The last decade has been an exciting time for horror movies. In 2013, James Wan gave us The Conjuring, kickstarting the highest-grossing horror franchise of all time; in 2017, Jordan Peele made his directorial debut with GetOut, followed by the equally successful Us in 2019. Several other horror movie directors (Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, Rose Glass) also established themselves during this time.
Likewise, many female actors have had their breakouts with horror movies or otherwise delivered outstanding performances that have simply floored audiences. Men may dominate the genre, but women are stealing the show — especially this lot.
Vera Farmiga, The Conjuring (2013)
Vera Farmiga is one of the most versatile actresses of the 21st century. Along with her sister, Taissa Farmiga (The Final Girls, The Nun), she has rightfully earned her label of Scream Queen.
Farmiga is captivating in James Wan's The Conjuring, playing real-life paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren alongside Patrick Wilson's Ed Warren. Her screams — followed by impressive hyperventilating — are blood-curdling, and her scenes with Wilson are swoon-worthy. Just like Lorraine is Ed's rock, Farmiga is the heart of The Conjuring franchise, and the reason why many people keep returning to it.
Maika Monroe, It Follows (2014)
Maika Monroe had her breakout with David Robert Mitchell's It Follows. She played the lead character of Jay, the latest recipient of a lethal curse that is passed on from person to person through sex.
It Follows is an incredibly intense film, full of dread and suspense, made all the more stressful by Monroe's performance. As Jay becomes stalked by the supernatural entity passed onto her, Monroe delves deep into her psyche to imagine what it must feel like to be constantly watched and under threat. The answer, of course, is terrifying; and Monroe is just as good at playing a victim as she is an ordinary teenage girl who's been screwed over by a boy.
Kim Su-an, Train to Busan (2016)
It's not very often a child actor comes along and outshines their adult co-stars. Yet, that's exactly what Kim Su-an did in Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan.
Kim was only 10 years old when she played protagonist Seok-Woo's (Gong Yoo) neglected daugher, a character (also called Su-an) with a very sad backstory. Su-an's parents are divorced and her primary caregiver, her father, is a workaholic who has no time for her. Because of this — and the whopper of a zombie outbreak threatening her reunion with her mother — the actor has many crying scenes in the film. With each more gutwrenching than the last, viewers will rival Kim in most tears shed by the end.
Betty Gabriel, Get Out (2017)
Betty Gabriel had her breakthrough with Jordan Peele's Get Out, and whilst she only plays a small part, her role left a long-lasting impression on audiences. In this film, which masterfully explores the horror of white liberal racism, Gabriel plays the Armitage family's housekeeper, Georgina. But as those who've seen Get Out know, Georgina isn't who she says she is. Rather, she's a vessel for the former matriarch of the Armitage family, Marianne.
This makes Gabriel's role a complex one, as she's essentially playing two people: white Marianne, and the black woman whose body she stole. Amazingly, she pulls it off, and her portrayal of inner conflict in the "No, No, No," scene is something to behold.
Jessica Rothe, Happy Death Day (2017)
Jessica Rothe was made to play final girl Tree Gelbman in Christopher Landon's Happy Death Day. This horror comedy follows a groundhog day premise, wherein Tree is forced to relive her murder over and over again until she discovers who her killer is.
Tree undergoes some serious character development in Happy Death Day to become one of the most well-developed final girls the genre has seen. Rothe executes her transition expertly, giving substance to the easy-to-villainize sorority chick. The actor is also a true comedic talent, hilarious in her performance as both bratty mean girl Tree and sensitive do-gooder Tree. And though the film's sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, wasn't as successful, everyone could agree that Rothe made it worth watching.
Toni Collette, Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster's Hereditary isn't your average horror movie, and Toni Collette's Annie isn't your average mother. She's been through a lot of trauma, and the actor lets viewers know it.
Collette delivers one of the best performances of her career in this film, which won her the Gotham Award for Best Actress. Annie is an unpredictable character, and Collette reflects that in her erratic movements and facial expressions that communicate better than words. In one particularly hair-raising scene, Annie's husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) is in mortal peril, and as he comes closer to death, viewers watch Collette's expression go from pure, unadulterated horror to numbness in a split second. To say her change in demeanor is disturbing would be an understatement.
Lupita Nyong'o, Us (2019)
Jordan Peele's second directed horror, Us, features another fantastic female horror performance from none other than Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o. Similar to Betty Gabriel in Get Out, Nyong'o plays a dual role in this film as Adelaide Wilson and her evil doppelganger Red.
Though she performs both well, the actor is especially brilliant in the latter, offering a chilling performance that is the stuff of nightmares. From her wide-eyed stare to her unsettling raspy voice, Nyong'o is hypnotic as the deranged Red, who viewers somehow still feel sorry for. Chalk it up to Nyong'o's acting or Peele's genius writing, but it's hard to ignore this unusual antagonist.
Florence Pugh, Midsommar (2019)
Florence Pugh's performance as the grief-stricken Dani in Ari Aster's folk horror Midsommar is nothing short of astounding, and it's criminal that she wasn't nominated for more awards.
Dani experiences unimaginable trauma in this film, and yet Pugh humanizes her in such a way that she remains relatable to audiences. Her emotions are authentic and her response to tragedy is exactly what viewers would expect from themselves. And if Pugh's reactions seem a little too genuine, it's because they probably are. Writing about her most memorable crying scene, the actor shared on Instagram:
"When Ari said cut, we [the other women in the scene] all clung on to each other’s arms and dug our nails into each other’s palms and wept. Sobbed. Heaved. I remember it being really hard to stop."
Samara Weaving, Ready or Not (2019)
Samara Weaving is a force to be reckoned with in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's black comedy horror Ready or Not, which takes the in-law stereotype to a whole new level.
Weaving's performance as the witty and sardonic Grace is wildly entertaining, and viewers enjoy rooting for the character who is as badass as she is funny. Hunted down by her sadistic in-laws, Grace only cares about her survival, and that is apparent in Weaving's frazzled portrayal. Fully immersed in the part, the actor looks and acts a state, and viewers love Grace all the more for it. Gone are the days of the polished final girl; horror deserves more guttural-screaming Weavings.
Anna Cobb, We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021)
Jane Schoenbrun's Creepypasta-inspired We're All Going to the World's Fair is a hidden gem, and newcomer Anna Cobb's performance in it is massively underrated. 17 years old at the time of filming, Cobb's portrayal of Casey, an alienated, chronically online teenager, is scarily accurate.
Casey doesn't do a whole lot in the film — she mostly just watches videos and records herself doing strange things — but everything she does do is acted completely naturally by Cobb. The actor's performance is so authentic, in fact, that viewers wonder if she's even acting at all. And then she does some pretty scary stuff, and they realize that, yes, she is, hopefully.