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A scream queen (a wordplay on screen queen) [1] is an actress who is prominent and influential in horror films, either through a notable appearance or recurring roles. A scream king is the male equivalent.
- What Are Scream Queens historically?
- What Is A Scream Queen in The Contemporary Sense?
- What — If Anything — Is A Scream Queen Not?
- Does Any Other Genre Boast Its Own Version of A Scream Queen?
ALISON FOREMAN:After Wray’s dazzling damsel-in-distress act for “King Kong,” casting directors began to shorthand these centerpiece monster movie performances as scream queen roles: using the snappy description to draw talent and audiences toward projects anchored by leading ladies’ panic-stricken beauty and piercing pipes. Thanks to typecasting, “...
ERBLAND: OK, so what is a scream queen now then? One thing we discussed early on when putting together this package was the idea that filmmakers can be scream queens, an idea you put forth and that we both instantly made us say,“yes, YES, YESSS!!” So many of the best, brightest, and boldest horror films in recent years have been delivered to us fro...
FOREMAN: That said — and I’m not one for gate-keeping much — but there is a bit of Syndrome from “The Incredibles” (“When everyone’s super, no one will be…”) in the approach we’re taking with this label. If you broaden the definition of scream queen to include any performer in any kind of horror role — as well as influential horror filmmakers — you...
ERBLAND: Here’s a final thought worth pondering: is the scream queen moniker so special because it doesn’t have much competition when it come to corollaries in other genre spaces? The only potential contender I could cook up is “Action Dude,” think Tom Cruise or The Rock or Liam Neeson in one of their many, many action outings. But even that doesn’...
- Alison Foreman
Sep 25, 2015 · So perhaps the most exciting thing about Ryan Murphy’s Scream Queens is how it reflects and honors that evolution. It’s a humorous cross-generational nod to the women of horror.
- Natalia Vela
- Barbara Steele. Preternatural beauty Barbara Steele is known as both “The Queen of All Scream Queens” and “Britain’s first lady of horror.” She was the it girl-scream queen of the 1960s thanks to her lengthy resume in gothic horror movies of the decade.
- Janet Leigh. Janet Leigh makes it to this list for her iconic scream queen moment in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Leigh received a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination in the same category for her role.
- Marilyn Burns. Marilyn Burns and Olivia Hussey below both have held the title for the original final girl, having had their respective films both premiere on the same day in 1974.
- Olivia Hussey. Black Christmas heavily influenced slashers to come, including John Carpenter’s classic Halloween (1978). Hussey played Jess Bradford, a progressive and sexually active sorority sister set on practicing her fundamental right to choose, even against her anti-abortion boyfriend’s wishes.
- The birth of the scream queen. While the trope of the scream queen can be traced back as early as the 1920s silent era of cinema, Hollywood’s first scream queen is largely considered to be Fay Wray and her performance in the 1933 horror classic King Kong.
- What makes a scream queen? During its earlier period, scream queens had a much more one-dimensional definition in horror filmography. Think damsels in distress, but they don’t get saved in the end.
- Are scream queens also final girls? In re-defining what a scream queen is, many confuse the phrase with the Final Girl, another popular horror trope which refers to the female protagonist who makes it to the end to confront the killer.
- Jenna Ortega. Starting out the list is the most obvious Hollywood horror it-girl of the moment, Jenna Ortega. The former Disney Channel star honed her screaming chops as the heroine in two Scream films and gained critical acclaim for her role in 2022’s unsettling slasher flick X, alongside fellow scream queen Mia Goth (more on her later).
May 26, 2023 · From Jamie Lee Curtis to Sigourney Weaver, here are the all-time best Scream Queens to ever grace both the big and small screen.
Dec 11, 2023 · Scream Queens like Jamie Lee Curtis or Neve Campbell are essential to what keeps the genre trucking – that being said, which of these female horror acting icons of the big screen (and sometimes...
