Just in time for Women’s History Month, Shudder dropped its latest documentary, 1000 Women in Horror—a vibrant, overdue celebration of the women who have shaped the genre on both sides of the camera. Inspired by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ (Rape-Revenge Films: A Critical Study, Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality) encyclopedic deep-dive into women working across horror history, the film trades the expected talking-head rundown for something far more intimate and alive.
Don’t get me wrong the film features some great interviews with the likes of: Roxanne Benjamin, Akela Cooper, Mary Harron, Cerise Howard, Kier-La Janisse, Nikyatu Jusu, Roseanne Liang, Annalise Lockhart, Toby Poser, Sara Risher, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Kate Siegel, Jenn Wexler and more.
But instead of ticking through titles and names, the documentary threads its way through the life of a woman—using pivotal stages like childhood, adulthood, and old age as a lens to explore the genre’s evolving anxieties, transformations, and cultural pressures. It’s a smart reframing that turns what could’ve been a catalog into something closer to a lived experience—a thematic, emotional journey through horror itself.
I was lucky enough to sit down with director Donna Davies (Fanarchy, Pretty Bloody: The Women of Horror) alongside Heller-Nicholas to talk about how the project came together—and how, by design, it opens the door to a much larger conversation about representation, authorship, and the future of horror fandom.
I thought the film works wonderfully as an introduction to feminist horror while still digging deep enough for people already familiar with your writing on the subject. I understand the original tome was more of a reference book, so how did you arrive at the format we see here, where Alexandra guides us through the journey film by film and theme by theme? I especially loved how the film establishes a playful but introspective tone right from the start—it had me howling.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: The whole process was really collaborative with Donna. One of the first questions we asked ourselves was: how do we take the essence of the book—which is basically an encyclopedia, an A-to-Z collection of short bios—and translate that into a feature-length documentary? Obviously that format wasn’t going to work on screen.
For us, the title 1000 Women in Horror was always meant as a provocation. We wanted people to finish both the book and the documentary thinking, “Well of course there are more than a thousand women in horror.” So the challenge was finding a creative way to arrive at that same idea through a different format.
Donna’s expertise, creativity, and intelligence really allowed us to shape that together in a collaborative way.
Donna Davies: I’m not going to pretend you weren’t reluctant to be the one on camera guiding the whole thing, though. You didn’t exactly jump up and volunteer for that.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: I just didn’t want it to become One Woman in Horror.(Laughs)
But you do a great job carrying that conversation and guiding the audience through it.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: I think of myself more as a sort of tour guide through the material.
The documentary features some of my favorite female writers and directors, including people like Kier-La Janisse. Were there any people you really wanted to include but couldn’t because of timing or logistics?
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: Not that I can think of. A lot of it came down to location logistics. Mattie Do was the only person we filmed in Laos, but there was never any question that she had to be in the documentary.
For most of the other interviews we grouped people together geographically. My memory of the process is mostly just constant squeals of delight. Like: “Oh my God, Kate Siegel is going to do this!” “Oh my God, Kier-La Janisse is going to do this!” When we confirmed Akela Cooper I think I did literal cartwheels. It was a lot of fan-girl excitement.
Donna Davies: Yeah, it actually went surprisingly smoothly. Once people heard who else was involved, that often helped. They’re all friends or at least aware of each other’s work.
The horror community—especially among women filmmakers—is a pretty small world. We felt really fortunate that availability lined up. I honestly can’t think of anyone on our hit list that we didn’t eventually get.
I loved the film selections you highlighted, especially bringing in April Wolfe to talk about Black Christmas(2019), which I think is vastly underrated. I’m still hoping we get that R-rated cut someday.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: Yes! You’re speaking my language.
While hitting these genre milestones, it also highlights some hidden gems. What was the curation process like when deciding which films to include?
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: We started with the “tentpole” films—the big ones we absolutely had to include. The kind of films people would expect to see.
Then beyond that we wanted to color the documentary with a wide range of lesser-known films. Some of them are really obscure unless you’re deeply into women-directed horror. The idea was to use the famous films as anchors and then hang these lesser-known titles around them—almost like ornaments on a Christmas tree.
Donna Davies: That’s actually a perfect way to describe it.
Once we decided to structure the film around stages of a woman’s life, we identified the major films that spoke to those themes. Then the question became how deep we wanted to go into more obscure territory.
Alex and our producer Giles Edwards know an incredible number of films, so it became a balancing act. We wanted recognizable titles for audiences, but we also wanted to include cool discoveries—little Easter eggs for viewers who might not know them.
It ended up feeling like assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Speaking of which, I also loved the way the film is structured around stages of a woman’s life. It feels accessible—almost like anyone can find an entry point.
Donna Davies: I think people who love horror usually have an initiation moment. Something they saw when they were younger that shocked them or affected them profoundly. When people talk about those moments, it’s incredibly universal, and like their first sexual experience, almost.
Fear is one of the most basic human emotions—fight or flight. When someone describes the moment a film triggered that reaction in them, people can connect with it immediately.
Including those personal stories also helps draw in people who might not normally think horror is important.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: It also emphasizes the humanity of horror. Some of my favorite horror documentaries—like Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched or Horror Noire—do the same thing. They highlight the connection between horror and human experience.
Sometimes those conversations are easier to have through personal stories rather than pure theory.
Since you mentioned Horror Noire, I have to ask—are there any plans to expand this concept into a series? It feels like each stage of life could easily become its own episode, digging even deeper into the subgenres.
Donna Davies: We actually started out exploring it as a series. Early on we even talked with Shudder about doing a limited series version. But then the pandemic happened and things shifted.
That said, there’s absolutely enough material for a series. There’s a lot more to explore.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: Call me!
My final question is for you, Donna. You previously made the documentary Pretty Bloody. Do you think the horror community has gotten better at supporting feminist voices since then? And what can horror fans do to keep pushing things forward?
Donna Davies: I do think there’s been a shift. There’s a growing recognition that horror made by women can sell internationally and connect with audiences.
Back in 2009 when we made Pretty Bloody, that really wasn’t the case yet. Now we’re seeing more success stories, and that helps open doors.
But there’s still progress to be made. It means putting more decision-making power into the hands of female producers and filmmakers. When new voices get opportunities, that’s when things really start to change.
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas: Someone like Louise Weard—who isn’t strictly a horror filmmaker but is a huge horror fan—is completely rewriting the grammar of cinema with her films. Imagine what artists like that could do with the resources of major studios.
Hopefully we’re making progress—but there’s always room to do better.
Donna Davies: Exactly. We’ve definitely made progress since 2009, but there’s still a long way to go. The exciting thing is that we’re finally seeing more diverse voices getting the chance to make films—and those films are genuinely changing cinema.
It’s a great time to be both a filmmaker and a horror fan.
