As part of our celebration of Women’s History Month here at Horror Press, I thought it was high time to celebrate the women who helped shape my most favorite of horror subgenres: the slasher movie. Both in front of and behind the camera, women have been essential in creating some of the most iconic and well-respected slasher movies, and I shall attempt to highlight 10 (well, 11, but I won’t tell if you won’t) who have had the most impact over the decades.

While there are many, many runners-up on this list, and I’m certain there are just as many that I missed, in general I have focused on women whose work extends across multiple iconic entries in the genre, rather than more obscure titles or a single slasher work. Thus, we won’t be seeing directors like Home Sweet Home’s Nettie Peña and Rocktober Blood’s Beverly Sebastian, editors like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Sallye Richardson, and so on. That would be its own separate list, which I would absolutely also like to compile someday. But one thing at a time.

Ranking this list would be both impossible and disrespectful, so I’m presenting each entry in loose chronological order, based on when their contributions to the development and continuation of the genre were most prominent.

10 of the Most Important Women in Slasher History

Stage and Screen, Personalities, pic: circa 1961, American film actress Janet Leigh in a scene from the film “Psycho” from Alfred Hitchcock (Photo by Haynes Archive/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

#1 Janet Leigh (Actor)

Besides a cameo in Halloween H20, Janet Leigh never made another proper slasher after starring in 1960’s Psycho. And yet that one appearance gave us so much. Without her agreeing to use her star power to sell the movie, only to have the rug pulled out from under the audience when she is murdered halfway through in one of the most memorably shocking scenes of the century, it is very probable that Psycho would not have been the hit that it was. Sure, Hitchcock’s name would have put butts in seats, but even he knew what he had with Leigh, to the point of employing William Castle-esque gimmickry around hiding that particular surprise.

If Leigh hadn’t had the humility to say yes to being murdered onscreen in what was – at the time – a reasonably grubby little horror picture, this seminal work would have been very different, and the entire slasher genre might have died on the vine as a result.

#2 Edwige Fenech (Actor)

Before the idea of a “scream queen” had really even been floated, Edwige Fenech brought audiences back to the giallo genre time and time again with her roles in titles like Five Dolls for an August Moon, The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The Case of the Bloody Iris, Strip Nude for Your Killer, and Your Vice is a Locked Room, and Only I Have the Key. She played a key part in the Italian genre’s domination throughout the 1970s, leading directly into the North American slasher boom of the 1980s.

#3 Debra Hill (Producer/Writer)

The unsung heroine of the Halloween franchise, Debra Hill co-wrote Halloween and Halloween II with John Carpenter, in addition to producing both films and the unrelated sequel Halloween III: Season of the Witch. In addition to being at the core of one of the most iconic slasher franchises, her work on the 1978 original cemented the rules of the slasher film in a way that early proto-slashers like Psycho, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Black Christmas simply didn’t. She helped set the template for nearly every slasher movie to come, particularly every slasher movie worth its salt released between 1979 and 1984, before Nightmare on Elm Street added a new flavor to the mix.

#4 Jamie Lee Curtis (Actor)

Unless you stumbled on this site by accident, you know Jamie Lee Curtis. She cemented the idea of the scream queen and, frankly, in my humble opinion, no actor since her has really been able to carry that torch properly. After leading 1978’s Halloween, she went on to star in a variety of other slashers, helping add powder to the keg right at the beginning of the slasher boom with titles including Prom Night, Terror Train, Halloween II, and the hopelessly underrated Roadgames. Showing the same humility as her mother, who you may remember from three entries above, she has returned to her Halloween role multiple times, resurrecting the iconic franchise no less than twice, in addition to paying homage in other projects such as the Ryan Murphy horror-comedy series titled, what else, Scream Queens.

#5 Annette Benson (Casting Director)

I feel like casting directors get short shrift. Sure, directors and producers frequently have a hand in choosing who stars in what. However, even for roles where that is the case, casting directors are responsible for cutting the wheat from the chaff and putting those people in front of the directors and producers in the first place as well as – frequently – manipulating them into making the right decision and feeling like it was their own idea.

Thus, without the work of the great Annette Benson, whose best-known slasher project is the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, we wouldn’t have Robert England, Heather Langenkamp, or (for better or worse) Johnny Depp. She went on to cast the next four installments in the Elm Street franchise (hello, Patricia Arquette) as well as bringing us Viggo Mortensen in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. And before all that, she cut her teeth as a casting assistant on the early parody National Lampoon’s Class Reunion.

