15 Scream Queens Who Command the Highlight
Scream queens— or iconic women in horror who unleash killer screams throughout the franchise or film— dominate the horror genre. Fay Wray in King Kong is one of the original Scream Queens, while Mia Goth is a newer addition to the phenomenon occupying the horror world. Scream Queens tend to double as final girls, meaning they survive all the tribulations and survive until the credits roll.
Love them or hate them, Scream Queens are a staple of the scary movie genre, and they’re here to stay.
1. Heather Langenkamp
Nancy Thompson succeeds in shrill shrieks, especially when a green and red striped man calls her to say, “I’m your boyfriend now, Nancy.” Thompson (Heather Langenkamp’s character in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) owns the first film, fashioning herself as the brains behind unraveling Freddy Krueger’s identity and instilling multiple traps to catch him outside the dream world. Langenkamp returned for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare before leaving her charred foil behind.
2. Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell portrays an immortal scream queen in the Scream franchise. Scream Queens needn’t only unleash killer screams and run away from evil men — or, in the case of Scream 2 and 4, women — they also showcase signature facial expressions. Campbell’s recognition lies in the spooked, parted lip, agape mouth expression she displays whenever she gets a sinister call from an unrecognizable number. That may be doing Sydney Prescott an injustice, though, as Campbell portrayed the final girl with a passion so few put into horror movies.
3. Janet Leigh
Though she didn’t invent the Scream Queen genre, Janet Leigh is an original Queen. Psycho’s shower scene is one of the most referenced, replayed, and revered horror movie scenes in cinematic history, thanks to Leigh’s depiction of complete terror. When the movie came out in 1960, the shower scene terrified audiences so deeply that critics dubbed the Hitchcock film one of the scariest of all time. Leigh didn’t stick with horror much after Psycho, but she did return to the genre for Halloween: H20 to cameo alongside her daughter.
4. Jamie Lee Curtis
Scream queen genes must run in the family. Janet Leigh’s daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, booked a lead role (Laurie Strode) in John Carpenter’s promising film Halloween (1978). Before being retconned as Michael Myers’ sister, Strode was just a hapless babysitter who happened to be in the killers’ path, lending to the sheer terror of the situation. Unlike the battle-hardened Strode of Halloween (2018), the younger strode took her stance as a scream queen quite literally, spending much of the encounter running, hiding, or, you guessed it, screaming.
5. Shelley Duvall
Several rumors circulated that while filming The Shining, Stanley Kubrick forced Shelley Duvall to perform over 100 takes of the infamous staircase scene, almost pushing her to quit the film. The stress of acting under Kubrick may be what helped push Duvall to let out a believable, blood-curdling scream when her husband, Jack Torrence, puts an axe through a bathroom door. Duvall left horror behind her for a few years, returning to it sporadically but never quite landing another role that required her to fulfill her scream queen duties.
6. Florence Pugh
Florence Pugh sells whatever film she’s in. Her best performance occurred in the grief-riddled cult horror flick Midsommar in 2019. Pugh plays Dani, a woman whose family dies in a tragic incident, and from the jump, we witness the incident and a howl from deep within Pugh’s gut that ricochets through movie theaters. Throughout the film, Pugh forces the audience to feel for her and marvel at her talent. Midsommar wasn’t her first horrific encounter, as she starred in the 2018 British horror film Malevolent.
7. Toni Collette
Like Florence Pugh, Toni Collette is another wonder in Ari Aster’s cinematic universe. In the 2018 film Hereditary — another tale of grief and horrid incidents — Collette’s character grieves over the loss of her mother and, shortly after, her daughter (Charlie). Collette’s facial expressions and line delivery make the audience feel her pain. As we continue watching, we get to see the effects of that pain completely twist the character until she’s unrecognizable. Hereditary may be the horror film she’s best known for, but this scream queen has popped up in plenty others, like the Fright Night remake, Velvet Buzzsaw, and the horror comedy Krampus.
8. Kate Siegel
Kate Siegel is Mike Flanagan’s wife and clearly a favorite person of his to cast. The horror director fancies showing off his wife’s talents, and for good reason. While Siegel’s status as scream queen is thanks to Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher, her first mainstream horror appearance was in 2013’s Oculus and, three years later, Hush, where she played a deaf-mute evading a home invader.
9. Sarah Paulson
What do you think of when you hear, “Help! He’s escaping! The killer is escaping!”
If it isn’t Sarah Paulson wailing in the second season of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s American Horror Story, I’m sorry for you. Horror directors continue to book her for her screams, queen status, and ability to steal the scene, even in the worst-rated films. The one issue with Paulson as a scream queen is that she has such a commanding and often intense presence that it’s hard to believe she’d be afraid of much.
10. Maika Monroe
It Follows centers around Maika Monroe’s character, running from a supernatural infection chasing her. The infection morphs into familiar people and strangers that walk at a slow pace toward you before attacking. The most terrifying scene in It Follows happens when a ten-foot-tall, eyeless man appears in Monroe’s doorway, eliciting a hearty scream from the film’s heroine. Monroe hasn’t spent much time in the scream queen spotlight, but she’s thankfully returning in the aptly titled They Follow, a sequel to her breakout role, and Longlegs, a mind-bending horror film starring Nicolas Cage.
11. Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar occasionally bounces between slaying monsters and screaming at them, making her one of Hollywood’s most eclectic scream queens. Right around the same time she broke out as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gellar also starred in the slasher film I Know What You Did Last Summer. Immediately after that, she put her lungs to use as a victim of the new Ghostface in Scream 2 and as the lead in movies like The Grudge and The Return before officially leaving horror behind. At least, for now.
12. Emma Roberts
Here’s another American Horror Story — and Scream Queens — icon, Emma Roberts. Her material tends to fall toward humorous horror, complete with outrageous, over-the-top characters, making her screen time much more effective. I can’t think of Scream Queens without picturing Emma Roberts in a ridiculous fur hat asking for a hot latte at 210 degrees, but she’s also popped in and out of the horror genre in more somber scream queen roles in Abandoned and Scream 4.
13. Samara Weaving
Samara Weaving stars in Ready or Not, Scream 6, and The Babysitter, where her ability to steal any scene she’s in leads to some heart-stopping moments. Her horror credits are few, though she did join the cast of Ash vs Evil Dead for a brief role and starred alongside Steven Yeun in the brutally bloody Mayhem (2017). After stealing the show in Ready or Not, we’re definitely ready to see more of this scream queen.
14. Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino never ages and always gives a good performance. She’s another phenomenon Mike Flanagan casts in many of his projects, but her best performance — one she should’ve received more rewards for — was in Gerald’s Game. During a spicy retreat with her husband, Gugino (playing Jessie Burlingame) gives a visceral performance as she comes to terms with her situation. Which, by the way, is pretty precarious considering her husband randomly dies, leaving her handcuffed to the bed.
15. Mia Goth
Mia Goth’s regular voice sounds like she voices Peppa Pig, and her scream parallels a drove of pigs at the slaughterhouse. The modern horror idol stars in films like X, Pearl, and Infinity Pool, where she portrays deranged and intense female characters. Goth has spent much of her career enjoying the horror scene, with roles in Marrowbone (2017), Suspiria (2018), High Life (2018), and Infinity Pool (2023).
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