Female Horror Directors
Who said that women and horror don't match?
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- Producer
- Director
- Actress
Kristen Anderson-Sauve is an actor, writer, and director based in Calgary, Canada. She wrote, directed and starred in twelve short films that played in thirty-three festivals around the world including Calgary International, Calgary Underground, Edmonton International. In addition her films have won nine awards including Best Actor, Best Editor, and Best Film.
She trains with the advanced acting for film program at the Company of Rogues Actor's Studio.
She finished writing her latest feature screenplay, Last Call, in 2023 and has been scouted by Spec Scout after receiving a score of 73.2. It's now listed on Spec Scout and Slated databases.
She has a new short film called "Brush Your Hair" in development in 2023.- Undetected (short, 2012)
- Unbuckled (short, 2013)
- Director
- Actress
- Producer
Karen Arthur was born on 24 August 1941 in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She is a director and actress, known for Legacy (1975), Get Smart (1965) and Cagney & Lacey (1981).- The Mafu Cage (1978)
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Tara-Nicole is a disabled American actress who graduated High School, with honors, at the age of 14. At 15, she had already won 5 Telly Awards for her writing and directing.
At 16 she had written and directed 6 short films, 2 web shows and her work had shown at over 140 film festivals both Nationally and Internationally. By age 18, her director/producer credits included 7 short films and 2 web series.
Tara's films have shown at the iconic Egyptian Theater and the TCL Chinese Theater, in Hollywood, on cable television, in schools and in several different countries.
You may know Tara as "Tara Cosplay" quirky co-host of the shows #Nerdtabulous and #Adorkable,but Tara-Nicole began acting, when she was just a little girl.When Tara was just 4 years old, she had small part in a feature film. As a child actress, Tara was best known for her amazingly quick memory and her ability to cry on cue.She has appeared in films, commercials, videos and TV projects.
When she was 17, mystery health issues that had followed her all her life, became very present. After extensive testing, Tara was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Hashimoto's, Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, ADHD, Autism, Scoliosis, Fibromyalgia and additional conditions.
She is an ambulatory wheelchair user, which means sometimes she needs a wheelchair or cane and sometimes she doesn't- depending on the severity of any one of her conditions that day. It's what's known as a "dynamic disability." A dynamic disability changes in severity from day to day, moment to moment, hour to hour. Because of the challenges Tara has experienced as a disabled person and artist, she has become an outspoken advocate of disability rights.
As a member of a writing family, Tara-Nicole began writing children's books at a young age. She has 3 times won the prestigious Young Author's contest. When just 11 years old, she branched out & wrote a screenplay entitled, "My Name Is...Anna", which is the film that started her career as an independent filmmaker and it has also been used by eating disorder treatment centers, which was Tara's goal when making the film.
At the age of 14, she signed her first distribution deal for one of her films, "Sybling Rivalry" which is a dark, horror comedy.
Tara-Nicole is also a former All-Star cheerleader and a life long Girl Scout. She is the recipient of the meritorious Silver Award in Girl Scouting, The Corlin National Community Service Award and National Community Service awards from NAM & ACP.
In addition to acting & cosplaying, Tara is also an artist and created the brand, "Magickal Stuff."
In her spare time, Tara-Nicole loves amusement parks and is crazy about Japanese Anime.- Sybling Rivalry (short, 2011)
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Amy Lynn Best is a trained dancer and actress who started in the business by co-producing the independent feature horror film, The Resurrection Game, and co-stars as the pop psychologist turned zombie exterminator, Sister Mary Bliss. Like many independent film producers, Amy learned the film business from the ground up. On the short haunted house film Tenants, for instance, Amy studied cinematographer from that film's director of photography, Bill Fuller. Out of necessity, she learned the basics of grip work, camera operation, and the fine art of line producing. In addition to acting in and producing The Resurrection Game, Amy served the film as art director, additional photographer and craft services. On one shooting date in particular, she fed the cast and crew two specially-made lasagnas, then denied herself her nourishment due to the fact that she still had to go before the camera in a skin-tight leather-and-spandex costume. Born in Topeka, Kansas but raised as a Pittsburgh native, Amy studied acting and dancing since she was three years old. She has acted or worked on many films and made her feature directorial debut on Happy Cloud Pictures' Severe Injuries. Amy's most notable cameo is in Paul Scrabo's Dr. Horror's Erotic House of Idiots, a funny parody of the b-movie industry starring Debbie Rochon. An outspoken advocate for women in the horror industry, Amy co-created the Women in Horror Website Pretty-Scary.net- Severe Injuries (2003)
- Blood Bath: Blood Wrestling Volume I (2007)
- Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut (2008)
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Angela Bettis is an American film and stage actress, film producer, and director best known for her lead roles in the 2002 TV adaptation of the Stephen King novel Carrie, the title character in May (2002), and in Girl, Interrupted.
