Amy Madigan laughing as Aunt Gladys in WeaponsImage via Warner Bros.
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David is a Senior Editor at Collider focused primarily on Lists. His professional journey began in the mid-2010s as a Marketing specialist before embarking on his writing career in the 2020s. At Collider, David started as a Senior Writer in late 2022 and has been a Senior Editor since mid-2023. He is in charge of ideating compelling and engaging List articles by working closely with writers, both Senior and Junior, as well as other editors. Occasionally, David also reviews movies and TV shows and writes episode recaps. Currently, David is also writing his second novel, a psychological horror satire that will, hopefully, be picked up for publication sometime next year.
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1962 saw the release of the seminal psychological horror thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The film's success launched a new horror subgenre, the psycho-biddy, also known as Grand Dame Guignol or, more divisively, hagsploitation or hag horror. Combining aspects of horror, thriller, and women's pictures, psycho biddy movies focus on older women becoming mentally unbalanced and wreaking havoc on those around them. Baby Jane is widely considered to be the originator of the subgenre, but traces of it go back to movies like Sunset Boulevard.
The psycho-biddy subgenre has certain unflattering qualities. However, at its best, it has come to be viewed as something of a homage and a showcase for older actresses, many of whom were experiencing slumps in their careers and perhaps had been away from the screen for years. These movies allowed actresses to once again stand under the spotlight, devouring the scenery and elevating otherwise basic material into something truly special. Although it peaked in the mid-1960s, the psycho-biddy subgenre produced many films that have become horror classics. This list will rank the best psycho-biddy movies, based on their overall quality, legacy, and contributions to a short-lived but no less important horror subgenre.
12 'Lady in a Cage' (1964)
Two-time Oscar winner Olivia de Havilland stars in the 1964 exploitation psychological thriller Lady in a Cage, one of the most intense movies of the 1960s. The plot follows Cornelia Hilyard, an injured woman trapped in a small private elevator while three violent criminals invade her home.
Although the psycho-biddy film usually casts the older woman as the source of chaos, Lady in a Cage subverts the notion and places her as the victim. Still, Cornelia fulfills most of the psycho-biddy's ideas of older women; she is domineering, psychologically abusive, and desperate to regain control. Even by today's standards, Lady in a Cage is hyper-violent and shocking, a true exploitation movie, especially for the 1960s. Still, the ever-graceful de Havilland brings considerable gravitas and dignity to what could easily be a ruthless exercise in psychological violence.
11 'Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?' (1972)
Image via American International Pictures
1972's Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? stars two-time Oscar winner Shelley Winters. Loosely based on the fairy tale of Hansel & Gretel, the plot revolves around a mentally unbalanced widow who becomes obsessed with a young girl who shares an eerie similarity to her dead daughter.
On top of having perhaps the most absurd title within the psycho-biddy category, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is among the last efforts of the hag horror boom of the late 1960s. It's also one of the first Christmas-themed horror movies and a bona fide cult classic, largely thanks to Winters, who is having the time of her life hamming it up. Forsaking the horror that made the subgenre famous, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? embraces the ridiculousness, with Winters furiously chewing scenery with a performance straight out of the Vincent Price school of horror theatrics.
10 'Greta' (2018)
Greta feeding Frances with a spoon in GretaImage via Focus Features
The mighty Isabelle Huppert is in ferocious form in Oscar-winner Neil Jordan's 2018 thriller Greta. Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Frances, a young woman who befriends Huppert's Greta, a lonely piano teacher and former nurse. As their relationship evolves, Frances realizes Greta has become violently obsessed with her.
Greta is a somewhat underwhelming but effective thriller carried by the strength of Moretz and especially Huppert's performances. It feels like a true throwback to the golden era of hag horror, with Huppert embracing the legacy of the women who came before to craft an unhinged yet undeniably fascinating villainess. Campy and self-aware, Greta makes the most out of its premise, allowing Huppert to rampage around the set. In that way, it lives up to the subgenre's most important tenet: the actress comes first, always.
9 'The Nanny' (1965)
Image via 20th Century Studios
Iconic two-time Oscar-winner Bette Davis received a much-needed boost following Baby Jane. The actress proceeded to make several psycho-biddy movies following her Oscar-nominated turn as Jane Hudson, including 1965's The Nanny. The story revolves around the deceitful and complicated relationship between a seemingly caring older woman and a 10-year-old boy recently released from a hospital.
Like most of Davis' hagsploitation movies, The Nanny relies entirely on her legendary talent. Unlike her other efforts, however, the film is a more character-driven thriller, less exploitative and favoring the quieter moments. This deliberate creative choice allows Davis to truly shine in the type of role she could play in her sleep, bringing genuine pathos to what could easily be a thankless role. Muted but effectively eerie, The Nanny opts for subtlety rather than overt shock, a rarity among psycho-biddy films and a gamble that ultimately pays off.
8 'Strait-Jacket' (1964)
Joan Crawford in Strait JacketImage via Columbia Pictures
Although Davis received most of the acclaim, Baby Jane was a true two-hander that revived the career of another classic actress. The fabulous Joan Crawford co-starred opposite Davis, and while the Oscars infamously snubbed her, her legacy as a horror icon continued with several psycho-biddy movies, most notably William Castle's Strait-Jacket. The story revolves around Lucy Harbin, a woman who killed her husband decades ago. When a series of axe murders occur following her release from a psychiatric hospital, she becomes the prime suspect.
