The representation of women

Classically, the men are portrayed as the dominant figure in horror movies, and they have been throughout the century, as they are usually the ones who victimise the women. Women have been cast into being either the horrific murder victim, or the “Final girl” (which refers to the woman overcoming the man at the end of the film after either being saved, escaping, or actually killing the antagonist). An example of this would be Laurie from the Halloween franchise who throughout the movie, is in peril against the masked man, Michael Myers, but still manages to survive. She does not actually kill him, as the viewers are left with a bit of a mystery at the end after the policeman seems to have killed him, but as they turn back around after embracing and talking, he is gone.

The film industry portrays women in different ways. The majority of films make the female the fearful, pathetic female who needs the help of a dominant man. However in such films as Aliens (1982), Ellen Ripley took out a cadre of nasty space aliens while simultaneously working as a forklift operator, and Sidney from Scream (1996) single handedly took out multiple serial killers after all the rules specifically told her that she would most likely die.

In most horror films, the female is usually attractive. This allows the audience to keep focused on her as the main character as she stands out from the rest. It also allows possible plotlines such as sexual activity, and killing off the boyfriend etc. An example of a murder scene with sexual activity in could be seen as the boyfriend murder in Halloween (1978). They begin kanoodling in bed, when the boyfriend decides he wants a drink, which is eventually his demise as he is killed when Michael Myers comes out of the cupboard. The antagonist has eliminated the dominant figure first, leaving the female completely defenseless. The killer then puts a white sheet over himself, as if he is pretending to be a ghost and goes up to the bedroom. As the door opens, the girlfriend believes it is her boyfriend playing around. As the audience, we feel sorry for the girl, but we also believe her to be helpless and a little stupid, and when we see that she is then killed, this shows us the stereotypical female death in horror. Sometimes, the girl injures the antagonist in an attempt to escape. This disrupts the chase, but its not the end, as she tries to escape, her exits are pretty much ALWAYS blocked or locked. From the beginning where they male is killed, we know that this is the end for her.

Slasher horror movies tend to favor victimising the females more than any other type of horror movie. They involve plenty of women AND men being killed off, and usually a “final girl”. However, movies where the women are the evil characters can be so much scarier than the ones with men. For example, one of the scariest movies ever released is “The Exorcist” where a young girl is possessed by Satan. Another example of a possessed girl is from “The last exorcism”, a movie about a girl who was deliberately impregnated by a priest and then he performed satanic prayers on her to possess it, and eventually her. The girl attacks her brother, kills a cat with a camera, completely mutilating it and even tries to kill the priest with it too. Another horrifying movie of the last couple of years could be “Paranormal Activity”. Again, the antagonist is female and she is possessed, but this time she kills her boyfriend. In the sequel/prequel, she kills her sister’s husband, her sister, and steals a baby. These three movies are prime examples of women being the antagonist, and so much more terrifying than the males. It goes from extreme to another, on one side being completely and utterly powerless, to scaring the shit out of everybody.