Shudder’s 1000 WOMEN IN HORROR proves how LGBTQ women are shaping horror. We probably always have, but now we’re front and center in the new Shudder Documentary. Whether as actors or creators (both even), we are everywhere. Read why you should watch the new release – as if the title alone wasn’t enough?!
1000 WOMEN IN HORROR is out on Shudder, and you should absolutely check it out. First and foremost, because it pays a long overdue tribute to women. Sure, the Final Girl has always been a key element of slashers, but female writers and directors have also been involved for decades.
And yes, this includes queer women!
Horror has always been a genre for outsiders. For anyone who has ever felt too weird, too loud, too much — or simply not enough — horror understood you long before mainstream culture caught up. So it should come as no surprise that queer women have been at the heart of the genre for well over a century.
What is surprising is how rarely that story gets told. A new Shudder documentary is here to change that.
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Head on over to Heaven of Horror, where I reviewed this already >
1000 Women in Horror, streaming now on Shudder as part of Women’s History Month, is a 96-minute celebration of the women who built, shaped, and continue to revolutionize horror cinema from 1895 to the present day.
Directed by Donna Davies and written by horror historian and film critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas — based on her acclaimed 2020 book of the same name — the documentary brings together actors, directors, writers, and producers who have all left an indelible mark on the genre.
Here at Womentainment, we also wanted to highlight that this documentary focuses on all women. This includes queer women, who are woven throughout this story in ways that deserve their own spotlight.
Horror Has Always Been Queer – Whether We Called It That or Not
Long before anyone used the word “queer” in a positive context, horror was doing something quietly radical: centering outsiders, giving power to those society deemed monstrous, and letting the “Other” win.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas has written that horror at its best gives a voice to those who would otherwise struggle to be heard. Also, how its “Others” include anyone whose identity is defined by negations: Not-white, Not-male, Not-straight.
This is the philosophy baked into the DNA of 1000 Women in Horror – the book as well as this new documentary on Shudder.
While the documentary does not wave a pride flag explicitly, it does something arguably more powerful. This documentary presents a community of women horror creators. Women who have built spaces for themselves precisely because those spaces did not exist.
They wrote what was missing.
Then they directed what no one else would greenlight.
And it was all made possible because they produced films from sheer necessity and desire.
That is, at its core, a profoundly queer impulse.
Why Shudder Keeps Getting It Right for LGBTQ Women in Horror
It is worth noting that 1000 Women in Horror is hardly Shudder’s first foray into this territory. The platform previously released Queer for Fear. This is a docuseries exploring the history of the LGBTQ+ community in the horror and thriller genres, all while tracing queer influence.
From its literary origins with Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, and Oscar Wilde, through to contemporary genre filmmaking. The Queer for Fear series was a landmark, and now 1000 Women in Horror continues the conversation. However, this time, it shifts the lens specifically onto women.
In doing so, Shudder’s 1000 Women in Horror documentary also makes space for the many queer women whose contributions have been overlooked or undervalued.
As a horror critic (over at Heaven of Horror), I found it genuinely moving to watch this documentary. It truly treats the women who make horror with the same reverence usually reserved for the male auteurs who dominate the conversation.
And as someone who covers entertainment for audiences who care about representation, I find something else thrilling as well. The simple fact that so many of the women featured are queer or queer-adjacent. Whether in their storytelling, or simply unapologetically themselves in ways that resonate far beyond genre. Often both!
Womentainment recommendation: Should you watch it? Absolutely!
Despite its title, 1000 Women in Horror is not a niche documentary for hardcore horror fans only. It is a film about creativity, resilience, and the radical act of making art that reflects your own experience.
For LGBTQ women, for women who love women, for anyone who has ever felt like a monster in a world that prefers them invisible; This is your documentary!
Stream it on Shudder now. Then go and watch everything the women in it have ever made. You will not run out of great horror anytime soon.
