Scream queen
Encyclopedia
A scream queen is an actress who has become associated with horror film
s, either through an appearance in a notable entry in the genre
as a frequent victim or through constant appearances as the female protagonist
. Fay Wray
is noted as the first scream queen, while Jamie Lee Curtis
is noted as a woman who helped revive the scream queen title with her performance in the popular slasher film
Halloween
.
" characters that have appeared in a number of films in the horror genre. Lloyd Kaufman
, co-founder of Troma Entertainment
, noted that being a scream queen is "more than just crying and having ketchup thrown on you. You not only have to be attractive, but you also have to have a big brain. You have to be frightened, you have to be sad, you have to be romantic." Ryan Stewart, of cinematical.com, has described a scream queen as someone who has "given an impactful, memorable performance in a horror film". Debbie Rochon
, often described as a scream queen herself, wrote in an article originally published in GC Magazine that "a true Scream Queen isn't The Perfect Woman. She's sexy, seductive, but most importantly 'attainable' to the average guy. Or so it would seem." And although the earlier scream queens might be woman that "just had to look pretty and shriek a lot until the hero of the film got around to save (them)", the later scream queens "showcase women worrying about something other than a guy...unless said guy is the one trying to kill them", with some of them "wreaking vengeance" by defeating the villain
.
There is, however, also an opinion that defines the term scream queen as 'overused', becoming a "term to use to describe any actress who does mainly horror films", or anybody in a scary movie. Gary Svehla, editor of Hollywood's Classic Scream Queens: 1930, says: "It's a passe term used during the 1970s and 1980s.", also stating "It all goes back to vulnerable horror heroines, first created by Fay Wray." And although a lot of science fiction
, horror film
s, and slasher film
s came out during the late 50s through the 70s, and a lot of actresses did their share of screaming, possible exemptions are Janet Leigh
in Psycho
, which Svehla summarises as "Her performance in 'Psycho' as the horror heroine killed half way through the movie, stabbed to death naked in the shower, will be her iconic performance. But she was much more than dead, wet meat in the shower stall.", and her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in the aforementioned Halloween, for "It wasn't until Janet Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, starred as the large-lunged teen Laurie Strode in 1978's "Halloween" that the horror-chick had a new prototype."
(1920) and Nosferatu (1922). George Feltenstein, film historian and senior vice president of theatrical catalog marketing at Warner Home Video
, states, "Women screaming in terror has been a Hollywood mainstay — even when films were silent". However, Fay Wray
of King Kong
(1933) is arguably the first notable scream queen. Wray had also appeared in a number of other horror films previous to King Kong, and eventually took her career to England
to escape the title, stating "I don't like it at all...being called Scream Queen."
horror films like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
(1941) and Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
(1942).
a scream queen. However, having played roles in The Neanderthal Man
(1953), It Conquered the World
(1956), Not of This Earth
(1957), and The Alligator People
(1959), all of which are science fiction
-horror film
s, nowadays she is being dubbed a scream queen.
, based on the novel of the same name
by Henry Farrell
, starring Bette Davis
as Baby Jane Hudson and Joan Crawford
as Blanche Hudson, thereafter both reckoned to be scream queens.
The 1960 film Psycho
placed Janet Leigh
as a prominent scream queen who had begun the change into the modern horror protagonist, which earned her an Golden Globe
, as well as an Academy Award-nomination
. The film itself has been referenced in several other films of that same genre
like Scream
, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
, and Halloween
(films which, in their own decade, saw the rising of new scream queens).
, Jamie Lee Curtis
, daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh, had her first film role. Portraying Laurie Strode
in Halloween, Curtis established herself as the "ultimate 'scream queen'" and was even referenced as such in the horror film Scream
(1996). Curtis went on to star in several other horror films after that, two of them being The Fog
and Halloween H20, in which both Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh have roles.
s known again, and so that type of film saw a revival during the late '70s and entire '80s. A few films worth mentioning include, but are not limited to, Prom Night, in which Jamie Lee Curtis would again embrace a scream queen role, Friday the 13th, the first entry having both a female antagonist (Betsy Palmer
) and protagonist (Adrienne King
) (the first such occurrence since What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), both considered a scream queen. A Nightmare on Elm Street
, now considered a slasher-classic, with the introduction of supernatural
serial killer
Freddy Krueger
, had its leading actress, Heather Langenkamp
, dubbed a scream queen. Linnea Quigley
became a scream queen during the 1980s.
