Happy Goat Horror

Dark bleatings, my lovely tribe. The term ‘Scream Queen’ undoubtedly conjures certain names; Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Neve Campbell, to name just a few. I think we all acknowledge and agree on the staples of the horror – particularly slasher – genre, and for what it’s worth, my favourite of the OG’s is Dee Wallace. But I didn’t want to write a list with the same names you see over and over again, so I’ve tried to think outside of the slasher confines a bit. A slight redefining of the term ‘Scream Queen’ that some might call cheating, really, but there are some notable woman on screen that, for me at least, hold this crown in a solid grip. Women that have not only performed being terrified, but have also perhaps been the cause of the terror. Without further ado, and in no particular order, here are my personal Top 10. Well, a few more than 10 actually, but 10 is a better round number for a title, so…..

Laurie Holden

My love for Laurie Holden cannot be overstated because I adore her. I think she’s a phenomenal actor that hasn’t had the praise she deserves yet, probably because her character, Andrea, on The Walking Dead was somewhat unpopular, and this is the role she’s probably most well-known for. However, I think she nailed the complexities of that role. She’s a woman who watched her sister die in front of her, a woman who was one of only two people to stand up to Ed, and a woman who refused to slip into the trad wife role just because the world had gone to hell and the men were hogging the guns.

Outside of this show, I have two favourite performances from Laurie. The first is Amanda from The Mist. I think the acting overall in that movie is outstanding but Amanda’s terror stood out to me. The gradual journey from silent panic to all-out losing her shit was masterful.

The second is Mrs Reyes in a lesser-known movie called Pyewacket (one of my favourite horrors, severely underrated and underseen, in my humble opinion!). Laurie gets to showcase a little classic Scream Queen fear here, but what she really excels at in this role is being absolutely terrifying herself.

She’s so talented and skilled, and I’m in awe of her!

Taissa Farmiga

We may as well mention her many roles in American Horror Story first, since I’m sure that’s what she’s most known for; Season 1’s (Murder House) Violet, Season 3’s (Coven) Zoe, and Season 6’s (Roanoke) Sophie. Each of these characters comes with their own strong personality, and their own unique set of horrors to face down. I watched this woman go through the agony of being a teenage girl falling in love for the first time, only to discover she’s trapped in the Murder House, and the love of her life is…er…well, he has some issues. I watched her deal with the weight of hideous secrets and a general feeling of being other’d in Coven, and I watched her as a pretty normal teenage girl trespassing with friends, only to meet the worst horrors of all in Roanoke. Using a staple cast in an anthology series like this is risky because in order for there to be clear distinction between characters, especially during cross overs, the actors have to be brilliant. Which she is.

The performance I really love from her though is Merricat in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. This is a haunting, gothic (in atmosphere) story based on a classic novel, and the role required a lot of nuance, and Taissa brought it in spades.

I hope to see her in more horror roles!

Fairuza Balk

Of course, we’re going to talk about The Craft first. Nancy is the kind of character that we all know is unhinged, will definitely use her powers for evil, and we’d never want to be trapped in a dark alley with her. Buuuuut we kind of love her, right? She might be deranged but she’s also enigmatic, charismatic, and determined. She has some admirable traits, if you look past the…you know…psychotic ones. But more than that, she’s an absolute blast to watch, and that’s thanks to Fairuza. I can’t imagine anyone else in this role, honestly. Her range is unbelievable, and though this particular character is still talked about a lot, I don’t think Fairuza has been given enough credit for not just this character portrayal, but all of her character portrayals. Which leads me to…

Dorothy in Return to Oz. She was one of my very first idols. I admired her so much because she was unflinchingly brave, creative, pragmatic, and loyal to her companions. She also appealed to my dark side (as did this movie, much more so than the original film) because she had more grit than the first Dorothy. I wanted to be her when I was eight, even though her adventure is the stuff of screaming, decapitated head nightmares.

Fairuza was ten years old when she played Dorothy, a role she made her own despite the huge shoes she had to fill following on from Judy Garland.

Angela Bassett

Not only is Angela Bassett simply fabulous in every way, but any time she appears in a season of AHS, she’s a total scene stealer. There’s something about her presence that is captivating to me. From magical royalty, Marie Laveau, to her acting within acting character portrayal in Roanoke, I’ve come to think that every single season would be better for her being cast in it.

