Most of the time, women in scary movies scream their lungs out, trying to get away from the murdering beast. However, there are some very entertaining movies where the girl gets the last laugh. The monster gets punished, the heroine survives, the world is saved. Alternatively, the girl is the monster, and everyone’s forked. What matters is that these scary fests are all about female empowerment, and we dig that.
Here are some interesting facts about female-led horror movies.
1. The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project was a pseudo-documentary horror film with a budget of $22,000. The filmmakers insisted on telling the viewers that it was a true “found footage” video chronicle of the nightmarish events to keep the money coming. On top of that, the leading actors were declared “missing, most likely dead.”
2. Friday the 13th
Betsy Palmer, who played Mrs. Voorhees in the cult classic slasher Friday the 13th, agreed to this role only because she crashed her car and wanted to buy a new one. She hated the script so much that she openly called it “a piece of sh*t.” Mrs. Voorhees was the first killer in the franchise, in case you didn’t know. The infamous Jason Voorhees, a maniac in a hockey mask, took over as the main character only from the second film in the series.
3. Paranormal Activity
The film was shot in less than a week, with most of the scenes being improvised. The result was a realistic “found footage” horror that scared audiences to their core. It is bonkers to think that so many viewers were convinced that the footage could harm them in real life. Some people actually left the theater during early screenings because they were too scared! The best part is when Steven Spielberg took home a DVD copy of the film, his bedroom door locked from the inside, and he had to call a locksmith to get out.
