And we’re back! As Women in Horror Recognition Month continues, so does our countdown of the Top 50 Scream Queens!
We hope that you enjoyed the lovely ladies that made up Numbers 50 through 36. But the terror gets deeper as we now turn to the horror royalty that make up Numbers 35-21! Will your favorite screamer appear here? Who is going to make the Top 20? Read on my friends…
35. Olga Baclanova (Freaks, The Man Who Laughs)
A classic Hollywood performance is first up in our second edition, giving us Baclanova’s turn as the boo-hiss villain, Cleopatra, in MGM’s rediscovered 1932 masterpiece of weirdness, Freaks. Baclanova enraged audiences of the period as the duplicitous, backstabbing, full-sized wife of the diminutive blinded-by-love Hans.
Her openly murderous and adulterous role, coupled with director Tom Browning’s use of actual performers from the carnival side-shows of the time proved too much for mainstream audiences to handle. The gruesome payback that the carnival group wreaks on Cleo didn’t sit well with 30′s moviegoers either. Freaks and Baclanova’s performance were sadly forgotten by all but hard-core horror buffs until AFI named it one of the 100 best films of the 20th Century. (We always had your back, Olga).
But not only for Freaks does our horror Czarina deserve her throne. Her supporting role in 1928′s film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs is also another proto-genre classic. Conrad Veidt’s turn as disfigured nobleman whose face has been surgically altered into a leering grin was one of the visual inspirations for the super villainous Joker, who came down the pike from DC/National Comics in 1940.
So does that make Olga the flesh-and-blood archetype for The Joker’s girlfriend Harley-Quin? Well, maybe not, but Olga has been inspiring fans of horror for more than eighty years and her reign looks to be far from over.
Classic Hollywood started this edition, so it’s fitting our next screamer has connections to the Golden Era of film as well.
34. Drew Barrymore (Firestarter, Cat’s Eye, Scream, Donnie Darko):
As third generation Hollywood royalty, you would think that Drew Barrymore could have put her feet up and not have worried about making everyone feel the fear. But, to the good fortune of audiences, Drew started early, appearing as Stephen King’s favorite pyro-kenetic in Firestarter at age nine. She followed that performance up the King written Cat’s-Eye a year later.
While neither was as big a box-office success as 1982′s E.T the Extraterrestrial (which she appeared in when she was all of seven), both movies proved she had the acting chops to hold her own with everyone from Alan King to James Woods to George C. Scott. And the screen presence be a lead actor as well.
Alas, the dangers of young, quick stardom hit Drew hard, so we were robbed of her emerging talent through most of her teen years. Fluttering attempts at a comeback came and went (Notably, her intentionally kitschy performance in the jail-bait Poison Ivy series: a non-factor for our purposes). But 1996′s horror homage and send-up, Scream brought her back to mainstream success and horror prominence despite less than 10 minutes of screen time. She literally belongs on this list for one of the most iconic on-screen screams of all time. And that wonderful promotional poster.
Having gotten back on the Hollywood success train, Barrymore didn’t long neglect the horror audience as 2001′s Donnie Darko might be strangest mainstream movie yet made this century. Giant, fanged rabbits? Ethereal voices from beyond? Both Gyllenhalls in the same movie? Weird stuff.
Not much in the horror vein has come from Drew since then. (Leading the author of this piece to rant for a moment. Why is it we’ve had three versions of Carrie and a book sequel to The Shining sure to be filmed in the future, yet no follow-up vehicle for Drew as everyone’s favorite pyro? Just askin’…)
Along with her Hollywood blue-bloodlines, Barrymore has a spiritual connection to another classic screamer still to come on this list. But right now, it’s time for another queen who started early..
33. Heather O’Rourke (Poltergeist I-III)
As mentioned previously, O’Rourke is one of the youngest scream queens on this list, one whose brief impact was most powerful and one whose life was among the most tragic. At age six, she electrified audiences with her performance as Carol Anne Freeling in 1982′s Tobe Hoper directed, Steven Spielberg produced, Poltergeist. At age twelve, she was gone too soon, leaving rumors and conspiracy theories in the wake of her passing.
