Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era

Director - Jason Paul Collum (5 Dark Souls, October Moon)

Starring - Linnea Quigley (Night of the Demons, Return of the Living Dead), Brinke Stevens (Savage Streets, Body Double), and Michelle Bauer (Demonwarp, The Tomb)

Release Date - 2011

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Vampirism.  Flesh eating.  Demonic possession.  Chainsaw hookering.  It's all in a days work"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     I was born in the late 80s and, obviously, grew up in the 90s.  I lived in the video store but I did miss the heyday of the scream queen era.  Sure, these beautiful and talented young ladies were appearing in films that I would often rent but the time in which production companies was tossing together cheaply made movies around this vixens was already behind us.  I wish I was just a few years older so I would have been around during this phase.  A few months back Makeflix, the off shoot of Tempe Digital, announced the release of Jason Paul Collum's 2011 documentary Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era on blu.  I had never seen this and own most of the Tempe Digital blus so I pulled the trigger on this release.  

    The documentary takes a brief look at the history of the scream queen with a more in depth look at the careers of Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer.

     I was very curious about this documentary and the three scream queens in question.  No one can question their contributions to the genre but I was really curious to see how this documentary would approach their careers.  As you can tell, this documentary is not about Scream Queens in general but about these three ladies, their careers, and how over the years they become overlooked by most casting calls but fans are still including them in their films.  The interviews we have are informative but mostly one sided.  The film's focus is around Quigley, Stevens, and Bauer so we mostly get personal accounts from them and some frequent collaborators.  However, these three were not the only "scream queens" working during this time.  Sure, they were the most well known and prevalent but there was so many others that could have been interviewed.  It would have been very interesting to hear their take on this era and working in the industry while these three were more active.  Also, there is a new wave of scream queens that could have been interviewed.  I'm sure they would have wonderful stories about being inspired by these three and which movies of theirs made them take up acting/modeling.  The topics discussed this one flows in a chronological order and is organized very well.  Some of the people being interviewed does go off topic a few times but the things they discuss is not that far away from their point.  The documentary is very tight and the director does a great job keeping everyone on topic.  Finally, the film is edited well.  The pacing is smooth and the transitions are nice. The sets are cheaply put together but no one is here to see the backgrounds.  Overall, Screaming in High Heels is a fun documentary.  The movie itself is not as good as some of the movies discussed but if you are looking for something you haven't seen yet I would highly recommend it especially if you are fans of these three lovely ladies.  The blu release is alright but the lack of supplemental material may make it difficult for fans to double dip.