50
Great Scream Queens Part 1 of 4: The Euro Queens
Scream Queen. What an
interesting nomenclature. No other genre has such a popularly recognized name
for its performers. But what does the term mean? How does one become a Scream
Queen? Well like, one of my old professors told me, it’s like the difference
between punk and rock n’ roll. He knew it when he heard it.
Broadly
speaking, a Scream Queen is a woman who stars in a horror movie, but that’s not
really enough. Mia Farrow starred in Rosemary’s Baby, one of the scariest and
best known horror films around, but no one considers her to be a Scream Queen.
No, for an actor to be a Scream Queen, horror needs to be one of the first
things, if not the very first thing, that comes to mind when you hear her name.
It’s
interesting that the concept of a “Scream King” has never caught on given that
(arguably) the best known names in the genre belong to men. Lugosi, Karloff,
Cushing, Lee and Price are some of the pillars of the genre, but somehow they
occupy a different place in our collective pop culture consciousness.
There
are different kinds of Scream Queens. Some are women who have devoted most of
their careers to horror. Others have had wide ranging careers but made
significant contributions to horror along with their other works. Some are
house hold names known by movie fans who don’t even like horror. Others are
known almost exclusively to horror fans, their names becoming a kind of litmus
test that allow fellow fans to spot the faithful.
What
follows in this entry, and over the next few weeks, is my celebration (some
might say devoted adoration) of these women. I’ve made a list of 50 great
Scream Queens that I will talk about over the next few weeks. Notice that I said “Great” not
“Greatest”. The horror field is too large and goes back too far for anyone to
have a truly comprehensive knowledge. There
are ,no doubt, many women, unknown to me, whose contributions have been greater
than some of those that made my list.
Also, why a list of 50? Well, 10 was definitely not enough. 20 barely
got me out of the usual suspects. 100 was far too many (at some point your list
ends up being an encyclopedia). So 50 was a good cut off. Even at 50 there were
about 10 actors that I kept going back and forth with that ended up being cut
in favor of others.
Rather
than just a long list I have divided them up into groups; European Scream
Queens, character creators (those actors known mainly for one important part),
the workhorses of the genre (those actors whose work has kept the genre going
but maybe don’t get credit for being Scream Queens), and finally the sort of
crème de la crème, those actors that I considered most important to the
genre.
Also, FYI, many of these
actors could fit into multiple categories, so if you don’t see your favorite
performer, just wait, she may show up in a later post.
The
Euro Queens
Hollywood (mainly
Universal Studios) owned the horror genre through the 1930s and 40s. It’s hard
to compete with the likes of Lugosi and Karloff. Universal’s special kind of
gothic horror, sometimes deadly serious, sometimes tongue in cheek was hugely
successful, making their properties recognizable around the world. All of that
would change by the end of the 40s.
Maybe it
was all the real world horror that everyone had experienced during the
Depression and World War 2. Maybe it was that the ominous threat of nuclear
annihilation suddenly made vampires and werewolves seem quaint. Maybe gothic
horror had just run its course. But whatever the reason, interest in horror had
waned. Oh there were still good horror movies being made. But for the most
part, the 1950’s belonged to science fiction. Universal’s most successful
horror film of that decade, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, was as much
sci-fi as horror.
Meanwhile,
across the pond, another studio was gearing up to bring horror back in a big
way, and that’s just what Hammer Studios did. With their one-two punch of Peter
Cushing and Christopher Lee, they revitalized the gothic horror genre with
Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and quickly followed that up with Horror of Dracula and The Mummy. Through the 1960s, the best horror being made was being
made by Hammer, but by the 1970s, interest in those films had begun to decline
as well. Hammer held on, and in a flurry of creativity, turned out some of
their best movies in the first few years of the 70s, but by the middle of the
decade they were done.
Through
the 50s and 60s, horror had continued in America (the Vincent Price /RogerCorman collaborations being the best example), but it was still second banana
behind science fiction. American horror would come back in a big way (thanks to
the video store) with a kind of horror Renaissance in the 1980s.
But with the end of Hammer
there was a vacuum left in horror and it was filled by films from continental
Europe, especially Italy and Spain. Their own brand of horror had come into its
own in the 60s with the films of Barbara Steele, but the permissiveness of the
70s allowed for sexier and more gruesome movies than anyone had previously
attempted, and the European horror scene was at the forefront.
These
new Scream Queens were a whole new breed, emblematic of the times. They were mysterious
and risqué. They pushed sex to new limits (sometimes pornographically).
Sexiness has always been a part of the Scream Queen phenomenon, but now it was
a defining characteristic. But it wasn’t the coquettishness of the Universal
Horror stars or even the voluptuous glamor of the Hammer starlets. Some of
these new Scream Queens seemed downright dangerous! And that danger added to
their appeal.
It might
be tempting to see these actors (and these movies) as a kind of place holder, keeping
the fires burning between the Hammer era and the rebirth of American horror in
the 1980s. That would be inaccurate though. Their sexuality was an extension of
what had been happening in Hammer toward the end of its life and would heavily
influence the American horror genre of the 1980s. They were, in every way, part
of the natural evolution of the genre and the Scream Queen phenomenon.
-Asia Argento- Asia is a member if the First Family of
Italian horror. Her father, Dario Argento directed some of those most important
Italian horror films of all time (maybe second only to Mario Bava). As stated
above, her mother, Daria Nicolodi, starred in movies by both Dario and Mario.
Asia’s first horror role was
at the age of 10 in Lamberto Bava’s Demons 2. She had a much bigger role a few
years later in its sequel, The Church.
