hi friends! if you’re overwhelmed by all of the monstrosity (complimentary) or want to check out some additional resources, this is the place to be! i’ll list a few subgenres, niches & thematic interests that are present within the quest, alongside some recommended texts as well as some further watching for those who are interested!

i want to read about …

WOMEN EATING WILDLY for women who can’t contain their appetite; who are messy and greedy and eat their desires, check out:

• hungerstone by kat dunn
• the lamb by lucy rose
• the eyes are the best part by monika kim

AND:

• raw dir. julia ducournau
• cannibal mukbang dir. aimee kuge

BEAUTY STANDARDS AND BODY IMAGE for body horror triggered by body dysmorphia, gender dysphoria, internalised racism and/or the search for the perfect body, look to:

• natural beauty by ling ling huang
• rouge by mona awad
• bed rot baby by wendy dalrymple
• transmuted by eve harms

AND:

• helter skelter dir. mika ninagawa
• the ugly stepsister dir. emilie blichfeldt

GENDER, SEXUALITY, AND DESIRE for women whose identity reckonings, sexual awakenings, and queer desire manifest as horror, have a look at:

• black flame by gretchen felker-martin
• feast while you can by mikaella clements & onjuli datta

AND:

• my animal dir. jacqueline castel

MERMAIDS AND SEA-CREATURES for women who are (or become) one with the great unknown, look to:

• chlorine by jade song
• our wives under the sea by julia armfield
• the salt grows heavy by cassandra khaw

AND:

• the lure dir. agnieszka smoczyńska
• blue my mind dir. lisa brühlmann

BLOOD SUCKERS for death-defying, blood-thirsty, vampiric women, check out:

• the gilda stories by jewelle gomez
• fledgling by octavia e. butler
• hungerstone by kat dunn

AND:

• humanist vampire seeking consenting suicidal person dir. ariane louis-seize
• a girl walks home alone at night dir. ana lily amirpour

WITCHCRAFT AND MAGIC for a taste of the occult, start with:

• the last witch on the knock by aimee macdonald
• the witching hour by anne rice
• the year of the witching by alexis henderson

AND:

• witch’s cradle dir. maya deren
• mother of flies by the adams family (yes, there is literally a family of horror filmmakers called the adams family)
• fear street: 1666 dir. leigh janiak

GHOSTS, SPIRITS, AND PHANTOMS for centuries-old apparitions and modern-day ghosts; for a taste of women and girls haunting, check out:

• old soul by susan barker
• beloved by toni morrison

WEREWOLVES AND FERAL WOMEN if you want to feel the power of the full moon, check out:

• nightbitch by rachel yoder
• such sharp teeth by rachel harrison

NON-HUMANOID MONSTERS for books that truly put the other in othering, check out these non-humanoid monsters:

• but not too bold by hache pueyo
• patricia wants to cuddle by samantha allen

MURDEROUS WOMEN if you’re interested in women who kill (or want to), check out:

• cruelty free by caroline glenn
• evil genius by claire oshetsky
• victorian psycho by virginia feito
• boy parts by eliza clark

AND:

• american mary dir. jen & sylvia soska

CONDEMNATIONS OF PATRIARCHY for dispatches from how women are deemed/made monstrous under patriarchy, check out:

• the yellow wall-paper by charlotte perkins
• victorian psycho by virginia feito
• hungerstone by kat dunn

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING and if you want to indulge in a taste of everything, have a look at these short story collections:

• salt slow by julia armfield
• eyes guts throat bones by moïra fowley-doyle
• cursed bunny by bora chung

there are lots of other ideas and themes present across these books, but hopefully this makes for a good starting point. if you have a specific niche that you’d like to fill, feel free to ask in the comments!