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While keeping my eyes peeled for shirtless (or pantless) men in horror movies, I’m also appreciating the subtle nuances of women portraying the perfect sole survivors. One strong performance in a horror movie can make me a lifelong fan of an actress. Here is a list of women who really pull it off (both the acting and the killer’s mask). Some are seasoned scream queens, others are simply one hit wonders. This is by no means a complete filmography of each actress. Those can be found at imdb.com. ___________________________________________________________________ Nancy Allen What better way to become a scream queen than to marry Brian DePalma? After being credited as ‘hitch hiker’ in a 1975 maniac movie called Forced Entry, Nancy played all sorts of femme fatales. She was the cruel high school bitch in Carrie, a victimized prostitute heroine in the terrifying Dressed to Kill, another victimized heroine in Blow Out, and a feisty reporter in the nostalgic and campy 80s classic Strange Invaders. She also played a motherly-type in Poltergeist III to poor Carol Anne after JoBeth Williams smartly gave up on the series. Nancy returned to horror in Children of the Corn 666: Isaac’s Return in 1999. ___________________________________________________________________ Adrienne Barbeau Despite a remake, Adrienne will always be the ultimate Stevie Wayne in the original John Carpenter version of The Fog. It was her first major horror film and she starred with both Jamie Lee Curtis and Jamie’s mom Janet Leigh, yet never appeared on screen with either of them. She followed that with the campy comic bookish Swamp Thing, and was perfect as a drunken ‘C’ word in a segment of Creepshow. She also worked with George A. Romero in a segment of the film Two Evil Eyes in 1990. And she appeared in one of the many David DeCoteau homoerotic but straight (and straight to DVD) films called Ring of Darkness in 2004…which also features American Idol Season 1 castoff Ryan Starr. ___________________________________________________________________ Priscilla Barnes Going far beyond anything she ever did on Three’s Company, my least favorite blonde on that show (I actually like Cindy the best) proves herself in a couple of movies. She absolutely steals the show in the camp slasher The Backlot Murders—better comedy than she ever delivered on her sitcom. She proves herself quite the dramatic actress in The Devil’s Rejects, as well. She’s also done a couple of horror sequels: Stepfather III, Unseen Evil 2. ___________________________________________________________________ Karen Black Karen should get the award for biggest scream queen of all time, even though she has said she was never looking to be one. Once she did the original Trilogy of Terror for television in the mid-70s and battled the Zuni doll, she was in. She appeared with Bette Davis in Burnt Offerings, and with piranhas in Killer Fish. She was in the classic nostalgic 80s sci-fi remake of Invaders from Mars. She made it into one of my favorite bad horror series, the third and last installment of It’s Alive, subtitled “Island of the Alive.” Her slasher Out of the Dark also featured drag queen Divine (in straight drag). Karen went horror crazy in the 90s: Mirror, Mirror; Children of the Night; and even got in on the corn holing with Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering. She appeared in a 2001 ‘horror’ called Soulkeeper, which is loaded with gay stuff. She started off the new millennium in the slasher Miner’s Massacre. And let’s not forget Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses—but she did not reprise her role for The Devil’s Rejects, which doesn’t even count as a horror movie in my opinion, so it’s all good. And, although it’s not horror, every gay man should see her performance in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean from 1982. The film features Cher in her first film role, Kathy Bates, and Mark Patton from A Nightmare on Elmstreet 2: Freddy’s Revenge, playing another role with homosexual themes! ___________________________________________________________________ Linda Blair Linda will forever be scarred by her run-in with a crucifix in 1973. But hey, she knows you have to screw just about everyone to make it in this business. Linda has embraced her Exorcist fame, doing Exorcist II: The Heretic, and then basically reprising her role as the devil in the slapstick Repossessed with Lesley Nielsen. She did Stranger in Our House, a creepy made-for-TV film based on a book by one of my favorite teen authors, Lois Duncan (who wrote the novel that turned into the slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer). After the horror slasher Hell Night, B-movie stood for Blair-movie in the 80s and 90s, with some delicious cheese flix, although most of them not horror. And of course, she had a much deserved cameo in Scream. ___________________________________________________________________ Ellen Burstyn Ellen
