5 best horror movies made by female directors in-line with Women’s Marches, ‘XX’ horror anthology

By Eva Magno / Jan 23, 2017 10:46 PM EST
(Photo : Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) BEVERLY HILLS, CA - NOVEMBER 09: Director Kathryn Bigelow attends the 2013 BAFTA LA Jaguar Britannia Awards presented by BBC America at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on November 9, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California.

From playing the stereotypical victims to the present day bad-ass heroines, women have truly moved up the ranks in horror movies. But off-screen, women have also been showcasing their talents in the director seat for horror movies. Just in time for the Women's Marches movement all over the world and the Sundance Film Festival premier of the all-women-directed horror anthology "XX," it would be best to look back at all the best horror movies directed by female filmmakers.

The horror anthology "XX" features four scary tales directed by talented female filmmakers, Filmmaker Magazine reported. The directors include Annie Clark who directed "St. Vincent," Karyn Kusama who directed "The Invitation," Roxanne Benjamin who directed "Southbound," and Jovanka Vuckovic who directed "The Captured." The movies that will be showcased for "XX" will be "The Birthday Party," "Her Only Living Son," "Don't Fall," and "The Box."

Meanwhile, here are the top 5 best female-directed horror movies of all time:

  1. First on the list is the 1987 vampire horror movie "Near Dark," directed by highly acclaimed Kathryn Bigelow, Comic Book reported. The movie, which stars Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen, is about grizzled vampires looking for their next meal. This horror film is one of the first genre films directed by Bigelow, who brought fans "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty."
  2. Pet Sematary is the 1989 movie adaptation of Stephen King's Novel. Directed by Mary Lambert, this movie is about a graveyard that could resurrect the dead. Besides the terrifying toddler, the physically deformed Zelda is simply one of the most haunting visions in the 80's.
  3. The 1999 horror film "Ravenous" directed by Antonia Bird is one of the most underrated movies in the genre. It is about a cannibal with uncanny abilities that terrorize a group of 19th century soldiers.
  4. "American Psycho" is a psychological thriller directed by Mary Harron about a Wall Street player with an alter ego of a serial killer. Harron brilliantly directs Christian Bale as the insane Patrick Bateman in this movie.
  5. "American Mary" by Directors Jen and Sylvia Soska is a 2012 movie that focuses on a surgical student who delves in the world of extreme body modification to satisfy patients. It was simply too scary that the Soska sisters later on got the gig to direct "See No Evil 2"

Other honorable mentions include the Australian horror drama "The Babadook," which is directed by Jennifer Kent, and released back in 2014. Another one is "The Invitation" by Karyn Kusama and Julia Docournau's Raw, which was recently released in 2016.