Hagsploitation, also known as psycho-biddy horror, Grande Dame Guignol, or hag horror, is a distinctive subgenre of psychological thriller and horror cinema that peaked in the 1960s and early 1970s. It centers on aging women—often former glamorous Hollywood stars—who descend into madness, obsession, or violence, typically in decaying mansions or isolated settings, blending campy melodrama with Gothic terror and themes of jealousy, obsolescence, and the societal fear of women’s aging. Sparked by the massive success of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), starring real-life rivals Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as feuding sisters, the genre gave older actresses like Davis, Crawford, Olivia de Havilland, and Shelley Winters meaty, over-the-top roles in an industry that otherwise sidelined them after middle age. While criticized for its potentially misogynistic portrayal of older women as monstrous or pitiful “hags,” it also subversively empowered these performers through iconic, unrestrained performances and offered sharp commentary on Hollywood’s ageism and patriarchal discard of women past their youth. The subgenre’s influence persists in modern films like X (2022), Pearl (2022), and The Substance (2024), which revisit tropes of aging rage and bodily decay.

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