Female Ghosts in Horror Movies with Amy Beddows

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A ghostly woman returning from the dead to speak of the atrocities inflicted upon her; from Sadako (Ringu) to Jennet (The Woman in Black), Samantha (Stir of Echoes), Madison (What Lies Beneath), Natre (Shutter, 2004), Rachel (Gothika), Kayako (Ju-on), or Polly (I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House), female ghosts are a staple feature of horror cinema. Much has been written on the symbolic threat that these spectres present to patriarchal norms and gender order, through a refusal to be silenced as well as power, autonomy, and revenge against male aggression and misogyny. The timelessness of female ghosts also speaks to society’s continued refusal to hear, believe, or take seriously the “special wrongness” of men’s violence against women (Foa, 1977, p.212) on individual or structural levels. I have argued that the horror genre can be a feminist ally through symbolic representation (Beddows, 2021, 2022, 2023) and the role of the female ghost is an important one deserving of greater exploration within sociological and cultural contexts.

This presentation will discuss three 21st Century films which illustrate horrific realities of gendered violence whilst moving beyond simplistic revenge narratives against individual abusers: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (Øvredal, 2016), Lake Mungo (Anderson, 2008), and She Will (Colbert, 2021). In The Autopsy of Jane Doe, a young woman’s broken, static body turns the tables on society’s relentless demands for ‘proof’ from victims and survivors of violence, by forcing others to bear witness to the terrible abuses she suffered, over and over again. In Lake Mungo, ghostly apparitions overlay Alice Palmer’s desperate attempts to cope with a violation for which she has no words and prevent the most terrible of outcomes for a young woman alone and unheard in her trauma. In She Will, the pain and raw rage of a community of murdered women connects with actress Veronica Ghent’s need for personal retribution, exploring the power of collective resistance and survival across life courses and generations, a fertile and relevant theme in the post #MeToo landscape.

These films extend symbolic representations of men’s violence beyond the isolated acts of individuals, by implicating societal failures to respond to such abuses and exploring the complex realities of speaking out, obtaining justice or restoration. In doing so, they elevate the narratives of horror cinema above simplistic stories of personal revenge into transgressive and potentially powerful templates for catharsis and resistance.

Host or Publisher Sam Hirst