2024 and 2025 has seen some excellent movies with female leads that express the power and freedom of womanhood. These 3 have been favorites from my recently viewed list of movies. What are some of your favorite recent releases?
Lisa Frankenstein is a 2024 romantic comedy horror film directed by Zelda Williams in her feature-length directorial debut and written by Diablo Cody. The film stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse. The plot follows a misunderstood teenage girl, Lisa, who meets and develops a relationship with a reanimated Victorian-era corpse.
Lisa is an odd-ball, an outcast at her school because of her tragic past and strange interests. She has no friends except her step-sister (who could have easily been written into another character who isolates and ridicules her but who instead is a solid support to her) and later a re-animated corpse. Despite having very little support, Lisa is confident in who she is and doesn’t compromise for anyone.
This movie can certainly be considered “camp,” but it is also incredibly sincere. It is empowering to watch Lisa flaunt her quirky dark side and slowly embrace the type of undying love she deserves. Overall, it’s an extremely fun ride and a perfect companion to movies like Corpse Bride and Bride of Frankenstein.
Your Monster is a 2024 romantic comedy horror film written and directed by Caroline Lindy. The film stars Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey. The plot follows Laura Franco, a young actress who has just finished treatment for a recent cancer diagnosis. She tries to cope after being dumped in the hospital by her playwright boyfriend, whose play she helped write and was promised the leading role. Back home, with seemingly no prospects ahead of her, she wallows in her sorrow until she runs into the childhood monster that once terrified her. The monster shows her the strength she’s kept buried within her, the hidden well of rage and self-preservation that can bolster her up to new heights.
This movie is a love letter to female rage, to learning how to love and nurture the darkest parts of yourself instead of shutting them away to fester and rot you from the inside out. It’s about embracing your power instead of making yourself smaller to please the people around you. And it has a bloody good musical number to top it all off.
Companion is a 2025 science fiction thriller written and directed by Drew Hancock. The film stars Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid. The plot follows the couple, Iris and Josh, to a weekend getaway to an isolated lake house to see Josh’s friends. Things quickly get out of hand when Iris has to defend herself against unwanted advances from the owner of the lake house and finds out she is actually a companion robot that Josh rented from a company called Empathix. In order to protect herself from the group shutting her down and resetting her completely, Iris escapes with Josh’s phone which has an app that controls every aspect of who she is and what she can do. All she has to do is evade the group, and she can learn what it is to be free.
This movie can speak to anyone who feels oppressed by people in their lives telling them who to be and how to live their lives. When Iris steals Josh’s phone and gains full control of her faculties, she has made the decision to fight for her autonomy. This can be seen as a parallel to women who decide to leave an abusive relationship. Once the issue is finally acknowledged and accepted as fact – this relationship is pulling me down – who you want to be can finally begin to emerge from beneath the construct you built to please or protect yourself from that person. Everything begins to open back up and flow through you – your intellect, your values, your strength, your self. It’s all there, waiting for you to tap back into.
For All Story Lovers! 