While the substance of Poltergeist divides fans still, horror there was little doubt that the kids of the film stole the show. And that O’Rourke’s performance was the top of the heap. Even the promos for the film were among the most iconic of the era. If you can remember the commercials for the film, which consisted of O’Rourke sitting before a snowy TV screen as the camera pans out behind her, ultimately with her turning toward the lens to say the words “They’re here…” in that little voice… Well, you remember absolute horror magic (and you’re getting old).
The popcorn movie success of Poltergeist spawned two sequels starring O’Rourke. While neither was as big a hit as the first, the second is fondly remembered by horror buffs for actually having some chance for the young actress to show some character development and range.
O’Rourke’s death on Feb. 1st, 1988 stunned the entertainment world. Just six years after her debut she died while eating breakfast at her family home, the victim of advanced Crohn’s Disease leading in turn to a cardiac arrest.
Gossip and rumors still swirl around her untimely demise. Horror fans have even entertained the idea of a “Curse of Poltergeist,” which, according to urban legend, is responsible for other untimely deaths involving castmates and crew who worked on the film.
Whatever the story may be, O’Rourke’s impact for her brief time in the spotlight will never been forgotten by horror fans.
One of the youngest screamers on the list is right next to one of our more mature members, who proved to horror lovers for all time that she was one mean mother…
32. Betsy Palmer (Friday the 13th: 1980 original, The Fear: Resurrection, Bell Witch: The Movie):
They say nobody will love you like your dear old mom. And in Jason Voorhees’ case this was true in spades… And axes. And scythes. And pruning shears.
Palmer’s portrayal of Pamela Voorhees, the grief stricken mother of a shy, social inept, non-swimmer who drowned at summer camp while the supervisory teens drank and fornicated, led to an absolute clone explosion of American “slasher” films, including her own undead son in the following sequels. (Yep, 11 in all,, folks. And that’s not counting the 2009 remake)
Loosely based on Giallo horror master Mario Bava’s film, Death at the Lake, Friday the 13th, may be the most influential American horror movie of all time if the sheer numberof imitators is the measure of success. The 80′s were the decade of the slasher film and F13 was always the biggest and baddest of them all, ruling the roost with higher body counts and more outrageous death sequences. But before the bodies really started hitting the floor, the premise revolved around Palmer’s Voorhees and her determination to make horny, drunk teenagers pay for the needless death of her son.
Palmer’s performance itself is part camp and part cautionary tale, but resonated so much with the sub-genre that her character’s rather Old Testament style of correcting bad behavior became the unspoken norm for how to construct these type of films. In fact, she probably did more to stop casual, on-screen teen sex than anything since the old Pre-MPAA Decency Codes.
Betsy came by the Voorhees role honestly, after decades of service as a character actor doing bit roles in movies and on series TV. Already in her fifties when F13 was made, Palmer proved that age is just a number when it comes to scaring people. And in the 30-plus years since, she’s gone on to work regularly in TV with the occasional film role here and there, including a well-recommended turn in the Bell Witch. She’s also a well-loved celebrity attendee at horror conventions across the world, even now into her eighties. Let’s hope her reign of terror has at least that many years left.
As Palmer got her biggest roles before F13 on television, it’s somewhat fitting that the next screamer on our list made her splash in on the small screen…
31. Malia Nurmi (TV’s original “Vampira”, Plan 9 from Outer Space):
As a ground breaking figure in horror culture, Nurmi has few equals, even if at the time she did it, nobody understood what was happening. Perhaps the first horror performer who the term “scream queen” was properly applied to, Nurmi won over the hearts and the other various body parts of her legion of fans as the late-night hostess of LA-based Channel Seven’s assortment of b- films during the early 50′s. Bad movies, corny humor and generous amounts of cheesecake garnered Nurmi fans, recognition and even an Emmy nomination in 1954.
Taking her iconic, dark-glam “gothic” look from the images of New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams’ Morticia, Nurmi’s Vampira persona paved the way for a new style of beauty in the 50′s, marching right in time with the edgy, sophisticated look of her great contemporary, Bettie Page. The shaded eyes, blood red fingernails and flowing jet black hair enthralled and intrigued audiences, taking Nurmi from a local horror hostess to coast-to-coast sensation.
