scream queen

plural scream queens

1. informalAn actress particularity acclaimed for horror film roles.

   Her [Janet Leigh's] "scream queen" status also led to cameo roles in Jamie Lee Curtis' 1998 horror sequel Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and A Fate Totally Worse than Death in 2000.

   2004 October 4, “Psycho actress Janet Leigh dies”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2016

   4 more examples

   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."

   2007 April 27, Thomas K. Arnold, “Three screams for these stars”, in USA Today, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2016

   In short order, Friday the 13th (the first widely distributed major studio slasher flick), Terror Train and Prom Night – the latter two starring uber-scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis […]– led the charge into cinemas. With the formula nailed down – masked killer stalks and slays teenagers on a particular holiday or special event – everyone and their cousin could assemble their own cheapie horror flick and as a result, quality slumped as quantity multiplied.

   2017 May 11, Peter Schorn, “Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film: The slasher film dissected in this documentary retrospective [review]”, in IGN, archived from the original on 15 Sep 2016

   Confessions of a Scream Queen by Matt Beckoff (BearManor Media) is a series of interviews with actresses associated with horror films (using a very loose definition of the term "scream queen").

   2011, “Nonfiction Books”, in Ellen Datlow, editor, The Best Horror of the Year, volume III, San Francisco, Calif.: Night Shade Books, →ISBN

   In this unique gallery of “Scream Queens,” you'll discover sixteen actresses who starred in bloodcurdling movies and TV shows […] The original Scream Queens were actresses in precarious, life-threatening situations—exemplified by the scene in King Kong in which the monstrous Kong "holds" [Fay] Wray in his hand while terrorizing Manhattan.

   2015, Tim Foley, Scream Queens Paper Dolls, Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, →ISBN