I am not the target audience for 1000 Women In Horror. I’m a seasoned horror fan who knows how important women are and have been to the history of the genre. Horror is a woman. Think about it, sure, the masters of horror might all be men (until we make a new bunch of masters), but they all used women for their most famous movies. The documentary 1000 Women In Horror is based on the book by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and was directed by Donna Davies. Together, they both crafted a documentary that satisfies both the seasoned horror veteran and the newcomer trying to learn about the history of the genre.

However, the doc doesn’t simply go from the start to the current day of horror, no, they go through a variety of the timeline of how a woman grows in their life, and how horror has exploited that, and used it to craft stories that shock, horrify, and teach people about life. There are dolls, sex, changes, menstruation, growing old, and c-sections. Oh, the section on c-sections from Kate Siegel is easily the most horrifying of the entire documentary. I was left squirming in my chair, hearing about the sheer terror of what the procedure feels like, and then I wanted to call my mom afterward and apologize for being a c-section baby.

That structure might not be as informative as it looks on the surface, but it makes for a much better watch of a documentary. There’s something to learning about the history of the genre, but at this point, we all know the final girl trope, Scream laid bare the information about slasher movies. Audiences need something deeper and meatier to sink their teeth into.

The real highlight of 1000 Women In Horror are the people being interviewed, though. Like the previous documentary, Chain Reactions, this is about horror movies (or in that case, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), but its really about the personal stories that these women have with horror and how they got to where they are. Horror has used and exploited women since its inception. They’ve been the target of our eyes and slashers’ knives forever, but through all that, the genre has changed, warped, molted, and shifted. All of those changes have kept one thing the same, though: women.

The only real complaint I have about the documentary is that it finishes up just as it really feels like its hitting its stride. That just means I want more from this style, but it does hamper the overall proceedings a bit. In a world of documentaries feeling too long and too densely packed, 1000 Women In Horror gives the information, provides a story throughout, and will genuinely terrify you with one section of the doc. It’s a tremendous look at the women who shape the genre today, and those who have in the past.

1000 Women In Horror releases on Shudder on March 20th, 2026.

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