Horror is, and arguably will always be, one of the most-watched genres of cinema. After two world wars, natural catastrophes, and, more recently, a global pandemic, there are everyday-life horrors terrifying enough to make any type of movie scary. There has been a change in audience expectations over the past decade of so-called elevated horror films that reflects what the most successful of these scary movies portray, tapping into sociopolitical fears and incorporating greater representation. This intention also certifies that the viewer will see themselves in the characters something the horror genre suffered from due to the many stereotypes present in the early its movies.

A modern audience requires a different type of horror to be, at minimum, entertained, at best terrified; the fear of atomic bombs and the devil which populated horror for so many decades no longer cuts it. Due to that, filmmakers and writers started to use the everyday terrifying things an audience could relate to (in some shape or form) to inform their movies. This led to horror movies where psychological terrors (guilt, loneliness, depression) and deep cultural issues like racism and prejudice experienced by the characters were the things that scared viewers.

One of the most famous filmmakers that took this problem and used it in his films was Jordan Peele. He changed how people viewed horror movies, especially after winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay with Get Out, with a script that's been considered the greatest script of the 21st century. Peele changed what the audience could expect from a horror movie regarding the cast (breaking awful stereotypes of Black casting in horror movies) and the stories told. His new movie Nope will be released in July this year.

A topic that has appeared in many horror movies and series is the current reality of what it's like to be female. Horror movies started to point out the traumatic things most women have to go through at some point in their lives, or things they fear they will eventually have to face. From having a stalker or suffering sexual assault, the choices (unfortunately) are almost endless. Here are a few examples of how real-life traumas are being portrayed in contemporary horror movies.

Female Perspective in Horror

Elizabeth Moss takes a shower near The Invisible Ma
Universal Pictures

Horror is the only film genre where women have more screen time than men, however, it has not always been the best for female characters or representation; they were over-sexualized or the victims (most of the time, both). However, that has changed for the better. A great example is The Invisible Man, where the horror is the trauma a woman can experience after years of suffering an abusive relationship. Her friends (and society) don't believe what she says and always dismiss her as a victim who doesn't know any better. If she did, they say, why would she have stayed with a guy like that for so long?

Related: Here Are Some of the Best Feminist Horror Movies of All Time

The new Hulu movie Fresh has been receiving a lot of attention for similar reasons. Fresh tells a narrative that takes a lot of turns to tell its story, a graphic movie about cannibalism, so if body horror is not something you like, this might get a pass. Following the trend of series like Netflix's You, Fresh uses real traumas to explore the fear that comes from dating. After being frustrated with her dating life, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) meets Steve (Sebastian Stan), who appears to be everything she wanted until he is not.

There is a moment shared by the audience and Noa when she wakes up, locked in a room with no windows after being drugged: "I can't believe I fell for this." Even knowing that Sebastian Stan's character was the villain didn't sugarcoat the reveal of Steve's true intentions. It's too close to comfort when Noa wakes up and realizes all the red flags she missed. The audience has to find the fight inside them to continue to watch the movie and see what will happen to this character. Just like Noa has to fight for herself and think about how to get out of this situation.

Fresh Sebastian Stan
Hulu

Fresh doesn't restrain itself when dealing with female horrors as a spectacularly twisted and disturbing film. There are multiple examples throughout the movie. In one of them, Noa is walking alone at night back to her car. She hears someone walking behind her and immediately picks up her car key and makes the keys stick out of her fingers. This scene was incredibly tense for everyone who had to experience the feeling of being in danger and alone as a woman at night.

Related: Why Fresh is an Early Contender for the Year's Best Horror Film

By the end of the scene, the person walking behind her is revealed to not be a threat. However, the message is clear: she is not safe. This was, overall, the real message of the movie: the horror is in the reality of women's current situation. There was no need for a monster, poltergeist, or demon to make this movie eerie to watch.

Horror and the Female Protagonist

A woman on her couch doesn't notice the masked man behind her in Hush
Netflix

There have been other movies that have used the female perspective to terrify the audience. Hush, one of the best Mike Flanagan movies, is an example of taking a subgenre (home invasion) and making it from a female perspective. A lot of viewers liked the movie because how it showed a deeply integrated fear: being completely alone (and vulnerable) at the mercy of a crazy man.

Another example is the latest Edgar Wright movie, Last Night in Soho, which is already a feminist classic. The audience is taken on a journey from the present time to the passionate sixties. The stories of two women intertwine so deeply it becomes almost impossible to tell the past from the present. Showing different struggles that women had to face in different periods (as well as the ones that continue the same today), the movie is a great example of how the female perspective can add to a horror narrative.

Horror movies can be the face of society's fears. In all these movies, these characters take a stand and defend themselves the best way they can, stepping out of the victim role they were attributed to for so long, starting a new wave of horror movies in the process.