But, as much as she’s in my Top 3 AHS cast members, and she’s popular among the fans in general, everyone seems to be forgetting about a much earlier character she played. Of course, I’m talking about Rita in Vampire in Brooklyn. I don’t know why but I never ever hear people reminiscing about this movie, or the mania of it, or Angela’s stellar performance opposite Eddie Murphy. If you haven’t seen it, treat yourself to some 1990’s vampire madness!

Anya Taylor-Joy

Do I even need to explain this one? The Witch, The Menu, Morgan, Split…I mean, I’d never heard of this woman before and then all of a sudden, she was in everything I was watching. And I can see why she’s been cast so often. She has great range but I think the thing I find special about her (and perfect for horror roles) is her ability to dig deep into true, sincere feminine rage and bring it to the surface, and she shows this in many different ways, depending on what’s true to the particular character. Sometimes you can just see it simmering in her eyes, and sometimes it’s loud and violent, but her performances always feel real in a way that connects me to the story, much more often than I’m normally able to.

Rebecca Ferguson

This woman has so much charm, it’s unreal. I’m a huge fan of Stephen King’s novel, Doctor Sleep, so when they announced there’d be a movie based on it, I was excited. I couldn’t imagine who they’d cast as Rose the Hat, though. She’s such a mystical, mysterious, predatory character that I really struggled to place anyone in this role. Enter Rebecca Ferguson, and not only did she perfectly capture Rose, but she added more nuance. I don’t know how someone can be so threatening before they’ve even said anything, but she balanced that line between charming and murderous so effectively that she stole every scene she was in. There’s a danger with this type of character that they could come off as one-dimensional, but she was so layered and complicated, on top of truly heinous. Fantastic!

My other favourite role of hers, on the opposite end of the horror scale, is Miranda in Life – a sci fi horror movie that seems to have gone under the radar, but it’s so awesome. A group of scientists on a space station have picked up an alien lifeform, and are examining it under strictly closed conditions. Well, of course the thing gets loose, and isn’t as friendly as it first seemed. Rebecca’s palpable growing fear, her guilt over feeling she’s betrayed and failed her crew, her loss of hope, oooh it’s all just deserving of a chef’s kiss.

Kate Siegel

Everyone that Mike Flanagan casts in his shows is phenomenal, but Katie is a stand-out to me in his rotation of regular actors. I’ve loved her in everything – The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass (don’t even start me on that show, I’m obsessed with it), but where she really surprised me was as Camille in The Fall of the House of Usher. Typically, I find that she brings a softness and sensitivity to her roles, even when she’s scary or playing someone very strong. In Usher, she is a stone cold bitch, and I loved watching her. Even in a family like the one in this show, she stood out as one of the most morally reprehensible to me. The others were interesting, but mostly weak and weird. She was ruthless, unempathetic, predatory, and exploitative. I found her performance incredibly entertaining, and it highlighted how skilled she is and gave me a deeper appreciation for her in her other roles.

The first thing I actually saw her in was a movie called Hush, in which she plays a woman who lives alone in a remote house, under attack from a murderous home invader. This is probably the most typical “Scream Queen” movie and character on this whole list. Her character, Maddie, is not a super hero, nor does she enjoy escape by a thousand contrived circumstances. This woman is fighting for her life, injured and bloodied, and the odds are not with her. I found it refreshingly truthful (as far as movie truth goes, anyway), about how a woman might try to survive something like this.

Betty Gabriel

Everyone cast in Get Out was on their A Game, but Betty caught my eye the most, which is really saying something in an acting pool of such calibre. I think it takes a tremendous performer to pull off this level of ‘Jesus Christ, please help me!’ behind the eyes. It was the duality of the character and the quite literal, visible internal struggle that was so captivating to me. It made the character both sympathetic and a bit alarming, because she was really unpredictable. I never knew if she was going to become the danger.

I think I first saw her in Unfriended: Dark Web (much smaller part and very understated), and then The Purge: Election Year. I was so late to the party with Get Out, I don’t think I saw it for a few years after it came out. What I really love about Betty is whatever the role, her performance is elevated, but in keeping with the tone of the film, the size of the role, and the subgenre. She’s almost chameleonic in her ability to adapt to the “size” of the performance required.

Sarah Paulson

I really don’t think an explanation for this one is necessary, but oh, alright.

