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The first Scream Queen, Jeanne d’Alcy was the female lead in the film: Le Manoir du Diable (The Devil’s Manor) (1896) which is widely acclaimed as the first ever Horror film. Although there were no ‘Talkies’ (film with synchronised sound) until 1927 with the release of ‘The Jazz Singer’ the first Frankenstein (1910)starred Mary Fuller (1888-1973). Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1910) was a Danish production and as such, a few females are listed but none as specific Lead these were: Emilie Sannom (1886-1931) Julie Henriksen and Ella La Cour (1854-1935). The Werewolf (1913) starred Phyllis Gordon (1889-1964) and she was listed as: ‘Watuma, daughter of Kee-On-Ee’
The early movies were in glorious black & white and of the silent variety but these few were just the predecessors to the genre which gave stars such as Fay Wray, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner, Maureen O’Hara, Gina Lollobrigida, Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren, Jamie Lee Curtis and (as they say) many, many more the chance to shine as ‘Scream Queens’.
To begin with, the female lead was very much just a case of ‘eye candy’ and something for the Male Lead to rescue in order to become the Hero of the piece. Over the decades, women have taken much more of a forward step and though they are still beautiful, vulnerable and sexy, they can also be extremely violent, crafty and very able to take care of themselves (as it should be).
They know how to weild shotguns, knives, chainsaws and most importanly, they know that the ONLY way to kill a zombie is decapitation or a direct shot to the head!
Whilst there are still the odd few bang-your-head-against-a-wall moments when the Hero instructs (with all due authority on the matter) “Stay here, where its safe!” and off he goes, only to have her follow on regardless, to get her lovely self into a bit of bother where the guy has to stop what he’s doing (saving the world) in order to rescue his new-found love (cut to the cliche). Most of the modern movies no longer have the female lead wailing her socks off, dress torn, hair awry and make-up streaked by her tears of relief as she spots the Hero running to resuce her because she didn’t do as she was told and stayed where she was put.
The epitome of the weak and needy female lead was, I think, way back at the first half of last century. The classic pose of woman, leaning backwards slightly, the back of her hand raised to her forehead, eyes closed just on the verge of swooning (oh PULEEZE! Give me a break here!) – I need to know who thought that one up?
I believe that heroines such as Amelia Earhart (1897-1937 missing presumed dead) would have had something to say about that image, I’m sure!
“Me Tarzan, you Jane” and the like did nothing to further the women’s rights movement either and though movies are becoming more realistic in the way they view women (or at least some women) Hollywood is still more than a little chauvinistic. I suppose it’s because the Caveman is still very much a part of the male psyche and they like to think that they are needed for their superior strength sometimes…
In every Tarzan movie I remember, from Johnny Weissmuller to Christopher Lambert, poor Jane has had to be rescued from maraudering natives or a man-eating lion – or in the case of Carry on up the Jungle – a man in a gorilla suit…
I know these are strictly not horror movies but the ladies did know how to scream!
In the 1980s a new genre of horror arrived on our screens. Halloween starring Jamie Lee Curtis being one of the most memorable movies in this era in my opinion.
Halloween launched Jamie Lee Curtis’s career as a Movie star and she has reprised her role as Laurie Strode in various Halloween sequels namely, Halloween II, Halloween H20 – 20 years later and Halloween: Resurrection. Curtis also played an uncredited role as the Phone Operator in Halloween III.
Friday the 13th, The Shining, Evil Dead, Poltergeist all were products of the early 80s and all were watched with avid fascination by millions and probably still are. The sequels and remakes of the movies from the 80s pay tribute to the fascination we have with the horror genre.
Back to the subject at hand, what makes a good Scream Queen great?
As I mentioned before, beauty is a given, as is a great body, but most important of all (of course) is possession of a set of fantastic vocal chords. There is no point going to an audition for the next Scream Queen movie if you have the scream of a laryngitic dormouse – you’ll not get the part.
Charisma also has to play some part in the role; it’s no good if you’re the type of person that everyone would queue up to be Jason in Friday 13thor Michael Myers in Halloween just for the opportunity of being the one that gets to murder you. I wonder if that’s the reason Paris Hilton was cast in House of Wax?
The audience has to feel anxiety for the Heroine’s safety. The edge-of-the-seat moments are caused by the empathy felt towards the characters in the movie and if there’s none of that emotion, the cause is lost and the movie is a bust. Likewise, the bad guy has to be feared or hated enough to stimulate aforementioned empathy and without one or the other (preferably both) then the sympathy is not going to be developed enough for you to watch to the end of the movie.
I have never walked out of a movie half-way through, but there are a few that, once they were out on DVD, I have been glad I didn’t go to the cinema to watch on the big screen because I may have been tempted.
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Source by D Michelle Gent
