Feminist Body Horror: The Women Revolutionizing Indie Cinema’s Dark Side!

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Feminist body horror is taking over indie cinema.

Female directors leading the latest wave of cinema with a focus on flesh and glamour are gaining both critical acclaim and box office popularity by blending disturbingly raw imagery with thought-provoking content addressing issues such as personal freedom over bodies, societal beauty norms, and gender roles in society.

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In this new wave of films, female moviemakers are striking a chord by merging the gruesomely real with forward-thinking narratives that tackle subjects like bodily autonomy, unrealistic beauty standards, and societal norms regarding women. These filmmakers are earning both praise from critics and money at the box office.

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The new generation of female directors is making an impact by marrying gritty realism with enlightened storytelling that tackles themes like bodily autonomy, beauty ideals, and societal pressures on women. Their films are receiving both critical acclaim and commercial success.

Coralie Fargeat’s hit indie film, titled “The Substance“, has been crowned as the reigning queen of feminist body horror. With a global gross of $77 million and five Oscar nominations, it’s making waves. Yet, it seems that gruesome feminist films are becoming increasingly popular, as evidenced by this year’s Midnight screenings at Sundance. Among them were “The Ugly Stepsister” by Emilie Blichfeldt, a dark reinterpretation of the Cinderella tale featuring graphic cosmetic surgery and bodily mutilation, and Grace Glowicki’s “Dead Lover“, a horror-comedy that follows a gravedigger (Glowicki) who goes to extreme lengths in an attempt to resurrect her deceased lover.

In Berlin’s lineup, you’ll find Johanna Moder’s “Mother’s Baby,” a German psychological horror film where a woman questions whether the baby she got from the hospital is truly hers. Additionally, there’s “Honey Bunch” directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, which employs body horror elements to explore the tale of a destructive relationship.

The European Film Market in Berlin is heavily focusing on feminist body horror films this year. Among the offerings are “Honey Bunch” and “Dead Lover,” both distributed by XYZ Films and Yellow Veil Pictures respectively. Other gruesome selections include “The Blood Countess,” a period shocker from Magnify, starring Isabelle Huppert as a vampiric noblewoman, and “Diamond Shitter,” a socially-critical body horror thriller directed by Antonia Campbell-Hughes of “Bright Star.” This film tells the story of a working-class girl who has the ability to absorb precious gems physically.

Emily Gotto, VP of global acquisitions and co-productions for AMC Networks, expresses her admiration for the innovative approach of these emerging female directors in horror films. She purchased “The Ugly Stepsister” for Shudder, a streaming service dedicated to horror content, before its premiere at Sundance. According to Gotto, these films carry strong feminist messages that reflect contemporary life, human interactions, and relationships. They achieve this in a way that is both provocative and thought-provoking, daring and courageous, yet also incredibly entertaining.

In his analysis, Gotto acknowledges Karyn Kusama’s 2009 film “Jennifer’s Body” as an initial work within this genre, but he attributes the emergence of a fresh wave of feminist body horror to Julia Ducournau. Her debut film in 2016, “Raw”, which tells the tale of a cannibalistic teenager, was a hit, generating over $3 million at the box office. The successor to this, the provocative “Titane” (2021), known for its graphic scenes involving girl-on-car sex, motor oil lactation, and murder with a hairpin, won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2021 and represented France in the Oscars.

Ducournau, Fargeat, and Blichfeldt acknowledge Canadian director David Cronenberg as a significant influence on their work. The grisly horror and disturbing physical representations presented in films like “Rabid” (1977), where a woman employs a clitoral stinger to feed off others’ blood, and “The Brood” (1979), which revolves around a woman who gives birth to mutant children as a manifestation of her anger, resonate with these up-and-coming filmmakers seeking to capture the experience of being a woman in contemporary society.