In addition to her work in film, Bettis also starred in two Broadway productions: The Father in 1996 with Frank Langella, and as Abigail Williams in a 2002 revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible alongside Liam Neeson and Laura Linney.
Her debut role was a lead in the romantic tragedy, Sparrow, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, at the age of 18. She later went on to star in a film called The Last Best Sunday, before supporting Winona Ryder in Girl, Interrupted and Kim Basinger in Bless the Child.
In 2002, she starred as Abigail Williams in a production of The Crucible on Broadway alongside Laura Linney and Liam Neeson. Bettis is most famous for her work in independent horror films, and especially her working relationship with writer/director Lucky McKee. Her title role in McKee's 2002 film May won her something of a cult following. Since then, she has appeared in McKee's Masters of Horror episode, "Sick Girl", and provided a voice-over for his film The Woods. In 2006, their May roles reversed, when McKee acted for Bettis in her directorial debut, Roman, based on a McKee script. In 2011, she played a major role in McKee's adaptation of Jack Ketchum's The Woman.
Bettis starred as Carrie White in Carrie, a made-for-TV remake of Brian De Palma's 1976 classic, and headlined Tobe Hooper's Toolbox Murders, an in-name-only remake of an obscure 1970s horror film. She also starred in the crime thriller Scar.[2] She had a guest role on the TV show Dexter's fifth season as Emily Birch, the first victim of Jordan Chase.- The ABCs of Death (2012)
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- Actress
A very talented painter, Kathryn spent two years at the San Francisco Art Institute. At 20, she won a scholarship to the Whitney Museum's Independent Study Program. She was given a studio in a former Offtrack Betting building, literally in an old bank vault, where she made art and waited to be critiqued by people like Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg and Susan Sontag. Later she earned a scholarship to study film at Columbia University School of Arts, graduating in 1979. She was also a member of the British avant garde cultural group, Art and Language. Kathryn is the only child of the manager of a paint factory and a librarian.- Near Dark (1987)
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Antonia Bird was born on 27 May 1951 in London, England, UK. She was a director and producer, known for Priest (1994), Face (1997) and Ravenous (1999). She was married to Ian Ilett. She died on 24 October 2013 in London, England, UK.- Ravenous (1999)
- Actress
- Stunts
- Producer
The desire to perform began early for Melantha, by the age of six, she was studying classical ballet and continued to do so until her early teens. She loved the thrill of performing on stage and decided to enroll in her secondary school's dramatic arts program. These early performances cemented her passion for acting.
In 1999, Melantha created the web character Countess Bathoria who symbolized her love of the horror genre. Almost overnight the character and the website gained legions of fans. It wasn't long before Melantha found herself playing a vampire in an independent film.
Blackthorne has screamed, bit and clawed her way onto the big screen and her indie film success has led her to appear in Hollywood blockbusters. She has since studied her craft and thrives in a wide variety of film genres. In addition to appearing in front of the camera, she has also honed her skills behind it, as producer, director and editor of three feature films.- Sinners and Saints (2004)
- Countess Bathoria's Graveyard Picture Show (2007)
- Actress
- Director
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Lizzy Borden was born on 20 December 1976 in Huntington Beach, California, USA. She is an actress and director. She was previously married to Robert Black.- Cannibalism (2002)
- Forced Entry (2002)
- Editor
- Producer
- Director
Lori Bowen was born in North Canton, Ohio, and moved to Sarasota, Florida, ten years later. Although she showed a proclivity for writing and performing at an early age, she didn't consider a career in the arts until, when in sixth grade, she became the editor for Brookside Middle School's weekly ten minute show called "Campus Views."
