This February marks the 11th annual Women in Horror Month, celebrate with these great titles
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Blumhouse’s recent take on The Invisible Man has earned both critical raves and early box office success, all of which is very much deserved. From an entertainment standpoint alone, the movie does so much with so little. All the filmmakers need to do is literally point the camera towards an empty chair or a dark corner of the room and the audience is completely unnerved. Shocks and surprises happen with almost NO time for processing, and The Invisible Man’s many twists serve it well all the way to its incredibly satisfying ending. Ultimately, however, the movie is a testament to the lingering unseen monster that is the effect of long-lasting trauma with Elisabeth Moss giving one of her best performances to date.
In celebration of Women in Horror month, the release of The Invisible Man, and the incredibly kick ass heroine at its center, the timing couldn’t be better for a revisiting of some other horror movie sheros from years past who continue to face their collective fears on your favorite streaming platforms. But don’t wait until next February to watch move great women in the genre, celebrate women in horror year round!
THE BIRDS (Hulu)
How does the master of suspense top one of most instant horror classics of all time? By creating another one of course! That’s exactly what Alfred Hitchcock did when he followed up the surprise success of Psycho with this tale of a small coastal California town which found itself suddenly and inexplicably under attack by birds of all kinds. Watching the collective birds Hitchcock used throughout the film is half the fun thanks to the way the director mixes wild, trained, and fake ones together in an almost maddening way. The other half of the fun lies in the terror-filled sequences. Seeing the birds gather on a jungle gym while Tippi Hedren casually smokes a cigarette, unaware of their presence as children eerily sing from inside the schoolhouse, and the way all the birds converge onto the town’s center; both remain the movie’s strongest set pieces. But The Birds also succeeds in its exquisite, yet complex heroine. Melanie Daniels (Hedren) wears many labels throughout the movie. She’s branded as a spoiled rich bitch, a harlot, a rival, and subsequently the cause of the birds continued attacks. Hedren excels in her film debut not just because the camera loves her, but because she’s able to give a true roundedness to a woman with an icy exterior masking a raw vulnerability.
TRILOGY OF TERROR (Amazon)
In keeping with actresses who quickly became associated with the genre from one tremendous performance, it’s hard not to think of Karen Black’s showstopping turn in 1975’s Trilogy of Terror. Conceived as a TV movie by Dark Shadows maestro Dan Curtis, the anthology horror film was comprised of three vignettes, each of which starred Black as different characters. In Julie, a spinster college professor dabbles in dark seduction, while in Millicent and Therese, a pair of twin sisters take part in mind games in an effort to destroy one another; and in Amelia, a single woman receives a mystery package with a deadly artifact inside. It’s hard to convey just how much of an impact Trilogy of Terror made on audiences. The movie was considered water cooler talk for ages as everyone raved about their favorite stories and moments, with the biggest one of course being the third. That image of Black being terrorized by that menacing doll gained horror icon status before the movie had finished. Trilogy of Terror is the perfect showcase for Black’s chameleon-like talent and her willingness to be experimental with her choices. Each of the characters the Oscar-nominated actress brings to life is just as believable and different as the last. Although Black later regretted saying yes to the movie, her work remains an acting tour-de-force; and there’s no doubt whatsoever that it’s what makes Trilogy of Terror remain as terrifying now as it always was.
BLACK CHRISTMAS (Shudder)
One of the blueprints of the modern slasher, Black Christmas remains both a celebrated horror masterpiece and a little-known cult classic. It’s been remade twice, but nothing touches the original tale of a group of sorority sisters spending Christmas break being terrorized by a series of phone calls from an unknown killer. A lot of what makes Black Christmas as terrifying as it is lies in what the filmmakers don’t show their audience. The biggest of these elements is the choice to shoot nearly all scenes involving the killer from his point of view. The effect was revolutionary as it essentially made the audience the murderer and gave them a front row seat to each look of horror on his victims’ faces. There’s a great deal of humor in the movie, thank goodness with plenty of slick one-liners coming from the ballsy Barb (Margot Kidder). But Black Christmas is a horror film through and through while also serving up a hearty helping of ‘70s feminism in main girl Olivia Hussey, whose survivalist nature serves her well as she deals with one disturbing phone call after another and manages to outwit the unseen killer all the way into the shockingly open-ended finale.
WHAT LIES BENEATH (Netflix)
When What Lies Beneath was released in the summer of 2000, it became a cause of celebration for virtually everybody (except perhaps critics). The movie was a hit for the studio, gave stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford a hit to their names after a string of flops, and delighted genre fans, who quickly embraced the ghost story as a loving Hitchcock tribute. Sure, the trailer became notorious for giving away far more than it should’ve, making the first third of the movie almost irrelevant and possibly affecting how critics viewed the overall story. Still, this tale of a housewife (Pfeiffer) faced with an empty nest and a workaholic husband (Ford) who begins to experience supernatural occurrences in her home, which may be linked to the car accident she had the year before, delivers on its intent. Director Robert Zemeckis takes every opportunity to tell a crackling ghost story that contains plenty of jump scares, old-fashioned suspense and effective technology. Ford may have been billed first, but What Lies Beneath is unquestionably Pfeiffer’s movie. As Claire, the actress digs into her character with the right mix of curiosity and fear. On the one hand, the ghostly happenings around her are chalked up to her inability to cope with this transitional period in her life. However, I prefer to look at What Lies Beneath through Pfeiffer’s perspective — as a story about a woman battling her own subconscious.
There are countless services to explore and great things to watch on all of them. Which ones did we miss that you would suggest to us? And, as always, if you’ve got thoughts on titles we’re missing out on or new services to check out, leave a comment below.
Till next week, stream on, stream away.