is not a scream queen, but her role in The Exorcist is absolutely
brilliant. Like Sally Field, she’s one of those actresses who can cry on
demand. She also appeared in a film about psychic powers in 1980, entitled
Resurrection. I'd prefer not to mention the remake of The Wicker
Man.... Neve Campbell Neve has no choice but to make the list after 3 Scream films. She was also in the awesome The Craft, and it seems she basically taught Jennifer Love Hewitt her acting method during their time together on Party of Five. View Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer back-to-back (or better yet, picture-in-picture) and take note of the facial expressions, chin twitches, lip stutters, and dramatic pauses in the middle of a sentence of dialogue. ___________________________________________________________________ Ellie Cornell Ellie gets credit simply for doing BOTH House of the Dead and House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim. She actually began her horror reign in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5, took a long hiatus from horror, and has now popped up in All Souls Day, Room 6, and The Thirst. ___________________________________________________________________ Jamie Lee Curtis Need I even say anything? She’s Janet Leigh’s daughter for starters. She basically ignited the slasher genre as we headed into the 80s: Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night, Terror Train, Halloween II, Road Games. Blue Steel was not a horror, but was a damn suspenseful stalker flick that had her running scared again. She mixed things up, playing the psycho in Mother’s Boys. She embraced her roots and fans with Halloween H2O, and finished off with a cameo in Halloween: Resurrection. She went somewhat sci-fi for Virus. But I have to say, I think Jamie’s absolute best performance ever was in Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan. I truly believe it was the role of her career, stretching her beyond anything she’d ever done before. Too bad the film falls into the ‘family fluff’ category. ___________________________________________________________________ E.G. Daily They don’t get anymore fierce than E.G. She’s been around since the early 80s—she’s the epitome of 80s. She appeared in teen sexploitation films like Valley Girl and No Small Affair, appeared on an episode of Fame, was in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, and recorded some hot dance-synth tracks, even working with producing genius Giorgio Moroder (of Donna Summer fame). As for horror films, she was in One Dark Night, had a way too small role in Bad Dreams, and also a small role in The Devil’s Rejects. ___________________________________________________________________ Bette Davis This legend appeared in two of the first movies to disturb my little mind: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte. She also appeared in Burnt Offerings with Karen Black. ___________________________________________________________________ Eliza Dushku How can you not love Eliza? She is just a total modern girl. Sexy and sassy, tough yet tender. On television, she won all horror fans over as Faith on Buffy, she kept us coming back for more with Tru Calling, which was just getting brilliant when the buffoons who make TV programming decisions opted not to give it a chance. She’s perfect as a strong female lead in horror films. She’s been in Soul Survivor and Wrong Turn. Hope she does more. ___________________________________________________________________ Louise Fletcher After winning an Academy-award for One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Louise sold herself to the devil, aka: any horror movie or thriller script that came along: Exorcist II: The Heretic; Mama Dracula; Strange Behavior; Strange Invaders; Brainstorm; Firestarter; Invaders from Mars; Flowers in the Attic; Blue Steel; Nightmare on the 13th Floor; The Stepford Husbands…get the picture? ___________________________________________________________________ Rebecca Gayheart Bonus points for having the word ‘gay’ in her name. Started with a small role in Scream 2, but she totally won me over with her role in Urban Legend, one of my favorite slashers of all time. Earned more bonus points for her uncredited cameo in Urban Legend 2. Loved her in Jawbreaker, and she was also in