Her love for the horror genre started when she saw the movie Cujo at the tender age of six and her mother had to explain to her terrified daughter the magic of special effects. From that not-so-gentle stepping stone, Lori moved on to Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street, George A. Romero's Dead Cycle, and Lucio Fulci's Gates of Hell (at the age of 10!)
When she was 12, Lori wrote her first feature-length screenplay called A Nightmare on Elm Street 7: The Last Dance. While this was never a screenplay that would be produced, it instilled in her one simple idea: she could do it, too. Around that time, Lori was bitten by the acting bug and when it came time to go to high school, she auditioned for, and got into, both the Theatre and Radio/Television/Film programmes at the Booker High School of the Visual and Performing Arts. Lori chose Radio/Television/ Film as it offered an education in every part of the creative process, including acting. During this time, her love of the horror genre was discouraged and the message was clear: no self-respecting filmmaker, especially a woman, wants to be in the redheaded stepchild genre of the Industry.
Luckily, in her tenure with the Radio/Television/Film department, she learned she wasn't a very good actress, which was a relief; she enjoyed writing and directing far more than being in front of the camera. She also learned some very hard lessons within the school's microcosm Industry, but instead of breaking her, they made her more determined to make it and to go as far as she can on her terms.
Unlike most directors, Lori hasn't graduated from film school or college. She had one semester of film education at Manatee Community College in Florida under the direction of Del Jacobs. That one semester taught Lori more about filmmaking than four years at Booker, but her real education comes from hands-on experience and observation of her favourite films. Eventually, Lori realized that she only felt truly comfortable writing and directing horror films and her first post-school short, "Without/Within," won the Director's Choice Award at the ShockerFest International Film Festival in 2008.
In 2010, when Anathema was rejected from the mainstream Sarasota festival, Lori fell in with a group of filmmakers also rejected from that festival who called themselves the Fringe and their outlet was the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival. She was hired to edit together two flagship documentaries: the first one was about a traveling circus and charitable organization called Circus Sarasota and the other was about one of Sarasota's founders, a woman named Bertha Palmer. For her efforts, Lori was awarded two Colson awards, one for her editing work on Circus Sarasota and the other as a group award for the extremely well-received A Conversation with Bertha Palmer.
A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: Anathema is, itself, an award-winning film, having been given a medal in the Best Sci-Fi Short category at the Indie Gathering in Cleveland, Ohio. It's also played at the Central Florida Film Festival in Ocoee, Florida, the Vampire Film Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana in a Gothic Shorts programme, the Female Shorts Film Festival in Alexandria, Virginia, and in the Sarasota Fringe Film Festival. She also has a music video she made for her brother's new band, World Collision, played in the Summer 2010 program at New Filmmakers in New York and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Alternative Rock at the World Music and Independent Film Festival.- Without/Within (short, 2008)
- Aftershock (short, 2008)
- JustUs (short, 2011)
- A Hammer Fell in Jerusalem: And Be at Rest. (short, 2011)
- Stella Buio (short, 2012)
- I Am Monster (short, 2013)
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DG is known for her dynamic, award-winning vision powered by her extensive production experience. She is in post-production in 2021 on "Montana Amazon Redux" starring Olympia Dukakis and Alison Brie. In 2020 she directed the pilot for Big Picture Digital's comedy web series, "Perfect Women" starring Ashley Clements from the Emmy-awarded "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries." The pilot has since been invited to the Seattle and Moscow Comedy (GELOS) Film festivals. DG was selected as a Guest Director at the 2017 Los Angeles Beyond Fest for her work as a woman director and won Best Feature Director at the Los Angeles International Femme Festival for "Misadventures of the Dunderheads." The South Arts Foundation then selected her as a Best Narrative Director for a six-city screening/speaking tour with the film. "Misadventures" was subsequently picked up by Starz Entertainment, HuluPlus, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Artist View International. DG started her career directing children's episodic TV for the Fox Network, and young adult features including the 2006 Lions Gate release, "Rock 'N' Roll High School Forever" for the legendary producer, Roger Corman. Prior to directing, she was an in-demand "Film Doctor" Production Consultant on twenty-plus theatrical and TV features for Phoenix Pictures, Lions Gate, Warner Bros., the Syfy Channel, and Film Finances Inc. among others. Her work involved solving the problems of troubled features so they could be successfully distributed as well as premiered at the Cannes, Toronto, and Sundance Festivals. She never lost a patient.- Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
