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Why do scream queens in horror movies fascinate us?
As actresses Maika Monroe, Madelyn Cline, Olga Kurylenko, Sophie Thatcher, Naomi Scott, and Mia Goth take on the role of scream queens in Longlegs, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Other, Heretic, Companion, Smile 2, and MaXXXine – all released in cinemas between 2024 and 2025 – and with Neve Campbell is soon back in the Scream saga, Numéro looks back at the scream queen, a lead figure in horror movies who is far from being a mere victim.
By Violaine Schütz.
For some, Scream Queens (2015–2016) simply refers to the satirical horror series created by Ryan Murphy and available on Disney+, starring Emma Roberts, Keke Palmer, and Lea Michele. Just like the “final girl”, the last survivor in a slasher – a film where a killer takes out victims one by one – the scream queen is a central figure in horror cinema.
The scream queen, a key figure in horror cinema
Scream queens are female protagonists in horror films who are relentlessly pursued by the main villain of the story. For most of the movie, they are hunted, terrified, in distress, and letting out piercing screams that must sound as realistic as possible.
Strangely enough, this captivating figure emerged early with silent films in the 1920s. But everyone generally agreed that actress Fay Wray was the first true scream queen, thanks to her role as a woman held captive by a love-struck gorilla in King Kong (1933).
The curse of horror movie actresses
In the 1950s and 1960s, a few actresses became known for their screams, especially the heroines in Hitchcock films. But it was in the 1970s and 1980s that scream queens truly made a breakthrough. In B-movies, they were portrayed as psychologically fragile victims with half of their clothes off. Their character were often bimbos that were easy prey because of their general lack of cunning as the monster or killer pursued them.
Marilyn Burns (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Sandra Cassel (The Last House on the Left), Brinke Stevens (The Slumber Party Massacre), Olivia Hussey (Black Christmas), giallo film heroine Daria Nicolodi (Dario Argento’s wife and Asia Argento’s mother, another scream queen), and Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead) were among the most notable scream queens of that era. Some actresses also led tragic lives, echoing the roles they played in horror films. Linda Blair, star of the cult classic The Exorcist (1973) by William Friedkin, saw her career derailed after a drug-related arrest in 1977 at just 18 years old. Hollywood never truly forgave her misstep. Are scream queens cursed?
American actress Shelley Duvall, who recently passed away, found the filming of The Shining (1980) by Stanley Kubrick so intense that it took her years to go back on set.
Jamie Lee Curtis: the quintessential scream queen of the 1970s and 1980s
But if one scream queen were to be remembered from that era, it would be American actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who starred in Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), and Prom Night (1980). She was the daughter of Janet Leigh, who was herself famous for her shrieking in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). With her androgynous looks and charisma, Jamie Lee Curtis completely reinvented the scream queen image, giving it more depth, intelligence, and strength. While the original Halloween (1978) was criticized for being sexist, since the victims were girls deemed “easy lay”, the actress fiercely defended her character, pointing out that she stands up to the terrifying Michael Myers. Therefore, she is a powerful woman.
“With #MeToo, women are finally being heard and Laurie is a symbol of their fight.” Jamie Lee Curtis
In 2018, while starring in yet another instalment of Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis told the newspaper 20 Minutes about her character Laurie Strode: “Laurie is a strong woman who tried to prepare her daughter and granddaughter for Michael’s return but failed to convince them.” The True Lies (1994) heroine even added: “With #MeToo, women are finally being heard and Laurie is a symbol of their fight. I don’t want my character to be seen as a victim.”