The timeless, darkly elegant look of Vampira was a far cry from the previous image of the athletic, blond former beauty contestant who was born Malia Syrjäniemi in Finland in 1921. After adopting the surname of her famous Olympic-medal winning uncle, Nurmi sought to let her star shine in Hollywood, only to see opportunity after opportunity vanish into thin air. You see, as Malia Nurmi, she was just another blond waiting on line for a bit role. But as Vampiria….
Sadly for Nurmi, her primetime on the horror stage was all to brief. After a initial flurry of attention and promises of a national TV show starring Vampira, the attention of the Hollywood powers that be dried up. By 1959, she was taking bit roles with fringe filmmakers like Ed Wood, making an appearance as a ghoul in his infamous Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Though that film has achieved a strange immortality, (often named by horror and sci-fi fans as the worst film of all time) at its release it was an absolute career killer for all involved (even for Bela Lugosi, who, by the time the film hit the screen, was actually dead). By the early sixties, Nurmi had ceased performing as Vampira, seemingly ending an era before it started.
But, like many trailblazers, Nurmi’s Vampira was just slightly ahead of her time. The boom of the youth culture in the 60′s gave Vampira new life as the emerging nostalgia and memorabilia markets began to morph into the modern fandom culture. West coast kids who grew up seeing Vampira began writing Nurmi for a picture or an autograph. The first personal appearance requests for the character started to pile up. By the end of the 60′s, like all good ghouls, Vampira had risen from the grave.
Nurmi spent a good portion of her latter years as horror’s unofficial grand dame, going to conventions, signing autographs, meeting fans and most importantly inspiring other young female horror fans to follow in her footsteps. Every subsequent horror host, male or female, owes something Nurmi. And as is evident at cons and cos-play sites around the world, Vampira still lives on in the hearts and minds of many who fell in love with her Goth aesthetic. After Nurmi’s passing in 2008, her Los Angeles grave site has become a place of pilgrimage for horror buffs, seeking to pay homage to her lasting impact.
For Malia Nurmi, we might be tempted to say imitation was the highest form of flattery. However, when she sued a former protege (who also happens to be on this list) for stealing her proprietary performance concept of Vampira, being flattered wasn’t on her mind.
But that’s for later. Right now, we have our ranking’s first tie, but don’t worry, I don’t expect any in-fighting between our next two queens..
30. Lisa and Louisa Burns (The Shining):
The second and third screamers from Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1980 masterwork, The Shining. The real life identical twins had their one and only film appearance as the ghosts of the father-butchered Grady twins and uttered together one of the great, creepy horror film lines of all time, enticing young Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) to come and play with them…Forever… And ever…And ever. (All together now!)
Despite being so fearfully perfect at age 10, the Burns twins turned into very lovely, well adjusted members of society finding fulfilling lives outside of the world of entertainment. Living in their native England, Lisa and Louisa have become quite active recently on Twitter and welcome all their fans past and present to follow them at @Shining_twins, where they answer questions about the film and their lives with seemingly endless graciousness.
So, for all the studies that tell you that you will become a crazed killer if you like horror, just point to the Burns twins as a case where even being the daughters of a fictional axe-murder didn’t keep them from being perfectly nice people. So there!
This tie between screamers was so much fun, we’re going to do it again for our next ranking…
29. Lisa Leandersson/Chloe Grace Moretz (Let the Right One In/Let Me In):
Again a tie here is justified as we have to young screamers who played two halves of same eternally pre-teen vampire film role, Eli for Leadersson in 2008′s Swedish original Let the Right One In and Abby for Moretz in 2010′s American version Let Me In. Each actress brought a eerie, brooding presence to the screen but there were also some nuances that each individually brought to the role.
Leadersson’s Eli was as dark and fearsome as the Swedish winter in which she spent her screen time and Moretz’s Abby was as mysterious and ethereal as the high, New Mexico plain where her film took place. Both young actress were worthy of the superlatives thrown their way and their performances spoke of many good things to come.
Now the elephant in the room for this ranking is Moretz’s turn as the thrice-filmed Carrie White in 2013. Personally, that film version of the character almost might be a strike against her given the strength of the almost Top 50er Angela Bettis and another fellow Top 50er who will remain nameless right now.
