User:Robster1983/Scream queen

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

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 actrices 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 Curtus 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 actrice 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 been 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 reprise her scream queen role, Friday the 13th, which first film had both a female antagonist (Betsy Palmer) and a female protagonist (Adrienne King) (the first time since Whatever Happened to Baby Jane that this happened), both considered a scream queen, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, now considered a slasher-classic, with the retroduction of a supernatural serial killer (Freddy Krueger), with its leading actress, Heather Langenkamp, being dubbed a scream queen.

1990s and new millennium

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 trilogy. 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.

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.

Comcast top 20 Scream Queens

Comcast made a list of 20 scream queens representing various decades and ages.

Rank	Name	Title of film	Reason why ranked (according to Comcast)
1	Janet Leigh	Psycho	"Look “scream queen” up in the dictionary, and you’ll undoubtedly find this memorable picture of Janet Leigh from Hitchcock’s psychological thriller, “Psycho”."
2	Adrienne Barbeau	The Fog	"Adrienne Barbeau not only starred in "The Fog," "Swamp Thing" and "Creepshow" but she brought the creeps home with her when she married one of the kings of horror, John Carpenter."
3	Jamie Lee Curtis	Halloween	"Only the sweet survive. Jamie Lee Curtis fought back (and continued to fight back in the sequel) against her deranged William Shatner-mask wearing, knife wielding brother Michael Meyers in John Carpenter’s seminal slasher film “Halloween"."
4	Marilyn Burns	The Texas Chain Saw Massacre	"The '70s were unkind in many ways, not only was Marilyn Burns forced to wear outlandishly wide bell bottoms, but she also had to escape a family of chainsaw wielding back-woods freaks."
5	Sissy Spacek	Carrie	"And you thought your prom was bad! Teenage girls have a special brand of cruelty."
6	Heather Langenkamp	A Nightmare on Elm Street	"Heather Langenkamp just couldn't stop dreaming about Freddy Krueger."
7	Shelley Duvall	The Shining	"Things go murderously wrong when Jack Torrance and his family inhabit a deserted hotel for the winter. Watch as his wife, Wendy, tries to survive the hotel."
8	Fay Wray	King Kong	"Fortune-hunters travel to Skull Island in search of the King Kong. They find and entice him with Ann Darow. He is then captured and escapes long enough to wreak havoc on New York City looking for his love."
9	Jennifer Love Hewitt	I Know What You Did Last Summer	"JLove Hewitt shows off her ample...um...lungs in the teen scare “I Know What You Did Last Summer"."
10	Sheri Moon Zombie	The Devil's Rejects	"Sheri Moon, wife to musician and horror filmmaker Rob Zombie, does her last name justice in the creepy gore-fest, “The Devil’s Rejects"."
11	Lee Remick	The Omen	"It’s tough enough being a diplomat’s wife living in a foreign country, but just imagine the international incident that occurs when your adopted son turns out to be the Antichrist."
12	Mia Farrow	Rosemary's Baby	"Sometimes the devil’s spawn has a face only a mother can love."
13	Asia Argento	Land of the Dead	"Daughter of famed Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento, Asia Argento was born to fight zombies and has been acting in slasher movies her entire life."
14	Neve Campbell	Scream	"The Scream trilogy centers on Neve Campbell’s character - an unfortunate high school student named Sidney Prescott who ends up paying for her parents mistakes."
15	Tippi Hedren	The Birds	"After more than a few angry gulls prove to be unfriendly, Tippi Hedren quickly realizes the quaint island town she’s landed on is for the birds."
16	Sarah Michelle Gellar	The Grudge	"Sarah Michelle can't seem to shake the spooks. She's been up against some killer adversaries in “Scream 2,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “The Grudge” series."
17	Heather O'Rourke	Poltergeist	"After "Poltergeist" countless generations of children will never be able to look at a TV the same way again."
18	Margot Kidder	The Amityville Horror	"Home is where the horror is."
19	Shawnee Smith	Saw II	"Shawnee Smith has survived the diabolical killer Jigsaw in all five of Darren Lynn Bousman’s “Saw” movies and even lived through Paris Hilton’s musical debut in the upcoming “Repo! The Genetic Opera.” Whether she can endure the ruthlessness of reality TV remains to be seen."
20	Emily Browning	The Uninvited	"Emily got her start on a "Ghost Ship," then she had to deal with a terrifying tooth fairy and most recently she had to knock off a step mother who wanted to kill her. Girl has had a rough childhood. "