Since the arrival of horror films, serial killers have become absolute icons of the silver screen. There are plenty of movies with killers portrayed stereotypically as powerful, young, almost indestructible-looking men. But what about women killers? Initially, unlike what happens with the male gender, women killers' place in cinema has been closely related to their role imposed by society: obsessive caregivers, envious, and almost always under a man's shadow, like Pamela Vorhees in Friday the 13th. Other productions featured women who killed out of envy, greed, and sometimes they were simply passive companions of their murderous partners.
However, with Monster's arrival in 2003, the patterns of women killers began to break. This gripping and moving thriller was inspired by the real-life story of Aileen Wuornos, a sex worker executed in Florida in 2002 after being convicted of murdering six men. Although Wuornos confessed to the six murders, she claimed to have killed only in self-defense as she resisted being the victim of violent attacks while she worked. With the advent of this film, women killers were no longer caretakers who were unbounded by their obsession, but complex, cold, fearless characters.
Updated: August 2022: To keep this article fresh and relevant by adding more information and entries, this article has been updated by Kassie King.
Although nowadays there is a greater presence of women as serial killers in cinema, the collective imagination still associates the role to the male gender. That is why, below, we will take a look at films starring women serial killers.
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Prevenge (2016).jpg)
Prevenge is a 2016 comedy slasher film from Alice Lowe, who wrote, directed, and stars in the project. The plot follows a pregnant widow named Ruth whose husband died in a climbing accident. She comes to believe that her fetus is a psychopath compelling her to get revenge for her husband by killing the people who were present when he died.
The project was praised by critics for its mix of black comedy and horror, and Lowe, well-known for her role on the hit TV show Black Mirror, was equally celebrated for her directorial debut. She was nominated for The Douglas Hickox Award at the British Independent Film Awards and won the Monster Innovation Award at Monster Fest 2016. Lowe herself was pregnant during filming and her 10-day-old daughter Della played the newborn baby in the movie.
8 Friday the 13th (1980)
The original Friday the 13th, one of the most iconic American slasher films of all time, stars Betsy Palmer as Mrs. Voorhees — a grieving mother who is revealed to be the culprit behind the murders of several teenage summer camp counselors, in an attempt to avenge the drowning death of her son Jason Voorhees. The juxtaposition of a traditional-looking, sweater-wearing mom wielding a knife and a chilling grin was shocking to viewers and brought in nearly $60M at the box office, against a mere $500k independent budget.
Friday the 13th is often credited with jump-starting the boom of slasher films in the 1980s and was one of the first to pull the rug out from under viewers by revealing the killer to be a woman. The movie spawned a massively successful franchise which features 12 movies, a television series, several novels, comics, and video games. In the years since its release, Friday the 13th has garnered a cult following and is widely respected as a film that helped shape a genre.
7 Under The Skin (2013)
An alien entity inhabits the body of a woman (Scarlett Johansson) on Earth in the 2013 film Under The Skin. She wanders the streets of Scotland with only one goal: to use her feminine wiles to captivate lonely and unwitting men and send them to an otherworldly dimension to be consumed. However, earthly existence begins to change for this alien visitor, who discovers herself to be a human, a situation that leads to tragic and terrifying consequences.
This science fiction feature film, directed by Jonathan Glazer and inspired by Michael Faber's novel of the same name, is full of disturbing images, in which an interplay of silence and dark tones work in harmony with the narrative of this story, which has already become a celebrated piece of contemporary science fiction. Additionally, all scenes in Under The Skin that included extras were shot with hidden cameras, without people knowing that they were being filmed, in order to obtain their most natural reactions.
6 Carrie (1976)
Carrie is a 1976 American horror thriller was directed by Brian De Palma, written by Lawrence D. Cohen, and based on the novel of the same name by renowned author Stephen King. The titular character is played by acclaimed actress Sissy Spacek, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role. Carrie is a teenage recluse who is often harassed by her classmates. One day, following an incident in the gym showers, the young girl discovers that something is beginning to change in her and decides she is going to take revenge on all those who hurt her. Unbeknownst to those around her, Carrie has a newfound power of telekinesis that allows her to be absolutely destructive. When her classmates decide to play a practical joke on her at the prom, they are forced to face the full power of her wrath.
