The Female Serial Killer: Can Women be Serial
Killers in Horror?
While taking a
screenwriting class in
college, we were
assigned the task of writing a short film. Having already been a huge
horror
fan, I wrote a short screenplay in which the protagonist,a
female serial killer, would lure her
victims - plumbers, the mailman, neighbors -into the basement and ax
them.
I
handed it in and didn’t receive a grade for it, but a message
from the teacher
written in red ink- “Women can’t be serial
killers!!!”Four
years later, the movie Monster
was out in theaters to great reviews, it even won an Oscar.
Written by BHM Contributor
Jennifer G. December 9, 2006
Whether
Monster
can be called a horror film is up for
debate. Based on a true story, it tells the tale of Aileen Wuornos, a
prostitute turned serial killer in the late eighties, early nineties.
The film
is labeled under biography and drama according to film classifications.
It is
not described as a horror film but rather a tragedy of circumstance,
abuse, and
consequences.
Monster may have
been one of the first popular movies
to portray a female serial killer, but it is certainly not a testament
to the
history of the female serial killer in America.
We’ve all heard of Lizzie
Borden and her infamous act, (the Lizzie Borden house in Massachusetts
is now actually a lovely little bed and breakfast where one can stay
for the
night or two....) but she is just one of the many reported female
serial
killers in America.
The first recorded female serial killer of the twentieth century was
named
Belle Gunness a.k.a. Lady Bluebeard who, on her sprawling farm in Indiana,
systematically
killed her spouses, lovers, friends, and children she had adopted
through the
state. Since then,
Belle has been
categorized as a “black widow,” a woman who
develops personal relationships
with her victims before murdering them. The list goes on, poisoning
being the
most popular murder method among female serial killers and shooting
coming in
at a close second.
What about the female serial killer
in film? Does she exist?
Or, are we just not quite ready for that brand of horror? Take for
instance the
film, Hush...Hush,
Sweet Charlottestarring Bette Davis. It is never really said whether she
killed her lover
or not, but we as an audience all know what happened - blood on her
hands and
dress after a spat with her lover? Good thing her family was rich. And
after
that murder, Charlotte
becomes a rich spinster recluse. Can you imagine what the film
would’ve been like
if she had just kept going?
Hush, Hush
Sweet
Charlotte as well as another famous film called Basic
Instinctare
labeled under thriller, or mystery thriller, nowhere near the gory
implications
of horror. And they’re not that gory. After all, we never
really seeSharon
Stone enact her vengeance against unwitting men. The murders just kind
of
happen. In the film Henry
- Portrait of a Serial Killer,
the viewer never
really sees Henry committing the act of murdering someone but a couple
of
times. With the rest of the murders, the audience is left to wonder.This
movie, by the way, is labeled under horror.
There is one very popular horror film
with a female serial
killer. Remember Jason from Friday
the 13th? He
wasn’t the
original knife and ax wielding
murderer. It was
good old Mom, taking
revenge againstthe camp counselors whose
predecessors let Jason drown
in the lake while they were busy with other things. Good
thing Mom was replaced with Jason. After
all, he is much scarier than his crazy
screeching mother. She
just got kind of
annoying after awhile. And without Jason, there would’ve been
no Freddy
vs. Jason.
And I’ll take that movie over a female
serial killer any day.
**Editor’s note:Haute
Tension comes to mind as another
horror movie with a female serial killer.It is interesting to note, however, that this is not
communicated until
the very end as a dramatic twist very much as Pamela Voorhees was
revealed to
be the killer in Friday the 13th.The same type of thing happened in Urban
Legend.Are
we just not ready for
female serial killers in our horror?What do you think?To
add your
Questions
or comments about female serial killers in horror, contact us!
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was out in theaters to great reviews, it even won an Oscar.
starring Bette Davis. It is never really said whether she
killed her lover
or not, but we as an audience all know what happened - blood on her
hands and
dress after a spat with her lover? Good thing her family was rich. And
after
that murder, 
are
labeled under thriller, or mystery thriller, nowhere near the gory
implications
of horror. And they’re not that gory. After all, we never
really see Sharon
Stone enact her vengeance against unwitting men. The murders just kind
of
happen. In the film 
,
the viewer never
really sees Henry committing the act of murdering someone but a couple
of
times. With the rest of the murders, the audience is left to wonder.
This
movie, by the way, is labeled under horror. 
.
And I’ll take that movie over a female
serial killer any day.
.
