Timed to this weekend’s theatrical release of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s horror romance THE BRIDE!, and the celebration of International Women’s Day on Sunday, JustWatch is looking at the year’s most streamed movies directed by women, specifically in a genre often dominated by male directors.
Audiences have been gravitating towards horror, fantasy, and science fiction with the genres’ inventive storytelling and boundary-pushing filmmaking, and women filmmakers are among the genre’s top directors. According to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative study, women directed only 8% of 2025’s top 100 grossing films. And yet a number of recent movies by women are among the most popular horror and fantasy movies streamed during the past year according to JustWatch, the world’s largest streaming guide with over 20 million monthly users in the United States.
The ranking shows that audiences are actively seeking out genre films from women directors across major streaming platforms.
Some highlights from the list:
- Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance ranks as the most streamed female-directed genre film in the U.S.
- Emma Tammi’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 follows closely behind
- Kelly Marcel’s Venom: The Last Dance also ranks among the most popular titles
- Indie hits like Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow are also among the top streamed films
The analysis is based on streaming activity from JustWatch users in the United States between January 2025 and March 2026, tracking which films viewers are most actively trying to stream online.
