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SPOILER ALERT: This feature contains spoilers for “The Girl With the Needle,” “Immaculate,” “The First Omen,” “Apartment 7A,” “Alien: Romulus,” “The Devil’s Bath,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Cuckoo.”
“The Girl With the Needle” features one of the most distressing scenes in any film this year, as a woman in Denmark in the early 1900s tries to give herself an abortion with a needle in a public bath. Even more haunting is the fact that, for many modern moviegoers, safe abortion access is as inaccessible as it is for the characters in this period film.
“Needle,” which is being released theatrically in the United States on Friday by Mubi, is the latest in a string of 2024 horror movies that deal with women’s bodily autonomy head-on. The timing is no surprise, after Americans’ constitutionally protected right to have an abortion via Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. The decision, which came as a result of the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, was met with an outcry of opposition and polling which showed that the majority of Americans didn’t agree with curtailing access to abortion.
“Needle” tells the dark story of Dagmar, a maternal figure who helped women who couldn’t care for their babies to have them adopted by wealthy families — yet the children’s fate was far darker. Despite that dark turn, Vic Carmen Sonne, who stars in the film as Karoline, the killer’s friend and unknowing accomplice, says she was moved by how powerfully the film played with contemporary audiences in Poland, where abortion is heavily restricted and medical professionals can be punished for failing to comply.
Popular on Variety Knowing that these rights are still embattled or inaccessible for many women, Sonne wanted to have a modern pulse to Karoline, even in a black and white period piece — something she achieved with the help of playlists featuring everyone from Metallica to Rihanna.
“As an artist, I was very determined to bring some contemporariness into her,” Sonne says. “I really feel like the heaviness of the story and the black and white … I didn’t want to go against that, but there’s a complexity in not going in to play the period or the circumstance, but to go in and be a full fucking three dimensional, 360-degree human being.”
“Needle” director and co-writer Magnus von Horn found it distressing that this historical horror story is resonating with such urgency.
“I didn’t expect it to be so easily connected to modern times by audiences,” he says. “It scares me, actually, honestly. But it also makes me happy that audiences discussed the film in that way. I think of it as science fiction, in the sense that science fiction will be put in the future to say something about our current society, or our world today through our crooked mirror. I think this film is the same, except it’s set in the past. The more similarities we find to wherever we live, the worse it is. When it comes to the freedom of choice, or the lack of freedom of choice women have when it comes to their bodies and reproductive rights, that has been a discussion I’ve been having in so many countries. The discussion that I’m most happy is being held surrounding the film is also the one that scares me the most.”
It’s clear why the topic manifested itself in many of the year’s horror movies, a genre known for including cultural criticism in the storytelling, and the first filmgoing year where the majority of productions shot after Roe v. Wade was overturned. From tackling the topic head-on, like the protagonist who becomes pregnant due to sexual assault in the “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel “Apartment 7A,” to more surreal tales, like the mothers of “Cuckoo” who are impregnated with a human-bird hybrid to act as surrogates, the horror comes from women unable to make birth decisions about their own bodies.
Julia Garner in “Apartment 7A” ©Paramount+/Courtesy Everett Collection Michael Mohan, who directed the Sydney Sweeney-starring “Immaculate,” was excited to helm a horror movie with a message. “Immaculate” tells the story of a young American nun named Sister Cecilia (Sweeney) who travels to Italy to work at a convent, but soon becomes pregnant by what is described to her by the men of the church as immaculate conception. Instead, she discovers that it’s a wild plot by the church to artificially inseminate her using DNA from a crucifixion nail to bring about a new messiah.
While the plot twist — coupled with a shocking final scene where Cecilia gives birth to and kills the child — is provocative and shows a woman pushed to the brink as countless men make decisions about her body, Mohan made the decision not to talk about this theme to press before the film came out.
“I don’t think that anybody wants to go to see a movie to be preached at,” Mohan says. “I think they want to go because it’s entertaining, or because it scares them, or because they heard it goes to places that movies don’t typically go to. But I think the instant I’d make my intentions known with the film, it would devalue it to the people watching it. They wouldn’t be able to come to their own conclusions. I just wanted people to know that it was a really good horror movie and they should go check it out. That way, we could potentially reach people who otherwise wouldn’t engage with the film if they didn’t know this has some sort of message baked into it.”
Mohan says that by delivering a discussion-generating theme about women in a wide-release horror feature, it is paying tribute to his mother, who once took a stand by taking her family and leaving their small town church when the preacher delivered a pro-life sermon that she disagreed with.
