CS Weekly Archive > The Big Picture > 3/13/09

Scream Queens:
Seven Smart Horror Heroines

By jenelle riley

Horror films aren't generally known for their clever female characters, but every once in a while, a horror writer pens a role that allows an actress to exercise her brain power as much as her lung power.

The horror genre isn't exactly known for being female-friendly. Many times, the female characters are just there for some gratuitous nudity before they go running through the woods in high heels. From time to time, however, a horror movie comes along that subverts the rules and gives us a character to admire. With films such Halloween and Prom Night, Jamie Lee Curtis became a 1970s role model for anyone hoping to survive encounters with homicidal maniacs. She has her successors—in last year's surprise hit The Strangers, Liv Tyler was as much match for her creepy captors as Scott Speedman, if not more. And it's no coincidence that Wes Craven, long a proponent of strong female characters in horror films (see number four), made the lead in his Scream trilogy female.

With the horror remake The Last House on the Left opening this weekend, CS Weekly takes a look at seven ladies who match wits with the bad guys and live to tell the tale…sometimes.

Warning: spoilers abound!

Vera Miles as Lila Crane, Psycho (1960)
Screenplay by Joseph Stefano
From the novel by Robert Bloch
When it comes to the Crane Sisters, Marion and Lila, the latter wins the brainiac sweepstakes partially by default: she's the one left standing at the end of the movie. Marion (Janet Leigh) doesn't survive her encounter with the nervous manager of the Bates Motel, and it's her disappearance that fuels Lila's investigation. It's not until Lila appears, no-nonsense and headstrong, that the mystery really begins to unravel. Let's face it: the local police don't seem interested, and Marion's boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is really only good for muscle. You get the impression Norman could have continued his reign of terror were it not for this very persistent busybody. Kudos to the writers and director Alfred Hitchcock for crafting one of the strongest, smartest female characters of the 1960s. When she goes to confront Norman's "mother," she barks to Sam Loomis, "I can handle a sick old woman!" Indeed she can…and his schizophrenic son, as well.

Amy Irving as Sue Snell, Carrie (1976)
Screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen
From the novel by Stephen King
Though campus queen Sue begins the movie by taunting poor outcast Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) along with the rest of their classmates, this high school senior quickly wises up. Carrie might be one of the first movies set in high school that took the rather unusual stance that a young woman could be pretty, popular, and intelligent. Sue is neither slut nor bimbo (both of those roles would be ably filled by Nancy Allen's Chris Hargensen), but a sensitive young woman who tries to do right by Carrie. True, she's unaware of the fact Carrie possesses telekinetic powers and is driven mostly by guilt, but still—she's the only one who doesn't mess with the dangerous teen. In fact, she asks her boyfriend, Tommy (William Katt), to escort Carrie to the prom—an act of kindness that ends up saving her life, as everyone at the dance is murdered by a humiliated Carrie. It's a massacre that set the precedent for future scream queens: nothing good can possibly happen on Prom Night.

Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, Alien (1979)
Screenplay by Dan O'Bannon
From a story by O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett
Ripley kicks ass in all the Alien movies, but to see her display more brains than brawn, one has to go back to the original. Had everyone just listened to Ripley, none of this alien business would have started in the first place. After the crew of the Nostromo investigate an alien spacecraft, a parasite attaches itself to one of them. Following procedure, Ripley refuses to allow them back on the ship, citing quarantine regulations. Of course, that no-good cyborg Ash overrides her and all hell breaks loose. Ripley is the one who figures out that Ash is following orders the rest of them don't know about—to sacrifice the crew in order to bring back the alien—and comes up with the plan to destroy the Nostromo and escape in another vessel. She never loses her head, never gives into emotion. When things are at their worst, she coolly outlines her plan, stating, "We'll move in pairs. We'll go step by step and cut off every bulkhead and every vent until we have it cornered. And then we'll blow it the fuck out into space. Is that acceptable to you?"

