A surefire way to pave a notable path in film is to land a spot front and center in a horror/thriller movie, and audiences love a good scream queen or king. Whether it’s a veteran actress like Jamie Lee Curtis, loved for her title role in Hallowe’en, or an actress like Jenna Ortega who is brilliantly making a name for herself in the horror genre. With Orphan: first killfans will see scream queen Isabelle Fuhrman reprise her role as Esther.
Part of what makes a great scream queen movie is the character’s refusal to remain a damsel-in-distress trope versus a killer. With the evolution of horror and movies like midsummer By reinventing the modern scream queen through Florence Pugh, audiences get much more dynamic characters to develop related themes, show more variations of psychological horror, and a new level of excitement for fans of this genre.
Nope
The latest blockbuster from visionary director Jordan Peele, Nope, was released this July. It follows two brothers who own a ranch in California who discover something truly extraordinary. Battling something strange and an exorbitant theme park owner looking to claim profits from the discovery, the brothers must keep their wits about them and stick together.
Regarded for his originality and cinematography, Jordan Peele has revealed that he wanted to create spectacle. Opening up to IndieWire, he said, “It’s a horror epic, but it has a few points that are bound to elicit a very audible reaction in the theater.” The sci-fi horror flick features stellar performances from Daniel Kaluuya, Steven Yeun, and Keke Palmer, cast as a scream queen.
Scream
Set 25 years after a brutal killing spree in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, a new killer dons the mask of Ghostface. He begins targeting a new group of teenagers with the goal of resurrecting the secrets of the town’s past. The fifth Scream solidifies a new era in the thriller franchise.
The first film in the series not to be directed by Wes Craven, the film introduces new scream queens, including Melissa Barerra, and brings back familiar ones like Courteney Cox. The film is a great nod to the work of the late Craven while bringing new scares and exciting plot twists.
vigilant
Written and directed by Chloe Okuno, the story is based on an original screenplay by Zack Ford. vigilant is a psychological thriller film starring well-known scream queen Maika Monroe, known for her award-winning performance in Follow. This film focuses on the recent move of an actress and her boyfriend to Romania. When Julia (Monroe) begins to notice that she has a stalker across the street, things start to take a disturbing turn for the worse.
Reminiscent of the weird stalker elements in rear window Y disturbs, vigilant exercises thrill-seeking by exploring the horrors of never knowing what might happen right next door. Monroe propels the film into the category of classic physiological horror with her exceptional performance.
New
It can be rare that audiences are instinctively drawn to a movie, whether it’s because of the appeal of the trailer, the synopsis, or recognition of the cast. New it was just that for many horror fans as it explored a darker side of online dating. The film is seen through the eyes of a young woman navigating a new relationship with her boyfriend and her unusual appetites.
The up-and-coming star of the scream queen is Daisy Edgar-Jones, who has already paved her way as a notable actress with her BAFTA for Normal people. Now entering the realm of horror movies, he brought originality and natural poise to this exciting twist on a not-so-classic rom-com. The film itself takes audiences into a terrifyingly accurate portrayal of dating in today’s culture that echoes Julia Ducornau’s coming-of-age horror film, Raw.
umma
Haunted by her abusive past, the supernatural horror film umma explores the psychological horror that arose from the childhood trauma of the daughter of a Korean immigrant. It begins with Amanda and her daughter Chrissy, played respectively by Sandra Oh and Fivel Stewart, who live on a remote farm raising bees and chickens, without technology.
umma was praised for its classic use of gothic horror aspects which, despite a script that did not allow character arcs to fully unfold, kept audiences enjoying a good scare on the edge of their seats. The film’s cultural references run deep and it is full of symbolic imagery. Sandra Oh’s performance was met with praise from fans, proving that her talent demonstrates the true promise of the scream queen.
You will not be alone
In his directional debut, Goran Stolevski treats horror fans to You will not be alone. A cinematic roller coaster that is visually intriguing, Stolevski takes the tradition of witches and puts a spin on it with themes of family and love throughout the plot. In 19th century Macedonia, a naive girl, Nevena, is turned into a shapeshifter by a tormented witch, only to discover humanity through the lives of others.
You will not be alone has more depth to its story than a typical horror film, with elements of dream folklore that recall similar stories like Guillermo del Toro’s masterpiece The Pan’s Labyrinth. The lineup of talented actresses portraying Nevena’s changing lives are part of what makes this film dynamic.
fire starter
Fans of Stephen King’s novels love the film adaptations of his adrenaline-pumping stories. fire starter, is directed by Keith Thomas and stars Zac Efron, Sydney Lemmon and Ryan Kiera Armstrong. Armstrong is the scream queen of this sci-fi thriller, as her character Charlie has the supernatural ability to light fires with her mind. Unable to control it, she and her family struggle to find their footing and must confront authorities who seek to abuse her abilities.
The plot of this modern remake is well executed, and Armstrong’s performance as Charlie is incredibly portrayed, with his anguish and anger etched on the young actress’s face.
Hatching
Finnish body horror film Hatching, centers on Tinja, a young woman desperate for her mother’s approval in a family dynamic where everything must be perfect, or at least appear to be. Tinja finds an egg that she cares about, but she realizes that it is not at all the creature that she thought she was going to raise.
Exploring a Doppelgänger twist with impressive character development, Hatching is an original horror story wrapped in a magical realism overlay. Siri Solalinna is an aspiring actress and Hatching it is his first film. While her career is still short, her portrayal of the scream queen in this movie keeps the audience’s eyes wide open for every new twist.
bodies bodies bodies
When a group of friends vacation at a remote family mansion, a seemingly innocent game turns into a deadly night of terror. bodies bodies bodies is a black comedy slasher movie that has a very modern and recognizable cast.
The film works in a way that sets it apart from regular horror movies because it allows the characters to raise concern, not as victims of a stalker or supernatural force, but as something more pernicious, which is their own stupidity. Although actors like Pete Davidson and Amandla Stenberg are either drama or comedy actors, their performances, especially Maria Bakalova and Stenberg as Bee and Sophie, put them in a scream queen spot.
crimes of the future
Written and directed by David Cronenberg, crimes of the future is another sci-fi body horror flick starring Kristen Stewart and Léa Seydoux, who prove they’ve got the makings of becoming scream queens. At a time when the human species has adapted to a synthetic environment where bodies undergo mutations, celebrated performance artist Saul Tenser (played by Viggo Mortensen) shows the metamorphosis of his own organs in a disturbing way.
Cronenberg fans know that the visionary director is a master of the ghastly and gruesome. Like many of his films, the production design and cinematography are meant to allow the audience to explore a very different side of horror teetering on the brink of possibility.
