March was Women’s History Month, and as we head into a month with a tonne of public holidays to sit on the lounge and binge some of the big screen stuff, it seems like the perfect opportunity to celebrate women who are making history in genre film and television. We’ve compiled a handy list of movies and series, broken down by streaming service, that all highlight the bold (and sometimes legendary) voices of the women behind a lot of our pop culture fandom favourites.
Read on for a curated selection you can binge at home on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Shudder, Paramount+, Stan, Binge and Apple TV+.
Netflix
Netflix has quite the contentious streak when it comes to content and its numbers game in supporting marginalised voices; as many shows we love that are still around, there are just as many that are not. But big, bold moves have been made, like the ambitious undertaking of three features made in one go with Leigh Janiak’s Fear Street trilogy. The now-cult franchise based on the R.L. Stein books helped reinvigorate gateway horror that pushes boundaries. (We’re still waiting for more!) Netflix has also done a solid job in funding more genre from women, like The Old Guard directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and produced by and starring Charlize Theron.
Movies
Fear Street trilogy – Directed by Leigh Janiak (Horror)
The Old Guard – Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Action-Adventure)
Paradise Hills – Directed by Alice Waddington (Sci-Fi Fantasy)
A Baby Sitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting – Directed by Rachel Talalay (Horror)
The Matrix (1, 2 & 3) – Directed by Lana and Lily Wachowski (Sci-Fi)
Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 – Directed by Patty Jenkins (Superhero)
TV featuring women writers and directors
The Haunting of Bly Manor (Horror)
Star Trek: Enterprise (Sci-Fi)
Shadow and Bone (Fantasy Adventure)
Archive 81 (Horror)
The Umbrella Academy (Superhero)
Disney+
While there are a lot of things Disney needs to do right now to truly support its creators and authentically let them represent audiences, its strides in women-led entertainment have helped the studio evolve and grow on Disney+. Here you can watch modern classics like the Frozen films co-created by Disney Animation Studios CEO Jennifer Lee, who has brought up talent like Encanto’s Charise Castro Smith. Marvel Studios, led by producers like Victoria Alonso, continue to expand the stories of superheroes in shows like Loki, directed by Kate Herron. And Lucasfilm, under Kathleen Kennedy, brings us new tales of beloved heroes from emerging directing talents like Deborah Chow and Bryce Dallas Howard. We can’t stop thinking about Howard’s Mando-centric Book of Boba Fett episode and are counting the days until Chow’s Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi series kicks off.
Movies
Turning Red – Directed by Domee Shi and written by Julia Cho (Animated)
Encanto – Co-written by Charise Castro Smith (Animated)
Frozen I, II – Co-written and co-directed by Jennifer Lee (Animated)
Raya and the Last Dragon – Co-written by Adele Lim (Animated)
Black Widow – Directed by Cate Shortland (Superhero)
A Wrinkle in Time – Directed by Ava DuVernay (Sci-Fi Fantasy)
Mulan (Fantasy)
Maleficent (Fantasy)
Fresh – Directed by Mimi Cave and written by Lauren Kahn (Horror)
TV featuring women writers and directors
Hawkeye
WandaVision
Loki
The Book of Boba Fett
The Mandalorian
Legion
Amazon Prime
Thanks to Welcome to the Blumhouse we’ve got an ongoing anthology of features that have given directors like Axelle Carolyn and Gigi Saul Guerrero the chance to deliver solid horror with their entries. But Amazon Prime Video’s strength is definitely in its show programming, boasting a very diverse mix of writers and directors on signature shows like The Boys and Wheel of Time.
Movies
Bingo Hell – Directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero (Horror)
The Manor – Directed by Axelle Carolyn (Horror)
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania – Directed by Jennifer Kluska (Animated Family Horror)
Cinderella – Directed by Kay Cannon (Fantasy)
The Matrix (1, 2 & 3) – Directed by Lana and Lily Wachowski (Sci-Fi)
Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 – Directed by Patty Jenkins (Superhero)
The Slumber Party Massacre – Directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown (Horror)
TV featuring women writers and directors
The Boys (Superhero)
The Boys: Diabolical (Animated Superhero)
Star Trek Picard (Sci-Fi)
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Sci-Fi Animation)
Invincible (Animated Superhero)
Wheel of Time (Fantasy)
The Stand (Horror)
Carnival Row (Fantasy)
Binge
Binge features films from big names like Patty Jenkins. On the TV front it has a good slate of genre, with shows like Watchmen (which we’d like to see continued) featuring the work of director Nicole Kassell and Regina King. Let’s not forget Misha Green’s Lovecraft Country that featured an amazing action-adventure episode directed by Victoria Mahoney (the assistant director on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker).
Movies
Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 – Directed by Patty Jenkins (Superhero)
TV featuring women writers and directors
American Horror Story (Horror)
Y: The Last Man (Sci-Fi)
DMZ (Superhero)
Westworld (Sci-Fi)
Lovecraft Country (Sci-Fi Horror)
Watchmen (Superhero)
A Discovery of Witches (Supernatural Fantasy)
Young Rock (Action-Adventure, Fantasy, Superhero)
Shudder
Shudder gets props for effortlessly showcasing female genre creators with its excellent curation; to give just one example, the horror streamer acquired the incredible fantasy ghost story Tigers Are Not Afraid from Mexican director Issa López. On their TV front it brings in writers and directors to helm episodes of series like Creepshow, and features women talking about genre in documentaries like Horror Noire, a retrospective of Black stories in horror.
Movies
Tigers Are Not Afraid – Directed by Issa López (Horror Fantasy)
Host – Co-written by Gemma Hurley (Found Footage Horror)
The Invitation – Directed by Karyn Kusama (Thriller)
Lucky –Directed by Natasha Kermani and written by Brea Grant (Thriller)
The Slumber Party Massacre – Directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown (Horror)
TV + Anthologies featuring writers and directors
Creepshow (Horror)
Horror Noire (Horror Documentry)
Etheria (Horror Shorts)
Paramount+
The service’s offerings for women-made genre is quite small, but Mary Lambert’s work should never be slept on. While some can be found on Amazon Prime and Netflix in Australia, Paramount+ has something from the Star Trek franchise, which as we know offers an inclusive set of directors and writers.
Movies
Pet Semetary – Directed by Mary Lambert (Horror)
TV featuring women writers and directors
Star Trek: Discovery (Sci-Fi)
Tell Me a Story (Fantasy Thriller)
Evil (Horror Thriller)
Monsterland (Horror)
Stan
Australia’s own streaming service Stan has a handful of great picks, including Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, as well as Amazon Prime. The biggest standout is The Handmaid’s Tale, an American dystopian television series created by Bruce Miller, but based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Canadian author Margaret Atwood.
Movies
Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 – Directed by Patty Jenkins (Superhero)
TV featuring women writers and directors
What We Do in The Shadows (Horror Sitcom)
The Handmaid’s Tale (Sci-Fi)
Made for Love (Sci-Fi)
Bates Motel (Horror)
Evil (Horror Thriller)
Apple TV+
And finally, Apple TV rounds out this list coming in with the least amount of picks. (Sad trombone.) However, its upcoming slate is promising, featuring projects like Roar produced by Nicole Kidman, and Shining Girls which will feature an episode directed by star Elisabeth Moss and comes from showrunner Silka Luisa.
Movies
Birds of Prey – Directed by Cathy Yan (Superhero)
TV featuring women writers and directors
Fraggle Rock (Fantasy)
Harley Quinn (Animated Superhero)
For All Mankind (Sci-Fi Drama)