It is an exciting time to be a woman in horror. The past decade has seen women directing sleeper hits and big-budget studio films. The Substance was nominated for five Academy Awards last year, including a directing nomination for Coralie Fargeat. Other celebrated women directors of the modern age include Julia Ducournau (Titane), Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), Karyn Kusama (The Invitation), and Nia DaCosta (Candyman).
Of course, there is always more work to be done. Most of 2025‘s horror movies have been directed by men. Even so, women have still helmed an impressive array of slashers, body horror, and ghost stories this year. From indie projects to heavyweight studio sequels, women are doing awesome things in the horror genre.
8
‘The Ugly Stepsister’
The Ugly Stepsister
4.5
/5
- Release Date
-
April 18, 2025
- Runtime
-
105 minutes
- Director
-
Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt
- Writers
-
Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt
- Producers
-
Christian Torpe, Jesper Morthorst
-
Lea Mathilde Skar-Myren
Elvira
-
Thea Sofie Loch Næss
Agnes
Based on the classic fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, The Ugly Stepsister is a Norwegian dark satire that retells Cinderella with a bloody, body horror twist. In a realm where beauty is what matters most, Elvira (Lea Myren) goes through a series of gruesome plastic surgeries with the hope of becoming beautiful and winning the affections of Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth).
The movie was written and directed by Emilie Blichfeldt in her feature directorial debut. Earlier this year, Blichfeldt won the Director’s Award at the Boston Underground Film Festival for The Ugly Stepsister. Several outlets have called the film one of the best horror movies of the year, and it has a 96% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
7
‘Dead Lover’
Dead Lover
4.5
/5
- Release Date
-
January 24, 2025
- Runtime
-
82 minutes
- Director
-
Grace Glowicki
- Writers
-
Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie
- Producers
-
Ben Petrie, Yona Strauss, Tristan Scott-Behrends, Rhianon Jones
-
Grace Glowicki
Uncredited
-
Dead Lover is a Canadian horror movie inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Grace Glowicki, who wrote and directed the film, stars as a lonely gravedigger looking for love. When the man she is interested in dies at sea, the gravedigger tries to resurrect him using all that was left of her beloved: a single severed finger. Critics have praised the film’s lo-fi practical effects and unapologetic romp through all that is camp and weird.
In March, Glowicki won the NEON Auteur Award for Uncompromising Visionary in the Visions Section at the SXSW Film Festival for writing, directing, and starring in Dead Lover. Her short film “Her Friend Adam” won Short Film Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, and her directorial debut, Tito, won the Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Award at SXSW in 2019.
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6
‘The Virgin of the Quarry Lake’
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake
- Release Date
-
January 27, 2025
- Runtime
-
90 minutes
- Director
-
Laura Casabé
- Writers
-
Benjamín Naishtat
- Producers
-
Alejandro Israel
-
Dolores Oliverio
Uncredited
-
-
Fernanda Echevarría del Rivero
-
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake is a coming-of-age horror film based on stories from acclaimed Argentinian writer Mariana Enríquez’s 2021 collection, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. When Diego (Agustín Sosa) starts dating someone else, Natalia (Dolores Oliverio) uses magic to thwart the burgeoning couple’s romance. Laura Casabe directed the film, and Rojo writer-director Benjamín Naishtat penned the screenplay.
Casabe is best known for directing the historical horror film The Returned in 2019. The Virgin of the Quarry Lake won Best Argentinian Film at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema. It was nominated for the Knight Marimbas Award at the Miami Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
5
‘F*** Marry Kill’
F Marry Kill
- Release Date
-
December 6, 2024
- Runtime
-
97 minutes
- Director
-
Laura Murphy
- Writers
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Ivan Diaz, Meghan Brown
F*** Marry Kill is a comedy thriller with some serious slasher vibes, which is no surprise given the fact that it’s distributed by Lionsgate. Eva Vaugh (Lucy Hale) is newly single, and as she jumps back into the dating scene, she realizes that a few of the men she’s gone out with share things in common with the “Swipe Right Killer” that has been using dating apps to lure women to their death. Obsessed with a podcast about this case, Eva decides to start her own off-the-books investigation.
