84 Best Horror Movies Directed by Women 

Adjusted Score: 109900%

Critics Consensus: The Babadook relies on real horror rather than cheap jump scares — and boasts a heartfelt, genuinely moving story to boot.

Adjusted Score: 102799%

Critics Consensus: Tigers Are Not Afraid draws on childhood trauma for a story that deftly blends magical fantasy and hard-hitting realism – and leaves a lingering impact.

Adjusted Score: 101913%

Critics Consensus: A bone-chilling body horror, Huesera offers genre fans a twisted take on What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

Adjusted Score: 99719%

Critics Consensus: Hellbender stirs a boiling cauldron of adolescent angst, serving up a coming-of-age story with dark horror overtones.

Adjusted Score: 99391%

Critics Consensus: Sissy weaves timely themes into its rich blend of horror and dark humor, topped off by terrific work from a talented cast led by Aisha Dee.

Adjusted Score: 97756%

Critics Consensus: Good Manners adroitly juggles disparate tonal shifts while taking a uniquely smart and sensitive look at female relationships.

Adjusted Score: 101887%

Critics Consensus: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night blends conventional elements into something brilliantly original — and serves as a striking calling card for writer-director Ana Lily Amirpour.

Adjusted Score: 99882%

Critics Consensus: The Love Witch offers an absorbing visual homage to a bygone era, arranged subtly in service of a thought-provoking meditation on the battle of the sexes.

Adjusted Score: 95756%

Critics Consensus: Most Beautiful Island plunges audiences into a little-seen sector of society, with writer-director Ana Asensio’s fearless performance leading the way.

Adjusted Score: 102332%

Critics Consensus: Raw‘s lurid violence and sexuality live up to its title, but they’re anchored with an immersive atmosphere and deep symbolism that linger long after the provocative visuals fade.

Adjusted Score: 99853%

Critics Consensus: Revenge slices and dices genre tropes, working within an exploitation framework while adding a timely — yet never less than viscerally thrilling — feminist spin.

Adjusted Score: 99845%

Critics Consensus: A message movie in a hard horror shell, Hatching perches between beauty and revulsion — and establishes director Hanna Bergholm as a bright new talent.

Adjusted Score: 101801%

Critics Consensus: A brilliantly unsettling blend of body horror and psychological thriller, Saint Maud marks an impressive debut for writer-director Rose Glass.

Adjusted Score: 105613%

Critics Consensus: Relic ratchets up its slowly building tension in an expertly crafted atmosphere of dread, adding up to an outstanding feature debut for director/co-writer Natalie Erika James.

Adjusted Score: 95450%

Critics Consensus: As ambitious as it is daringly transgressive, Prevenge should thrill fans of pitch-black horror-comedy — and open untold opportunities for writer/director/star Alice Lowe.

Adjusted Score: 95972%

Critics Consensus: Brought hauntingly to life by Laura Galán’s committed performance, Piggy deftly deploys genre thrills in service of sharp social commentary.

Adjusted Score: 98666%

Critics Consensus: Led by Anna Diop’s strong central performance, the smartly disquieting Nanny is a promising debut for writer-director Nikyatu Jusu.

Adjusted Score: 110633%

Critics Consensus: Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore’s finest hour, The Substance is a gasp-inducing feat from writer-director Coralie Fargeat.

Adjusted Score: 95737%

Critics Consensus: Narratively challenging and visually haunting, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair adds a uniquely ambitious and unsettling entry to the crowded coming-of-age genre.

Adjusted Score: 93355%

Critics Consensus: A squirm-inducing period piece that locates true horror in both mind and spirit, The Devil’s Bath might be Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s most chilling directorial effort yet.

Adjusted Score: 92571%

Critics Consensus: Proof that there’s still life in the found-footage gimmick, Deadstream is a scarily good bit of B-movie fun.

Adjusted Score: 102797%

Critics Consensus: Thrillingly provocative and original, Titane reaffirms writer-director Julia Ducournau’s delightfully disturbing vision.

Adjusted Score: 91579%

Critics Consensus: A slasher with flair and crafty patience for the kill, The Stylist marks writer-director Jill Gevargizian as an uncommonly sharp genre filmmaker.

