#feministhorror — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/africa/423289/ The Horror of Being a Woman Expressed in Egyptian Art #Egypt #entertainment #Featured #FeministFilm #FeministHorror #FeministLiterature #Film&Tv #horror #HorrorFilms #HorrorMovies #Jennifer'sBody

Watched The Ugly Stepsister to get my Fairy Tale square for #HorrorMovieBingo ... Body horror Cinderella from the POV of a stepsister is a very good idea and the body horror was real gross (👍) but I found it surprisingly dull overall.

Beautifully and intentionally made, fantastic lead performance, but very slow paced and suffers from the same problem as most Feminist Horror: its ideas don't go beyond Feminism 101

#horror #movies #FeministHorror

Rage, Revelation, and Reflection: Finishing The Unworthy

Read the previous post:

https://haveacupofjohanny.com/book-review/2025/11/22/reading-thoughts-the-unworthy

I finished The Unworthy and, as I suspected, this book left me with one big, resounding “WTF.” But here’s the thing—I expected that. Agustina Bazterrica has a way of crawling under your skin and twisting your perception of what horror can be. It’s never just gore or shock for shock’s sake—it’s psychological, societal, and deeply human.

That said, this one didn’t grip me quite like Tender Is the Flesh. Don’t get me wrong—it’s still brilliant, but it’s a slow burn that lives in discomfort more than tension. I’d give it a solid 4 stars, maybe 4.2 if we’re getting picky, because it’s a complex and layered look at indoctrination, love, and the price of awakening.

The main character is fascinating because she isn’t innocent—she’s complicit. She’s someone who has chosen to believe in the safety and structure of the cult-like sisterhood she belongs to, finding meaning in her obedience and even pleasure in the cruelty that defines her world. But when she meets someone who stirs something real—something resembling love—she starts to remember who she used to be. And that’s when everything fractures.

This is what Bazterrica does best: she makes you feel the rot beneath the surface of civilization. She shows how easily morality bends when survival and faith intertwine. The Unworthy doesn’t give you the catharsis of a happy ending, but it gives you something else—reflection, discomfort, and rage. The kind of rage that comes from seeing echoes of this fictional world in our own.

Because if you strip away the convent and the apocalyptic setting, what’s left is a mirror. We see societies that exploit fear and scarcity. We see how power structures thrive on obedience and shame. And we see how love, real love, can be the spark that threatens to burn it all down.

It’s horrific because it feels possible. And that’s what makes it brilliant.

⭐️ 4/5 – A disturbing, thought-provoking exploration of complicity, memory, and the terrifying comfort of belief.

#agustinaBazterrica #bookReview #dystopianFiction #feministHorror #horrorBooks #postapocalypticNovels #psychologicalHorror

When Two Stories Share the Same Ancestry — My Thoughts on Bochica

I just finished Bochica, and wow what a ride through atmosphere, ancestry, and slow-burn tension. Before getting into the review, I have to acknowledge something: as the author of The Ordinary Bruja (coming November 4), it would feel disingenuous not to point out how these two books could be literary cousins. They both carry the pulse of Gothic storytelling, generational secrets, and complicated mother-daughter legacies—but they tell those stories in completely different ways.

That’s the beauty of creation: two writers can start from similar soil and still grow wildly different blooms. Bochica proves that originality isn’t about inventing something new; it’s about execution, voice, and perspective.

What Worked for Me

The Gothic atmosphere was stunning—slowly unfurling, full of whispers and shadowed corners. The pacing felt intentional, letting tension simmer rather than explode. I love that the story respected its time period (1920s-1930s Colombia) while still speaking to modern readers. The themes of colonial legacy, Catholic repression, and women navigating power all felt grounded and authentic.

Antonia, the main character, resonated deeply with me. Some reviewers called her passive, but I saw her as a woman shaped by her era—reflective of a world and a faith still wrestling with equality and voice. As someone raised in a culture deeply entwined with Catholicism and patriarchy, that rang true. Her acknowledgment of her mother’s flawed “protection” and the book’s reckoning with white-savior ideology gave the story real weight.

What Didn’t Fully Click

There were two small things that pulled me out of the reading experience:

• Name inconsistency — Antonia shifted between calling her parents by first names and by “Mama” or “Papa.” It confused me more than once and disrupted the rhythm of her narration.
• A touch of modern language — The phrase “mental health” felt slightly anachronistic for the 1930s setting, though it didn’t ruin immersion.

And while I personally wanted a stronger crescendo near the end, I can appreciate the restraint. The ending matches the book’s deliberate pacing—quiet, reflective, and emotionally grounded.

The Reader Divide

Before finishing the book, I peeked at Goodreads reviews (curiosity got me), and the reception reminded me of what I’ve seen for The Ordinary Bruja: very polarized. You either love it or it doesn’t click. That’s the hallmark of art that dares to sit in discomfort. Bochica isn’t trying to please everyone—it’s trying to tell the truth in its own cadence.