The downside of the actress’s powerful performances as the brave Laurie Strode? She remained associated with her scream queen image for years before expanding her acting range. Ultimately, she won the 2023 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a tax auditor in the comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Neve Campbell and the heroines of the Scream saga: increasingly feminist figures
In the 1990s, a true shift occurred regarding the scream queen archetype. While she initially appeared as a helpless, fragile little thing in both the literal and figurative sense, the Buffy era changed the game. During that decade, legendary screaming heroines emerge, like Laura Palmer (Twin Peaks by David Lynch) or the leads in I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
But the real turning point was largely thanks to the heroines of the Scream saga, whose first instalment dates back to 1996. It is true that the fact that the girls who have an active sex lives and party are the first to die in this cult slasher series may seem sexist. As in nearly all slashers, the final girl survives because she remains a virgin and “pure”. But the franchise offsets these misogynistic tropes by offering characters with far more depth than just sexy victims wearing mini skirts and drinking too much.
A new take on the “final girl”
Take the badass Neve Campbell in the role of Sidney Prescott. An inspiring heroine who fights back fiercely, confronts the killer with a weapon, and answers him with sarcasm. Everyone remembers the words exchanged between the The Craft actress and Ghostface:
– “Are you alone in the house?“ – “Randy that’s so unoriginal. I’m disappointed in you.” – “Maybe that’s because I’m not Randy.”
There’s also Courteney Cox, starring in Friends, as a tabloid journalist, who is combative, resilient and anything but ditzy. More recently, in Scream 6 (2023), we saw two bold and smart rising scream queens – Jenna Ortega, star of the Wednesday series, and Melissa Barrera (Carmen), perfectly in tune with a new generation that embraces the girl power. It’s worth noting that the Scream saga features many other iconic scream queens, even if some play up the pin-up cliché: Drew Barrymore, Rose McGowan, and Sarah Michelle Gellar among others.
Jenna Ortega, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mia Goth… A new generation of inspiring horror heroines
Today, the scream queen figure seems less superficial than it was from the 1920s to the 1970s. However, it still lacks diversity. Indeed, the horror film protagonist is almost always slim and white, aside from Jordan Peele’s films and a few exceptions, such as Jada Pinkett Smith in Scream 2.
Among the scream queens who have left the strongest impression in recent years, many possess unusual beauty, in tune with the gothic universes of some film directors. It is the case for Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Last Night in Soho), Mia Goth (Suspiria, X, Pearl, MaXXXine), Jenna Ortega (Insidious: Chapter 2, Scream 6), Sophie Thatcher (Heretic, Yellowjackets, MaXXXine, Companion), and Maika Monroe (Longlegs).
Other stars of bloody cinema? One could name Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story), Lupita Nyong’o (Little Monsters, Us), Victoria Pedretti (The Haunting of Hill House), Riley Keough (Kiss of the Damned), Emma Roberts (Scream 4, American Horror Story, Scream Queens), Melissa Barrera (Scream 6, Abigail), Allison Williams (M3GAN, Get Out), Samara Weaving (Ready or Not), Naomi Scott (Smile 2), and Chloë Grace Moretz (The Amityville Horror). Even Sydney Sweeney, the Euphoria star, was hailed as a scream queen for her role as a nun in the film Immaculate (2024).
Maika Monroe, Sydney Sweeney and Sophie Thatcher: rising scream queens
This month, the stunning Bond girl Olga Kurylenko also takes on the role of scream queen in the horror thriller Other, coming out on July 9th, 2025. Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, and Gabbriette are keeping the tradition alive in I Know What You Did Last Summer, released on July 16th, 2025.
Finally, singer and actress Addison Rae is among the screaming victims of a serial killer in the series Monster: The Ed Gein Story, available on Netflix since September 2025.
One thing is certain: the heroines of horror films are no longer passive victims. Armed, fierce, and often neurotic, they stand up to the villains on screen. The evolution of the scream queen archetype can be perceived as a symbol of the protests that have shaken the film industry and society at large.
These heroines no longer scream like frightened deer under the yoke of the male gaze and dominance. Their cry is also one of women raising their voices to be heard, in particular through the testimonies unveiled thanks to the #MeToo movement. A cry of rage, war, solidarity and freedom.
Monster: The Ed Gein Story (2025), created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, available now on Netflix.