Adjusted Score: 95064%

Critics Consensus: The Invitation makes brilliant use of its tension-rich premise to deliver a uniquely effective — and surprisingly clever — slow-building thriller.

Adjusted Score: 97054%

Critics Consensus: Occasionally uneven but bold and viscerally effective, Censor marks a bloody good step forward for British horror.

Adjusted Score: 92311%

Critics Consensus: Smartly creepy, You Are Not My Mother engages with a number of thought-provoking themes without sacrificing chills.

Adjusted Score: 92389%

Critics Consensus: Fear Street Part Three: 1666 sends the slasher series back in time for a trilogy-concluding installment that caps things off on a screaming high note.

Adjusted Score: 95842%

Critics Consensus: Although its story may lack surprises, Watcher benefits from director Chloe Okuno’s chilling grip on the material — and Maika Monroe’s terrific work in the leading role.

Adjusted Score: 91874%

Critics Consensus: A smart and subversive twist on slasher horror, Fear Street Part II: 1978 shows that summer camp has never been scarier thanks to stellar performances from Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd, and Ryan Simpkins.

Adjusted Score: 90455%

Critics Consensus: Cargo takes a refreshingly character-driven approach to the zombie genre that’s further distinguished by its Australian setting and Martin Freeman’s terrific lead performance.

Adjusted Score: 89630%

Critics Consensus: With thought-provoking themes lurking beneath its absurd premise, Glorious is a brightly blood-spattered genre treat from director Rebekah McKendry.

Adjusted Score: 98934%

Critics Consensus: Impeccably cast and smartly written, Bodies Bodies Bodies is an uncommonly well-done whodunit.

Adjusted Score: 87806%

Critics Consensus: A painfully timely horror-fueled thriller, Soft & Quiet forces the viewer to confront the ugly underbelly of modern American race relations.

Adjusted Score: 91606%

Critics Consensus: Dark, violent, and drenched in dread, Goodnight Mommy is perfect for extreme horror enthusiasts — or filmgoers who prefer to watch between splayed fingers.

Adjusted Score: 101167%

Critics Consensus: Candyman takes an incisive, visually thrilling approach to deepening the franchise’s mythology — and terrifying audiences along the way.

Adjusted Score: 98779%

Critics Consensus: With a distinctive visual aesthetic that enhances its emotionally resonant narrative, I Saw the TV Glow further establishes writer-director Jane Schoenbrun as a rising talent.

Adjusted Score: 94727%

Critics Consensus: Formally provocative and emotionally raw, She Dies Tomorrow confirms writer-director Amy Seimetz as a filmmaker with a unique — and timely — vision.

Adjusted Score: 85964%

Critics Consensus: A stylish and well-acted tonal blend, Medusa confronts religious hypocrisy and sexism with invigorating anger.

Adjusted Score: 89359%

Critics Consensus: Fear Street Part One: 1994 kicks off the trilogy in promising fashion, honoring the source material with plenty of retro slasher appeal.

Adjusted Score: 89933%

Critics Consensus: Near Dark is at once a creepy vampire film, a thrilling western, and a poignant family tale, with humor and scares in abundance.

Adjusted Score: 86098%

Critics Consensus: Imperfect yet intriguing, The Wind offers horror fans an admirably ambitious story further distinguished by its fresh perspective and effective scares.

Adjusted Score: 83450%

Critics Consensus: Some of its contents are more entertaining than others, but genre fans should still find this Scare Package well worth opening.

Adjusted Score: 83704%

Critics Consensus: A smartly ambitious supernatural thriller, Perpetrator blends an assortment of genres and influences into a bloody good time.

Adjusted Score: 81449%

Critics Consensus: While Clock may strain some viewers’ suspension of disbelief, it’s a mostly effective attempt to view reproductive pressures through a chilling horror lens.

Adjusted Score: 80850%

Critics Consensus: Sharp, twisted, and darkly funny, 12 Hour Shift is an uncommonly clever heist caper with a refreshing female-focused twist.

