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Spit On The Grave: Weak Men, Revenge, and the Feminine Allure of 70s Horror
Finding pockets of surprising female power in the dark and gory pictures of a horror-filled past.
As a kid, the horror genre drew me in early on. Toddling around the living room with a hairbrush in my hand, I used to joyously belt “Jump in the Line” while I mimicked a hovering Lydia from 1988’s Beetlejuice. Growing fast, my tastes advanced and it wasn’t long before I found myself on the banks of the 1970s horror ocean.
In terms of horror, there are few decades more genre-defining than the 1970s. A turbulent time for social and economic change, the 70s ushered in a new age for women which altered the landscape of cinematic terror. Specifically, it changed the way women were perceived in horror films and the roles available to them.
While earlier horror films often featured women as helpless victims or archetypical “damsels in distress”, the 1970s ushered in a new era of female characters, which could range the gamut from victim to hero. These roles, often slated, encompassed a wide spectrum of personalities, ideologies, and levels of power.
That’s what captivated me about the genre. Growing up in the age of “Girl Power” I often found this power more in the grimy films of Hammer…
