Scream Queens: shrieking into stardom

It all began with a giant ape

It was in the distant days of 1933 when a young Canadian actress named Fay Wray became the object of contra-natura affection for a big ape. Wray, not yet 30 years of age, was tasked with appearing fainty while in the proximity of the forthcoming animal, and more importantly, to scream when Kong tried his moves on her. To scream a lot. Thus, Ms. Wray would unwittingly become the original Scream Queen, the first of a long breed of beautiful female actors whose high-pitched screeching ability would ensure a place in celluloid history. Lore has it that Wray recorded all her screams for King Kong in one single session, then played back on screen as needed. Wray, though always best remembered as Ann Darrow, King Kong's love interest, would go on to enjoy a long and prosperous career. James Cameron approached her to play Rose in Titanic (1997), but she turned it down. Wray died peacefully in her sleep in 2004, aged 97.

The moniker Scream Queen once carried a sort of stigma, and was mostly associated with less-than-talented-actresses-with-big-breasts who would 'star' mostly on B-movies and show off way more than just their limited thespian abilities. In fact, the actual denomination did not become widely used until the 1980s, so Wray and other contemporary actresses would have cast a strange -and probably derisive- look at you if you referred to them as Scream Queens. Quite simply, they wouldn’t know what you meant. In reality, it wasn't until the advent of VHS and home video back in the 80s that the term became known. VHS opened the floodgates for cheap and cheerful video productions, and the horror genre filled the gap nicely. Home video also gave rise to the independent filmmaking industry, or indie films. Overnight, anyone with a video camera could become a filmmaker, and thus the market became awash with independent films. Once again, horror became a very popular genre indeed.

The poetry of a scream

Why do women scream in movies? Why do their facial features become distorted beyond recognition? To convey terror, you might answer, and you'd get no argument from me. Scream Queens usually get the job for their ability to belt out a sustained, satisfying screech. And their good looks normally play a part, too.

Nevertheless, screaming has been a staple of cinema since well before films incorporated an audio track. Ridiculous as it may sound -no pun intended- women in silent films also did scream. We just couldn't hear it yet. In 1925's version of The Phantom of the Opera, for instance, poor Christine Daae (Mary Philbin) found herself being chased by Erik, the Phantom (deliciously portrayed by the legendary King of the Monsters, Lon Chaney). Talkies were still a short few years away, so Philbin's face reflected a rictus of terror in utter silence.

Screaming on screen is an art, there's no doubt about that. Scream Queens give it all they got, usually while running around and being chased by someone, or something, bent on grievous bodily harm.

And there's also an element of fascination, perhaps youthful and naive -and a tad voyeuristic- in watching a woman being (or pretending, at least) to be scared out of her wits. Screaming has featured in art and mythology for centuries. One of the most iconic paintings in history is Edward Munch's The Scream. And the Banshee, that wailing and shrieking entity that heralds the arrival of death, has been around for centuries in Celtic mythology.

In cinema, however, the most famous scream of them all is actually a man's yell, dubbed the Wilhem Scream. While there are doubts about who actually uttered the original scream, it is generally accepted that the name stems from a character named Private Wilhem in the 1953 western The Charge at Feather River. The unfortunate Wilhem takes an arrow to the leg, and as he falls off his horse, he lets out the infamous shriek. It soon became a widely utilized stock soundbite and would go on to feature in hundreds of films, usually when someone gets shot, falls from a great height, or is blown up. It even found its way into Star Wars (1977). In the scenes following the rescue of Princess Leia from her cell, Luke shoots a Stormtrooper who was taking potshots at them from across the reactor shaft. When the Stormtrooper falls to his demise, the infamous Wilhem scream can be heard.

Cheap screams and even cheaper thrills: the golden era of the scream queens

If you were a young male in the 80s, you probably remember outrageous perms, Samantha Fox's diminutive figure plastered on every second magazine you picked at the news stand, Knight Rider and Airwolf on TV, and if your youth was as misspent as yours truly's was, then you probably watched lot of VHS tapes on primitive video players prone to break down and chew up the tapes.

As VHS took hold of the home video market, video rental stores became saturated with tapes featuring large-breasted, scantily clad females in the clutches of monsters from outer space, or about to be hacked to pieces by a masked maniac wielding a gigantic fireman's axe. If you dared to watch these movies, either alone or in the company of your equally pre-pubescent mates, you would see all those women running around and screaming a lot before their inevitable -and usually, incredibly gratuitous and bloody -demise.

Wilhem Scream aside, there is little doubt that when it comes to screaming, women do it best. Females of yesteryear's cinema would also almost always be bound to follow their leading man, and thus their role had to be weaker to enable the male hero to save her and preserve his own reputation in Hollywood in the process. The role of women in cinema has greatly evolved since, and actresses like Jamie Lee Curtis (Laurie Strode in the seminal Halloween) and Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise have much to do with this evolution.