#6 Rachel Talalay (Multi-Hyphenate)

Rachel Talalay is probably best known as the director of Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, making her the first woman to helm an installment in a major slasher franchise. And still one of the only women. But she didn’t get that job out of nowhere. She rose through the ranks on previous installments, going from being an assistant production manager on the original Elm Street to production manager on Freddy’s Revenge to line producer on Dream Warriors to producer on Dream Master. After (wisely) skipping out on Dream Child, though she did receive special thanks, Talalay returned with a vengeance to make slasher history.

Her journey also extends into other iconic slashers far from Freddy’s reach. Her slow rise above the line included eclectic stints as a production accountant on New Line’s pre-Elm Street slasher Alone in the Dark, a script supervisor and apprentice editor on The House on Sorority Row, and a first assistant director on Return to Horror High.

#7 Fern Champion and Pamela Basker (Casting Directors)

This dynamic duo is to Friday the 13th, what Annette Benson is to A Nightmare on Elm Street. In addition to casting slashers including Fade to Black, Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse, and April Fool’s Day, they collaborated on Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, A New Beginning, and Jason Lives, bringing us every version of Tommy Jarvis (therefore, Corey Feldman) as well as handing out early roles to Crispin Glover and Tony Goldwyn.

They also handled the L.A. casting for Friday the 13th: The Series, which isn’t really a slasher project, but helped beef up the franchise, which counts! And Pet Sematary, which also isn’t a slasher, but brought Miko Hughes to the horror genre five years before New Nightmare.

#8 Carol J. Clover (Academic)

In her 1987 essay “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film,” which was later published as part of her 1992 compilation Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, Carol J. Clover coined the term “final girl,” and discussion of the slasher genre was forever changed. I think it is entirely fair to say that, without her keen analysis of the slasher, a genre which few academics had the gumption to take on at the time, we wouldn’t have had 1996’s Scream and its further dissection of the final girl trope. And without Scream, we wouldn’t have I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, Bride of Chucky, the latter-era Chucky franchise in general, and an untold number of post-millennium slasher works.

#9 Marianne Maddalena (Producer)

Wes Craven called this woman his “guardian angel,” what more evidence could you possibly need? Just to be thorough, though, I’ll share a little bit about iconic producer Marianne Maddalena, who founded the company Craven/Maddalena Films with the master of horror. After producing Craven’s unique but ultimately unsuccessful Shocker, she went on to collaborate with him on New Nightmare and the entire Scream franchise, which she continues to steward to this day.

#10 Jennifer Tilly (Actor)

Without Jennifer Tilly, we simply wouldn’t have one of the best late-period slasher franchises in the business. Her character Tiffany Valentine, who was introduced in the fourth Child’s Play installment, Bride of Chucky, is a crackling inferno of charisma without whom the franchise would be hopelessly bereft. She has also been a fierce advocate for Chucky off-camera, unashamedly parading her association with the franchise around in other properties (including new promos for her appearance on Real Housewives). This fierce loyalty to Tiffany is likely the reason that half of the Chucky projects that followed were even allowed to be made in the first place. For that, and for everything, we must thank Jennifer Tilly from the bottom of our hearts.

I’ve heard of the Unnamed Footage Festival for quite some time but hadn’t had the opportunity to be a part of it…until now. When I requested press accreditation for this festival, I had no clue what films would be screening, but I didn’t care. If you know me, you know how much I love found footage.

Let’s just say the lineup for this festival is BONKERS.

Among other prestigious partners for UFF this year, they happily welcome new partner FoundTV. If you’re unfamiliar with FoundTV, it’s a found footage streaming service that is giving the big horror streamers a run for their money. The Found Footage Horror and In-World-Camera Film Festival returns to San Francisco March 25-30, 2025, and offers a hybrid festival experience like no other.

There will be a ton of events for in-person attendees to sink their teeth into, and I’m jealous of everyone who gets to be a part of that. But what films will they be showing?! Let’s take a look!

Tickets can be purchased HERE.

Check Out the Killer Lineup at Unnamed Footage Festival 2025

Image courtesy of Unnamed Footage Festival

TINSMAN ROAD (2025, dir. Robbie Banfitch) (WORLD PREMIERE)

A young man searches for the body of his sister years after her tragic disappearance.

Shot fully on gritty 4:3 Mini-DV, Robbie Banfitch’s sophomore feature Tinsman Road takes us on an emotionally winding voyage into the wilderness of death and sorrow.

Image courtesy of Unnamed Footage Festival

I DON’T LIKE IT HERE (2025, dir. Robbie Smith)

A recently paroled outsider returns to his desolate hometown, only to find a community plagued by a disturbing darkness. As he grapples with his own past and the town’s sinister secrets, he becomes the prime suspect in a series of gruesome murders.

