Is it me or is there a renewed obsession in the horror genre again about hunting single women down? Between Ready or Not 1&2, They Will Kill You, The Strangers Trilogy, The Hunt and APEX, women are once again finding themselves in cat and mouse games, something that peaked in the late 70s and early 80s with slasher flicks and scream queens. Not even Charlie’s Angels or Princess Leah reboots fully fended it all off.
Thank God for Sigourney Weaver and the Alien franchise, J-Law in the Hunger Games franchise and of course Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill volumes, to turn those hide n’ seek plots on their head, and for directors like Tarantino to inject some flare, style, dark humour and reverse gender vigilantism into a formula that’s often misogynist, intentionally or not. All these movies lately seem to follow in those footsteps, like Betty Gilpin in The Hunt, Charlize Theron in Apex (or the Old Guard 1 and 2, the latter fighting Theron’s hero Thurman herself). And we definitely need more Zazie Beetz as she popped up to new audiences in They Will Kill You, doing a lot of stunt work herself to bring down a Satanic Cult like a stubborn garden of weeds.
Yep Satanic cults, toxic male CEO groups, overly ambitious plastic women, the in-laws, rich dueling families, and even outdoorsy cannibalistic serial killers all seem to be in the spotlight as our latest antagonists, sending whatever message that wants to send in our Dow Jones type, influencer peddling and pent-up angry world, and however tongue in cheek and over the top they are written and / or performed. What a great time for Horror. Hunt if you must make predators , but be prepared for the consequences - these films are leveling out the “playing field” with some great new roles for actresses until they too tire of “kick ass chick” labels nor any gender label of the kind.
And then maybe we can get back to the hunt? Or reinvent nature turning on all of us type movies, like the classic tarantula, giant ant or African Killer Bee 🐝 movies? Maybe this time with Murder Hornets? I can think of a few victims already that would “sting” so well for audiences!