Strait-Jacket stands out as a psychological thriller, mostly thanks to Crawford's commitment to being as unhinged as humanly possible. The Oscar-winner gives a hammy but commanding and alluring performance that echoes her glory days of Sudden Fear and Possessed. The script is quite over-the-top, but Crawford proves that sometimes all a film needs to be great is a reliable star in the lead role.
7 'Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)
Image via 20th Century Studios
1964's Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte was intended to be Davis and Crawford's second collaboration following Baby Jane. Behind-the-scenes conflicts led to a change in casting, with Davis' close friend and fellow two-time Oscar winner, Olivia de Havilland, replacing Crawford. The story follows a reclusive widow believed to have killed her lover ages ago. When her ancestral home is in danger, she calls her cousin for help, but things don't go as planned.
Charlotte is not only a great entry into the psycho-biddy canon; it's also a wonderful example of Southern Gothic. Davis and de Havilland are great together, spitting venom at each other like the consummate pros they are. The chilling, overwhelming atmosphere further strengthens the plot, resulting in an effective showcase for its lead actresses that is as stylish as it is entertaining. There's a more palpable sense of dignity in Charlotte; Davis, de Havilland, and director Robert Aldrich knew they weren't making Shakespeare, but they weren't making senseless trash either. Because they believed in the story, so do we. It's not as good as it could be, but it's far better than it had any right to be.
6 'Dead Ringer' (1964)
Image via Warner Bros.
Dead Ringer sees Bette Davis playing twin sisters for the second time in her career (she did it first in 1946's A Stolen Life, made at the height of her Warner days). The story centers on Edith, who kills her wealthy twin sister and assumes her life, only to discover a sinister secret that threatens her plans.
Davis, the queen of the Grand Dame Guignol, delivers Hitchcockian thrills filtered through pure histrionics in Dead Ringer. The actress is wickedly delicious as not one but two spiteful characters, with the plot allowing her to deliver one of the finest performances in her late career. Despite the film's shortcomings, Davis gives truly fascinating and complex work, benefiting a story that is far more intriguing than most other entries in the psycho-biddy subgenre. Dead Ringer is smart enough to compel, but its true genius relies on allowing Bette to do what she did best.
5 'Last Night in Soho' (2021)
Dame Diana Rigg as older Sandie in Last Night in SohoImage via Focus Features
Edgar Wright's psychological horror film Last Time in Soho stars Thomasin McKenzie as a young woman who can mysteriously travel to the Swinging London of the 1960s. There, she forms a supernatural connection with a young aspiring actress (Anya Taylor-Joy), but she'll soon realize not all is as it seems in the world she had previously glamorized.
Last Night in Soho does psycho-biddy through Wright's distinctive gift for visual flair. The late Dame Diana Rigg excels as the film's twist antagonist, and while her role is not as prominent as other ladies of the Grand Dame Guignol, it's as effective as the subgenre's best villainesses. Eschewing the genre's inherent camp, Rigg opts for an icier and ultimately more eerie approach, greatly aiding the third act of a movie that's too often uneven. Last Night in Soho's ideas on feminism struggle under Wright's far too theatrical hand; however, the film thrives as a love letter to the 1960s and an ode to the psycho-biddy films of yore.
4 'Weapons' (2025)
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Zach Cregger's Weapons was a true sensation in mid-2025, thanks to its compelling premise and a smart marketing campaign. The film centers on the mysterious disappearance of seventeen children from the same school class, who vanished simultaneously on the same night. It stars an ensemble cast, most notably revered veteran and Oscar nominee Amy Madigan.
Without spoiling anything, let's just say Weapons is a clever update of the psycho-biddy subgenre and a showcase for Madigan. A near-caricature of common tropes that not once becomes absurd, Madigan's Aunt Gladys is a delightful surprise, a bizarre and profoundly eerie creation that ranks among the best in modern horror. Weapons joyfully skips, but if it occasionally floats, it's all because of Madigan in what might be the best role of her storied career. Aunt Gladys is all surface up until the moment she's not, and Madigan walks a very fine line between eccentricity and true horror. It's no wonder she became an instant pop culture icon; in Weapons, Madigan reinvents hag horror by making it appealing. For the first time in the subgenre's history, we don't fear the hag — we want to be her.
3 'Notes on a Scandal' (2006)
Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench in Notes on a ScandalImage via Fox Searchlight Pictures
Dame Judi Dench delivers her most chilling turn in the 2006 psychological drama Notes on a Scandal opposite Cate Blanchett. The story centers on Barbara Covett, a lonely teacher who forms an unexpected friendship with young, free-spirited art teacher Sheba Hart. When Barbara discovers Sheba's affair with one of the students, their dynamic changes for the worst.
Notes on a Scandal doesn't adhere to the psycho-biddy's traditional rules; it features no gore, and all the violence is psychological. However, that only makes the film more intense and unforgiving, an emotional nightmare about toxicity and delusion. Dench is superb, arguably delivering the finest performance of her career and proving that there is enough room in hag horror for nuance and thematic complexity. Both Dench and Blanchett received Oscar nominations for their work in Notes on a Scandal, and it's easy to see why; it's a ruthless and often vicious film that allows them to embrace their rawest, most uncompromising side.
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