The 10 Scariest Female Stalkers in Film

Most stalkers in real life are men, but many movies flip the script by putting female stalkers front and center.

Here are the scariest female stalkers in film.

But First

January is stalking awareness month, and the U.S. Department of Justice noted in 2023 that stalking is "a form of gender-based violence that permeates every community and every neighborhood" adding that "statistics show that one in three women and one in six men face stalking in their lifetimes."

In 1998, the Justice Department stated that while stalking is a gender-neutral crime, "most (78 percent) stalking victims are female and most (87 percent) stalking perpetrators are male."

So why are there so many female stalkers in movies? First, because movies try to subvert expectations. But one could argue that it's perhaps helpful for men to see — in movies where men are stalked by women — how it feels to be the target of obsessive, unwanted attention. What the stalker considers a rom-com may feel, to the stalked, like a horror movie.

So with that, here are the nine scariest female stalkers in movies.

Evelyn (Jessica Walter) in Play Misty for Me (1971)

Did Play Misty for Me, Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, popularize the female stalker genre? It's quite possible.

Eastwood plays a small-town disc jockey who keeps fielding requests from an obsessed fan (Walter) for the jazz standard "Misty." After a not-so-chance meeting at a bar, the pair go home together... but Evelyn becomes increasingly possessive and weird. Things soon turn violent.

Disturbing as it is, this is a fun watch knowing some of the things we know now: Eastwood will go on to become one of cinema's best-regarded directors, and mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, where the film takes place; and that Walter will go on to play a completely different, but endlessly entertaining character, Lucille Bluth, on Arrested Development.

Alex Forrest (Glenn Close) in Fatal Attraction (1987)

It's safe to say that the success of Fatal Attraction spawned a decade of female stalkers. Like the 1994 Michael Douglas film Disclosure, about workplace sexual harassment, Fatal Attraction took what is typically a male-on-female crime and flipped the genders.

The film centers on Dan Gallagher, a supposed regular guy who has an affair with Alex (Glenn Close), not realizing she's a sociopath who won't let him go. Soon she's terrifying him and his family, and, in the film's most memorable scene, boiling their rabbit.

Its pop-culture reach was vast: The second-highest grossing film of 1987, it earned six nominations at the 60th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture. It launched the erotic thriller boom of the late '80s and '90s, and made jokes about "boiling the rabbit" a quick shorthand for a romantic partner who is off the deep end.

Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) in Misery (1990)

Kathy Bates gives a masterful performance in Misery, which came in the middle of an incredible string of hits for director Rob Reiner in the late '80s and early '90s.

While Alex Forrest relied on sexuality, Bates' Annie Wilkes does something arguably scarier: She feigns matronly sympathy for Paul (James Caan) the bestselling author who, after a car wreck, just so happens to end up in the isolated home of Annie, his self-proclaimed "number one fan."

But Annie becomes outraged when she learns that Paul plans to kill off her favorite character, Misery Chastain, and makes clear that she will do anything to keep him under her control. The film's pièce de résistance is the stunningly tense hobbling scene.

Bates quite deservedly won the Best Actress Oscar for the film, making Misery somehow the only film based on a Stephen King novel to win an Academy Award.

Hedy Carlson (Jennifer Jason Leigh) in Single White Female (1992)

The stalking is coming from inside the house! Or at least apartment.

Single White Female changes up the stalker formula by casting Jennifer Jason Leigh as a woman who stalks another woman, in this case her new roommate, Allison Jones, played by Bridget Fonda.

Though Hedy initially seems quiet and shy, the film amusingly turns up the weirdness as she adopts Allison's signature short, red hairstyle. But that's harmless compared to what comes next, which involves Hedy's deceased twin sister and Hedy impersonating Allie in sorts of inappropriate ways.

The film features some quite creative stabbings, including with a stiletto heel. Someone should write an essay about their symbolism.

Also: Jennifer Jason Leigh holds a prominent place on our list of Stars of the 1980s Who Are Still Going Strong.

