The Women Who Built the Horror Genre

Before Hollywood’s Scream Queens, the Ladies of Horror Comics Were at the Forefront of Fright

When you think of the iconic directors of horror movies, it’s usually male filmmakers like Wes Craven, George Romero, John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, and David Cronenberg that come to mind. The best-known women in horror tend to be “scream queens,” actors like Fay Wray and Jamie Lee Curtis, whose characters are frequently relegated to perpetual victim status and who may be occasionally awarded the role of villain. But women are rarely talked about for their off-screen contributions to horror.

So it may come as a surprise—though it shouldn’t—to learn that women …