- Actress
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Tara Cardinal is the daughter of a psychic and a musician. Tara grew up on a small farm in Indiana. Cardinal moved out on her own at age 16 and worked three jobs in order to initially support herself. She was discovered in a shopping mall and acted in her first movie in 2006. Tara frequently appears in horror and fantasy films and likes to perform her own stunts. Moreover, Cardinal has not only acted on stage, but also has modeled for various comic book characters, performed at Renaissance Festivals, and even done live shows as a professional wrestler. A dedicated humanitarian and staunch advocate for children's rights, Tara co-founded the non-profit peer counseling organization C.L.U.B. (Children Living Under Blindness) at age 12 and has toured middle schools in both America and Canada educating children on their rights and resources since the age of 15. Cardinal has a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. In addition, Cardinal writes poetry as well as writes for the websites the IndependentCritic.com and NerdRemix.com. She lives in Los Angeles, California.- Scarlet Samurai: Incarnation (2013)
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Axelle Carolyn started out as a freelance reporter for some of the world's most prestigious film magazines and websites. Her non-fiction writing career culminated with the 2009 publication of her book 'Horror Movies In The New Millennium'. After a brief stint in front of the camera (most notably in CENTURION for Pathe), she directed her first short films in 2011: THE LAST POST and THE HALLOWEEN KID- both of which gained awards and acclaim in festivals worldwide -, and HOOKED, which premiered on FearNet. Her first feature, British ghost story SOULMATE, came out in the US and UK in 2014. It toured festivals around the world and won, amongst others, a Best Director accolade at Rome's FantaFestival. In 2015 she created, co-produced and co-directed horror anthology TALES OF HALLOWEEN, which also featured directors such as Lucky McKee and Neil Marshall. It is certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and won a Rondo Award, as well as a prestigious 2017 Saturn Award. It also prompted Fandango to list her as one of their new directors to look out for, and Tribeca Film to declare she 'holds the key to indie horror's future.- The Last Post (short, 2011)
- Hooked (short, 2011)
- The Halloween Kid (short, 2011)
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Hélène Cattet was born in 1976 in Paris, France. She is a director and writer, known for Amer (2009), The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (2013) and Let the Corpses Tan (2017).- Catharsis (short, 2001)
- Chambre jaune (short, 2002)
- La fin de notre amour (short, 2003)
- L'etrange portrait de le dame en jaune (short, 2004)
- Amer (2009)
- The ABCs of Death (2012)
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Jennifer Lynch was born on 7 April 1968 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She is a director and writer, known for Chained (2012), Boxing Helena (1993) and Surveillance (2008).- Hisss (2010)
- Chained (2012)
- Script and Continuity Department
- Actress
- Writer
Rachel Cole is known for Pregnant and Dying (2012), Bluebeard (2016) and Monsters and Animals (2015).- Pregnant and Dying (short, 2012)
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Ginnetta Correli is known for The Beauty Strip (2014), The Earl Sessions (2011) and Marty's House (2013).- The Earl Sessions (2011)
- Marty's House (2013)
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- Editor
Holly Dale is one of Canada's premiere directors recognized globally for her outstanding, award-winning television and cinema work crafted over the past twenty-five years. Ms Dale has directed movies, entire mini series, pilots and episodic. She has worked in all genres.
Recently, Ms Dale was taped to be the Producer Director for showrunner Nick Santora's upcoming Netflix/Skydance series FUBAR starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Monica Barbaro and Fortune Feimster. The series will start streaming on Netflix in the Summer of 2023.
Previously Ms Dale was the Producer Director on the Warner Bros/Berlanti Productions series Batwoman for three seasons where she directed 13 episodes.
Ms Dale was also Producer Director of the international sensation Transplant. She block shot the pilot and first 3 episodes of Transplant, creating its stunning visual template. Transplant focuses on a Syrian trauma surgeon who himself is the transplant. The series holds the distinction of becoming the #1 drama series of the year in both its Canadian run and US network run on NBC.
