Will New CW Series Finally Claim Horror Genre for Women?

There's never been a shortage of women in horror movies. The problem is that female characters are almost always victims in horror movies and TV shows, and even if a female character triumphs in the end, it's typically after she's been terrorized and brutalized by a man. A new series in development at the CW and being produced by Drew Barrymore could help change all that. The series will be created by women, and it offers the promise of a whole new perspective on gender in horror.

Via Bustle.

Women have been pushing to upend the gender bias still looming over Hollywood for what feels like forever, and in recent years, that battle cry has loudened. Now, the CW is amping up the fight. According to Deadline, the network is developing Black Rose Anthology, a horror series written and directly entirely by women, and hailing, in part, from Drew Barrymore.

The news comes at an especially pertinent time: Earlier this week, Warner Bros. announced that a female-centric remake of Lord of the Lies was in the pipeline, but seemingly from a problematic source. The film is being helmed by two men — Scott McGehee and David Siegel — which inherently strips away the female perspective it seeks to broaden, raises concerns about the female archetypes it could fall back on, and completely bypasses the male toxicity that underscored William Golding's novel. (By the author's own admission, Lord of the Flies is a uniquely male story).

Black Rose appears to be decidedly the opposite. It's wholly original, current, and seeks to explore its narratives exclusively from the female viewpoint — something it can feasibly do, since women are the ones creating it. Per Deadline, the series will explore some of humanity's deepest fears, including guilt, jealousy, repression, paranoia, insanity, sexual obsession, and survival through a modern and distinctly feminine lens.

It also adds to the ongoing chorus of women changing the scope of horror — a genre that has often taken pleasure in victimizing women, as they're traditionally the targets of crazed killers and monsters. Plus, as Beth Younger wrote for Salon, sexually active women in horror movies tend to die first as punishment for sexual transgression, a trend seen in numerous famous features: Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Get the rest of the story at Bustle.

Do you have a favorite female horror-movie character? Help us compile a list of strong, horrific women in the comment section below.