starred in dozens of Troma Production horror films and was voted by Draculina magazine as its "Scream Queen of the Decade". Neve Campbell
also began her career in horror with The Craft
(1996), and later went on to star as Sidney Prescott
in the Scream quadrilogy
. Jennifer Love Hewitt
was reckoned a scream queen after her
I Know What You Did Last Summer films
.
The first film of that trilogy also had a starring role for Sarah Michelle Gellar
, who started her career on television as the title character in the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and went on to appear in other horror films made during the '90s and new millennium, including the second part of the aforementioned Scream trilogy and The Grudge
.
and Kestie Morassi
as prime examples of modern scream queens for their roles in Wolf Creek
(2005). 2006 saw Kate Beckinsale
earn the award for "Best Scream Queen" at the Scream Awards
for her role in Underworld: Evolution
(2006). In 2007, USA Today
published an article listing its opinion of who qualified as a modern scream queens; the list included Sheri Moon Zombie, Jaimie Alexander
, Andrea Bogart
, Mercedes McNab
, Tiffany Shepis
, and Cerina Vincent
. Since 2007 and her appearance in Halloween
, Danielle Harris
has increased her genre work, being subsequently called "horror's reigning scream queen" by NY Daily News. Fangoria
Magazine's first Spooksmodel, Shannon Lark
, is known as a pioneering scream queen and horror auteur, who acts, directs, produces, and organizes Film Festivals
.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s, either through an appearance in a notable entry in the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
as a frequent victim or through constant appearances as the female protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
. Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
is noted as the first scream queen, while Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
is noted as a woman who helped revive the scream queen title with her performance in the popular slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
.
Definition
The term "scream queen" is more specifically used to refer to the "attractive young damsels-in-distressDamsel in distress
The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden, is a classic theme in world literature, art, and film. She is usually a beautiful young woman placed in a dire predicament by a villain or monster and who requires a hero to achieve her rescue. She has become a stock character of fiction,...
" characters that have appeared in a number of films in the horror genre. Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufman
Lloyd Kaufman is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and occasional actor. With producer Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director of many of their feature films, including The Toxic Avenger and Tromeo and Juliet. Kaufman also serves as...
, co-founder of Troma Entertainment
Troma Entertainment
Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974.The company produces low-budget independent movies that play on 1950s horror with elements of farce...
, noted that being a scream queen is "more than just crying and having ketchup thrown on you. You not only have to be attractive, but you also have to have a big brain. You have to be frightened, you have to be sad, you have to be romantic." Ryan Stewart, of cinematical.com, has described a scream queen as someone who has "given an impactful, memorable performance in a horror film". Debbie Rochon
Debbie Rochon
Debbie Rochon is a Canadian B-movie actress and former stage performer, best known for her work in Troma films.-Biography:...
, often described as a scream queen herself, wrote in an article originally published in GC Magazine that "a true Scream Queen isn't The Perfect Woman. She's sexy, seductive, but most importantly 'attainable' to the average guy. Or so it would seem." And although the earlier scream queens might be woman that "just had to look pretty and shriek a lot until the hero of the film got around to save (them)", the later scream queens "showcase women worrying about something other than a guy...unless said guy is the one trying to kill them", with some of them "wreaking vengeance" by defeating the villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
.
There is, however, also an opinion that defines the term scream queen as 'overused', becoming a "term to use to describe any actress who does mainly horror films", or anybody in a scary movie. Gary Svehla, editor of Hollywood's Classic Scream Queens: 1930, says: "It's a passe term used during the 1970s and 1980s.", also stating "It all goes back to vulnerable horror heroines, first created by Fay Wray." And although a lot of science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
, horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s, and slasher film
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
s came out during the late 50s through the 70s, and a lot of actresses did their share of screaming, possible exemptions are Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
in Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
, which Svehla summarises as "Her performance in 'Psycho' as the horror heroine killed half way through the movie, stabbed to death naked in the shower, will be her iconic performance. But she was much more than dead, wet meat in the shower stall.", and her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in the aforementioned Halloween, for "It wasn't until Janet Leigh's daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, starred as the large-lunged teen Laurie Strode in 1978's "Halloween" that the horror-chick had a new prototype."