“She could understand her views on God and her views on abortion — that there was not an overlap there, but she could continue to believe what she believed,” Mohan says. “Coming to this story and seeing that it’s about a woman who’s so devout and has never questioned her belief system … to me, that was the most interesting character for this story to happen to. So I just tried to channel the feeling that my mom gave us. You can revolt in your own unique way.”
Sydney Sweeney in “Immaculate” Courtesy Everett Collection Arkasha Stevenson co-wrote and directed “The First Omen,” another film this year in which a religious young woman (Nell Tiger Free) finds herself impregnated by insidious forces within the church. Given that it was a prequel to the 1976 horror classic “The Omen,” she felt as though she could touch on some modern social anxieties, like bodily autonomy, as that film did at the time.
“We wanted to modernize the story by talking about real contemporary issues,” she told Variety in an interview during the “First Omen” press cycle. “But you never want to politicize a sacred franchise. You don’t ever want to be pedantic. Something that we were cognizant of was keeping it within the theme of the film. I think the big question that I had as an ‘Omen’ fan growing up was, ‘Where did Damien come from?’ Naturally, you’re already talking about births and possibly forced reproduction. Just the way the story unfolds, we’re also talking about sexual assault. Being able to explore horror through the female perspective naturally lent itself to talking about these issues.”
Showing that not all facets of the film industry are ready for women’s bodies, the violent film’s biggest hurdle in getting an R rating was cutting down a realistic depiction of a birthing clinic.
“The female anatomy was what earned us an NC-17 rating,” Smith said. “It was only before the horrific body horror happened that they said we needed to get that imagery out of the film. It was interesting that we pitched that scene initially, and it was hugely important to us while we were shooting and in the edit. We were very nervous about its survival, and ultimately it was the MPAA that that nearly threatened its existence. But we were able to get it into the film, thankfully.”
Nell Tiger Free in “The First Omen” ©20th Century Studios/Courtesy Everett Collection The theme kept resonating in 2024. “The Devil’s Bath” opens with a woman throwing her child over a waterfall, before sprawling out into a different take on what women are allowed to do with their bodies in the eyes of church and society. One of the women in “Alien: Romulus” begins the film pregnant and ends it by giving birth to a grotesque half-human, half-alien that invades her body against her will. Surprisingly, a very similar twist comes up twice in the otherwise milquetoast horror-comedy “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” in which both a mother and daughter, played by Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega, are horrified by fantasy sequences where they unwillingly give birth to a Beetlejuice baby. Furthermore, there have been other films — including “The Substance” and “Blink Twice” — that don’t dive head-on into issues of pregnancy, yet speak explicitly to the hold that men and society at large have over women’s agency.
Mary Beth McAndrews, the editor-in-chief of horror movie news site Dread Central, as well as a critic who often writes about the portrayal of women in horror, says it is a perfect genre to bring up these important topics.
“It’s a place where you can play and take these incredibly serious topics and put them into a context that people will better understand and digest,” she says. “Horror has always had this reputation for being a very specific thing: Teenagers are getting murdered in the woods. And, yes, that is a part of horror, but a huge part has been making political statements using these genre elements to speak about monstrosity and fear. Writers and filmmakers can interpret those fears into whatever their imagination can create and speak those fears back at people, and have people able to process that fear differently to better understand the world, or maybe see it from a different perspective.”
Natalija Baranova in “The Devil’s Bath” ©AMC/courtesy Everett Collection Subversion of cultural norms has long been a horror tradition. Early hits such as 1931’s “Frankenstein” and 1942’s “Cat People” vibrated with queer energy for audiences who paid attention. In the late ’60s, portrayals of women dealing with motherhood beyond their expectations began showing up on screen. Even though genre films were still decades from being taken seriously in academic circles and held on equal footing by critics, they were still box office hits and seismic cultural influences.
Professor Ashley S. Brandon, a filmmaker and horror movie historian who teaches the topic at Quinnipiac University, says a new era kicked off with Roman Polanski’s 1968 hit “Rosemary’s Baby.” While it’s difficult to not let Polanski’s real-life crimes muddy his art, the film — in which Mia Farrow is impregnated against her will with the Antichrist by a satanic cult — marks a significant milestone in feminist horror.
“You start to see it more highlighted, where it’s almost undeniable that these themes are there,” Brandon says. “It’s about a woman who is being manipulated by, a large part, men.”
