Scream queen

"scream queens" redirects here. For the VH1 reality series, see Scream Queens.

A scream queen is an actress who has become associated with horror films, 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.

Definition

The term "scream queen" is more specifically used to refer to the "attractive young damsels-in-distress" 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 films, and slasher films 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."

History

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. Caligari (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."

1940s

In the 1940s, filmmakers "wanted stories to take them out of reality and reveal an image far more in control", creating noir horror films like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) and Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942).

1950s

Though she did quite some screaming, the 1950s critics never did classify actress Beverly Garland 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 films, 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?, 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).

1970s

In that aforementioned 1978 film, 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.

1980s

The success of Halloween made slasher films 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.

1990s

During the 1990s, Debbie Rochon 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 film series. 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.

2000s

Ryan Stewart cited Cassandra Magrath 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.

See also

• List of scream queens
• Scream Queens (TV series)
• Feminist film theory
• Final Girl
• Invasion of the Scream Queens 1992 documentary