Around the World in 80 Horror Movies

A month-long look at gender and film outside of Western culture.

I’ve accepted that I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. My country is the un-vaccinated kid wondering why it’s been banned from playing in the sandbox. I’m embarrassed for us and scared. So naturally, I’ve been watching a lot of horror movies to combat the stress.

Since travel has been postponed until further notice, I’ve put together a virtual tour of international horror films. This month, we’ll be going around the world in 80 horror movies, celebrating different cultures’ definitions of horror, feminism, and the space that women occupy in the genre.

First, we need to talk about the big Eurocentric elephant in the room. The world’s perception of both feminism and horror are largely defined by Western — let’s be real, “American” and European — standards. This would be great if we were good models of either.

Many women outside of U.S. culture don’t vibe with our brand of feminism. Same as they might think of Americans, they consider it to be abrasive, aggressive, and exclusive. They’re right. Western feminism often adopts a one-size-fits-all mentality: it seems inclusive on the surface, but tends to cater to the “one size.”

That one size is usually white, cisgender, and pretty in a Eurocentric way.

When confronted with something outside of that box, we decry it as not feminist. Just look at all the fuss white women make about hijabs and niqabs.

Horror represents another interesting cultural polarity. “Progressive” countries have less history to draw from. Lacking folklore or spooky stories, their horror movies often express current social or cultural anxieties, albeit in loud and violent ways.

Meanwhile, other countries are finding refreshing new ways to tell old tales. Honoring the past and being wary of the future, their horror films create atmospheric and emotional tension in the viewer.

And, for better or for worse, gender politics are intimately intertwined in many of these movies.

Please note that we’re not looking to say any one view of feminism is better than the other. We will not be comparing them. In fact, we’re not even going to use the f-word after this intro, since it’s a word heavy with controversy in non-Western culture. We’ll be using “gender equality” and “women’s liberation” instead.

We’ll talk about gender equality in these countries, what that means for them, and how they’re implementing it… or not.

And as always, female-based or driven horror films are the key here, mainly how they connect to their country’s culture.

Ready to scream in over 20 different languages?