In case you probably didn’t know, February is Women in Horror Month and 2019 happens to be the tenth annual celebration of women’s contributions to the scariest genre around. Generally purported to be a man’s world because ladies shouldn’t play with dead things, there’s a general lack of publicity and knowledge about what women bring to the table within the genre. Hence this month celebrating everything scary that women have ever done.

If you happen to check out Twitter, you’ll find a whole host of lists and other recommendations, but these are mine according to hearsay or experience. I’ve grouped them by approximate genre—even though many of these women are threats on more than one level—and included at least one example of their work

So let’s get started.

SCREEN (Acting)

• Sissy Spacek – Carrie, Castle Rock
• Jamie Lee Curtis – Halloween, Prom Night
• Marlene Clark – Ganja & Hess, Black Mamba
• Katharine Isabelle – Ginger Snaps, American Mary
• Anya-Taylor Joy – The Witch, Split
• Angela Bassett – American Horror Story, Vampire in Brooklyn
• Vera Farmiga – The Conjuring, Bates Motel
• Betty Gabriel – Get Out, The Purge: Election Year
• Lin Shaye – Insidious, Grudge (upcoming)

SCREEN (Non-Acting)

• Jen and Sylvia Soska – American Mary, Rabid (upcoming)
• Isa Mazzei – Cam
• Ashlee Blackwell – Horror Noire
• Issa Lopez – Tigers Are Not Afraid
• Jennifer Kent – The Babadook, The Nightingale (upcoming)
• Ana Lily Amirpour – A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Bad Batch
• Mary Lambert – Pet Semetary, Halloweentown II
• Karyn Kusama – Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation
• Diablo Cody – Jennifer’s Body, Evil Dead (uncredited)
• Julia Ducournau – Raw
• Coralie Fargeat – Revenge
• Mary Harron – American Psycho
• Guinevere Turner – American Psycho
• Alice Lowe – Prevenge
• Sophia Takal – “New Year, New You” from Into the Dark

SCHOLARLY/NONFICTION

• Robin R. Means Coleman – Horror Noire
• Heather Wixson – Monster Squad
• Alexandra West – The 1990s Teen Horror Cycle
• Kinitra D. Brooks – Searching for Sycorax
• Carol J. Clover – Men, Women, and Chainsaws
• Barbara Creed – The Monstrous-Feminine
• Lisa Morton – Trick or Treat

POETRY

• Claire C. Holland – I Am Not Your Final Girl
• Stephanie M. Wytovich – Sheet Music to My Acoustic Nightmare, An Exorcism of Angels
• Linda Addison – How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend; Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes
• Sara Tantlinger – The Devil’s Dreamland, Love for Slaughter
• Christina Sng – A Collection of Nightmares
• Donna Lynch – Witches, Daughters of Lilith

FICTION

• Mary Shelley – Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus
• Ann Radcliffe – The Mysteries of Udolpho
• Shirley Jackson – “The Lottery”, The Haunting of Hill House
• Toni Morrison – Beloved
• Carmen Maria Marchado – Her Body and Other Parties
• Gemma Files – Experimental Film
• Gwendolyn Kiste – And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, The Rust Maidens
• Christa Carmen – Something Borrowed Something Blood-Soaked
• Tananarive Due – The Good House, My Soul to Keep
• Kathe Koja – The Cipher
• Mariko Koike – The Graveyard Apartment
• Octavia Butler – Fledgling
• Danielle Vega – Merciless series, Survive the Night
• Justina Ireland – Dread Nation
• Sara Gran – Come Closer
• Cherie Priest – The Family Plot, The Toll (upcoming)
• Anne Rice – Interview with the Vampire, The Witching Hour
• Ellen Datlow – The Best Horror of the Year, The Devil and the Deep

ANTHOLOGIES

• Sycorax’s Daughters edited by Kinitra Brooks, Linda D. Addison, and Susana Morris
• She Walks in Shadows edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles
• Dreams from the Witch House by Lynne Jamneck

COMICS/GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Caitlin Kittredge – Coffin Hill
• Emily Carroll – Through the Woods

OTHER

• Kimberly Elizabeth – Nightmare on Film Street Podcast
• Kaci Hansen – The Homicidal Homemaker
• Ghoulia Childs – Horror Foodstuffs
• Anya Stanley – Reviewer
• Michelle Swope – Reviewer
• The Blair Bitch – Reviewer
• Sadie Hartmann – Reviewer
• Bloody Popcorn – Reviewer
• Emily (book.happy) – Reviewer
• Spooky Astronauts – Reviewer

ORGANIZATIONS/COLLECTIVES

• Ladies of Horror Fiction
• Ladies of Fright Podcast
• Nightmare on Film Street Podcast
• Graveyard Shift Sisters
• Women in Horror Month

This list is not even a beginning sweep of the amazing work women are doing in horror. I hope—as the years pass—to add to this list with other names, to be more inclusive, and to help others and myself find the horror women bring into the genre.

If you have any suggestions or names to add, feel free to leave a comment!