The faults of the newest Carrie lie more at the feet of director Kimberly Pierce than Moretz’s performance, in my opinion. Neither is awful, but given the directing and acting lineage of the role, the third version of Carrie is the one that no actor will want to hang her hat on.
Her turn in 2012′s film version of Dark Shadows is also out for reasons I detailed in the previous installment of this list. Double that exclusion for her role in 2005′s The Amityville Horror remake (another side rant: no remakes of horror movies whose original versions were already awful. That’s like double-dipping your chip).
So at the end, Moretz belongs in this ranking on the strength of Let Me In and that film alone. That also means that Chloe is stuck being tied with Lisa here, but fortunately I think the best is yet to come with both actresses, both in and out of the horror genre. Keep an eye on them and maybe in five years or so, they could both see their rankings rise. But, I’m sure, with all respect, that they would prefer to do it separately.
Leadersson and Moretz together created a character that made the Top 30 on this blood-curdling list of terror. But yet another even younger, more iconic vampire performance awaits us later on in our ranking. But now, perhaps the screamer who delivered the greatest shock in horror history…
28. Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp, Sleepaway Camp II, Satan’s Playground, etc.):
Well, we’ve come to the queen who managed to shock the world as much as any one on this list. And shock she did… Or at least, as her character in Sleepaway Camp, “she”….err… Well, that’s why that particular performance stands out, right? (Let’s get the puns out of the way early.)
On the surface, Rose’s Angela Baker in 1983′s Sleepaway Camp seemed to be another in the long line of “slasher” knockoff killers that proliferated in the wake of Friday the 13th. We even had the same summer camp theme, the social awkward killer, the strange, menacing mother-figure, the horny, irresponsible teens… In many ways, Sleepaway Camp lived up expressly to the second part of its title and probably would have been thought of as a well-crafted, but unoriginal movie moment in a decade filled with body-count films… If it hadn’t been for that ending.
Now, I don’t want to ruin that big reveal if you’ve never seen the film (and if you haven’t, horror fan, shame on you!). But in the light of the big twist, Rose’s performance takes on a new dimension, full of subtlety and half-noticed characteristics. While still by no means a classic film, Angela Baker is made memorable by more than just the expertise of the make-up/effects crew in that final scene. And the film as a whole proves the adage that horror cinema knows how to deal with controversial, shocking topics light years before anybody in mainstream movie making. (Take that, Crying Game!)
Winning the role in Sleepaway Camp at thirteen, the film proved to be a career setting gateway drug for Felissa, who, after attending New York’s Tisch School for the Arts has returned periodically to the field of horror over the years, appearing in such video classics as Zombieggedon, Slaughter Party and Evil Ever After. Her loyal horde of fans are well known on the horror convention scene and her appearances and signings are hotly anticipated events.
Rose is a true queen of the genre and has made a place second to few, even on this list. And when it comes to finales, she’ll never leave you hanging. (sorry, couldn’t resist). But our next queen has the distinction of being a trailblazer in more ways than one…
27. Jenny Wright (Near Dark, The Lawnmower Man):
Wright’s tenure in the horror mainstream was short, but oh-so sweet, as Near Dark is perhaps more widely acclaimed now than in its 1987 hey-day. At the time, it was the first respectable budget film for a rising director in Kathryn Bigelow (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and proved to be the project that broke her into the consciousness of larger Hollywood. And as time has passed, Near Dark has shown its endurance as both as an individual work and as a inspiration for later, more successful vampire films.
As Mae, Wright is part of an ancient family-group of vampires who have spent years hiding in rural America in attempt to keep ahead of both prying eyes and sharpened stakes. But, a strange thing happened on the way to keeping her vampiric secret as she becomes romantically involved with a human named Caleb, who she ends up turning into…
What’s that? You say you’ve heard the plot of this movie before? Yup, Near Dark proves once again that true blue horror movies are always ahead of the crowd. Too bad for Wright and Bigelow that their film preceded the Stephanie Meyers money train by almost two decades.