Heather Langekamp as Nancy Thompson, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Screenplay by Wes Craven
Horror master Craven actually employed a number of intelligent heroines in his Nightmare on Elm Street series—Patricia Arquette made a particularly savvy lead in Part III—but the original is still the best, and Langekamp was a joy to watch as she unraveled the mystery surrounding one of the greatest screen villains of all time, Freddy Krueger. In assuming the role usually reserved for males in horror films, it's Nancy who figures out what's going on (Freddy is stalking the residents of Elm Street in their sleep) and what the consequences are (if they die in their dreams, they die in real life). She even stages an interrogation of her own mother that's worthy of Columbo. In subverting the gender roles, what's particularly great is how her boyfriend, Glen (played by none other than Johnny Depp), takes on the part of the dumb significant other —falling asleep after she repeatedly warns him not to and meeting a grisly death by waterbed. But perhaps most impressive is how Nancy ultimately defeats Freddy—not with weapons, not with force, but with cool, calm logic. In the penultimate scene, she tells Freddy he's not real, and she wants her friends back. And she wins…at least until the sequel.

Sarah Berry as Annie Knowby, Evil Dead II (1987)
Screenplay by Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel
The women in Evil Dead II don't last long. Ash's girlfriend, Linda, is killed in the first five minutes. Hillbilly Bobbie Jo takes a zombie eye in the mouth and is attacked by trees. But Annie isn't like them. Just look at her sensible khaki shorts and oxford shirt! Though attractive, she's hardly cheesecake. Though Ash, played by the great Bruce Campbell, is the hero of the series, he's also the jackass who plays a recording that calls forth the evil spirits in the first place. Also, Ash simply doesn't possess the ability to translate the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis and send the demons back to hell—heck, he can't even get "Klaatu barada nikto" right. Were it not for Annie, who gives her life reciting the proper incantation, Earth would still be overrun with demons. Yet it's Ash who goes on to glory in the sequel, Army of Darkness. Just another example of a woman doing the job better and a man taking all the credit…

Naomie Harris as Selena, 28 Days Later (2002)
Screenplay by Alex Garland
Every horror film has that character—you know the one—who, despite seeing something with their own eyes, refuses to believe it. Call it the Scully Syndrome. What's so refreshing about Selena, the survivor of a viral outbreak that decimates most of London, is how quickly she acts. When one of her group is infected by the tainted blood of a zombie, he doesn't even have time to protest before she hacks him to death with a machete. No bargaining. No argument. And she's right; it's her kill-now-ask-questions-never approach that keeps her crew alive. "Plans are pointless. Staying alive is as good as it gets," she snaps without sentiment. But her aggressive leadership isn't without a feminine side, as evidenced by her bonding with young survivor Hannah (Megan Burns). And when the pair is captured by psychotic soldiers just as terrifying as the zombies, she offers the teen pills to "make you not care," proving ass-kicking can mix with maternal instinct for one unstoppable package.

Naomi Watts as Rachel Keller, The Ring (2002)
Screenplay by Ehren Kruger
Based on the novel Ringu by Kôji Suzuki
Admittedly, Rachel starts off not seeming too bright, casually watching a cursed video tape that kills people seven days after they view it. Still, without that one lapse in judgment, there would be no Ring (or Ring 2…which, actually, might have been a good thing), and in her defense, she is an investigative journalist and has to examine the facts. After that, Rachel moves fast and furious, with one week left to save her life. With little to go on other than random images pieced together from the video, Rachel is able to unravel secrets that have stayed hidden for years about Samara Morgan (Daveigh Chase), a little girl seemingly possessed with supernatural powers. She is also the one who figures out that the only way to be saved from death is to make a copy of the tape and pass it on to someone else. She comes to this conclusion with virtually no clues to guide her other than a reporter's instinct. That alone should qualify her for a Pulitzer.

Jenelle Riley is a journalist and playwright living in Los Angeles. She enjoys good food and bad horror movies.




Psycho courtesy Universal Home Entertainment
Alien, 28 Days Later courtesy 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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