Laura Murphy directed F*** Marry Kill with a screenplay by Ivan Diaz, Dan Scheinkman, and Meghan Brown. Murphy has been directing since 2008 and has worked on comedies such as The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, and Netflix’s Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery. In 2022, she directed the horror comedy Cursed Friends for Comedy Central.
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4
‘The Surrender’
The Surrender
- Release Date
-
May 23, 2025
- Runtime
-
95 minutes
- Director
-
Julia Max
- Writers
-
Julia Max
- Producers
-
Mia Chang, Robert J. Ulrich, Ian MacAllister-McDonald, Lovell Holder
The Surrender is a supernatural grief horror movie about a mother and daughter who move forward with a dangerous resurrection ritual in order to bring a loved one back from the dead. Colby Minifie, best known for playing Ashley Barrett on The Boys, stars as Megan. Emmy winner Kate Burton plays her mother, Barbara.
This movie was written and directed by Julia Max as her feature film debut. Max’s short films, Pieces of Me and The Colonies, received nominations for awards at FilmQuest and the Los Angeles Women’s International Festival. Critics have given The Surrender an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
3
‘Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story’
Releases July 11th
Abraham’s Boys
- Release Date
-
July 11, 2025
- Runtime
-
89 minutes
- Director
-
Natasha Kermani
Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story is a film that focuses on the sons of famed vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing (Titus Welliver). Unaware of their father’s dark past, Max (Brady Hepner) and Rudy (Judah Mackey) Van Helsing do not understand their father’s increasingly strange and paranoid behavior. As they begin to learn about Abraham’s history with Dracula, however, they are faced with a terrible and terrifying legacy.
The film is based on the short story “Abraham’s Boys” by Joe Hill, which was originally published in The Many Faces of Van Helsing anthology in 2004. The story was adapted for the screen and directed by Iranian-American filmmaker Natasha Kermani. In 2017, Kermani wrote and directed the sci-fi thriller Imitation Girl. She also directed the 2020 horror-thriller Lucky, starring actress and writer Brea Grant.
2
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’
Releases July 18th
I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Release Date
-
July 18, 2025
- Runtime
-
100 minutes
- Director
-
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
- Writers
-
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Sam Lansky
- Producers
-
Neal H. Moritz
-
Madelyn Cline
Danica Richards
-
Chase Sui Wonders
Ava Brucks
-
Jonah Hauer-King
Milo Griffin
-
Tyriq Withers
Teddy Spencer
I Know What You Did Last Summer was such a popular slasher film in 1997 that it spawned sequels in 1998 and 2006, as well as an Amazon Prime television series in 2021. Now, the franchise is returning to the big screen with a new film installment. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprise their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson alongside newcomers Madelyn Cline (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Chase Sui Wonders (Bodies Bodies Bodies), Jonah Hauer-King (The Last Photograph), Tyriq Withers (Tell Me Lies), and Sarah Pidgeon (The Friend).
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson directed the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer. She also wrote the screenplay with Sam Lansky. Robinson is best known for creating the 2016 series Sweet/Vicious. In 2022, she wrote and directed the Netflix movie Do Revenge starring Camila Mendes (Riverdale) and Maya Hawke (Stranger Things).
1
‘Five Nights at Freddy’s 2’
Releases December 5th
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2
- Release Date
-
December 5, 2025
- Director
-
Emma Tammi
- Writers
-
Seth Cuddeback
- Prequel(s)
-
Five Nights at Freddy’s
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is the second film in this franchise inspired by the 2014 video game series Five Nights at Freddy’s. Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Elizabeth Lail (You), Piper Rubio (For All Mankind), and Matthew Lillard are all set to reprise their roles in the sequel. Wayne Knight (Jurassic Park), McKenna Grace (The Handmaid’s Tale), Teo Briones (Pretty Little Liars), and Lillard’s Scream co-star Skeet Ulrich will join the cast.
Emma Tammi, director of the 2023 Five Nights at Freddy’s, also returns for the sequel. Tammi directed the slow-burn horror western The Wind in 2018, garnering a lot of festival attention in the process. Since then, she has directed multiple episodes of the podcast The Left Right Game and the horror anthology series Into the Dark. There’s talk of Five Nights at Freddy’s 3 being in the works, with Tammi attached to direct that installment, too.
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