The Glasgow Horror Fan Club for Women
- Flora Irvine-Hall
- Mar 10
- 5 min read
By Flora Irvine-Hall
Who run the world? Final Girls.
Sometimes being a horror fan can be lonely, particularly if you’re a female horror fan.
But one club in Glasgow is here to fill that void. And that club is Final Girls Film Club.
Created by horror lover, Ema, the group is for women who have a passion for horror. Every month a theme will be chosen along with a film to go with that particular theme.
I messaged Ema on Instagram and asked her why started the group. She explained that she wanted to build a community.
“I love movies and horror and went to Fright Fest in Glasgow a few years ago and felt totally out of place! Was full of guys and a lot of the time when I go to the cinema I feel the same. (that it's mostly men) I wanted to find a group of girls that felt like me (…) But I felt totally overwhelmed and got tons of sexist comments about it,”
Ema went on to talk about the positives of horror gatekeeping:
“It brings us girls closer so as much as I hate it, us girls can be there for one another (...) which makes it a tiny bit better.”
A date will be set for the group to meet up along with a location where they discuss the film and the chosen theme.
I found the group through Eventbrite and instantly booked my spot (which is completely free) for the February meet up.
Ema regularly uploads to the Final Girls Film Club's Instagram with hilarious and relatable memes like these:
As mentioned above, every month has a different theme. The theme of February was vampires and the film was 2007s 30 Days of Night, directed by David Slade. The films follows citizens in a small Alaskan town who experience complete darkness for one month every year. This year however, they have the company of a gang of blood-thirsty vampires who they must try and defeat. The film is free to stream on Amazon Prime. Watch the trailer for the film below:
My experience with vampire media prior to this included the ridiculous and entertaining Twilight franchise, the stunning and spooky Nosferatu and the hilarious What We Do in The Shadows film and tv show which all have very different vibes so I wasn’t sure what to expect before watching the film. While 30 Days of Night wasn’t really for me, it certainly wasn’t a bad film. The acting was impressive and the ending shot in particular, without wanting to give any major spoilers, was both haunting and beautiful. I will say however, that for a secluded town, the residents all had perfectly white teeth. Whoever the town dentist is, deserves a massive raise.
We all met up on the 22nd of February at Stereo, which is a local Central Glasgow bar. I was pretty intimidated when I first walked through the door. While I do have other horror-loving friends, I’ve never met up with an official group before so I was pretty nervous.
However as soon as I sat down, it was clear that I had nothing to be scared of. The girls in the group were very bubbly and friendly from the get-go and really put me at ease.
For two hours, we talked about horrors we loved, horrors we hated and horrors that left us dead inside.
Here is a picture of the gang, all smiles as we discuss our favourite frightening flicks. A big thank you to the lovely waitress who took the picture for us:
Ironically, we didn’t really discuss the film that much, (apart from how good looking Josh Harnett is) but we did have some interesting conversations about vampires in horror. We talked about Nosferatu (both the original silent film and the 2024 remake), What We Do in The Shadows (both the film and the tv series) and Mike Flannigan’s beautifully tragic Midnight Mass.
I got so wrapped up with talking about horror, that I rather stupidly forgot to ask lots of questions. So when I headed home, I went to Instagram and messaged the group chat about what they loved about horror. Here are some of the things the girls had to say:
“The reason I love horrors is the suspense and the jump scares to keep my heart going. And I love not knowing what’s about to happen,” replied Deana, one of the groups members.
Another member, Lauren, explained the inclusive nature of horror films.
“I love horror because there’s a subgenre for everyone, like anyone can find something that interests them, I love being really creeped out and having something to think about for a few days afterwards if it’s really good,” she said.
One member Steph, talked about how horror can actually be empowering to women.
“I love horror for so many reasons, the gore, the lore and how much variety it has as a genre. It can be spooky, or creepy, or disturbing, or gruesome and everything in between. I’ve found horror to be the best genre for female empowerment, buckling against the trends of others and women being needed to be saved and desperate to find love,” she wrote.
I couldn’t agree more. While I do love a romcom, it’s refreshing to see a woman kicking ass instead of pining after a man.
In one of my first articles, I talked about the comforting element of being scared. Final Girls Club member Molly, agreed with this sentiment.
“I love horror as a genre firstly because getting scared is just so damn fun! But I also love the mystery element that a lot of horrors films have as well as the practical effects and often low budgets. It keeps things from feeling too serious,” she stated.
Molly is absolutely right. Some horror fans can often be pretentious and gatekeep the genre, so it was nice to sit down with a bunch of other horror-loving woman and just have a laugh.
And it wouldn’t be a horror fan meet up if we didn’t discuss villains we had crushes on. The most popular choice (and also my choice) was the barking-mad Stu Macher, played by the devilishly handsome Mathew Lillard. There was also a lot of love for Bill Skársgard, including his ghastly appearance in Nosferatu.
We also talked about some of our past Halloween costumes. I showed them my costume from last year when I went as Sue from 2024s The Substance which they all loved. Below is a picture of me, embodying the image-obsessed and leotard-loving character.
Towards the end I remembered that I was actually supposed to get video footage for part of a college assignment and asked the girls who their favourite final girl was. I managed to get four lovely volunteers, one of which was absent but sent me a video after. Everyone else was feeling a little camera shy which is why there is a surprise cameo from yours truly at the end.
The Final Girl Club is a great place for horror fans and for anyone who feels like an outcast. Everyone I met that day was super friendly and I can’t wait for the next meeting.
Here’s to final girls everywhere!
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