Adjusted Score: 78771%

Critics Consensus: Tales of Halloween boasts a number of fun scares and is overall more consistent than many horror anthology films, even if it isn’t quite as dark or nasty as the classics of the genre.

Adjusted Score: 78161%

Critics Consensus: Like most anthologies, V/H/S/99 has its ups and downs — but more often than not, this collection of shorts continues the franchise’s recent creative rebound.

Adjusted Score: 78032%

Critics Consensus: Smart, stylish, and nail-bitingly tense, Honeymoon packs more slow-building horror than many bigger-budget productions.

Adjusted Score: 83427%

Critics Consensus: It can be didactic rather than truly suspenseful, but Master is an impressively well-crafted horror outing with a lot on its mind.

Adjusted Score: 84188%

Critics Consensus: Led by an impressive Riley Keough performance, The Lodge should prove a suitably unsettling destination for fans of darkly atmospheric horror.

Adjusted Score: 79712%

Critics Consensus: A grounded zombie picture with emotional bite, Handling the Undead shuffles along at a patient pace but succeeds as a poignant and thoughtful addition to the genre.

Adjusted Score: 77041%

Critics Consensus: Berlin Syndrome offers thriller fans an uncommonly well-written descent into dangerous obsession, enlivened by taut direction and a committed performance from Teresa Palmer.

Adjusted Score: 77654%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 81793%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 71466%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 91330%

Critics Consensus: Effectively playing on fundamental fears, Lovely, Dark, and Deep is a creepy calling card for debuting director Teresa Sutherland that’s further distinguished by Georgina Campbell’s haunting performance.

Adjusted Score: 89639%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 89075%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 40309%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 42062%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 87371%

Critics Consensus: It may not offer much they haven’t seen before, but strong-stomached exploitation enthusiasts will savor The Retaliators.

Adjusted Score: 35961%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 83412%

Critics Consensus: An auspicious debut for writer-director Amelia Moses, the smartly restrained Bleed with Me taps a rich vein of psychological horror.

Adjusted Score: 82015%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 80465%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 81143%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 79405%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 79296%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 76133%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 73696%

Critics Consensus: ABCs of Death 2 delivers some inventively gory thrills, offering a surprising (albeit still somewhat uneven) upgrade over its predecessor.

Adjusted Score: 76956%

Critics Consensus: If its chilly sense of dread never quite becomes spine-tingling terror, Amulet remains smart, solidly disquieting fun for genre fans seeking slow-building horror.

Adjusted Score: 71409%

Critics Consensus: Nothing Bad Can Happen uses its protagonist’s punishing ordeal to pose questions about faith that are well worth considering, even if the film can’t quite answer them.

Adjusted Score: 71839%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 71751%

Critics Consensus: XX‘s array of distinct female filmmaking voices — and the empowerment their collection represents — offer enough thrills to make up for the overall uneven quality that plagues most anthology projects.

Adjusted Score: 74079%

Critics Consensus: If it falls short of the deadly satire of Bret Easton Ellis’s novel, American Psycho still finds its own blend of horror and humor, thanks in part to a fittingly creepy performance by Christian Bale.

Adjusted Score: 68726%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 68752%

Critics Consensus: This one bites in a mostly good way: Kiss of the Damned is an erotic gorefest reminiscent of gaudy ’70s horror flicks, presented in plain packaging and not meant for direct sunlight.

Adjusted Score: 66710%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 35430%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 66563%

Critics Consensus: It isn’t terribly devilish or particularly pulse-quickening, but Satanic Panic remains an entertaining midnight movie that forgiving genre enthusiasts will enjoy.

Adjusted Score: 63135%

Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.

Adjusted Score: 65622%

Critics Consensus: Nocturne‘s thought-provoking themes find themselves at odds with its genre ingredients, resulting in a mild blend that isn’t quite pulpy enough.

Adjusted Score: 63679%

Critics Consensus: It suffers a bit from some uneven acting and an underwhelming climax, but American Mary utilizes pitch black humor and striking visuals to deliver gory, freaky thrills for body horror enthusiasts.

Adjusted Score: 63031%

Critics Consensus: Conceptually strong but uneven in execution, There’s Something Wrong with the Children is a serviceable horror movie that could have been much more.