Mia Farrow in “Rosemary’s Baby.” Courtesy Everett Collection Following that, a direct parallel to this year is the 1974 slasher “Black Christmas,” which was released soon after the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision — and seems to be in direct conversation with the court ruling.
“It has a final girl that, right when we meet her, we learn her name is Jess,” Brandon says. “She’s educated, she’s independent and she’s pregnant. She’s leaning towards an abortion and her boyfriend does not want that to happen.”
Brandon sees the ’80s as a unique turning point in horror, as an oversaturation in the market resulted in a glut of slashers that were not as rich in theme as other decades. And yet academically the time was rich in analysis, looking back at previous decades and shining a light on the progressive nature of classics such as 1968’s “Night of the Living Dead” and “Rosemary’s Baby.” The aforementioned “final girl” trope was also named at this time, identifying the trend in which the lone survivor of a slasher is often a well-behaved young woman who leads to the male killer’s demise.
Yet the last decade has come roaring back with rich texts under the moniker of “elevated horror,” a term plastered to critical and commercial hits that interrogate social issues. 2014’s “The Babadook,” 2017’s “Get Out” and the cultural impact of horror movies under the A24 banner has made these films essential viewing for film buffs.
“With ‘Get Out,’ I think it was the first time audiences saw horror as being able to strike up a conversation or a discussion that just wasn’t about, ‘Were you scared?’” Brandon says. “Or, ‘Did you see that kill?’ For a lot of people, it was a realization of, ‘Oh wow, horror can reflect how I’m feeling. Horror can reflect society.’ I think especially for a general audience, it was that realization that horror is saying more than ‘Boo!’”
Horror’s spotlight on issues of bodily autonomy comes at a time when storytelling finally portrays reproductive freedom without moralizing.
“For many, many years, if anyone had an unintended pregnancy, they fell down the stairs. They had a miscarriage. They died. They were shamed and judged for their decision,” says Caren Spruch, the national director of arts and entertainment engagement at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Spruch developed her position within Planned Parenthood hoping to make a positive impact on how storytellers portrayed abortion in their stories. She’s now a go-to resource for filmmakers hoping to show this healthcare access accurately and compassionately, and has worked on films such as 2014’s “Obvious Child” and 2020’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” to achieve that goal.
Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, Spruch says that the healthcare professionals who provide abortion access are living in fear.
“It’s absolute chaos and things are changing every day,” she says. “No one knows what they can do and can’t do. Doctors are afraid they’ll be arrested. Doctors are fleeing. So all of it should be captured on screen.”
Ultimately, Spruch thinks horror films that bring up the topic of bodily autonomy are important, and hopes that other genres follow suit in shining a light on the topic.
“I’m not surprised that horror films are covering these issues because 28 million people of reproductive age, plus more trans and nonbinary people, who live in 21 states have lost all access or some access to abortion. And that’s horror,” she says. “All genres need to cover this accurately and sensitively, but in thinking about horror films, they tap into our fears about what’s happening in the real world, and I think they can inspire us to take action, to have more control over our lives. Not everyone likes every genre, so I think all genres need to incorporate such storylines.”
As for the future of feminist messaging reverberating in horror, it’s often hard to tell in a genre that cherishes secrecy and twists, but it seems like 2025 could also be a vibrant year. Drew Hancock’s thriller “Companion” is set to release in January, and brings up many contemporary issues about toxic masculinity and a woman’s agency. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “Bride of Frankenstein” riff “The Bride!” feels ripe for subtext about the sexes, as does Lynne Ramsay’s upcoming “Die, My Love,” which stars Jennifer Lawrence as a mother battling mental health issues in her marriage.
Spruch says that she has a pile of scripts on her desk that feature discussions on the topic, but she fears that many of them might not get made.
“All of these scripts talk about the impact of restrictions and normalize abortion, but people are not getting their films distributed,” she says. “So I think that artists are channeling their rage about their loss into their art, but they’re having a tough time getting stuff distributed.”
Beyond that, a new crop of filmmakers will likely be motivated by the recent reelection of Donald Trump — who has bragged about his influence in overturning Roe v. Wade — as a source of righteous anger that becomes reflected in their art.
McAndrews, whose directorial debut, the rape-revenge film “Bystanders,” is set to be released next year, thinks this year’s films could be a powder keg for even more discussion.
“What I think is great about this year is that it’s no longer subtext,” McAndrews says. “A lot of these female directors are saying, ‘I’m no longer trying to be subtle. I want to take a hammer and smash you in the face with it.’ Subtlety is great, but in this day and age when we are trying to be heard is no longer a time for subtlety.”
