Starlings lambs may still be screaming, but her silence speaks louder than words.

Instead, we hear a voice off-screen chide, squeal like a pig!

Oskar formally meets Eli in a deserted snowy playground.

Though the crunch of the snow indicates ice, Eli sports only a shirt and slacks.

She stands above Oskar on a table, in a position of authority, strength, and dominance.

The conversation does not indicate a budding romance or even a relationship.

I dont need your help, Eli coolly tells her new friend.

And as they fiddle with a Rubiks cube, a connection is forged that cannot be severed.

Though Oskar is our protagonist, Eli is his unwavering support system.

Hit back even harder, Eli instructs Oskar after hes endured a beating from classmates.

She suffers no foolsand neither will he.

When Oskar finally and physically confronts a bully, Eli lightly congratulates him with well done.

Elis age endows her with a ruthless pragmatism.

Audition (1999)

Where are all the good girls?

Aoyamas friend asks him in Takashi Miikes 1999 thriller/horror filmAudition.

Aoyama is planning on remarrying, following the death of his wife several years ago.

Aoyama hasnt met a woman yet, but he wants to hold an audition for his potential bride.

Everything is not as it gives the impression of in this film.

When Aoyama inadvertently spills his coffee on Asamis utility, he is immediately intrigued by the ingenue.

Her beauty and ballet aspirations lead him to read her system closely and carefully.

We breeze past each womans reply as rapidly as flipping through a magazine.

), Rose is a formidable presence, undeterred by demons or darkness.

Much likeThe Descent,Silent Hillis a film comprised almost entirely of a female cast.

This kind of girl power is still somewhat of an anomaly, especially in the horror genre.

The moments of silence and quasi-peacefulness in the town belie a notion of safety that is sharply tested.

No one escapes unscathed from this town.

Shes cool, calm, and collected, and as unfazed by romance as she is by blood.

As Sylvia Plath writes in Lady Lazarus, [She] eats men like air.

But this courtship is on Vands terms.

), Eli Roth attempts to invert that trope in his filmHostel: Part II.

A model for their art class convinces the friends to take a detour to a Slovakian spa.

All hell breaks loose, and hell hath no fury like the hostel.

This is the Lonely Planets worst filmic nightmare.

Tragedy and torture befall Laurens pals.

There, she acridly examinesCaptivityproducer Courtney Solomons defense of the film as one of female empowerment.

She is completely physical and economically autonomous.

Is this a feminist film?

This may be a film about Jennifers body, but Needys got all the brains.

Might this be a portrait of the problem that has no name of which Betty Friedan speaks?

Nursing a drink later that night, Joanna asks her husband, Why did we move?

Shes slumped on the couch, unimpressed by their neighbors casserole or their manicured gardens.

She confesses that what shell miss most about New York is noisea country girl, this New Yorker aint.

It seems as if Joannas husband is already attempting to wean her to swallow an image of passive dependence.

She hosts a meeting for the local wives.

She investigates the deterioration of Stepfords womens club.

While Joannas revelation is predictable, her transformation at the hands of Stepfords patriarchy is utterly chilling.

But in this horror film, when she is violated, Dawns body biologically fights back.

The men who physically assault her pay a painful price.

Resident Evil (2002)

What woman doesnt love Milla Jovovich?

But in Paul W.S.

Andersons 2002 film, shes Alice, fighting against a zombie outbreak alongside Michelle Rodriguezs Rain.

The shower curtain covering her midsection as delicately as Aphrodites hair does in Botticellis The Birth of Venus.

A mysterious gas released into an organizations headquarters results in Alices discombobulated state and amnesia.

Donning a red dress and leather boots, she follows a group of armed soldiers through the corporations headquarters.

than Romeros 1968 original.

Patricia Tallman revives the role of Barbara.

But James CameronsAliens, Weaver really flexes her acting chops, biceps, and motherly instincts.

Brushed off as hysterical and prone to hyperbole, her case is dismissed.

Plagued by nightmares and flashbacks, Ripley initially appears irrevocably damaged.

If he wants to survive, Ripley notes hell have to deal with it.

Gone are the night sweats, the tremors, and the tears.

Ripley is cool, calm, collected, and capable of fending for herself.