The parallels of the two works have been a cause celeb for many horror buffs since the meteoric success of the Twilight films, giving hard-core fans more reasons to bash Meyers and her paranormal romance. But none of the modern controversy affects the powerhouse performance of Wright, who brings the bloody as part of a very measured and sympathetic performance. Love hurts for this pairing of star-crossed lovers. And unlike their sparkly descendants, there’s no happy ending at the end of the rainbow awaiting them.
Bigelow’s further success in the mainstream also makes this film a watershed. The genre gets a great boost by her setting of the mood, the framing her sequences and her legendary eye for action. All the elements that Bigelow is noted for in later films such as Point Break, her Academy-Award winning film The Hurt Locker and 2013′s Zero Dark Thirty are on full display. And her direction lets Wright shine in manner that she rarely had the chance to later.
Near Dark proved to be the peak for Wright after an early career which marked her appearing in such crowd favorites as The Executioner’s Song and St. Elmo’s Fire. After starring in the mid-range genre pieces I, Madman and Young Guns II, she returned to scream more fully in Britt Leonard’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Lawnmower Man, which, unfortunately, shared almost nothing in common with the source material. Wright, out of acting since 1998, winked out of the firmament of horror stars after a short time on top. But, given the sturdy and growing legacy of Near Dark, there’s always a glittering dark crown for her in our hearts.
26. Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth):
Youth again is served on our list as Ivana’s performance in Guillermo Del Toro’s magically dark masterpiece El Laberinto del Fauno (released under the English title: Pan’s Labyrinth) has propelled her into the Top 30 of her fellow screamers. Pan’s Labyrinth garnered Baquero not just the praise of fans, but also a Goya Award in her native Spain as well as a Critics Choice Award in the US.
Winning the role of Ofelia over nearly a thousand other hopefuls, Baquero delivered one of the most moving and emotional performances in the genre’s history. As a city girl forced to move to the country to please her Franco loyalist step-father during the Spanish Civil War, Baquero gives us insight into the world of a lonely child who seemingly escapes into the world of fantasy rather than deal with the realities of life in wartime. But when the dangers of her “fantasy” world and the “real” world collide, Baquero’s Ofelia is forced to become the heroic princess she’s always imagined herself to be.
Baquero’s Ofelia is equally tender and tragic. Borrowing from horror themes past, Del Toro lets the audience make up its own mind about the validity of the supernatural in the film, making the character’s death either a great triumph of magical realism or just another young casualty of a senseless civil war. Both interpretations are affecting and as Ivana draws upon a with a screen presence that belied her twelve years and is captivating from start to finish.
Baquero has spent the majority of her time since Pan’s Labyrinth finishing her studies but still has found time to appear in several Spanish and American films. Her most recent full-length role in 2009′s The New Daughter is perhaps too obscure for even die-hard genre buffs (confession: this Luis Berdejo helmed, Kevin Costner starring, direct-to-video orphan was so under the radar that I had never heard of it before writing this article.) but given the depth and importance of her performance in Pan’s Labyrinth, we suspect that great things for Ivana are still to come.
25. Jessica Harper (The Phantom of Paradise, Suspiria):
If you want to make it into the Top 25 of all time scream queens, you’ve gotta make sure you take care of business…
First, you have to work with the best directors the genre has to offer. Second, you have to be in some of the genre’s films. Third, you’ve gotta have performances that either make the audience say they want more, or bring so much terror to the screen that you want them to stop. Jessica Harper’s work in the Brian De Palma’s gore fest The Phantom of Paradise and in Dario Argento’s mayhem masterpiece Suspiria are slam dunks in all three areas.
Harper’s hook-up with horror coincided with the rise of great crop of “grindhouse”m directors in the 70′s. Back then, if you could splatter the screen with enough fake blood and guts to fill a midnight movie showing, you could get a modest budget and enough creative freedom to show what you would do on a more “legitimate” gig.
Such is the case for 1974′s Phantom, which on the surface, was a merciless send-up of 70′s disco culture, mixed with the classical elements of Phantom of the Opera. Never did the leisure suit and mirror ball crowd meet a more fitting demise than in this movie.
Harper’s Phoenix is the bad girl love interest for this edition of the Phantom, shamelessly leaving our monstrous but sensitive hero for his rich, handsome, nemesis. But worry not, oh karma police, because for her faithlessness, she gets the wrath of the Phantom like few others ever have. (And you thought they just sang duets in that movie!)