In 1993 she joined her father for Trauma, the first of several movies that
she would star in for her dad including the bizarre The Stendhal Syndrome, The
Phantom of the Opera, Mother of Tears and the regrettable Dracula 3D (2012).
Her horror career followed the trajectory of her father and she hasn’t done any
horror in years. But even if she doesn’t
make another horror film, she’ll always be an important part of 80s and 90s
Italian horror.
-Helga Liné- German born and raised in Portugal and Spain
(her family fled Nazi Germany) Helga’s heritage symbolized the continental
flavor of Euro horror from the mid-1960s through late 1970s. As a child and
teenager she was a circus performer before becoming a model and later an actor.
She starred in several sword and sandal movies before appearing with Barbara
Steel in Nightmare Castle (1964). She starred in some westerns, spy dramas and
comedies before starring in the murder mystery, Kriminal and its sequel. In
1972, she starred in Horror Express with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
Her greatest horror role
came the next year in Horror Rises from the Tomb where she shared the screen
with (and stole the scenes from) Spanish horror icon Paul Naschy. She played a
witch returned from the grave to wreak havoc and get revenge.
She joined Naschy again for
The Mummy’s Revenge. She had another big role as the sexy supernatural villain
in The Lorely’s Grasp. She made a few more horror films over the next few years
including Dracula Saga, The Vampire’s Night Orgy (great name!) and even starred
opposite of Mexican wrestling icon Santo in Santo vs. Death. One of her last
horror roles was as the leader of a Satanic cult in Black Candles.
-Erika Blanc- Erika has worked in Italian, German,
Spanish, and Belgian movies, across multiple genres. Though her acting career
has been incredibly long (over 50 years) her horror career was only a small
part of that. However, she has contributed to some memorable and important
movies. Her first horror role was in 1965’s La vendetta di Lady Morgan, an
Italian gothic horror about a vengeful ghost. She followed that up with The
Third Eye and Kill Baby…Kill!
For the next several years
Erika stayed very busy with movies in several genres; spy thrillers, action,
and westerns. She returned to horror in 1971 with a very memorable role in The
Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (great name!). That same year she starred as
a succubus in The Devil’s Nightmare. In 1973 she starred in Mark of the Devil
2. In 1975 she finished the horror arc of her career, starring with Paul Naschy
in the serial killer drama, A Dragonfly for Each Corpse.
-Julie Saly- Julie is one of the workhorses of Euro
horror; a name you may not recognize but a face you definitely know. She had a
small part in Amando de Ossorio’s Demon Witch Child in 1975 and then a more
prominent role in the finale to Ossario’s famous Blind Dead Saga, Night of the
Seagulls. A few years later she starred with Paul Naschy in the very creepy and
sexy Inquisition.
Her crowning horror
achievement (again with Naschy) was starring as the lead villain, a kind of undead
/witch/ vampire version of Elizabeth Bathory, in Night of the Werewolf (1981).
She teamed up with Naschy ,yet again, for the weird horror-thrillers Carnival
of the Beasts and Panic Beats before finally finishing her horror career with
(you guessed it) Paul for the Spanish-Japanese werewolf film, The Beast and the
Magic Sword. Looking at her career in total, it’s kind of hard to imagine what
Paul Naschy would have done without her.
-Britt Nichols- Jess Franco had a few women that were
obviously his muses, appearing again and again in his films and Britt was one
of them. Portuguese by birth, Britt fit in well with the multicultural flavor of
Jess’ films which often featured French, German and Spanish stars. Britt’s
first appearance in horror was being sacrificed by evil Templars in Tomb of the
Blind Dead. After that, she teamed up with Franco to make seven movies in the
next 2 years.
Her best roles were as the
vampiric main character in Dracula’s Daughter (not to be confused with the Universal
horror film of the same name) and in the witchcraft themed lesbian
nunsplitation, The Demons. Her work was during that period when the line
between porn and art was very blurred and this was especially true in The
Demons. The scenes in that movie were pretty graphic and could never be made
today in a theatrically released film. Then, as quick as she appeared, she
disappeared. Britt (who today goes by the name Carmen Yazalde) had a few more
projects over the years but the bulk of her work (and all of her horror work)
seems to be behind her.
-Soledad Miranda- Soledad had a lot of talent and the
potential for her career seemed high. She started in show business as a child
singer then became a dancer and then finally got into acting. She was very busy
making movies (including 2 horror movies)
until she took an early retirement to have a child.
After a 2 year hiatus she
came out of retirement to make 100 Rifles and then began a string of films with
Jess Franco. She played Lucy in Franco’s Count Dracula with Christopher Lee.
She must have sparked Franco’s interest because he planned a whole pack of
films to shoot with her. They made The
Devil Came from Akasava, a spy thriller, before making her most memorable (and
maybe Franco’s most memorable) film, Vampyros Lesbos. It was stylish and sexy
with a brilliant psychedelic soundtrack. Soledad was captivating as the aloof,
aristocratic vampire. The film walked the line between art and erotica
perfectly. They made another excellent
film together, She Killed in Ecstasy and finally the softcore Eugénie de Sade.
Sadly her career was cut
short by a tragic car crash. Soledad didn’t even get to enjoy the success of
these three films. Franco was incredibly prolific (he and Soledad made 5 films
together in about a year or two). As a result, these films were all in post-production
at the time of her death. Vampyros Lesbos didn’t come out until a year after her
death. However, Soledad left us with a few but very memorable and important
performances to remember her by.
That’s all for this
installment. Next time I’ll be looking at Scream Queens who have created memorable characters.
