M3GAN kicked off the 2023 film year with a major bang. Along with critical praise, a sequel was announced right after it debuted in theaters. While the film has a lot going for it, there is no denying the biggest selling point is the titular doll. ME3GAN is a horror icon, and it's great to see that since few female horror villains achieve such a status.
That's not to say there are not amazing female villains in horror, as the genre has always been a place to explore complicated women. However, compared to the icon statuses antagonists like Freddy, Jason and Michael have, more men occupy those roles. With that in mind, M3GAN is far from the first woman to fit in with these iconic killers, with Jennifer's Body paving the way for M3GAN and several other contemporary horror icons.
Jennifer's Body Tried to Change the Horror Game
In 2009, Jennifer's Body promised an unconventional horror film for a mainstream audience. In it, Jennifer (Megan Fox) becomes a demonically possessed killer after a failed sacrifice. Her friend, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), must stop her, leading to a film about the complexities of female friendship, growing up and losing one's innocence.
Despite its feminist and queer themes, Jennifer's Body was advertised as a horny horror movie for boys. That worked against Karen Kusama and Diablo Cody's vision and set the movie up for failure while objectifying one of its leading actors, contributing to some harmful rhetoric about women in the industry during the 2000s. A film like Jennifer's Body, regardless of reception at the time, was groundbreaking, especially when it came to its approach to gender. Female slashers, like Mrs. Voorhees, existed before, as did campy killers like Tiffany. However, the former has been overshadowed for decades by her son, and the latter was introduced after the success of Chucky in Child's Play and its sequels.
Jennifer's Body also depicts Jennifer in an empathetic and unapologetic light, allowing her to have horrific fun without taking away from her tragedy. Meanwhile, Needy does not fit the traditional image of a final girl, and Jennifer is not the usual mean girl. For the 2000s, Jennifer's Body was game-changing, and while 2009 was not ready for it, its impact is still being felt.
From Evil Dead to M3GAN, Audiences Love Horrendous Women
Jennifer's Body set a new standard for women in horror that would appear on a larger scale in the 2010s and 2020s. While the 2010s were a renaissance for art-house horror films like Hereditary, Midsommar and The Babadook -- which have their fair share of complicated women -- mainstream horror films were delivering on villainous women with the potential to become icons like Jennifer.
In 2013, Evil Dead came back with a new cast of characters, and Mia (Jane Levy) took on the challenge of being the main Deadite and final girl. Similar to Jennifer, Mia is a tragic, imperfect woman who transforms into a demonic killer -- one with a twisted, dark sense of humor. She is also this way because this role was forced on her, like what happened to Jennifer. While Jennifer never breaks free, Mia does, and like Needy in Jennifer’s Body, she takes down the villainous force behind this nightmare.
2017’s The Babysitter gave audiences Samara Weaving’s Bee, who feels like a combination of popular girl Jennifer and responsible student Needy. While she has more agency over her actions than Jennifer or Mia, The Babysitter felt like a natural progression from the likes of Jennifer’s Body, featuring a woman turning to demonic forces of her own accord. Despite this, there is still an endearing aspect to Bee, making her a complicated yet campy killer.
Even more recently, 2022 saw the debut of X and Pearl, which delivered Mia Goth's intergenerational performance as a deadly woman with a conflicted relationship with sex, fame and beauty. Where the first film leans into the classic slasher genre, the latter embraces the camp of the time period and character. While not dealing with the supernatural like the other films, Goth portrays a villainous woman who chews the scenery while maintaining the tragedy of her character.
Then, of course, there is M3GAN, an advanced children’s toy that will go to extreme lengths to protect the kid in her care. As an AI doll, M3GAN raises compelling questions about death, humanity and society’s reliance on technology. However, M3GAN is not just a talking point -- she’s a hilarious, iconic killer with a knack for performing and plenty of one-liners.
There have been amazing female villains in horror prior to Jennifer’s Body, but few are considered as iconic as some of the most beloved slashers. However, there is no denying in a post-Jennifer’s Body era, female villains are taking center stage more often in mainstream horror and are celebrated for it. For instance, Jennifer’s Body got criticized upon release, and it wasn’t until the last few years it was reevaluated and embraced. Meanwhile, M3GAN -- another campy killer with the makings of a horror icon -- was beloved even before the film was available to the public.
To see the newest female horror icon, M3GAN is in theaters now.