30 Woman-Friendly Horror Movies for the Thrill-Seeking Feminist
By Emily Scott
Proxy
Proxy, Screencap via Along The Tracks/FSC Productions/IFC Midnight
Sub-Genre: Psychological thriller
What it’s about: Esther is a pregnant single woman when an apparent stranger viciously attacks her on the street. She loses her baby, and a social worker suggests a grieving parents’ support group to her. Esther’s grief is somewhat relieved when she meets Melanie, another parent at the support group. They become friends, and Esther is quickly enamored of her. But when Melanie starts acting in strange and unexplainable ways, Esther begins to learn more about what brought her to the group. And, come to think of it, Esther’s actions are not the most clear either. What happens next illuminates all that makes them the same, and entwines their lives forever
What makes it feminist: When a horror movie begins with a pregnant woman, you can be pretty certain that it won’t end with one. The death or murder of a fetus or child has been the impetus for horror plots for decades. But these movies assume a very uncomplicated perspective of the concept of motherhood, in which the woman is a perfect example of a loving mother, whose child is her whole life
But Proxy is a very different story. Its first inciting incident is Esther’s attack. An unseen assailant smashes a brick into her pregnant belly, over and over. And it seems like Proxy is leading us towards that motherly grief/revenge plot, tried and true within the genre. But, as it turns out, Esther had complex feelings about motherhood. And the more we learn about her new friend Melanie, the more we realize that she does, too.
I should disclaim that there are elements of this movie that are definitively un-feminist. No movie is going to get a perfect score, of course. But Proxy’s portrayal of its resident butch lesbian Anika deserves a special shout-out for being stereotypical and straw-man-ish. But if you can ride that out, Proxy’s treatment of the concept of motherhood is something I have never seen in this genre. The two major female characters subvert the trope of the unconditionally loving and grief-stricken mother that is so common in the horror genre.
Trigger Warning: There is rape in this one.