As for me, horror films have always been a challenge to endure. I’m rather delicate, and those sudden jumps or terrifying scenes in the dark just aren’t my cup of tea. However, Cronenberg’s brand of body horror piqued my interest. The way his characters’ bodily experiences are portrayed allows us, as viewers, to empathize on a deeper level. Yet, there’s an additional layer to it – these bodily experiences are laden with metaphors and profound philosophical concepts. This resonated strongly with the themes I was aiming to explore, particularly regarding the female experience, which I believe is often deeply rooted in physicality.

Fargeat states, “The experience of existing with our bodies in public, being consistently scrutinized based on appearance, and the implications of physical changes such as aging or pregnancy – this is what I refer to as ‘body horror.’ To be a woman, for me, embodies this horrifying reality.

The strong impact that contemporary feminist horror movies are having on both viewers and critics may be equally attributed to the current global climate and the films’ intrinsic merit.

In the movie titled “The Substance“, Elisabeth, a once-popular celebrity who finds herself out of work from television due to her age – as her boss, Harvey, puts it, “at 50 it ends” – questions the sudden end of her career. She inquires, “What ends?

In an urgent attempt to distort her biological makeup according to societal expectations, Elisabeth resorts to an illegal substance, which results in her splitting down the back and a more youthful, attractive woman (portrayed by Margaret Qualley) emerging from her body.

In “The Substance,” film critic Lovia Gyarkye notes that Coralie Fargeat seems to be contemplating Hollywood and poking fun at a character reminiscent of Harvey Weinstein, particularly when many women are disheartened by the outcomes of the #MeToo movement. It appears as if the balance is shifting again, according to her. (The Hollywood Reporter)

Hannah Strong, a British film critic and commentator, states that while #MeToo was widely celebrated as a turning point in both the movie industry and society at large, it appears to her that not much has actually changed. She points out that the portrayal of women in Hollywood is still dismal and that news headlines worldwide continue to report instances of violence against women. This frustration, anger, and pain are reflected in films such as “Titane” or “The Substance,” which can be seen as a response, even on an unconscious level, to the patriarchy and the challenges women face.

A fresh group of female directors specializing in body horror films are adapting the techniques used by their predecessors, albeit with a distinctly different focus. While male filmmakers such as Cronenberg or Carpenter often portray the body as a source of isolation and dread – consider Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982), which revolves around an alien entity that mimics humans, or Cronenberg’s “The Fly” (1986), about a man who undergoes metamorphosis into an insect – feminist body horror directors instead explore the body in a more personal and intimate way.

Gyarkye notes that in both “The Substance” and “The Ugly Stepsister,” women’s bodies are portrayed as being both allies and adversaries. In “The Substance,” Sue, representing the younger self, confronts the harsh character of Elisabeth. On the other hand, in “The Ugly Stepsister,” the stepsister relies on her body to attract and win over the prince for economic and financial relief, but it’s also her main source of struggle.

Strong points out that female directors working in the genre of body horror are particularly aware that they’re narrating stories that resonate with many other women. Furthermore, she suggests that these female filmmakers are creating a unique niche within horror, which has historically been dominated by men telling women’s tales, instead of women sharing their own experiences.

The genre of feminist body horror has shown remarkable adaptability, spanning from the sleek, ’80s-esque showbiz satire of Fargaet’s “The Substance”, to Blichfeldt’s “Ugly Stepsister” that mirrors the aesthetics and narrative elements of 1970s Czech fantasy films, all the way to “The Devil’s Bath” (2024), a collaboration by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, which employs body horror motifs to delve into themes like depression, suicide, and religious suppression in 18th century rural Austria.

According to Fargeat, “the female experience” serves as an abundant source of body horror. With an increasing number of women filmmakers producing such films, she notes that the boundaries have significantly expanded and the door has been flung open in a vast manner.

According to AMC’s Gotto, historically, horror fans have tended to be female. However, recently, there has been a surge of bold, distinctive, and provocative horror films with a feminist perspective that are now taking center stage, rather than being relegated to the sidelines. In fact, a woman-directed body horror film was even nominated for an Oscar! This suggests that these movies have broken free from being labeled as niche or art house, and have entered mainstream popularity.

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2025-02-15 09:56