Early beginnings and the 1930s
The use of women in horror films dates back to the silent film era, with films such as The Cabinet of Dr. CaligariThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a 1920 silent horror film directed by Robert Wiene from a screenplay by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. It is one of the most influential of German Expressionist films and is often considered one of the greatest horror movies of the silent era. This movie is cited as...
(1920) and Nosferatu (1922). George Feltenstein, film historian and senior vice president of theatrical catalog marketing at Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
, states, "Women screaming in terror has been a Hollywood mainstay — even when films were silent". However, Fay Wray
Fay Wray
Fay Wray was a Canadian-American actress most noted for playing the female lead in King Kong...
of King Kong
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...
(1933) is arguably the first notable scream queen. Wray had also appeared in a number of other horror films previous to King Kong, and eventually took her career to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to escape the title, stating "I don't like it at all...being called Scream Queen."
1940s
In the 1940s, filmmakers "wanted stories to take them out of reality and reveal an image far more in control", creating noirFilm noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
horror films like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941 film)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a 1941 horror film starring Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman and Lana Turner. Rather than being a new film version of the novel, it is a direct remake of the 1931 film of the same name, which differs greatly from the novel. The movie was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's...
(1941) and Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror is the third film in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes movies. Made in 1942, the film combines elements of the Arthur Conan Doyle story "His Last Bow" and loosely parallels the real-life activities of Lord Haw-haw...
(1942).
1950s
Though she did quite some screaming, the 1950s critics never did classify actress Beverly GarlandBeverly Garland
Beverly Garland was an American film and television actress, businesswoman, and hotel owner. Garland gained prominence for her role as Fred MacMurray's second wife, "Barbara Harper Douglas", in the 1960s sitcom My Three Sons...
a scream queen. However, having played roles in The Neanderthal Man
The Neanderthal Man
The Neanderthal Man is a 78-minute, 1953, United States black-and-white science fiction film produced independently by Aubrey Wisberg and Jack Pollexfen, as Global Productions Inc., from their own original screenplay....
(1953), It Conquered the World
It Conquered the World
It Conquered the World is a 1956 American science fiction film about an alien from Venus trying to take over the world with the help of a disillusioned human scientist. It was directed by Roger Corman, written by Lou Rusoff , and starred Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef, Beverly Garland, and Sally...
(1956), Not of This Earth
Not of This Earth (1957 film)
Not of This Earth is a 67-minute, 1957 American black-and-white science fiction film written by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna. It was produced and directed by Roger Corman for Los Altos Productions and distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation....
(1957), and The Alligator People
The Alligator People
The Alligator People is a 1959 science fiction horror film directed by Roy Del Ruth.-Plot:After she is administered the drug pentothal by psychiatrists Dr. Erik Lorimer and Dr. Wayne McGregor, nurse Jane Marvin recalls a series events from her forgotten past when she was known as Joyce...
(1959), all of which are science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
-horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s, nowadays she is being dubbed a scream queen.
1960s
The noir horror films continued in the 1960s, one of them being the 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the novel of the same name by Henry Farrell...
, based on the novel of the same name
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a suspense novel by author Henry Farrell published in 1960 by Rinehart & Company. The novel has earned a cult following and has been made into several movies.-Plot summary:...
by Henry Farrell
Henry Farrell
Henry Farrell was an American novelist and screenwriter, best known as the author of the renowned gothic horror story What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which was made into a film starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.-Life and work:He was born Charles Farrell Myers in California, and grew up in...
, starring Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
as Baby Jane Hudson and Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
as Blanche Hudson, thereafter both reckoned to be scream queens.
The 1960 film Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
placed Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
as a prominent scream queen who had begun the change into the modern horror protagonist, which earned her an Golden Globe
18th Golden Globe Awards
The 18th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film for 1960 films, were held on March 16, 1961.-Best Actor - Drama: Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry*Trevor Howard - Sons and Lovers*Laurence Olivier - Spartacus...
