"Movies too have long exploited the idea, most notably in the 1960s and '70s, when a subgenre known as hagsploitation (aka "psycho biddy" horror) breathed new life into the careers of several classic Hollywood stars. Actresses like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Shelley Winters were no longer being offered conventional leading roles. Instead, horror directors began casting them as villains (and occasionally victims), in stories about toxic family relationships and campy crimes of passion."
"Considering the overlap between ageism and the image-obsessed nature of current pop culture, with Botox and Ozempic going mainstream, it's no surprise that hag horror is making a comeback. So far, though, the resulting films aren't saying anything notably insightful about the experience of being an older woman. More often, they just use aging bodies to provoke disgust. Even Coralie Fargeat's The Substance, a satire about Hollywood's unreachable beauty standards, struggled to deliver any coherent social commentary."
Hag horror, also called hagsploitation or psycho biddy, originated in the 1960s and '70s, casting aging actresses as villains and reviving fading careers. Actresses like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Shelley Winters played unstable spinsters and abusive crones in schlocky thrillers such as Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and The Nanny. Contemporary culture's image-obsessed focus and mainstream cosmetic trends have prompted a revival of hag horror. Recent films often exploit aging bodies to provoke disgust rather than explore the experience of aging women. Examples include Coralie Fargeat's The Substance and Ti West's X, which use prosthetics and satire with mixed critical results.
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