Abstract

Contemporary Italian horror cinema remains largely unexplored even though, according to Oscar-nominated director Luca Guadagnino, the most «transgressive» work in cinema right now is «being done in horror» (Roxborough 2017). One of the ways in which this wave of the genre transcends past eras is its inclusion of female directors. This article, therefore, aims to reduce the gap in contemporary Italian horror film scholarship by analysing two recent horror films directed by women. I argue that these filmmakers depict their protagonists as key sites for surveying cultural anxieties about motherhood in Italy today.