But their lineage dates back way before that, to such legendary queens of horror as Soledad Miranda, Barbara Shelley and Julie Ege of Hammer Studios fame.
"Women screaming in terror has been a Hollywood mainstay even when films were silent," says film historian George Feltenstein, senior vice president of theatrical catalog marketing at Warner Home Video.
Many of the new scream queens are veterans of TV series who want to break into movies and find horror an easy entry. The booming direct-to-video arena is particularly fertile ground.
"There's a built-in fan base for the genre, so it becomes a great platform to get exposure," says Bill Clark of Starz Home Entertainment, which releases up to 30 direct-to-video and TV horror films a year, including Showtime's Masters of Horror.
What makes a good scream queen? Lloyd Kaufman, whose Troma Films has distributed more than 1,000 horror films since the mid-'70s, says, "It's more than just crying and having ketchup thrown on you.
You not only have to be attractive, but you also have to have a big brain. You have to be frightened, you have to be sad, you have to be romantic."
-- ContentCoreElement ID="229284e5-5023-4baf-8076-0ce7a8f19aa7", DateTime="4/27/2007 2:33:57 PM" --> Upcoming: Rob Zombie's Halloween remake (Aug. 31).
I'm in the motel room doing this Chinese-Japanese dance, which is funny, gruesome, sick and twisted.
That sort of depicts Baby's psychosis, a hint of what's coming next, me singing little nursery rhymes to these people, and they end up getting shot and mutilated.
Back story: A former dancer and model, Moon is married to punk rocker/ director Zombie.
Why horror?
: You get this tingly feeling in your stomach - scare, shock. Half the time I'm closing my eyes, but it's like going to an amusement park.
Stop.
I stuck my hand in and had the guy grab my finger real tight, and I had to be, like, pleading for my life. The weirdest feeling was index finger taped all the way down so it looked like a nub.
Watch Over Me, which stars Catherine Oxenberg.
In June, she will Why horror?: I'm not a huge fan of horror films. I have a hard time watching them because I get really scared, and that's the main reason I took the part - to conquer a fear, even though it didn't work and it actually scared me more.
But I really like the physical side of horror films, the jumping off the buildings - that and the pure vulnerability. Most gruesome scene: Dark Ride. In my death scene, I was actually decapitated, so I had a head mold made, and that was a pretty bloody, gory mess, I would say.
in 2002.
Why horror?: I have fun doing them and hope they will be a steppingstone.
Most gruesome scene: In XII , I get degloved, when they cut the skin off your face and attach it to other people. That was the got to feel all the fake blood and guts.
Back story: A native of British Columbia, McNab is best known as debut was in The Addams Family in 1991, playing a bit part as a Girl Scout.
Why horror?: It's just fun, you know? There's generally a lot of action, and it's not so emotional that you wind up taking it home with you, and that's a nice relief.
drugged out of my mind and find my mother dead on the floor. And instead of calling 911 like normal people, I decide to get on the floor and cry a bit, laugh a bit and play in her blood - until the killer comes, and I have a very gruesome death with a sledgehammer.
movies, Shepis was cast in Tromeo Juliet at 15.
She later caught the eyes of E! executives and was hired as a correspondent for Why horror?: It's so much more fun than doing a silly romantic comedy in which you laugh and giggle and share ice cream.
Fever. Vincent's character sits in a bathtub, shaving her legs, of the infectious flesh-eating disease that claims the film's victims.
began acting as Maya, the Yellow Power Ranger.
She subsequently did a Why horror?: It's like when you are a kid playing hide-and-seek, just with special effects and blood. There's a whole different energy.
really isn't a monster behind you, you work from a different place.
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