If Harper let her inner villain shine with De Palma, as Dario Argento’s Suzy Bannion, she’s perhaps most endangered damsel in distress in the history of horror cinema. Suspiria divides audiences unlike any other film of the past forty years. Argento’s mixture of surrealism, hallucinatory images and ultra-violence either make you jaw drop or your stomach heave. Or both…
Just watching Harper survive the relentless brutality of the film should have qualified her for some kind of Obamacare. You fear for Jessica so much during Suspiria’s harrowing visual experience, you feel like you should be checking on her to see if she’s doing okay. The film came out in 1977 and I still want to send her a “it gets better” Hallmark card.
Thankfully, Harper is fine, acting occasionally (as her role in 2002′s Minority Report shows) and writing a successful string of children’s books. Given the horror heights she reached, her fans are more than happy to see her take it easy.
The expression of fear can be a powerful element of a screamer’s performance. Jessica Harper let us see the face of fear, something she shares in common with the next queen on our list.
24. Heather Donahue (The Blair Witch Project):
Donahue lands in the Top 25 because of one iconic performance that changed the horror game. Now, it could be argued that the change wasn’t all for the better… But 1999′s The Blair Witch Project was a game changer, make no mistake. The “found footage” motif in horror films has proven its staying power, given the number of big-budget imitators that have followed the trend.
But when co-directors and co-screenwriters Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez scraped together $60,000 dollars to make Blair Witch, all they they had was a script, three cameras, three actors and no set. What resulted was the first case of a film going “viral” as the fledgling network of servers and routers we now call the Internet (remember when you used to use the term “World Wide Web?”) exploded the film into the mainstream zeitgeist. For fame’s fifteen minutes, the creators and cast of Blair Witch were everywhere. And Donahue’s performance was a big reason why.
Heather plays a fictionalized version of herself, serving as the film’s narrator, organizer and land-bound Captain Ahab. It’s her drive to make the movie within the movie that starts the terror rolling and as the situation devolves, it’s her guilt that moves the film forward.
The tent scene was perhaps the most emotional horror movie moment of the decade. Donahue’s improvised dialogue and ability to take you into her terror fueled the short-lived perception that Blair Witch really was a true account of three kids in the woods who never returned. Not bad for an actor who essentially was flying by the seat of her pants in her first speaking role. And due in no small part to her on-screen ability, the $60,000 student film made $248 million worldwide.
Unfortunately for Donahue and all the Blair Witch team, the success and acclaim that came with the film went just as quickly. The sequel was a flop of epic proportions, barely earning at the box office what the first film cost. This was despite a budget in the millions.
Donahue’s performance went from a badge of honor to a mark of shame just as quickly. Horror performances always walk the thin line between self-exploration and self-parody and her physical, visceral, snot dripping moment in the spotlight became the stuff of spoofs and caricature.
Stranger still, there arose an angry backlash at Donahue by fans and critics, almost if she had done something personally offensive to them. A workman(workwoman?)-like career in film stalled permanently in 2008, with Heather stating many times in the years since that the backlash from Blair Witch made her quit acting.
Indeed, fame is fleeting and fans can be fickle. But for a single moment in horror, Heather Donahue was the screamer heard around the world. Hopefully someday soon, she will be appreciated for her timeless horror moment.
Enough pathos! On to our next queen of scream…
23. Marilyn Burns (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, original 1974, Eaten Alive, etc):
When grindcore met grimy, it was Marilyn Burns turn to scream and survive. If George Romero ushered in a new era of horror with 1968′s Night of the Living Dead, then Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (yes, folks, that’s the way the original title appears. Accept no substitutes!) was the first widely successful film to build on his bloody foundation.
Shot down and dirty in the course of about two weeks in the Lone Star state, Burns’ Sally Hardesty and friends just want to go to grandpa’s house. But no one told them that grandpa lives next to the weirdest bunch of cannibal freaks in the history of cinema. Despite being nice kids, Sally’s friends get hooked, chopped, gutted and torn to shreds. And that’s all before the chainsaw comes out.