After his powerful directorial debut, Grieve, Robbie Smith returns with I Don’t Like it Here, a poignant hybrid found-footage film that builds on the eerie, voyeuristic camera work of Grieve and combines it segments of faux-documentary footage in order to create something deeply haunting and highly original. I Don’t Like it Here follows a parolee who returns to his childhood home to find his family missing.

WHAT HAPPENED TO DOROTHY BELL? (2024, dir. Danny Villanueva)

After uncovering disturbing revelations from her early childhood involving her late grandmother, Dorothy Bell, Ozzie Gray sets out to video document her investigation into these past events. Desperate for answers, she attempts to communicate with Dorothy’s spirit but unwittingly awakens something malevolent.

Featuring a star studded cast including Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 & 5) and Michael Hargrove (Candyman (2021), The Express (2008)) and a breakthrough lead performance from newcomer Asya Meadows, Dorothy Bell is found-footage gem, with intense scares and unexpected twists as it examines generational trauma through the lens of demonic possession.

Image courtesy of Unnamed Footage Festival

SOLVENT (2024, dir. Johannes Grenzfurthner)

While searching for Nazi documents in an Austrian farmhouse, a team of experts uncovers a hidden secret buried in its bowels. American expatriate Gunner S. Holbrook becomes obsessed with solving the mystery, and as his sanity wanes, he must confront an insatiable evil.

After screening Masking Threshold at UFF 6 and its divisive follow up Razzenest at UFF 7, we’re proud to share Solvent, the final film in Johannes Grenzfurthner’s loose trilogy of unconventional horror films. While Solvent is, perhaps, the most conventional of the three films, it retains Grenzfurthner’s signature touch of absolute insanity.

LEECH (2024, dir. David Dawson)

The trials, tribulations, and trolls of a Youtuber who calls himself The Dark Lord of Loves Park.

The Dark Lord of Loves Park live streams regularly in hopes of receiving donations from his viewers who are only watching to see him self-destruct. Inspired by King Cobra JFS, David Dawson (Flesh Games, The Long Weekend) returns with a mumblegore, screenlife film that explores the internet phenomenon of LOLCOWS.

It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This (2023, USA, dir. Rachel Kempf, Nick Toti)

When a married couple (filmmakers Rachel Kempf, Nick Toti as themselves) purchase a rundown duplex in rural Missouri to be the set of their next horror film, they are delighted by the layers of graffiti and debris. Nick’s production of a documentary about their project and the entertaining dynamic between himself, Rachel, and her longtime bestie Christian gets sidetracked when strangers begin standing completely still outside their new home, silently staring at the house.

Hunting Matthew Nichols (2024, Canada, dir. Markian Tarasiuk)

Two decades after her brother’s disappearance, documentarian Tara Nichols (Miranda MacDougall) sets out to find answers. When she uncovers a disturbing piece of evidence: a horrific tape that the police covered up, she learns that there’s more to his disappearance than she’s been told, and that her brother could still be alive. 

Dream Eater (2024, Canada, dir. Alex Lee Williams, Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm)

During a holiday at a remote cabin in the mountains, filmmaker Mallory Drumm decides to capture her boyfriend’s (Alex Lee Williams) strange parasomnia on camera. Despite their efforts, his episodes worsen, becoming violent and dangerous. As the couple seek a cure, they begin to expect that something more sinister is at play and begin to wonder if Alex’s malady is supernatural in origin.

Image courtesy of Unnamed Footage Festival

The Lost Episode (2024, Canada, dir. Nick Wernham)

The Lost Episode follows police officers Paul Massaro and Terrence Williams (Anthony Grant and Benjamin Sutherland) as they patrol the town of Franklin on Halloween night. As the night progresses, the officers respond to a series of increasingly disturbing calls and begin to suspect a diabolical conspiracy lurking in the heart of their small town.

Nightfall: A Paranormal Investigation (2024, Australia, dir. Myles McEwen, Ripley Stevens)

Two young paranormal detectives investigate a haunting. One wields a video camera and can record the spirits of the dead while the other brandishes headphones and a microphone that can capture their voices. Together they delve into a haunting that pushes their skills to the limit. This simple setup serves as a springboard for some of the best cinematography and sound design found footage horror has to offer.

The Rebrand (2024, Canada, dir. Kaye Adelaide)

Nicole, a pregnant videographer takes a gig helping a pair of lesbian lifestyle influencers who’ve seen their brand and their reputation destroyed after being cancelled for an unknown transgression. As she films their lives, she finds that the pair have far more quirks in person than their online personas reveal.