Among many prestigious awards Ms Dale has earned is the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture and Best Director for the groundbreaking hard edged serial killer miniseries Durham County. She was also honoured with a Canadian Screen Award for Best Director for Mary Kills People, a limited series delving into the murky waters of euthanasia which she directed/co-executive produced the entire first season of six hours. Variety selected Mary Kills People as one of their top ten series of the year.
The Directors Guild of Canada has recognized Ms Dale as their Best Director of Drama series on four [4] separate occasions for her work on the acclaimed one hour shows Flashpoint, Durham County, Mary Kills People and most recently for Transplant.
Highlights of the many extraordinary series Holly has guest directed include Dexter, The Americans, Chris Carter's X-Files, Joan Allen's The Family, Dick Wolf's Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Law & Order:SVU, Halle Berry's Extant, Bradley Cooper's Limitless, Marvel's Agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D, Steven Spielberg's Falling Skies as well as 12 individual hours of the Jerry Bruckheimer anthological series Cold Case, to name just a few.- Dead Meat (short, 1989)
- Blood & Donuts (1995)
- Blood Ties (2 episodes, 2007)
- Grimm (3 episodes, 2011-2012)
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- Production Manager
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Donna Davies is known for Fanarchy (2015), Nightmare Factory (2011) and Decoding Life: The Epigenetics Revolution (2019).- Zombiemania (2008)
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- Actress
Marina de Van was born in France in 1971, her father being a musicologist. She studied at the Lycée Henri IV and at the Sorbonne University where she earned a degree in philosophy. Then, in 1993 she became a student at the FEMIS, the French school for cinematic studies, where she graduated in 1996. She directed and wrote 6 short movies as well as working as an actress and a writer with fellow FEMIS student director François Ozon. In 2002 she made her first feature film In My Skin (2002) as director, writer and actress.- Dans ma peau (2002)
- Ne te retourne pas (2009)
- Dark Touch (2013)
- Actress
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Julie Delpy was born in Paris, France, in 1969 to Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet, both actors.
She was first featured in Jean-Luc Godard's Detective (1985) at the age of fourteen. She has starred in many American and European productions since then, including Disney's The Three Musketeers (1993), Killing Zoe (1993), Three Colors: White (1994), and the "Before" series, alongside Ethan Hawke: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013).
She graduated from NYU's film school, and wrote and directed the short film Blah Blah Blah (1995), which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. She is a resident of Los Angeles.- The Countess (2009)
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
The films of Claire Denis frequently explore the fragile connections between people and the ways in which the most seemingly inconsequential relationship can have life-changing effects. At the heart of Denis' cinema is a fascination with the delights and difficulties of belonging and otherness, the gravity and gift of foreignness. Often revolving around reactions to the intrusion of the other, be it a stranger or foreigner, Denis' films insist on the vital necessity of the unusual to coexist within the "normal" world. In films such as I Can't Sleep (1994) and Nénette and Boni (1996), Denis captures the mercurial and instant shifts in tone, from the pleasurably sensual to the menacing or the simply unaccountable, caused by the intrusion of the strange into the fabric of the everyday. In Denis' films one often feels that all is well even as worlds collide and collapse or, conversely, that a grave challenge underlies the seemingly calm moments. While Denis' childhood in French colonial Africa is reflected most directly in the African setting shared by her debut feature Chocolat (1988) and best-known film, Beau Travail (1999), this encounter with the intimacies and injustices of colonialism resounds throughout much of her work. Also shaping Denis' unique vision are the apprenticeships she served, just out of film school, under a variety of renowned directors, including Jacques Rivette, Wim Wenders, Dusan Makavejev and Jim Jarmusch - an eclectic company that is itself suggestive of the unique juxtaposition of careful craft and seeming casualness within Denis' work. Denis has often spoken of her shock as a young woman at discovering the novels of Faulkner that have exerted such a major influence over postwar French cinema. For Denis, Faulkner "was a plunge into the senses, into terror and the pain of his characters." These words describe Denis' films as well. But whatever terror and pain her characters may sometimes experience is outmeasured by the depths of Denis' deep affection for them and by her curiosity in their experiences of pleasure as well as fear. Even in the unsettling Trouble Every Day (2001), the not-infrequent catastrophes in Denis' films provoke a sense of wonder at, and even delight in, the sheer weight of existence.- Trouble Every Day (2001)