What group made up the majority of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake audiences: a) men under 25, or b) women under 25? The answer, surprising to some, is "b". Young women were not only the majority of the TCM audience, but also made up at least half (if not more) of theatergoers for "The Ring," "Scream," "Jeepers Creepers 2," "Final Destination" and "Identity."

According to an article in the Contra Costa Times, the popularity of horror among women can be traced to several things. First, women have been attracted to the genre for centuries, as evidenced by the popularity of gothic novels. But what's driven the recent interest is the strong yet vulnerable horror heroine, a la Sigourney Weaver's Ripley in Alien. Instead of just as shrieking, fainting eye candy, women are increasingly represented as tough, smart, and still sexy and feminine.

Another factor is women's growing financial independence - and the resulting increase in women's buying clout. Horrormeister Clive Barker believes that this has a definite effect on the genre. "Women have changed the genre just by the way they have viewed it, by the pictures they have supported and pictures they have not supported," he said.

But are horror movies sexist and exploitative, as some critics on the margins claim? Beverly Gray, who worked as a writer and producer for producer Roger Corman, said she sees these films as female empowerment tales. "The young female lead (faces) the dangerous, though sometimes sexually enticing, male head-on and triumphs, bloody but unbowed," she wrote in an e-mail exchange. "No wonder young female moviegoers find such films appealing."

Source: Contra Costa Times [1]