Firstly, have you seen Run? This is referred to as a thriller but I’d argue this fits just as easily into the horror genre, considering the plot. A disabled teenage girl is eagerly awaiting college acceptance letters, looking ahead to gaining more independence and starting her life away from home. She has a great relationship with her protective mother, who doesn’t focus on her daughter’s disabilities and treats her like a normal person. Or does she? Sarah’s performance is just outstanding, and also chilling. She really started to frighten me the further into the movie we got. This woman can go from caring, concerned parent to “oh my god she is utterly unhinged” in three seconds flat.

Secondly (no, I’m not going into AHS, but she’s excellent in that too), this might be a weird mention, but Bird Box. She has such a small part, but that’s why it’s significant to me, because of everyone in that film, I think she gave the stand out performance. Her transition from upbeat, supportive, excited sister to panicking-but-trying-to-keep-her-shit-together, to completely under the spell of whatever-the-hell-that-is was perfection.

Toni Collette

Toni Collette, quite frankly, is one of the best living actors we have and it’s not only a ridiculous insult that she hasn’t won an Oscar, but it’s an indication of how deep the snobbery about horror goes. Everyone knows that she should have cleaned up during awards season for her role as Annie in Hereditary, easily one of the most effective on-screen performances of the last twenty years in any genre. I’m still pissed that she didn’t win the Academy Award for her role in The Sixth Sense. She’s currently my Ultimate Scream Queen, because she absolutely smashes every single role she plays. She not only has range, but incredible stamina during those deeply emotional scenes. She not only brings forth a complexity, but she isn’t afraid to also bring out the ugliness of certain emotions, and I’m not talking physical appearance, but real guttural discomfort and spite, even in scenes where we totally empathise with her.

Regina Hall

You guys, you don’t understand, I HAD to. I realise that this is the most unconventional, possibly even controversial, entry on this list, because she’s known for a ridiculous spoof series and not any “real” horror (to my knowledge), but I just could not leave her out. Brenda from Scary Movie is, to me, one of the most memorable and hilarious characters ever put to film. I was 14 when that movie came out and to this day, I still hear myself randomly exclaim sentences like, “Cindy, the TV’s leaking!’ and ‘Now who the fuck did that?’ Unbeknownst to me until the time of putting this list together, she became the most quoted movie character in my house.

Brenda might not have been the star of a real slasher film, but my god, this woman has screeched, screamed, and flailed away in a panic like the best of them. Additionally, because of the amount of her scenes ingrained in my brain, I do associate her with various horror IP’s, despite the fact she isn’t from any of those original IP’s.

Kiernan Shipka

She is so underrated. I hate to say this but even in this day and age, we have a tendency to be dismissive of the talents of people when they’re involved in anything we consider “for teenage girls”. Now, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was pretty bloody and gruesome and for adults, but nonetheless, Sabrina is a teenage character, and so obviously we simply can’t acknowledge that Kiernan was awesome in that role. With that said, there’s another role I really want to draw your attention to…

One of my favourite films right now is The Blackcoat’s Daughter (AKA February, depending on which country you’re in), in which Kiernan plays a girl called Kat who is stuck at her boarding school when her parents don’t arrive to pick her up. All but one other student and the nuns that run the school leave for the season, and she’s just there in snowy isolation, anxious that something awful has happened. It’s during this time that something gets in…

I felt really sorry for her at first but she becomes so creepy and scary in this role that certain scenes and even line deliveries regularly haunt me. It’s a brilliant performance, one of my favourite horror movie performances of all time.

Maika Monroe

Longlegs is a divisive film amongst genre fans, but Maika’s excellence in the role of Agent Lee Harker is inarguable. Pensive, calculating, and complex. Her performance was so understated, which I really appreciated because this could have also been played much bigger, much more dramatically. She was the perfect counter-balance to the enigmatic madness that is always Nicholas Cage.

Where she first caught my eye, though, was in It Follows. Another divisive film amongst horror fans, now that I think about it. Again, she’s understated, but the reason I love her acting so much, I think, is because she keeps a lot brimming right beneath the surface, but knows when to let it all out. The scene where the tall man comes through the door is my favourite, in terms of her performance, because she really sold the mind-shattering terror of that sequence. The look in her eyes was one that suggested that she was so scared that she’d completely snapped, and the ability to perform that level of this kind of emotion is rare. Most of us, thankfully, will never know that kind of fear, so I’m always impressed when I see an actor so convincingly play it.

And that’s my list. Who do you think I’ve missed? I’m dying to know your favourites!

Bleeeeat!