Carrie was a huge hit at the time of its premiere, and a sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 was released in 1999. MGM also released a remake of the original film in 2013, starring Chloë Grace Moretz in the lead role.
5 Misery (1990)
In the 1990 Rob Reiner psychological thriller Misery, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, James Caan plays a famous novelist named Paul Sheldon who finds himself at the mercy of his biggest fan, Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). He wakes up in Annie's house without knowing how or why he is there. She explains to him that after a heavy snowfall, his car went off the road and that she saved his life. However, very soon Annie's seemingly cozy home turns into a dark prison for the writer.
Misery has all the ingredients of a gripping thriller: a character immobilized and in charge of a crazy woman obsessed with him, a house in the middle of nowhere, and a constant interplay between expression and secrecy of the true motivations of each character. The film garnered numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama and the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) Award for Best Actress, all for Kathy Bates, turning her into one of cinema's most terrifying villains.
4 Tragedy Girls (2017)
Tragedy Girls is a 2017 horror-comedy directed by Tyler MacIntyre that features Brianna Hildebrand, Alexandra Shipp, Craig Robinson and Josh Hutcherson, among others. It follows the story of Sadie (Hildebrand) and McKayla (Shipp), two teenagers so obsessed with making it big on social media that they decide to hatch a macabre plan: kidnap Lowell, a serial killer, to train them in the art of horror so that they can become famous on the internet by creating their own show about real tragedies.
Initially, everything goes according to plan, but when Lowell goes free, the girls have no choice but to reconsider their entire plan. The film twists the slasher genre similarly to The Final Girls and Scream Queens, harshly criticizing the narcissism generated by the constant use of social networks.
3 Ma (2019)
In the 2019 horror film Ma, a group of friends take a van out for a wild weekend of freedom. While on their adventure, they meet an adult woman whom they ask to buy alcohol for them since they are still underage. To the teenagers' surprise, she not only buys them what they ask for, but also offers up her home so they can have a party. Once there, she sets them only one condition: they can do whatever they want in the basement, but they must not go up into the house. The young people think they have found the perfect hostess, but soon strange things begin to happen to make them doubt their hostess' intentins, turning their daydream weekend into a nightmare.
Ma is a suspense thriller directed by Tate Taylor and written by Scotty Landes. It features Octavia Spencer, Luke Evans, Juliette Lewis, Diana Silvers, McKaley Miller and Corey Fogelman. It grossed $61.1 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Octavia Spencer's performance but criticized the teen characters for not making the most of their potential.
2 Titane (2021)
Titane is a French horror film written and directed by Julia Ducournau, first released in 2021. This film turned the director into the second woman in history to take home the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival. Ducournau creates an extreme nightmare unlike anything you would expect from a horror film, making the audience squirm in their seats. According to some critics, it was the weirdest film of 2021.
The film follows the story of Alexia (Agathe Rouselle) who suffered a childhood car accident that left her with trauma, a titanium plate in her skull, and a strange affection for cars. Now working as a show dancer, she has committed several serial murders and, in an attempt to hide from the police, she impersonates the son of Vincent (Vincent Lindon), who has been missing for ten years. After she changes her look, Vincent takes Alexia in thinking she is his son Adrienne, although no one around him seems to believe it. Then,Titane takes body horror to the next level when Alexia gets pregnant from her relationship with a car.
1 Monster (2003)
In 2003, director Patty Jenkins released a biographical crime drama called Monster, based on the real life serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Charlize Theron plays Aileen, a suicidal sex worker who meets a woman named Selby Wall (Christina Ricci) in a gay bar. Selby becomes her partner and confidant to Aileen after she kills one of her clients. She later goes on to rob and murder an additional six men over the course of the next year, before finally getting caught by police.
Theron was widely praised for her performance, which won her an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Awards. Renowned critic Roger Ebert called the role “one of the greatest performances in the history of cinema.” Monster was also named one of the top ten films of 2003 by the American Film Institute.