The month of October means indulging in all the accoutrements All Hallows' Eve has to offer, so while you're stocking up on candy for trick-or-treaters, selecting and carving the perfect jack-o-lantern, decorating your spooky pad and preparing to make a killing at the company costume contest this year-don't forget to add in a little blood-curdling entertainment.
We've compiled a list of the Top 10 Scary Movies to Make the Gay Girls Scream to add to your queue of female-fronted thrillers-and whether they're supernatural beings or the product of a nasty virus, we've got everything covered from werewolves and vampires to zombies, demons and ghosts.
10. Let the Right One In
Without any blatant connection to the lesbian world, why does this Swedish bloodsucker film deserve to make the cut? The teeming pot of androgynous identity served up by Let the Right One In's 12-year-old resident vampire, Eli, is reason enough. While the character is outwardly female and at times displays feminine qualities, it's brought to the audience's attention that Eli may in fact be a "he." When Eli befriends next-door neighbor Oskar, a social reject, the unlikely pair bonds over feelings of angst and social isolation. When the credits roll, you'll likely find yourself scratching your head, searching for answers, and counting the moments till you can rewatch what is possibly one of the best vampire tales of all time. Still not convinced? Watch it so you can say you saw it before it became too Americanized in the remake.
9. The Haunting
Trapped in Hill House-a haunted mansion on lockdown nine miles from town-a group of patients involved in a so-called sleep disorder study begin to experience the telltale signs of a supernatural presence among them. Amidst the wrath of CGI effects gone rampant, a very flirtatious, bisexual Catherine Zeta Jones (Theo) struggles to protect '90s indie darling and lesbian icon Lili Taylor (Nell) from becoming another one of the ghost's victims-but Nell is eerily drawn to the house and won't leave until she has freed all the souls trapped inside.
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8. Underworld Trilogy
In parts one and two of this centuries-old blood feud between vampires and lycans, a fanged Kate Beckinsale plays Death Dealer Selene. Raised to detest lycans, Selene-donning a floor-length cape, knee-high boots, and head-to-toe-leather-employs an arsenal of weapons to aid in wiping out her kind's archenemy. Rhona Mitra stars in part three in lieu of Beckinsale (who will be back for part four), but don't fret, she's a perfect doppelganger for the series' sultry heroine.
7. Planet Terror
In this Robert Rodriguez-penned throwback to horror films from a grittier era, we are gifted with Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan)-a one-legged go-go dancer who uses a machine gun as a prosthetic-and Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton)-an unhappily married anesthesiologist having an affair with a character played by Fergalicious. The best dialogue of the film takes place when Cherry and Dr. Dakota meet for the first time while straddling a Harley, as they attempt to escape a mass of flesh-eating zombies.
Cherry: "I'm Cherry."
Dr. Dakota: "You sure are."
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6. Resident Evil Trilogy
Deep beneath the streets of Raccoon City lies The Hive-ground zero for a viral outbreak that could potentially destroy the world. In this trilogy, a scantily clad Milla Jovovich (Alice) morphs from a disgruntled employee of the Umbrella Corp. battling the fallout of the company's experimental viral weaponry below ground to a motorcycle riding weapons specialist leading the crusade to keep the T-virus contained within Raccoon City to an all-powerful being fighting to save the planet from extinction in the ruins of what was once Las Vegas. Oh, yeah, and in part one, you also get a gun-wielding badass Michelle Rodriguez looking very SWAT.
5. The Hunger
Once you get past the flying silk (a la a Stevie Nicks video, circa 1982), chain smoking, and spliced scenes of manic primates flashing across the screen as Bauhaus'
"Bela Lugosi's Dead" fills the soundtrack, it becomes apparent why The Hunger is an everlasting cult classic. In this unique vamp tale, Catherine Deneuve's character, Miriam, is an immortal 2,000-year-old vampire seeking a new companion-Dr. Sarah Roberts (played by Susan Sarandon). After a not-so-accidental wine spillage involving a white T-shirt, the two end up swapping spit (and blood), and Sarah is faced with the choice of a lifetime: be with Miriam eternally or kill her. But either way, they'll be together-forever and ever.
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4. Trick 'r Treat
Trick 'r Treat should be to Halloween what Christmas Story is to Christmas. Set on All Hallows' Eve, this instant horror classic is the quintessential Halloween flick with its web of four interwoven tales of ghastliness. Featuring an unassuming white-collar serial killer, a pint-size enforcer of Samhain rituals, and a gruesome school bus massacre, Trick 'r Treat has managed to sum up the spirit of everyone's favorite holiday. But the standout storyline of the film involves a Little Red Riding Hood-clad, brunette Anna Paquin (pre-True Blood coifs), who-with the aid of her troupe of bisexual fairy tale maidens-is on a quest to lose her virginity, via male or female. After all, "They all taste the same."
3. The Craft
The Craft served as a staple for lesbians coming out in the '90s. Every rainbow belt-wearing baby dyke cherished her worn-out VHS copy, which garnered a spot in regular VCR rotation with Bound and Foxfire. And rightfully so-with a coven of teenage hotties practicing witchcraft in Catholic school uniforms, you can't go wrong. Dishing up only a minute amount of girl-on-girl lip locking, the true allure of this Wiccan masterpiece is the is-she-or-isn't-she vibe of Fairuza Balk, who sports an all-too-familiar upside-down triangle tattoo on her arm.
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2. The Descent
Show me a Rorschach of The Descent, and I'll tell you the first two things that come to mind: panic attacks and suffocation-so it's safe to say the makers of this underground thriller did their job well. Add to that an adventurous group of six cheeky young women who don't give a shite spelunking in a remote cave in the Appalachians without a man in sight, and you have the perfect recipe for every lesbian's dream horror movie. Did I mention the extremely close quarters, sexy accents, and bloodthirsty cave dwellers?
1. Jennifer's Body
Written by Diablo Cody, directed by Karyn Kusama, and starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfreid (with an Amy Sedaris cameo), this anti-boy teen scream named after a Hole song couldn't have any more girl power if Sporty Spice were added to the mix. Jennifer (played by the second coming of Angelina Jolie), after becoming possessed by a demon, begins brutally murdering members of the male species and eating them in order to stay alive. Meanwhile, her childhood friend Needy (Seyfreid) senses something is amiss, so Jennifer attempts to quiet her friend's concerns with one of the horror genre's longest Sapphic smooches.