One can argue that Scream Queens used to be handpicked from the most beautiful pool of actresses around, and this was partly true. Unfortunately, however, beauty and acting ability did not always walk hand in hand. Often, the point of whether these women could actually act was moot. Both producers and directors devoted to the straight-to-video market cared little whether their leading lady could deliver her lines convincingly or ham it up like the best of them. What they did care about was their cup size, whether they looked juicy in a bikini, and their willingness to take off that bikini at a moment's notice, whether or not it made sense to do so in the context of the plot, such as it were.

Scream Queens grew in popularity throughout the 80s, concomitant to the rise to prominence of the slasher genre. At the end of the day, every maniac in a mask needed to have an assortment of semi-naked women to butcher. The 80s became the decade of gleeful, voyeuristic exploitation. Never before, and arguably after, had such a degree of low-budget violence against women been seen on a cinema screen, or in your own TV at home. Feminists were up in arms, raising their fists in the air and crying to denounce this blatant onslaught against morality and the rights of women. Frankly, they did have a point.

Nevertheless, the genre prospered, bringing about a sort of Golden Era for the most gifted shriekers in the industry.

The Scream Queen Hall of Fame: five of the best

There have been many a Scream Queen gracing cinema screens worldwide for many years. It is hard to pick a few out of the lot, and as far as these things go, it mostly comes down to personal preference.

So here it goes:

Fay Wray: the ape of discord

Legend has it that when director Merian C. Cooper was pitching King Kong to Fay Wray, he allegedly said to her: “you’ll have the tallest, darkest leading man in Hollywood.” She thought he meant Cary Grant.

Wray was a pioneer in many respects, and thanks to the huge success and cultural relevance of King Kong (which endures to the present day), the Canadian actress acquired a quasi-legendary status. Retrospectively deemed 'Scream Queen', Wray did become slightly typecast after her role as Anne Darrow, and she would be asked to showcase her screaming abilities during many subsequent auditions for other parts. She learned to live with it, however, though being called a Scream Queen did irk her for the rest of her life.

Linnea Quigley: 5ft 2 of chainsaw-wielding bad-assery

One can hardly talk about Scream Queens without mentioning Linnea Quigley. One of the original Sorority Babes, Iowa-born Quigley would take to the horror genre like the Cookie Monster takes to his favorite snack.

Ubiquitous throughout the 80s, Quigley became thee Scream Queen par excellence, bar none. Though perhaps better known for her roles in The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama (1988), the diminutive Quigley appeared in dozens of horror films throughout the 80s, 90s, and well into the 00s. A long and prosperous career, and a lot of screaming she did throughout.

With 'classic' Scream Queen fare like Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) and the Sorority Babes series to her name, a hardcore Quigley fan will find little to fault in this lady. Oh, and did I mention she is a staunch vegan?

Janet Leigh: one last shower before dying

The bathroom door opens, and though distorted by the shower curtain, we just about make out a shadowy figure approaching an unsuspecting female taking a shower. The shower curtain is suddenly pushed aside with an ominous whoosh, the female screams, and...well, the rest, as they say, is cinematic history.

Psycho (1960), based on an eponymous novel by American writer Robert Bloch, broke many conventions and revolutionized the horror genre thanks to Alfred Hitchcock's uniquely British touch. Janet Leigh met her fate in that shower, and her screams of terror and pain still resonate with many of us when we ablute ourselves, such was the power and cultural legacy of Psycho, and the shower scene in particular. Leigh's demise was made even more prominent because it happened during the first act, throwing the audience off balance and bringing about a tour de force that would culminate in Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) creepily smiling inside his cell while a voiceover speaks in the voice of 'Mother.' Incidentally, Janet Leigh is Jamie Lee Curtis' mother, who would find fame as a Scream Queen herself a few years later with Halloween.

Heather Langenkamp: one, two, Freddy's coming for you...

Wes Craven hit a winner in 1984 with A Nightmare on Elm St., which sparked a whole lineage of new horror mythology and generated many a dollar for the producers. Notable for many reasons, the film featured a then unknown -and very young- Heather Langenkamp, who beat over 200 aspirants for the role of Nancy Thompson. Demi Moore, Courteney Cox, and Jennifer Grey were among them. Langenkamp certainly screamed her way into stardom, eventually outwitting Freddy and becoming a very worthy Scream Queen/Final Girl.

Barbara Crampton: re-animated sensuality

Perhaps one of the lesser-known Scream Queens of this list (though if you were a hot-blooded teenager circa 1985, you will remember her very well indeed), New Yorker Barbara Crampton rose to prominence largely because of the infamous 'head' scene in the classic Re-Animator (1985). Never one to shy away from nude scenes (if you have it, flaunt it, I always say, and Ms. Crampton certainly had it in spades), she would go on to star in the semi-sequel to that film, From Beyond (1986), TV soap operas, and in many other low-budget horror flicks.

And that's all folks, as Bugs would say. Stay tuned to this channel for more cool stuff about all things horror.