From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman’s Daughter, which is my least favorite of the series because it’s a period piece. Plus, she makes an appearance in the horror comedy Santa’s Slay. ___________________________________________________________________ Sarah Michelle Gellar Ah. Buffy. That alone keeps her in the heart of horror fans forever. Add to that I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream 2, The Grudge, The Grudge 2 and the bizarre The Return. And hell, why not mention the Scooby Doo films, since any adult into scary stuff usually has a Saturday morning history with Scooby. ___________________________________________________________________ Linda Day George Partnering in many films with her husband, Christopher George, Linda did a whole lot of made-for-tv horror movies before jumping into some of my favorite bad 80s horror films, like Beyond Evil, Pieces, and Mortuary. ___________________________________________________________________ Katharine Isabelle Ginger Snaps is one of my absolute favorite werewolf movies. It is so much more than that. It’s about teen angst and the anguish of adolescence. It’s actually a tragic character study and sad at times. And the performances are all brilliant. Katharine is amazing as the snide Ginger, and reprises her role in two sequels. She’s been in plenty of other horror flix: Disturbing Behavior, Bones, the totally unnecessary television remake of Carrie, and Jason vs. Freddy. ___________________________________________________________________ Margot Kidder Brian DePalma’s Sisters never quite made sense to me as a kid, but it still freaked me out, with Margot playing the attached but then separated twin sisters. She was an alcoholic college student in Black Christmas in 1974, which has been cited as the movie that began the slasher genre. And of course, she topped off her horror career in The Amityville Horror. ___________________________________________________________________ Janet Leigh The ultimate femme fatale in Psycho, Janet was cast in The Fog with her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis—yet they didn’t appear on screen together until the last few moments of the film! They finally reunited on screen for Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later. One of her last roles was a small appearance in the Jawbreaker rip-off Bad Girls of Valley High. Watch it until the end, because Janet totally steals the show. ___________________________________________________________________ Rose McGowan Rose has plenty of indies under her belt with a gay twist, including The Doom Generation. She was awesome in Scream, was in Dean Koontz’s Phantoms, got all fatal attraction in Devil in the Flesh, and cracked nuts in Jawbreaker alongside Rebecca Gayheart. And she rocked (and hopped) in Grindhouse. Plus, she saved the fate of Charmed, seeing the television show through its series finale in 2006. ___________________________________________________________________ Gina Phillips While this adorable actress was good in Jeepers Creepers, she rocks in the hilarious and slapstick Dead and Breakfast. ___________________________________________________________________ Linnea Quigley Honestly, there are just too many trashy B-movies to name. Just check her filmography out on imdb. I’ll just say, my favorite role of Linnea’s is in one of my top horror movies of all time, Night of the Demons. ___________________________________________________________________ Christina Ricci If there’s a gay indy with any meaning, chances are Christina is in it. After going goth (and evil) at an early age in The Addams Family movies, then Casper, she appeared in Sleepy Hollow and Cursed. ___________________________________________________________________ Jill Schoelen Jill kind of gets honorable mention. She’s not in any way one of my favorites, but she’s done a lot of friggin’ horror movies, most of them bad. Love it. Check it out: Wes Craven’s Chiller; The Stepfather; Curse II: The Bite; Cutting Class; The Phantom of the Opera (with Robert Englund!); Popcorn (with Dee Wallace-Stone); and When A Stranger Calls Back. ___________________________________________________________________ Lin Shaye Lin RULES! She’s the sister of New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye, who brought us the Freddy movies. And speaking of, Lin had small roles in both the original A Nightmare on Elmstreet and New Nightmare. Very often her roles are almost that of an extra. She appears in the 1982 slasher Alone in the Dark, Critters (with Dee Wallace-Stone) and Critters 2, the comedy-horror My Demon Lover, The Hidden, the thriller The Temp, and Amityville: A New Generation (she