Horror is often misinterpreted as a male-dominated genre devoid of women characters with nuance. But horror is a genre that relishes in subversion, and here women are rightfully capable of anything, including murder. In the real world, women are often punished for not being likable enough, or for not subscribing to any patriarchal notions of femininity. Horror levels the playing field for women in a way that I really admire: within horror, a woman can be unpleasant, monstrous, and human, and still have people wishing for her success.
I’m always fighting for women’s rights and women’s wrongs. Sometimes in horror, women’s wrongs are justified!
5 Slashers That You Make You Think “Good for Her!”
Red, US
Jordan Peele’s sophomore hit Us is a pointed class analysis disguised as a slasher film and pits protagonist Adelaide “Addy” (Lupita Nyong’o) Wilson against her doppelganger Red in a fight for survival. As a clone “tethered” to Addy, Red has been forced to live underground and subsist on rabbits. Red eventually organizes the other clones (#unionpower) to escape and take their rightful place above ground.
And Red had a point! Why was she confined to darkness while Addy lived her life in comfort? Red’s remarkable organizing power, undervalued empathy and natural leadership had me rooting for her to swap places with Addy the entire time.
Pearl, Pearl, and X
It’s been a year since we were first introduced to Pearl, and it already feels like she has reached icon status. But it comes as no surprise since Pearl, played by a delightfully unhinged Mia Goth, is an offbeat horny woman isolated with her strict parents during a global pandemic. Is it any surprise she became a murderer?
Pearl dreams of the day she can escape life on the farm and become somebody. Pearl’s ambitions are not uncommon: youth, notoriety, sex. The youthful Pearl exemplifies a woman that will stop at nothing to get what she wants, and God help those who stand in her way.
The elderly Pearl we meet in X is resentful of the perky and horny youths renting her guest house to shoot a porno, and the guests dismiss Pearl as old and creepy. They don’t give much thought to how much she was like them when she was their age, and how they may end up like her with time. But Pearl quickly reminds them what she is capable of by using weapons around the farm and her devoted pet alligator to dispose of them. Pearl is a star, indeed.
Nami Matsushima / Matsu the Scorpion, Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion
An epic revenge story like none other, the Female Prisoner #701 series pits Matsu the Scorpion [Meiko Kaji] against a laundry list of foes in her attempts to escape prison and enact vengeance on those responsible for imprisonment. In Scorpion, we are introduced to a young Matsu, who is used by her cop boyfriend in exchange for a bribe from the Yakuza. After a failed attempt at revenge, Matsu winds up in prison fighting against abusive guards and murderous inmates.
Matsu is an unforgettable character that serves looks and vengeance as she stalks her victims in a black trench coat and a floppy hat. She is a survivor who overcomes the worst abuse imaginable to right the wrongs committed against her, and as the petty woman that I am, her insatiable lust for Revenge is #relatable.
Cecilia, Sissy
Sissy (Aisha Dee) prefers you call her Cecilia, thank you very much. Cecilia is a mental wellness influencer that pushes overpriced self-care items and prattles on about acceptance and safe spaces. She runs into her childhood best friend Emma, who invites her to her bachelorette party.
Her childhood bully/Emma’s maid of honor Alex is also in attendance, and she quickly shows that she hasn’t changed at all. Cecilia soon spirals back into her prepubescent “Sissy the sissy” days, and the result is an outlandish bloodbath that makes you question who the real victims may actually be.
Cecilia tears through her bullies in increasingly deranged ways while she retreats further into her “safe space” (read: slips into madness). But Cecilia does manage to confront her “best friend” Emma for abandoning her all those years ago and comes to terms with her own eccentricities. Honestly, Cecilia did absolutely nothing wrong, although her methods for getting rid of her tormentors may be a little unorthodox.
Amber, Scream V
Is Amber the Founding Mother of Requels? After a disappointing Stab 8, the cunning and ambitious Amber (Mikey Madison) decided to take matters into her own hands and bring Woodsboro the requel they deserved. She may represent a toxic faction of the horror fanbase, but it takes a brave soul to stand up and say we deserved better than Halloween Ends— I mean, say that sometimes a franchise needs to go back to its roots and remember what made it so special.
Amber also managed to get Sidney Fucking Prescott back for one last ride, uncover Sam’s lineage and her connection to the franchise’s past, and may or may not have inspired Sam to follow in her footsteps. That’s Mother!
I’m declaring 2023 the Year of the SlasHER, and I hope to see more unhinged women on the silver screen. Let me know what other slasHERs should be on the list!