Horror broke boundaries for women in starring roles.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Horror
Garou — 6 years ago(August 25, 2019 08:54 AM)
Slasher movies often gave women top billing. This wasn't common at the time. Blacks may have been marginalized in early horror, but women weren't. They were, in most cases, the lone survivors by the climax, often ending in a battle with the villain where the female displayed empowerment.
Halloween, Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, Hellraiser, CandyMan, all showed female empowerment.
Friday the 13th had a female villain, too, that was a twist; it would be our natural assumption watching it the first time, that the villain would be a man.
My guess though is that this wasn't so much about feminist progress, but more to make a suspenseful climax; a woman lead is more vulnerable and must put up a stronger fight, than a man, who could overpower their aggressor. A woman lead allows the final battle to have more tension as the woman will take a few cuts, bruises, and injuries before finally figuring out a way to terminate their attacker.
In H1 and H2 it is actually the man Loomis who comes and "saves the day" by killing Michael over a defenseless, damsel-in-distress Laurie Strode. But she would get her comeuppance in latter films.
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