Dread X: LASSO’s Sean Patrick Flanery Picks His Top 10 Unsung Scream Queens
Jonathan Barkan
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Our cowboy horror film Lasso hit Amazon Prime last week (watch it right here) and we want to keep the rodeo going this week! To make that happen, we’ve got a brand new Dread X list from star Sean Patrick Flanery, who put together a Top 10 list of his favorite unsung Scream Queens!
Flanery simply states to Dread Central, “These are some badass women in horror who don’t get enough love from the fans.”
Check out Sean’s list below and let us know what you think. Do these women get the attention they deserve?
You can pick up a copy of Lasso on Blu-ray and/or DVD here.
“An Active Senior Tour group outing turns deadly when the crazed, bloodthirsty cowboys from a local rodeo attraction start abducting and killing people.”
Marki Bey Sugar Hill
Marki plays the title character, Sugar, whose boyfriend is killed by the Louisiana mob (sure, okay). She uses the power of voodoo to raise an army of zombies to do her bidding and get revenge. Bey mostly appeared in soft core ‘70s drive in fodder, but made for a great lead and should have been given more roles like Sugar.
Veronica Cartwright – Invasion of the Body Snatchers (’78)
Cartwright had a great one-two punch with this and Alien. However in that film, she sniveled through the movie until she was put out of her misery. In Body Snatchers, Cartwright made you root for her from her first scene. Though the film is near flawless, it could have only been made better with more Cartwright.
Colleen Dewhurst – When a Stranger Calls
Dewhurst doesn’t appear until well into the first hour of this film and her time is brief but memorable. As the alcoholic barfly who briefly strikes up a friendship with the killer stalking the world’s oldest teenage babysitter, Carol Kane, Dewhurst brings a touch of class to stalled story and never makes it seem like she’s slumming.
Shelley Duvall – The Shining
Sure, Duvall is well known and even more discussed for this film, but she doesn’t get the credit she deserves for more than holding her own with Nicholson (and Kubrick, who allegedly bullied the shit out of her during filming). Duvall takes a somewhat unlikable character and makes you care about and root for her. And she never lets Nicholson wipe her off the screen. Not an easy thing to accomplish.
Gail Hunnicut – The Legend of Hell House
Hunnicut basically stands around in gauzy lingerie while things happen to everyone else in the house, so the fact that she makes such an impression is a credit to the actress. She’s an ice queen in the film and her steel is what saves her in the end. Anyone who didn’t have her pegged as surviving the ordeal of Hell House doesn’t know their scream queens too well.
Margot Kidder – Black Christmas (’74)
You know a movie is a classic when a performance like Kidder’s doesn’t manage to overwhelm it but rises to meet it at the top. In any other slasher film, the late, great actress would have been the only thing to recommend. As it stands, Kidder’s drunken, smart-assed Barb is just one of the highlights, but when she becomes a victim of the crazed Billy, we miss her greatly, and would rather have her survive than the final girl Jess.
Paula Prentiss – The Stepford Wives (’75)
Much like Kidder did in Black Christmas, Paula Prentiss manages to steal the film away from lead Katharine Ross, and once she’s “Stepfordized” the movie suffers for it. She’s funny, sexy, brash and quirky, everything a final girl should be. Except she’s not the final girl. And in fact, in this downbeat classic, there is no final girl.
Maureen Stapleton – The Fan
This is how mainstream slasher films became in the early ‘80s. They were attracting movie starts like Lauren Bacall and Maureen Stapleton, who teamed up in this underrated film about a Broadway star who’s stalked by her biggest fan. Stapleton plays Bacall’s long-suffering secretary and elevates the film to another level. It plays like half All About Eve, half Play Misty for Me, but it works.
Paula Trueman – Homebodies
This is a really cool unknown ‘70s horror film about a group of senior citizens who are being evicted from their building (and home of many decades) to make room for more modern (and lucrative) skyscrapers. The elderly residents band together to create “accidents” that will scare off construction and the social workers who are trying to remove them, but when someone accidentally winds up dead, they get cold feet. All except for Trueman, who plays the ringleader and decides a little murder couldn’t hurt. A psychopath in the guise of a sweet little old lady, Trueman plays it to the hilt. She was 77 when she made this film and continued to act for another 17 years.
Skyler Cooper – Lasso
This list wouldn’t be complete without calling out my co-star in Lasso, Skyler Cooper, who plays the body-building rodeo competitor Trish. She’s a total badass in this film, but also manages to make Trish a caring, kind and fully realized character. She can kick ass and comfort her fellow victims of the killer rodeo and make you root for her survival. I’m not gonna say if she makes it or not; you’re gonna have to find out yourself by watching Lasso.
