WIHM 2026: Meet Hope Madden

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you contribute to the horror genre.

I’m Hope Madden, horror obsessed lunatic. For the last dozen years, I’ve co-hosted a podcast and live event called Fright Club. We record a top-5 style podcast (best heartbreaks in horror, best feminist high school horror, that kind of thing) at a film center on Ohio State Campus, and then we screen one of the films on the list. That came first, then in 2022, my first horror novella, Roost, came out from Off Limits Press. The same year my first horror short story was published in an anthology, and since then I’ve had close to a dozen short stories and a second novella, Killer Pictures, published.

And in 2022 I also wrote and directed my first feature film, Obstacle Corpse, which is streaming now on Tubi, Prime and other platforms. I’ve also made nine short horror films.
 
What drew you to the horror genre?
I was afraid of everything as a little kid, and I think horror helped me control that fear. It’s a bit like a child re-reading the same children’s book again and again because knowing every word gives them a sense of control in an overwhelming world. Reading and watching horror made me feel better prepared for every scary thing.
 
If you could recommend one creation of horror that everyone should consume, whether that be a book, podcast, movie, art, etc., what would you recommend?
 
It seems obvious, but Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the original novel, for countless reasons. It’s a masterpiece, it’s an endlessly engaging and amazing read, it’s a revolution of science fiction and horror. But for me, also, I eventually came to see it as an account written by a teenage girl who’d given up her family and her life to be recreated by a grown man, in his libertine image; a man who looked no further than creation, and later realized that he had no real interest in her, his creation. In the context of her life and marriage, this aching masterpiece is also the most resonant, timeless, honest depiction of the harm men do that you’ll ever read. Plus, it’s a great story.
 
What positive changes have you seen happening in the horror community and what are some areas the community can still improve?
I think filmmakers like Jane Schoenbrun and writers like Hailey Piper are helping us redefine community and empowerment in horror, because their work is so undeniable and so genuinely new, fresh and necessary that the genre could not help but take notice. Just as a reader and moviegoer, I am overjoyed at seeing and reading stories from perspectives and based in experiences that nobody else has ever offered in 200 years of cinema and eons of literature.

And though I think, especially in literature, the horror genre has been at the forefront of presenting “unlikeable” women as protagonists, we could do better. This is my favorite, favorite thing to read and write. When I think of rejection notifications and less-than-stellar reviews I’ve received, they have almost always lamented the unlikeable main character. I love women who don’t care if you like them. I want to see more of them everywhere.
 
When folks look back at the Women in Horror movement of today’s day and age, what do you think the defining characteristic will be?
Rage. 
 
What advice would you give to the next generation of women coming into the horror genre?
Collaborate a lot and work across platforms. Turn your short story into a podcast script, turn your feature screenplay into a novella, write them simultaneously—the strengths in format and style one medium demands actually brings something to your work in another medium, and the more success you have with one medium the likelier you are to find success for the same project in another medium.
 
Where can folks find you these days?
 
Podcasts and short films are on all the socials at @maddwolfcolumbus and my own writing is at hopemadden.com.