What Makes These Movies About Women Seeking Revenge So Very Powerful

In a way, we’re collectively living through a revenge plot. Women who have been wronged in the past by men in positions of power are speaking openly about their situations. And miraculously, people are listening — so there’s no need for the extreme tactics deployed in revenge movies on this list.

Because here's the thing about revenge movies that revolve around a woman "getting even." No one listens to the women in these movies until make themselves heard, either through violence or elaborate schemes. The women protagonists are uniformly underestimated. After all, who would think that a 14-year-old girl could be capable of being a cold, avenging angel, or that an eight-month pregnant woman could also be a serial killer, pursuing anyone who offended her?

The movies on this list swing from funny to violent, from shocking to cathartic. They also keep getting made. In Acrimony, out March 30, Taraji P. Henson plays a woman on an emotional downward spiral after her husband betrays her. Clearly, there's a hunger for these stories. Here are the must-see revenge movies if you're feeling fired up and ready to take down the patriarchy, or your enemies.

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