Mrs. Mott (Rebecca De Mornay) in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

An incredibly dark twist on the female stalker genre, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle finds Rebecca De Mornay playing Mrs. Moss, a woman who tries to destroy an entire family after Claire (Annabella Sciorra) accuses her doctor husband of sexual misconduct.

The accusation leads to his suicide, and to Mrs. Mott having a miscarriage and losing her home.

Rather than blame her husband, Mrs. Mott devises a scheme to infiltrate Claire's household and tear it apart. Things get absolutely wild as she frames a kind handyman (Ernie Hudson), threatens a kid (above) and... starts breastfeeding Claire's new baby.

It all ends, you guessed it, violently, with a symbolic white picket fence making a very well-timed cameo.

Drew Barrymore as Ivy in Poison Ivy (1992)

We hopefully don't have to tell you that it's far more common for adults to prey on teenagers than it is for teenagers to prey on adults. Poison Ivy was the first film to offer a high-school spin on Fatal Attraction, in a story of rebellious teen Ivy (Drew Barrymore) targeting the father (Tom Skerritt) of her friend Sylvie (Sara Gilbert).

Barrymore was 16 at the time of filming, and Skerritt was 58. Director Katt Shea has said she and Skerritt were well aware of the issues involved in filming scenes between Barrymore and Skerritt, and that they were very protective of the young actress, using a body double for her in certain scenes.

Still, she said in a 2022 interview with Yahoo: “I don’t think that movie would be made today, period.”

Poison Ivy film holds a place on our list of 10 Sex Scenes Somebody Should Have Stopped.

Adrian Forrester (Alicia Silverstone) in The Crush (1993)

Arriving hot on the heels of Poison Ivy, The Crush was another thriller about a predatory teenage girl, featuring Silverstone in her film debut.

Her Adrian Forrester (we wonder if her name is a nod to Alex Forrest?) is a 14-year-old who will do anything to capture the attention of handsome writer Nick Eliot (Cary Elwes), who is twice her age.

The film pulls out all the stops, getting into truly icky territory when Adrian accuses Nick of assaulting her, using "evidence" she has obtained from his trash. Yow.

Madison Bell (Erika Christensen) in Swimfan (2002)

Madison Bell is, again, a teenage female stalker. And unfortunately for protagonist Ben Cronin (Jesse Bradford), she targets guys her own age.

A seductive encounter in a pool leads to Madison trying to control or destroy Ben's life, and her plans become more menacing as we learn more about her past.

Besides its shimmery aesthetics and strong performances by its leads, Swimfan is notable as one of the first films to identity the unnerving ways that email and instant messaging could become new weapons for stalkers.

Lisa Sheridan (Ali Larter) in Obsessed (2009)

This one plays the hits, with creative casting that places Beyoncé as a woman who has to protect her marriage from a female stalker (Ali Larter) trying to steal her very successful man (Idris Elba). This time, though, he resists temptation, which makes her obsession with him all the more ridiculous.

The film received unfavorable comparisons to Fatal Attraction, including from a New York Times critic who made this frankly weird observation:

"The movie’s most disturbing aspect, of which the filmmakers could not have been unaware, is the physical resemblance between Mr. Elba and Ms. Larter to O. J. and Nicole Brown Simpson."

He actually looks nothing like O.J. Simpson, but sure.

Aubrey Plaza as Ingrid Thorburn in Ingrid Goes West (2017)

Aubrey Plaza plays a troubled, despondent Pennsylvania woman who moves to California in order to stalk Instagram influencer Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen), whose easy-breezy, seemingly effortless lifestyle brings out a unique flavor of envy and rage.

In classic female stalker tradition, Ingrid ingratiates her way into Taylor's life — shades of Single White Female — but against the intriguing backdrop of social media and the parasocial relationships it foments.

Influencers love to talk about vibes, and the vibe of this movie is hypnotic.

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Editor's Note: Corrects main and first image.