1000 Women in Horror is a documentary about the history and power of women in horror. Alexandra Heller-Nicholas wrote the film based on her book by the same name. I never thought I would say this about horror, but this doc is fascinating and powerfully feminist. It’s a must watch.

1000 Women in Horror uses a standard documentary format. Talking heads giving expert opinions interspersed with clips from movies (yes, gory and bloody clips). Donna Davies directed.

The women who talked were all either writers, directors, or actors in horror, sometimes all three at once. I learned so much from their commentary. Many were things I had never thought about before about how women’s agency and power are represented in horror films.

The documentary was divided into segments. The segments covered young girls, adolescent girls, young women, mature women, and old women. Topics like menstruation and pregnancy were explored. They mentioned mainstream horror films like Scream, The Shining, and We Have to Talk about Kevin. They also discussed many films I hadn’t heard of. You get a glimpse into the variety of films in the trailer.

Many things I learned surprised me. I was surprised by the number of directors and actors who are well known who had done horror at some point. The motivations for creating horror intrigued me.

Horror can get very granular about things that affect women. Childhood bullying. Sexual assault. Gaslighting. Motherhood and childbirth. Objectification. Social expectations. Films that looked at all this and more were discussed.

I’m ready to watch this one again and read the book. I haven’t grown too old to learn something new.

This is a Shudder film. I saw it on AMC+. It’s also on Sundance Now.