You may or may not be aware that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. In honor of that, I have compiled a list of movies in which women kill their abusers/attackers. I’m calling it “Good for Her!” for reasons that should be obvious. Think of this as similar to Does the Dog Die? except the dog is the abuser, and they absolutely deserve it.
Obviously, trigger warning for some DV/SA mentions, and also potential light spoiler alerts. Proceed as you like.
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991):
Martin Burney (Patrick Bergin) is a typical abusive piece of shit. He abuses Laura (Julia Roberts) physically and emotionally, and controls her every move. She fakes her own death in order to escape him, changes her name, and takes up in another town (and with another man – yawn). And then Martin starts to suspect she never truly died and uses his (apparently) considerable tracking skills to hunt her down.
But don’t worry, Martin still ends up very dead.
The movie isn’t incredible, but it certainly has impact. I’ll probably hate Patrick Bergin forever.
Thelma and Louise (1991):
Thelma (Geena Davis) and her best friend Louise (Susan Sarandon) go on a fishing trip. However, the trip is cut short when Louise kills a man who tries to rape Thelma at a bar, and the two women find themselves on the run from the law.
That man (and a few others) end up very dead. Good for them.
The ending could have been happier, but I’m still glad they got to rid the world of some truly scummy dudes.
They Will Kill You (2026):
Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz) tries to run from her abusive father, taking her younger sister with her. The father catches up to them and Asia shoots him. When the cops arrive shortly after, she attempts to flee, leaving her sister behind.
Ten years later she finds her sister working at a very strange hotel, and the sisters again find themselves facing truly awful circumstances.
All the shitheads die in the end.
Companion (2025):
Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) head to a remote lakeside estate for a weekend getaway with friends. One of the “friends” tries to assault Iris, and she kills him in self-defense.
Josh then reveals that Iris is actually an advanced, jailbroken “companion” robot that he jailbroke (is that a word) and controls via an app. The movie uses this plot to examine complex topics like anatomy, consent, and free will, as well as the dynamics of abusive relationships.
This doesn’t end well for most of the players, and I couldn’t be happier for them!
Now, in the interest of not making this post a mile long, I’m going to end it here. Could I have gone on? Yes, at length. There are actually quite a few movies that hit the “Good for Her!” marker in my opinion.
What are some of your favorites? I’m really interested!