, as well as an Academy Award-nomination
33rd Academy Awards
The 33rd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 1960, were held on April 17, 1961 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California...
. The film itself has been referenced in several other films of that same genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
like Scream
Scream (film)
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the...
, and Halloween
Halloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
(films which, in their own decade, saw the rising of new scream queens).
1970s
In that aforementioned 1978 filmHalloween (1978 film)
Halloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
, Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
, daughter of Psycho actress Janet Leigh, had her first film role. Portraying Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode
Laurie Strode is a fictional character in the Halloween horror film series, portrayed by actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Scout Taylor-Compton. She appears in six of the present ten Halloween installments, first appearing in John Carpenter's original 1978 film...
in Halloween, Curtis established herself as the "ultimate 'scream queen'" and was even referenced as such in the horror film Scream
Scream (film)
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
(1996). Curtis went on to star in several other horror films after that, two of them being The Fog
The Fog
The Fog is a 1980 horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also co-wrote the screenplay and composed the music for the film. It stars Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins and Janet Leigh...
and Halloween H20, in which both Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh have roles.
1980s
The success of Halloween made slasher filmSlasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
s known again, and so that type of film saw a revival during the late '70s and entire '80s. A few films worth mentioning include, but are not limited to, Prom Night, in which Jamie Lee Curtis would again embrace a scream queen role, Friday the 13th, the first entry having both a female antagonist (Betsy Palmer
Betsy Palmer
Betsy Palmer is an American actress, best known as a regular panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret, and later for playing Pamela Voorhees in the notorious slasher film Friday the 13th.-Life and career:...
) and protagonist (Adrienne King
Adrienne King
Adrienne King is an American actress, dancer and painter. She is mostly known for her starring role in the original Friday the 13th.-Life and career:...
) (the first such occurrence since What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?), both considered a scream queen. A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film features Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund, and Johnny Depp in his feature film...
, now considered a slasher-classic, with the introduction of supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...
, had its leading actress, Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp
Heather Langenkamp is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her role as Nancy Thompson from the A Nightmare on Elm Street films...
, dubbed a scream queen. Linnea Quigley
Linnea Quigley
Linnea Barbara Quigley is an American scream queen, B movie actress, and film producer.-Early life:Quigley was born in Davenport, Iowa, the daughter of Dorothy and W. Heath Quigley, a chiropractor and psychologist. She moved to Los Angeles in the late 1970s to pursue her dreams of acting...
became a scream queen during the 1980s.
1990s
During the 1990s, Debbie RochonDebbie Rochon
Debbie Rochon is a Canadian B-movie actress and former stage performer, best known for her work in Troma films.-Biography:...
starred in dozens of Troma Production horror films and was voted by Draculina magazine as its "Scream Queen of the Decade". Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
also began her career in horror with The Craft
The Craft (film)
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural teen horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain...
(1996), and later went on to star as Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Scream series of slasher films. The character was created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven and is portrayed by Canadian actress Neve Campbell. She first appeared in Scream followed by three sequels: Scream 2 , Scream 3 ...
in the Scream quadrilogy
Scream (film series)
Scream is a series of American horror slasher films created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven. The films star Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette. The series has grossed over $600 million in worldwide box-office receipts and consists, to date, of four motion pictures...
. Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer, television director and former singer-songwriter. Hewitt began her acting career as a child by appearing in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated...
was reckoned a scream queen after her
I Know What You Did Last Summer films
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 American horror film. The film stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. The screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream, and very loosely based on Lois Duncan's popular novel of the same title...
.
The first film of that trilogy also had a starring role for Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
, who started her career on television as the title character in the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and went on to appear in other horror films made during the '90s and new millennium, including the second part of the aforementioned Scream trilogy and The Grudge
The Grudge
The Grudge is the 2004 American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on: The Grudge, and the first horror film in the Ju-on series, Ju-on 1. The film is the first installment in the American horror film series The Grudge...
.