It’s also a great reminder that reviews are subjective. I always check a reviewer’s history before deciding how much weight to give their opinion. Some readers docked stars for things that didn’t bother me at all, like tone or historical realism. For me, Bochica’s blend of realism and myth was exactly right.

Final Thoughts

Bochica is a haunting, beautifully written story for readers who crave slow-burn Gothic horror, historical depth, and emotional complexity. If you loved the tone and themes of Mexican Gothic but want something that feels more spiritually grounded in Latin American mythology, you’ll adore this one.

⭐ 4 stars — A deeply atmospheric, thought-provoking read that lingers long after the last page.

And if you find yourself craving a modern-day cousin to Bochica, with the same echoes of ancestral guilt and feminine power but set in contemporary Ohio—then pick up The Ordinary Bruja this November 1. Trust me, these two books are from the same spiritual lineage, and reading them together will make the magic even richer.

The Ordinary Bruja: Book One of Las Cerradoras Series – Johanny Ortega

Marisol Espinal has spent her life trying to disappear from her family’s whispers of magic, from the shame of not belonging, from the truth she refuses to face. She’s always wanted to be someone else: confident, capable, extraordinary.

But when strange visions, flickering shadows, and warnings written in her mother’s hand begin to stalk her, Marisol is forced to confront her deepest fear: what if she isn’t extraordinary at all? What if she’s painfully ordinary?

Yet Hallowthorn Hill doesn’t call to just anyone. And the more Marisol resists, the stronger its pull becomes. The past she’s buried claws its way back, and something in the mist is watching—waiting for her to remember.

If Marisol cannot face the truth about who she is and where she comes from, the same darkness that destroyed her ancestors will claim her, too.

Somewhere in the shadows, something knows her name.

And it’s time for Marisol to learn why.

Pre-order now

#BookReview #ColombianSetting #feministHorror #gothicFiction #historicalHorror #LatinAmericanLiterature #magicalRealism #OwnVoices #slowBurnRomance

13 𝑫𝙖𝒚𝙨 𝙤𝒇 𝑯𝙖𝒍𝙡𝒐𝙬𝒆𝙚𝒏: "𝙋𝒊𝙣𝒆𝙬𝒐𝙤𝒅" 𝙎𝒉𝙤𝒓𝙩 𝙎𝒕𝙤𝒓𝙮 𝙍𝒆𝙫𝒊𝙚𝒘 𝒃𝙮 𝙏𝒂𝙣𝒊𝙩𝒉 𝑳𝙚𝒆

2025 Theme: Decades of Horror
1984, UK

https://youtube.com/shorts/SrpThNnR6Ks

#shortstoryreview #halloween #horror #horrorstory #13DaysOfHalloween #books #bookreviews #bookworm #readreadread #shortstory #tanithlee #pinewood #shortstory #feministhorror

From the British Fantasy Society:

Acclaimed horror writer, editor, voice actor, podcaster, and artist Gemma Amor tells us about the genesis of ITCH!, her latest feminist horror hitting shelves just in time for spooky season.

https://britishfantasysociety.org/from-pen-to-print-gemma-amor-on-itch/

#horror #feministhorror #books #writers #creativetoots

False Positive tries to be Rosemary’s Baby for 2021 but ends up as a regressive mess. Science replaces Satan, but the patriarchy stays alive and well — and so does the tired trope of the “mad” woman defined by her womb.
#FalsePositive #RosemarysBaby #FeministHorror #GenderRoles #PatriarchyExposed #ReproductiveRights #IlanaGlazer #JustinTheroux #PierceBrosnan #FilmCritique #HorrorMovies
https://ninetypercentcrapmoviereviews.wordpress.com/2022/11/10/false-positive/

Alex Garland’s Men wants to be a feminist horror fable, but it delivers a blunt, literal misandry sermon instead. A dreamlike allegory that stomps its message dry — and forgets the horror comes from complexity, not caricature.
#MenMovie #AlexGarland #FeministHorror #FilmCriticism #A24 #HorrorMovies #FilmTwitter #HorrorFilm #MovieReview
https://ninetypercentcrapmoviereviews.wordpress.com/2025/07/19/alex-garlands-men-and-the-failure-of-feminist-allegory/

Revisiting the memorial stone of the ‘last woman burned as a witch’ in Scotland in film and archival photos. (‘Janet Horne’ probably never existed but her myth persists because there were so many like her whose lives and deaths went unrecorded.)#AshesAndStones #ScottishWitches #Scotland #ScottishHighlands #FolkHorror #FeministHorror #WomenInHorror #SheWill #JanetHorne #ModernAntiquarian #Witch
#StandingStone #Menhir #Histodons

https://allysonshaw.com/2025/02/12/memory-femicide-and-the-useful-dead

Check out my review of Unshod, Cackling, and Naked by Tamika Thompson. Available from Unnerving.
#unnerving #Blackhorror #feministhorror #horrorcollection #bookstagram #horrorbook #womeninhorror

https://strangersights.com/unshod-cackling-and-naked-by-tamika-thompson/