McCurdy Point (2025, USA, dir. Jeremy Brothers, Nick Paonessa)

McCurdy Point follows five friends who travel to an old cabin in the woods to celebrate, but instead find themselves targeted by a malicious force that defies explanation. Starring an ensemble cast of improv comedians, instead of scoring laughs, they build intense tension and massive scares as the force picks them off one-by-one.

Image courtesy of Unnamed Footage Festival

DOOBA DOOBA (2024, USA, dir. Ehrland Hollingsworth)

When aspiring singer Amna (Amna Vegha) is hired to babysit, she’s surprised to learn her ward is the 16-year-old Monroe (Betsy Sligh), a troubled shut-in who hasn’t left her home since watching her brother murdered. What ensues is a cat-and-mouse game with the tension of Creep and an absurdist sensibility of Too Many Cooks.

The Unsolved Love Hotel Murder Case Incident (2024, Japan, dir. Dave Jackson, Guy)

Dave Jackson and Guy, a pair of horror filmmakers and Australian expats living in Japan, decide to investigate their friend’s story of a murder and haunting at an abandoned love hotel. What starts off as a fun weekend trip becomes a nightmare when their friend vanishes and the love hotel turns out to actually be haunted.

Japandemonium (日本-悪魔) (2024, Japan, dir Sean Kurosawa / Kyosuke Koizumi, Nozomi Tomaki)

A double feature of Sean Kurosawa’s Girls Just Wanna Have Kill and Kyosuke Koizumi & Nozomi Tomaki’s Killmageddon, this midnight block is like seppuku for your senses. With minimal plot and maximal violence, Killmageddon is a blood-drenched fever dream. Girls Just Wanna Have Kill keeps up the insanity from its opening dedication to Cyndi Lauper to its splatter-pop idol heroine Momoko (Tenma Aida) and her gooey time-traveling hijinks.

What I Remember (2025, USA, dir. Alex Hera)

Based on Hera’s short film of the same title, What I Remember follows Ryan and Sam, a pair bound together by loneliness and by their deep desire to escape the bigotry and isolation of their rural hometown. Jumping between past and present, we watch Ryan and Sam’s relationship tenderly grow, all-the-while knowing that in the present Ryan has gone missing, may be dead, and that Sam is dead-set on finding the truth.

Distort (2025, Ireland, dir. Richard Waters)

A musician recording an album in the woods finds mysterious cassette tapes being left for him. On them, a woman researching an urban legend is being terrorised by a man and his vicious dog. A mix between Justin Benson / Aaron Moorhead’s Resolution and Turner Clay’s The Blackwell Ghost, Distort is a beautiful and welcomed return to the woods.

Image courtesy of Unnamed Footage Festival

Baleful (2024, Canada, dir. Denman Hatch)

Eddie has a serious problem. He doesn’t know what’s real. He doesn’t know who he is. He doesn’t know why he wakes up covered in blood. Baleful is a hybrid anthology film that brings the Unnamed Footage Festival 8 theme—“Video Never Lies”—to chilling fruition. As reality unravels for a small community, its members turn to their cameras for the truth… only to discover that some images can’t be unseen. From the creator of Canada’s #1 horror YouTube channel, Deformed Lunchbox, Baleful also marks the long-awaited return of Kenny vs Spenny’s Spencer Rice to the big screen.

Fat Tuesday (2018, USA, dir. Jorge Torres-Torres)

Cinema-in-Public is a term we’ve come up with to refer to narrative films shot guerilla-style in public places. The actors know they’re making a movie, but the public is none-the wiser. Examples are rare, and include oddities like Randy Moore’s Disney World-filmed Escaped from Tomorrow and Jason Banker’s Toad Road.

UFF is proud to present its first Cinema-In-Public screening, Fat Tuesday. Filmed in New Orleans on-location during Mardi Gras, a group of friends is preyed upon by a mysterious killer (Hannah Gross). Shot and edited by the criminally overlooked Jorge Torres-Torres (Toad Road, Sisters of the Plague) Fat Tuesday transcends traditional slashers by adding an element of verisimilitude previously unknown to the subgenre.

Reality Killers (2005, Italy, dir. Alessandro Capone, Pablo Dammicco, Volfango De Biasi, Francesco Maria Dominedò)

Reality Killers is a horror film in which a man obsessed with violent ‘snuff’ videos, featuring people being abused, tortured and killed, goes on to commit his own similar crimes. – Banned in the UK and lost for 20 years, Reality Killers is a surprisingly cinematic 90s style In-World-Camera film, which will find its theatrical debut as our Saturday, midnight screening.

I don’t know about you, but this sounds like it will be a BLAST! Keep an eye out for our reviews, and if you plan on attending, you can purchase tickets HERE.