wouldn’t be a great b-horror movie actress if she didn’t end up in one of these!). Lin really got her chance to shine with a lead role in the super creepy 2003 film Dead End, and also had a larger than usual role in 2001 Maniacs opposite Robert Englund. She’s also in Hood of Horror and Snakes on a Plane! ___________________________________________________________________ Tiffany Shepis Tiffany has diva written all over her, and a rough, dyke edge, yet she’s super voluptuous. And it looks as if she has opted to make campy horror flicks her career. Films include Scarecrow, Death Factory, Ted Bundy, Embrace the Darkness 3, Bloody Murder 2, Delta Delta Die!, The Ghouls, Detour, Home Sick, Devils Moon, Corpses, Sludge, Blood Oath, and Abominable. ___________________________________________________________________ P.J. Soles Another femme fatale who ushered in the streak of 80s slashers. The star of The Ramones flick Rock ‘n’ Roll High School started her horror career with an anthology called Blood Bath, then saw more red in Carrie with Nancy Allen. She was in a made-for-TV Exorcist rip-off called The Possessed, then moved on to Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis. She finally returned to the genre she helped make big with Uncle Sam in 1997. She was in Jawbreaker with Rose McGowan and Rebecca Gayheart, had an appearance in The Devil’s Rejects with E.G. Daily, and played a witchy woman in Tooth Fairy. ___________________________________________________________________ Amy Steel Amy is one of my favorite scream queens, although her reign was short. She was the ideal heroine in both Friday the 13th Part 2 and April Fool’s Day. She also appeared in the 1992 remake of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? with the Redgrave sisters. ___________________________________________________________________ Dee Wallace-Stone My absolute favorite femme fatale who I follow even outside of her extremely long horror career. Dee is, I think, one of the most overlooked actresses in Hollywood, and can cry on command like Sally Field and Ellen Burstyn. Even a role in a huge Steven Spielberg film known as E.T. never got her to the level she should have achieved. Way back in 1975 she was in the original version of The Stepford Wives. She first showed her incredible ability to go into sobbing hysterics in Wes Craven’s original The Hills Have Eyes in 1977. She was amazing in The Howling (with her hunky late husband Christopher Stone), and absolutely brilliant in Cujo, co-starring with fellow gay, Danny Pintauro. Dee’s streak continued with the thriller Shadow Play, the campy Critters, a sinister role in an Anthony Perkins film entitled I’m Dangerous Tonight, Alligator II: The Mutation (how bad were those alligator-comes-up-from-the-sewer films?), and a small role in Popcorn. She had a role in the creepy David DeCouteau thriller Skeletons with Ron Silver (and this one has serious social gay themes, not erotic), a classic role in The Frighteners (not playing someone’s mother for a change!), Black Circle Boys, Killer Instinct, and the atmospheric film Boo. She has a small part in Voodoo Moon, a kind of goofy movie with Charisma Carpenter (of Buffy and Angel fame), an even more fleeting role in the film Headspace (in which ALL of her meaty scenes were deleted, but included on the DVD), and an even smaller role in the movies Abominable and Clive Barker's The Plague. She also joined the horror veteran cameo cast in Rob Zombie's Halloween. She was also in the sadly cancelled non-horror TV show Sons and Daughters. ___________________________________________________________________ Christine Taylor The dead ringer for Maureen McCormick may have found fame because of The Brady Bunch Movie, but she’s been in some of my favorite horror flicks: Night of the Demons 2, The Craft, Campfire Tales and Room 6. ___________________________________________________________________ Emmanuelle Vaugier Love her. So feminine yet tough. She’s appeared in The Fear: Halloween Night (a sequel), The Demon Within, The Ripper, Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell, House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim, Unearthed, and Saw II. ___________________________________________________________________ JoBeth Williams JoBeth is right up there with Dee Wallace-Stone when it comes to playing a great movie mom. Her performance in Poltergeist is classic (and yes, she cries on demand). She also did Poltergesit II: The Other Side before calling that series quits…and basically, the entire horror genre. But we’ll always have Poltergeist. ___________________________________________________________________ ©2007 Daniel W. Kelly |