Fancy getting yourself in the mood for Halloween this weekend by scaring the living shit out of yourself with a horror film? It always seems like such a good idea at the time doesn’t it? Until you fast forward a few hours and find yourself shivering in bed with the overhead light on, checking the cupboard periodically for zombies, little girl ghosts and/or otherworldly spirits with medieval-sounding names.
The stereotype is that modern horror is overall, kind of a sexist genre. Hot girls wearing not a lot running around cabins in the woods screaming like maniacs has kind of been a running theme for the last twenty years. However, if you look at horror from a different angle, you can also argue that it's also one of the most progressive film genres when it comes to gender politics; just look tot Neve Campbell in Scream or Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs for some admirable female role models. Plus, thanks to the films' serial killers and ghosts and stuff, women in horror flicks tend to spend less time worrying about men and relationships like Hollywood normally makes them do and more time trying not getting murdered. Which is erm, good we guess?
Anyways, we decided to have a look at some films for this Halloween that are Bechdel Test safe (a film that features two female characters who have a conversation about something other than men) and, turns out there’s plenty. Here’s a few to choose from.
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The Descent
An obvious choice due to the fact that there basically are no men in it – although not in a The Women kind of a way (ironic how a film by women starring only women still managed to shit all over feminism), more in an awesome kick ass kind of way. It follows the story of a group of cavers on an expedition that goes horribly wrong when they’re stalked by flesh-eating monsters.
Sorority Row
I mean this fails hard at painting women in a good light in SO many ways but the main cast are all women; one of whom is Audrina Patridge of The Hills. After a group of sorority sisters accidentally kill one of their crew (hate it when that happens) and cover it up, a serial killer starts picking them off one by one. You’ll never guess who the murderer is. Although it’s not Audrina BTW in case that's what you were thinking; she’s the one that gets killed accidentally, although not by Heidi Montag, which was a little disappointing. File firmly under 'guilty pleasure'.
The Conjuring
Featuring that foxy older chap Lena Dunham gets with in Girls (Patrick Wilson) and Vera Farmiga, The Conjuring is about The Warrens who were real life ghost hunters in the 1970’s and are most commonly associated with the Amityville Horror case. Since it's release *The Conjuring *has become one of the most biggest horror movies of all time and although it’s one of the most disturbing things you’ll ever see, at least the family the Warrens move in with is made up of five daughters and a mother – all of whose topics of conversation tend to revolve around being possessed by an evil spirit rather than whether or not the farmer boy down the road is good marriage material. Bonus points since the ghost is also a woman. Albeit a child murdering devil worshipping one.
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** Carrie**
All THREE incarnations of this film pass, from the original ’76 one featuring Sissey Spcek, the erm, not very well received made for TV version in 2002, to the more recent Chloe Grace Moretz incarnation. Looks like Carrie's relationship with her batshit mum was kind of a positive after all.
Battle Royale
The original Hunger Games, this messed up beyond belief Japanese film-from-a-book from 2000 features a class of teenagers who are dropped off on a island and forced to fight each other to the death as part of a government initiative. The girls are just as kick ass as the boys and when they do manage to talk to each other it’s more about murdering than like, how cute their teacher is, which is nice.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.