)
Alien Zone WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Sharron Miller actor: 约翰·埃里克森 / Ivor Francis …
other title: 异形地带 / Alien Zone …
When a philandering husband accidentally finds himself lost during a rainstorm, he’s taken in by an elderly mortician and is forced to learn the ghastly origins of four freshly arrived corpses.

Movie

Housekeeping (2015)
Housekeeping IMDb TMDB
Lucy Castillo, a young med student, has just given up a prized summer internship to bail out her troubled younger brother, Sal... again. He needs cash fast, and after being unable to find a job, Lucy reluctantly accepts the too-good-to-be-true position as a housekeeper offered to her through a friend of a friend. For only three weeks work, she will be paid enough to get Sal out of trouble. Things start to take a disturbing turn, however, as the job reveals itself to be anything but normal. Her never-seen employer seems to have a dark side, and Lucy's own haunted past begins to reappear, tormenting her. As the job spirals out of control and Sal's life hangs in the balance, Lucy's grip on reality disappears.

Movie

In Memorium (2005)
In Memorium IMDb TMDB Douban
Amanda Gusack actor: Erik McDowell / 约翰娜·沃茨 …
After being diagnosed with a terminal cancer, Dennis moves with his girlfriend Lily to a new home, where he installs cameras and microphones everywhere to record his last months of life, in order that the material be used later to make a documentary. However, the devices capture the presence of another inhabitant there.

Movie

In My Skin (2002)
Dans ma peau WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
other title: 切肤 / Dans ma peau …
Esther's life is panning out nicely. She will soon move in with her boyfriend Vincent and she seems set to get a permanent position at the public relations company where she freelances. All would be fine if Esther didn't accidentally discover a piercing curiosity about her own body.

Movie

In the Cut (2003)
In the Cut WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
★ 6.6 29 ratings
other title: 인 더 컷 / Em Carne Viva …
Following the gruesome murder of a young woman in her neighborhood, an English teacher living in New York City — as if to test the limits of her own safety —propels herself into an impossibly risky sexual liaison with a police detective.

Movie

In Their Sleep (2010)
Dans ton sommeil WikiData IMDb TMDB
other title: Home Invasion - Der Feind in meinem Haus / Dans ton sommeil …
Sarah's life is in pieces after the brutal death of her 18 year-old son. One night, her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy who is running from a burglar. Sarah sympathizes with him and takes him in, only to be tracked down by the burglar whose murderous rage towards Arthur forces her to take action.

Movie

Inhumanoid (1996)
Inhumanoid WikiData IMDb TMDB Douban
Victoria Muspratt actor: 理查德·格里克 / 拉拉·哈里斯 …
other title: 魔怪 / 超速生化人 …
A family of three is travelling in space, when they encounter a stranded spaceship. They manage to pull out one survivor (Grieco) who's in shock. However, when the father goes on to investigate the ship, he finds that everyone was murdered. Suddenly, the stranger leaves him on the damaged spaceship and starts to terrorize his wife and daughter, for it turns out that the stranger is really an emotionally unstable android programmed without morals, making him go on a killer rampage. Who will survive?
Reply Quote July 23, 2026