5 fascinating female horror performances from 2019

4. Greta

The actress: Isabelle Huppert as Greta

What the movie is about: Everybody needs a friend. Greta is a lonely woman desperate for companionship. She lures unsuspecting young girls to her home with a handbag ruse. By leaving identical handbags all over the city, Greta just has to wait for a good samaritan to spring her trap.

Eventually, someone will try and return the purse to her home. Frances (Chloe Grace Moretz) falls prey to Greta’s tactics. The two start a friendship that descends into a sinister cat-and-mouse game as Greta becomes obsessed with the idea of becoming Frances’s surrogate mother.

Performance: Greta stands out right away because it features three compelling female leads. Moretz plays the protagonist of the film, Frances, Huppert is the wicked Greta, and Maika Monroe is Erika, France’s best friend.

Isabelle Huppert elevates the movie’s campy premise with a wicked performance as the titular Greta. Watch the clip above. It’s a masterpiece. That scene alone should have warranted the movie far more respect than it received upon release. Greta is relentless. Huppert is sublime and ludicrous. Watching Greta is the most fun cinematic experience I’ve had since Midsommar.

Not only is Huppert a phenomenal villain, but her nuanced performance inquires into the nature of isolation. We’ve seen our fair share of stalker-thrillers, often with a male chasing after a woman who scorned him. I thought I was done with stalker movies. Greta proves this is a topic still ripe with opportunity as is loneliness and the way we treat women of a certain age.