By Sharai Bohannon

One of the many reasons I love June is that I’m an intersectional horror girl. So, Pride Month is one of the few times most people seem really ready to do the work of decentering cis-white straight guys from their content. Which is ironic because horror has been queer and feminist since Mary Shelley gave us Frankenstein. So you would think this would be a year-round focus for most horror fans instead of another thing crammed into one month. However, I digress. Way too many of us fall prey to thinking any representation is great representation, and that is false. It also leads to many people being left out of the conversation. That’s why I’m here with a list of movies about women who love (or sometimes just lust) women. 

I think you should follow critics, creators, and writers who have more expertise and knowledge of this subgenre. They are going to have more deep cuts, classics, and cooler shit than the ten titles I wanted an excuse to suggest to everyone who reads this. They’re also going to be able to talk about it from a completely different perspective than me, some random loud girl on the internet. All I can do is highlight a few that I feel fly under most people’s radars. Anyway, I hope this list of lesbian leading ladies finds you well. I also hope these movies make it into your rotation throughout the entire year. That’s another article, though. 

My Animal

Directed by Jacqueline Castel

A hockey player falls for a figure skater while learning to cope with her unusual secret. We will simply never have enough lesbian werewolves in this genre. The fact that this movie has vibes for days and stars Bobbi Salvör Menuez and Amandla Stenberg makes it ten times cooler. Director Jacqueline Castel’s debut feature film hit Sundance in 2023 and then eventually landed on a couple of streamers. However, I don’t think most people are aware they are missing out on this intimate tale about accepting all of your parts and stepping into your full power.

Bit

Directed by Brad Michael Elmore

A teen spends summer vacation falling in with a vampire girl gang who take predators off the streets of Los Angeles. I hit play because I heard there would be a lesbian vampire gang, and I ended up with one of my favorite Tubi finds.  This movie has no business being as cool as it is. It’s fun, wicked, and gives the subgenre a trans leading lady as Nicole Maines plays Laurel. Laurel is one of my favorite undersung leading ladies because she’s not afraid of starting over and doesn’t have it all figured out. That’s relatable and we need more heroes who are a little aimless. May all of us fall into a cool girl gang that’s doing the good work while we find ourselves.

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Directed by Halina Reijn

A rich friend group throws a hurricane party at an isolated mansion where it’s all fun and games until people start turning up dead. Bodies Bodies Bodies was so damn fun and intersectional that I had no choice but to love it. This is Amandla Stenberg’s second film on this list and is a completely different vibe. This friend group is messy, very Gen Z, and I am obsessed with each and every one of them. If you want an effortlessly fun movie with lesbians at the center, then this is your girl. 

Cuckoo

Directed by Tilman Singer 

A teen is forced to move to Germany with her dad’s new family, only to discover something sinister at the resort that is her new home. There is a lot going on in this unique little indie gem, so I think most of us get lost watching Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens go back and forth. Schafer is serving the final girl energy we love to see, as Stevens is doing his best to outdo the other weirdos on his resume. So, with all of us yelling about everything else going on in this movie, we might sometimes forget to tell the people that our final girl likes girls. Just another reason this Tilman Singer flick had some of the most immaculate vibes Neon put out in 2024.

Fatal Frame

Directed by Mari Asato

A student looks into the deadly curse haunting her all-girls school. I think many of us skipped this one because we didn’t think the Fatal Frame games needed to be adapted. However, Mari Asato’s film is so much better than the video games that it shares the same name with. This is a beautiful tale of yearning and loss. It’s the kind of storytelling and world-building with girls at the center that only women filmmakers seem capable of bringing to life. Do yourself a favor and check this out this month. You’ll be mad you waited so long to see it.

Good Manners

Directed by Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra

A nurse takes a job working for a pregnant woman with whom she forms a bond. At no point in time could I predict where this film was going, and I lived. No movie on this list matches the fantastical storybook energy of this film. I hit play because I heard it was a Portuguese-language horror film. I was not prepared for romance, werewolves, music numbers, humor, or this long runtime. While you’ll need to clear your afternoon to take it all in, this movie is worth it. 

The Handmaiden

Directed by Park Chan-wook

A young conwoman becomes the handmaiden to an heiress as part of a convoluted plan that goes sideways. If you’re like me, then you’re a huge Park Chan-wook fan who is going to watch this and immediately rearrange your order of what you thought were your favorite films by the maestro. This 1930s period piece is fun, sexy, and filled with surprises. The runtime is only daunting before you hit play because I would’ve sat for another three hours. The Handmaiden is pure cinema at its finest!

Love Lies Bleeding

Directed by Rose Glass

A gym manager falls for a bodybuilder passing through town, and they begin a romance that sparks violence. Rose Glass heard some of us talking shit about Saint Maud and returned with this number and made us eat crow. I love to see it! Not only did Glass snatch our wigs, but he also got the best performance out of Kristen Stewart I have ever seen. Equally as important, if you didn’t know about Katy O’Brian before this, you were in the fan club afterwards. As a kid from the Bound generation, I support women who do crime and toss men out with yesterday’s garbage. More of this subgenre of film, please!

Sound of Violence

Directed by Alex Noyer

A young girl discovers she has synesthesia during a traumatic event and grows up to become a woman who goes to great lengths as she continues to chase that high. This film got lost in the shuffle of COVID films, but it is so worth your time. Not just because it stars Jasmin Savoy Brown, giving one of their best performances to date, either. It is because we finally have an intersectional slasher that gets to go big, y’all! It’s not every day I can tell you we have a queer Black woman with a disability who gets to be the problem. I wanted her to get away with it just because she’s not like the other slashers. I don’t care if everyone else has moved on; I want a sequel, prequel, sidequest, etc.

Wishing Stairs

Directed by Jae-yeon Yun 

Unrequited love and jealousy are the catalysts for death and destruction at an all-girls art school. A friend introduced me to this Korean banger a few months ago, and now I need to watch the entire franchise. I feel like this film did Black Swan better than Black Swan, and I wish it had gotten that level of attention. This movie is haunting, dark, and a little bit dangerous in so many cool ways. Jae-yeon Yun also captures the physical language of mean girls in ways that cannot be taught.

Bonus Suggestion: Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead is another one that should be on this list. She does her dad’s world justice while opening it up for a new generation, and specifically, Brooklyn’s queer club scene. Also, Katy O’Brien (and her arms) gives another noteworthy performance. The entire ensemble is after your heart, though.

If you’ve seen all of these, then I recommend heading to Shudder and checking out Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror. I also think you should check out Alex Hall’s Letterboxd for a more comprehensive collection than what I provided. To avoid squeezing any more movies into this list, I’m going to wrap it up. Stay hydrated, do crime, and watch more lesbian leading ladies this summer!