Burns somehow survived the on screen insanity and the hundred plus degree temperatures on the interior set (and you thought Leatherface had AC). The grueling conditions just add to the grimy, gritty atmosphere of the film. You can almost see the desperation clinging to Burn’s Hardesty like a second skin. Or maybe that was just the Texas good earth…
Burns teamed again with Hooper for 1977′s Eaten Alive, played a Manson-Girl in the well-remembered TV adaptation of Helter Skelter and has worked in the genre on and off during the years since TCM. Most notably, she’s appeared in the various versions of the film from Next Generation to TCM 3D in 2013.
The docket is full for Burns as she currently has two films in post-production that will be warmly greeted by the horror community. Let’s hope that script flips enough for her to enjoy a tall, cool beverage.
22. Susan Sarandon (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Hunger):
Our next queen proves that there’s more than one way to scream over the course of a career. Her Janet Weiss in 1975′s The Rocky Horror Picture Show lit up the screen and inspired some classic bad behavior in what many consider the greatest cult film in America cinema.
RHP has inspired three generations of fans to sing, dance and make fun of its dialogue, all in the name of a good time. Sarandon’s Janet may have had the best time of any scream queen on our list as Tim Roth’s gender bending Dr. Frank-N-Furter is at times a welcome distraction from her oh-so goody-goody finance, Brad (Brian Bostwick). (And, ok, there’s some who argue that Roth belongs on this list. But when you go all Mad Clown on people, they tend forget about how well you danced in fishnet stockings.)
But, as near and dear as Janet is to horror buffs, it is her turn in 1982′s The Hunger that ignites the admiration of fandom. As Sarah Roberts, Sarandon takes Tony Scott’s adaption of Whitley Striber’s erotic vampire tale to a different level, separating the film from blood-suckers both past and present. With a performance that both shocked and stunned audiences at the time, The Hunger is often included as one of the genre’s most respected films and set the stage for the modern exploration of the vampire as a figure of erotica and seduction .
Sarandon hasn’t spent much time in the genre since, but remains one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood, with nearly 60 movies to her credit in the 39 years since RHP. But you never know… Maybe the itch to scream will return. This is a woman associated with time warps, you know.
Susan Sarandon’s turn in terror got her into the Top 25. But her co-star in The Hunger has been called just a little higher… How much higher? Well, that we’ll have to wait for, because next up at Number 21 is…
Jessica Lange (“American Horror Story” seasons I-III):
It is one of the great ironies of modern Hollywood that one of America’s truly great film performers, with two Academy Awards to her name, is having perhaps the greatest late career comeback of all time on cable television. But that’s exactly why Lange lands in the Top 25. One of the corner pieces of the new “golden age” of television has been Lange’s truly awe-inspiring work on “American Horror Story,” the exquisitely written and produced anthology show on basic cable’s FX channel.
For each of its three seasons to date, Lange has captivated and commanded as three very different, very complex women: tortured mother, Fiona Goode, repentant sinner and sadist, Sister Jude Martin and dying supreme witch, Constance Langdon. For her portrayal of Goode, Lange won an Emmy and a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Dramatic Mini Series in 2011 and has been a strong contender for the same honors in each of the show’s two other seasons.
Her work has become the stuff that acting dreams are made of. Powerful, nuanced and unpredictable…. Yes, “AHS’” success is a testament to the skill of co-showrunners Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy. But it also has a victory lap for a performer who proves that greatness can still come despite having already touched the sky many times.
Not bad for a gal whose career was supposedly over after her movie debut in 1976′s King Kong remake (confession: This author has a huge soft spot for that film, despite its flaws. And, it ain’t so easy to remake a classic. Ask Peter Jackson).
Lange has risen again and again to surprise, dazzle and amaze us, making the news that the fourth season of “AHS” will likely be her last even more disheartening. But while she hasn’t screaming long, Jessica Lange has proven, for some, that being horror royalty is just in the blood. Preferably the blood of others.
Can it be that we’ve reached the Top 20? We’ve already covered twenty-nine of the greatest queens in the history of horror. But trust me, the best is still yet to come…
Have we already named your favorite? Or is the dark queen of your heart still lurking in the wings? Who will make to the Top 10? Get back to DarkMedia for Part Three ASAP! And let us know what you think of our rankings so far.
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