The 10 Best Movies About Feminine Rage
As reactionary regimes limit women’s rights around the world, films that showcase women’s anger have never been more in demand. These 10 films put women in the driver’s seat of the plot, fueling it with pure, unleaded fury. Refusing to be victims of circumstance, the characters in these films channel their ire into something unignorable, a fire that consumes corrupt systems and crooked people. When the protagonists of these movies are through, there will be nothing but ash left in their wake — these are the 10 best movies about feminine rage.
You’re Next
Directed by Adam Wingard, You’re Next is a slasher film that hands the axe to its female lead. After accompanying her well-to-do boyfriend, Crispian, to his family’s vacation home in rural Missouri, Erin and Crispian’s relatives are set upon by three animal mask-wearing killers who try to pick them off one by one. Unlucky for the lamb, tiger, and fox masked murderers, Erin has that dog in her — and that dog is angry. The would-be assassins find themselves in over their heads after learning that one of their intended victims is a trained survivalist, and boy does Erin survive. Her attackers? Not so much. A fast-paced horror-thriller that weaponizes blenders and meat tenderizers with brutal aplomb, You’re Next makes good on its title’s aggressive promise.
Pearl
Directed by Ti West, Pearl is the story of a small-town Texas girl with dreams of becoming a big-time star — she will do anything to achieve them. The smile-crying face that launched a million memes, Pearl’s homicidal crashout quickly became the stuff of internet legend. According to her adoring fans, Pearl did nothing wrong, and this film proves it. A product of economic depression and patriarchal repression, Pearl’s murder spree feels inevitable. All she wanted was to pursue her dreams, but her closed-minded mother and sickly father made her goals feel impossible to achieve. Doomed to a life of rural obscurity, who wouldn’t crack under pressure? Pearl represents the axe-swinging scream queen in all of us: fed up, burned out, and hungry for something more.
Thelma & Louise
Directed by Ridley Scott, Thelma & Louise is the feminine rage blueprint — an all-time great testament to the unwavering love and protective fury that comes with sisterhood. After shooting the would-be rapist of her best friend Thelma, the headstrong Louise realizes that they need to get out of Dodge fast. Thelma and Louis’s cross-country attempt to outrun the long, patriarchal arm of the law is the stuff of pop-culture legend, culminating in one of the most emotionally devastating displays of devotion in cinema history. The only thing that burns hotter than their anger at the world is their love for one another, and this adoration leads to a fiery finale that is completely unforgettable. Keep going, Thelma and Louise — everyone’s rooting for you.
Promising Young Woman
Directed by Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman is the story of Cassie Thomas, a young woman who dropped out of school to pursue revenge full-time. After her best friend Nina was assaulted and died by suicide, Cassie takes a shot at everyone who allowed Nina’s attacker to walk away unpunished. Cassie’s quest for vindication blends brutality and black comedy; she uses painstakingly laid plots and clever disguises to outwit her targets. Unlike other revenge thrillers, Promising Young Woman isn’t just about punishing its wrongdoers, but making them see the error of their ways. Cassie forces those who failed Nina to empathize with her — sometimes at the cost of their own sanity. Considering the horrible things that happened to Nina, it’s a small price to pay.
Carrie
Directed by Brian De Palma, Carrie is an iconic adaptation of a Stephen King classic. While King’s female protagonists often leave something to be desired, the vengeful telekinetic at the center of this film is one of his best. While bullied by herclassmates and persecuted by her religious-fanatic mother, Carrie White begins to manifest psychic powers — powers she can use to settle the score. Coming-of-age rage at its finest, Carrie‘s bloodstained protagonist has become a pop-cultural symbol for revenge, which, as it turns out, is not best served cold — but hellfire-hot in a burning school gym. Carrie is a parable for the enormous social pressure that women face in adolescence. Not everyone can win Prom Queen, but women are all expected to try — the pressure to be well-behaved and beautiful at every moment is too much for anyone to bear. Carrie wins the title at the expense of her sanity, and watching the emotional fallout is the dictionary definition of “cathartic.”
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Directed by Ana Lily Amirpour, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a vampire film that turns the genre on its bat-like ear. From Dracula to Nosferatu, women are often helpless and innocent victims in vampire narratives, but this film subverts that hunter/hunted relationship. Wandering shadowy streets in a flowing chador, this film’s unnamed heroine is a dark, dangerous icon of feminine rage. Like an anglerfish in the dark, The Girl lures unsavory men with the promise of an easy target. When her fangs finally come out, her would-be predators learn that they were the ones being preyed upon all along. A black-and-white love letter for any femme who has ever felt threatened while walking at night, this film is revenge fantasy at its finest. The scene where she releases her canines while an abuser’s finger is on her lips? Absolute cinema.
Jennifer’s Body
Directed by Karyn Kusama, Jennifer’s Body is a coming-of-age horror/comedy about a young woman who lets her inner demons loose. After being sacrificed by a knock-off version of The Strokes in exchange for riches and fame, Jennifer Check finds herself resurrected with a new craving for human flesh. While Check’s cannibalization of male suitors is feminine rage at its finest, the anger-torch at the heart of this film is carried by Check’s best friend Anita, who suffers the indignation of unrequited sapphic love. Having feelings for a friend is hard enough. When that friend is also trying to kill and eat your romantic partner, those feelings are even harder to manage. At its core, Jennifer’s Body is a bloody exploration of the confusing emotions that bubble up in adolescence — rage is one, aching love is another.
Gone Girl
Directed by David Fincher, Gone Girl is an adaptation of a harrowing revenge novel. On the day of their fifth anniversary, Nick Dunne discovers that his wife Amy has gone missing. Known for her popular children’s books, Amy’s disappearance works the media up into a frenzy, and as her husband follows unsettling clues to find her, ugly secrets from the couple’s past are put on public display. Gone Girl is a commentary on the social expectation that women face to tolerate abuse from their partners. Amy’s “cool girl” monologue is one of the best call-outs of that double standard in cinema — after years of playing the supportive-at-all-costs partner, Amy finally refuses the role assigned to her. The result is a psychological thriller with a cat-and-mouse manipulation plot as painstakingly laid out as the one in Seven, and just as devastating.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Directed by Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is the story of a mother grieving her daughter, whose rape and murder has gone unsolved by the local police department. Furious at law enforcement’s inaction, Mildred Hayes rents three billboards that call attention to the crime and the police chief’s failure to solve it. Mildred’s stone-faced determination to find justice is both heartbreaking and vindicating; she endures the hostility of local police and townspeople with unflinching resolve. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a small-town parable about the large-scale failures of the United States justice system. The system continually lets women down, and this film is about a woman who makes the powerful choice to take justice into her own hands.
Hustlers
Directed by Lorene Scafaria, Hustlers is an inspired-by-true-events story of a group of strippers who fleeced Wall Street businessmen out of their less-than-hard-earned money. After getting a job at a strip club to support her ailing grandmother, Dorothy finds herself taken under the wing of Ramona, an experienced performer with an idea to get rich. Centered around the financial misconduct that led to the 2008 housing bubble crash, Hustlers unleashes a collective-conscious rage at the haves from the have-nots. Scamming scammers out of their cash, the women at the center of this film force a conversation about what kinds of theft are deemed permissible in United States society. When Wall Street bankers stole billions from everyday Americans, the government bailed them out — what’s wrong with a group of women stealing a fraction of that wealth back? An underrated crime-thriller gem, Hustlers tackles feminine rage while also centering women’s joy. Through love, loyalty, and mutual support, the sisterhood at the heart of Hustlers not only survives dog-eat-dog New York City, but thrives in it.
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