While discussing the recent film Shirley with a friend, we realized our mutual fondness for stories in which women are driven into over-the-top breakdowns. My friend lovingly dubbed them “Breakdown Bitches.” Why? Because WE GET IT. The female’s “hysterical” meltdown has become a trope in all forms of storytelling and has been historically attributed to her nervous personality, lack of resilience, or lady brain.

So today, as I feel my own temper-tantrum, quarantine-induced meltdown approaching, I thought I’d spend some time with my favorite Breakdown Bitches in horror films… and what drove them to it. (HINT: It’s exactly what you think it is!)

I’m skipping the obvious breakdown choices (Cassavetes is in the list, but for a different reason) and looking at what strikes fear into my own female heart. Gaslighting, psychological deterioration, the world’s refusal to believe you. In my book, these add up to horror. And if they don’t scare you, I guess you’re not my demographic.

DOUBLE FEATURE: Shirley and Rebecca

Shirley, Dir. Josephine Decker, 2020

I adore this movie. It’s not categorized as a “horror” film (as can be said for most of the films on this list), but it’s so thick with mental anguish that it’s just the kind of feeling I like out of horror. I’m not into jump scares and gore. Give me atmosphere, tension, and a “What on earth is happening?” moment, and I’m all yours. Shirley is strange and moody and captures one of my favorite authors in a truly unique way. Shirley Jackson was a literary force who understood the female tipping point better than anyone else. While not a straight biopic (thank god), the film renders her magnetic spirit and darkness in a way that reminded me why I’m such a big fan of her writing. Worth noting, this film was written and directed by women, which is the only acceptable scenario in this subject’s case.

Rebecca, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock (with a heavy hand from Selznick), 1940

Speaking of atmospheric terror that lives on the outskirts of traditional horror… I offer up Rebecca. Sure, there’s a big, looming house. There is a kind of ghost, too. And there is a black-clad villain who terrorizes the wilting new bride. Housekeeper Mrs. Danvers is so creepy that she becomes arch. We have our eyes on her and know she’s up to no good! And that’s Hitchcock’s genius (as well as author Daphne DuMaurier’s). We’re so focused on the evil maid archetype that we somehow think husband Maxim DeWinter is a good guy. Guess what… he’s not. I don’t care how many times he apologies and professes his love, he is a Grade-A Gaslighter! It took me many years to figure this out, and I have to spread the word to other unsuspecting women!

DOUBLE FEATURE: The Haunting and The Others

The Haunting, Dir. Robert Wise, 1963

Back to good ol’ Shirley Jackson, this film (in my humble opinion) is by far the best adaptation of her work. You may have watched the recent series The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix (based on her novel of the same name), but I couldn’t make it past the first episode. Frankly, as soon as I saw that it was directed by a man, added a male main POV, and was being lauded for its jump scares, I was out. (Also, some seriously cringeworthy writing, right?) It totally derailed from the whole point of the book: a woman losing her mind. It doesn’t matter if the ghosts are real. That’s not the point. The point of Jackson’s novel is to put you inside Eleanor’s head and feel her reality slipping away. The 1963 film stays much truer to the heart of this story and why it’s worth telling. While I do enjoy this film, I still don’t think it holds a candle to the novel.

The Others, Dir. Alejandro Amenábar, 2001

Holy crap this movie scared the bejeezus out of me when I first saw it. I am a terrified sucker for ghost movies, especially when they involve psychological distress, religion, and deteriorating houses. In case you haven’t seen it (in the last 25 years), I won’t give anything away. Much like The Haunting, we have a heroine who is trapped in a state of limbo between reality and mental trauma, giving way to an atmospheric, spirit-filled descent into madness. It plays on the hysterical female stereotype beautifully but never succumbs to it.

DOUBLE FEATURE: Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist

Rosemary’s Baby, Dir. Roman Polanski, 1968*

I love a good gaslighting as much as the next gal, and this one takes the Satanic cake. The horrors that Rosemary must endure for the sake of her husband’s mediocre career are, well, exactly what you’d expect from a chauvinist actor in the 1960s. He’s constantly reminding her to be polite and do as she’s told and calling her friends b*tches. Poor Rosemary is running around Manhattan pregnant and laden with tannis root, with those dark circles around her eyes, trying to find help. Of course, the doctor says that her lady brain is making her hysterical. When he turns her over to her husband when she’s obviously riddled with fear and is desperate to escape him, it’s the epitome of patriarchal horror. Terrifying.

The Exorcist, Dir. William Friedkin, 1973

Okay, this one is considered straight horror, and I’ll tell you why I don’t think it’s scary in the way that everyone else does. I understand that it’s on many lists of Top Scares. It gave people nightmares! Her head spun all the way around! The vomit! Gasp! I didn’t react that way at all. The horror I see is in a mother trying to get help for her daughter and repeatedly being made to feel crazy for it. She knows Regan is in danger, but the men in charge won’t believe her. Compound that with the cerebral angiography scene? That is scary. The states that both Regan and mother Chris end up in are horrific. Male doctors, take note. I have some concerns about you.

And finally… no second feature necessary…

Suspiria, Dir. Dario Argento, 1977

I really love this movie. I love the bonkers plot. I love the fear of female black magic and that crazy musical score. It was co-written by a woman, Daria Nicolodi, but is so brutally male in its execution. The forced Baroque femininity of the production design, camera work, and costumes is an accomplishment in itself. Argento tries so hard to get inside that hysterical female brain that it pushes straight through her head and out the other side, leaving quite a bloody trail. Okay, there you go. I gave you some gore!

*POSTSCRIPT: After publishing this article, I was offered several other film suggestions, with one major stand out, Repulsion, also directed by Roman Polanski. Perhaps it’s worth noting that key films in the “driving women into madness” genre have been helmed by this man, who certainly has a repugnant personal history with women. I included Polanski’s work in this article because I see Rosemary as a character who could easily be one of Polanski’s victims. Since she is such a central figure in cinematic presentation of how men assert control, I kept her on the list despite the director’s history.

Breakdown BaBES