2000s
Ryan Stewart cited Cassandra MagrathCassandra Magrath
Cassandra Magrath is an Australian actress, best known for her portrayal of Miranda Gibson in the Australian ABC 1998–2000 television series SeaChange and in the lead role in the 2005 Australian horror film Wolf Creek.-Early life:Magrath attended a drama class for a ten year period...
and Kestie Morassi
Kestie Morassi
Kestie Morassi is an Australian actress born in Adelaide, South Australia, where she lived until she was 13 years old. She studied at the National Theatre, Melbourne Drama School, graduating in 1994, and another five years at Drama with a Difference....
as prime examples of modern scream queens for their roles in Wolf Creek
Wolf Creek (film)
Wolf Creek is a 2005 independent Australian horror film written, co-produced and directed by Greg McLean. The story revolves around three backpackers who find themselves held captive by a serial killer in the Australian outback...
(2005). 2006 saw Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...
earn the award for "Best Scream Queen" at the Scream Awards
Scream Awards
The Scream Awards is an award show dedicated to the horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genres of feature films. Originally only having Scream Queen and Heroic Performance awards for actors, the personnel awards have expanded to include actors and actresses of all three recognized genres. In addition,...
for her role in Underworld: Evolution
Underworld: Evolution
Underworld: Evolution is the second installment in the Underworld series, following Underworld in 2003...
(2006). In 2007, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
published an article listing its opinion of who qualified as a modern scream queens; the list included Sheri Moon Zombie, Jaimie Alexander
Jaimie Alexander
Jaimie Alexander is an American actress best known for portraying Jessi on the TV series Kyle XY and Sif in the 2011 superhero film Thor.-Early life:...
, Andrea Bogart
Andrea Bogart
Andrea Bogart is an American actress. She is best known for starring in Dark Ride.-Career:Bogart has appeared in episodes of Grounded for Life, CSI: NY, and Ghost Whisperer....
, Mercedes McNab
Mercedes McNab
Mercedes Alicia McNab is a Canadian-born actress perhaps best known for playing Harmony Kendall on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel...
, Tiffany Shepis
Tiffany Shepis
- External links :...
, and Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent
Cerina Vincent is an American film actress, and model best known for playing the Yellow Ranger Maya in the television series Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy, a naked foreign exchange student in Not Another Teen Movie, and Marcy in Cabin Fever. She is considered a scream queen.-Early life:Vincent was...
. Since 2007 and her appearance in Halloween
Halloween (2007 film)
Halloween is a 2007 American slasher film written, directed, and produced by Rob Zombie. The film is a remake/reimagining of the 1978 horror film of the same name, the first in the rebooted Halloween film series and the ninth Halloween film in total. The film stars Tyler Mane as the adult Michael...
, Danielle Harris
Danielle Harris
Danielle Andrea Harris is an American film and television actress, best known as a scream queen for her roles in several horror films, four of them in the Halloween series: in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as Jamie Lloyd and in Halloween and...
has increased her genre work, being subsequently called "horror's reigning scream queen" by NY Daily News. Fangoria
Fangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
Magazine's first Spooksmodel, Shannon Lark
Shannon Lark
Shannon Lark is an American Writer, Dancer, Director, Producer, professional Scream Queen, and Film Festival Director...
, is known as a pioneering scream queen and horror auteur, who acts, directs, produces, and organizes Film Festivals
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
.
See also
- List of scream queens
- Scream Queens (TV series)Scream Queens (TV series)Scream Queens is an American reality series on VH1 produced by Joke Productions and Lionsgate Television that premiered in October 2008. The show chronicles a group of unknown actresses competing for a role in the Saw franchise. Tanedra Howard won the first season and gained a role in Saw VI...
- Feminist film theoryFeminist film theoryFeminist film theory is theoretical film criticism derived from feminist politics and feminist theory. Feminists have many approaches to cinema analysis, regarding the film elements analysed and their theoretical underpinnings.-History:...
- Final GirlFinal girlThe final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story...
- Invasion of the Scream QueensInvasion of the Scream QueensInvasion of the Scream Queens is a 1992 documentary film by American filmmaker Donald Farmer. The film interviews the women who have made a career out of starring in the B horror and science fiction genres are interviewed, and clips and trailers from their films are shown...
1992 documentary