TCM and several other networks have been showing round-the-clock horror movies for the last several days. In the past I have posted a list of what I think are the best supernatural horror movies but, in the interest of equal opportunity, why not make a list of monster movies in which the monster is a woman?
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
This movie, directed by James Whale, features a reunion of Boris Karloff as The Monster and Colin Clive as Victor Frankenstein with a young and pretty Elsa Lanchester in a dual role as Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and The Bride. It is, if anything, more atmospheric than the original.
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Gloria Holden’s performance in the title role is genuinely eerie in an otherwise forgettable movie.
Cat People (1942)
An incredibly atmospheric movie directed by Jacques Tourneur, produced by Val Lewton, and starring the gorgeous Simone Simon as a woman who transforms into a panther when angered. Or does she? We never realyo know for sure. The all-time classic of this subgenre.
She Devil (1957)
I include this movie not just because a woman plays the monster but because it is based on Stanley G. Weinbaum’s unforgettable short story, “The Adaptive Ultimate” which is a lot better than this movie. File this one under “Science Is Bad”.
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
No list of movies in which a woman played the monster would be complete without this incredibly campy, gorgeously trashy entry. I haven’t been able to find out what Allison Hayes who portrayed the title character thought of this being the movie for which she is most remembered. My guess is that she thought it was a paycheck.
The Wasp Woman (1959)
Roger Corman produced and directed this entry in the list of movies in which a woman is the monster. A not atypical 50s creature feature.
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
What list of horror movies would be complete without a Hammer film? As it works out this movie is based on the earliest novel of my knowledge in which the vampire was a woman, J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s great Carmilla which I recommend reading. It’s available on Project Gutenberg. There are a half dozen movie adaptations with various names.
One of the things that is very notable about these movies is how much more exploitative the 1950s movies were than those made before. I suspect it’s related to the transition of horror movies from A to B that took place in the 1940s.
What are your suggestions for entries in this list?
Given that you don’t list any witch movies, I gather you don’t consider them to be monsters. On the one hand, witches are just people that can cast spells or possess specialized occult knowledge, so they are not physically monsters. But some of them, I think appear to be monsters of unknown origin. Baba Yaga is more of a mythical creature. The witch in Viy (1967) which I watched for the first time this year, does not seem to be quite human, particularly after she is dead. The cellar witch in the Evil Dead is some sort of demon, but mostly seems to be one of the many bads in the movie.
I was going to suggest the Vampire Lovers before you added it. I read somewhere a few years ago that the big three monsters reflect three different categories of fear: Frankenstein is fear of science, the Wolfman is fear of metamorphosis, and Dracula is fear of alien horror. The author pointed out that vampire stories had more frequently become fear of metamorphosis. Ingrid Pitt evokes more the fear of loss of self-control.
For female werewolves, I like A Company of Wolves (1984), which combines a few different short stories by Angela Carter. This is a cheat. Mostly its men that are wolves, some with hair on the outside, but worse are those with their hair on the insides, but the story is about a girl coming of age and becoming that which she was taught to fear.
For Frankenstein, I think of Blade Runner and the two female replicants, including Sean Young because this type of monster is also a victim. There may be better examples in this vein because I’m not sure many would consider this horror.
I’m compiling a separate list of witch movies. 🙂
It’s been decades since I watched Viy. It’s on Amazon Prime Video! I’ll need to stream it.
At this point I’ve got 6-8 to include in my list. I’m casting a pretty wide net. So, for example, Bell, Book, and Candle is in my list as is I Married a Witch. Along with some more horror-type offerings.
This genre isn’t my cup of tea, but I thought there must be movies from the previous half-century.
Google gave me this list. The whole woman-monster thing seems to have fallen out of Hollywood fashion by the 1970s.
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls021194646/
Jen Psaki Press Conferences: An Anthology (2021)
Don’t know if she qualifies as a monster, but I’m haunted by this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDAaTzccCik