Scream Queen

Director - Brad Sykes (Camp Blood, Plaguers)

Starring - Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead, Hunters), C. Courtney Joyner (Lurking Fear, From a Whisper to a Scream), and Kurt Levee (Evil Sister)

Release Date - 2002

Genre - Horror

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)

Rating (out of 5):

     When genre fans throw around the label Scream Queen there is so many names they could be referring to. Some instantly think of Jamie Lee Curtis, Danielle Harris, Neve Campbell, Heather Langenkamp, and so many more. However, since I heard the term in high school I've instantly thought of Linnea Quigley. She starred in so many films that I loved during my middle school and high school years like Night of the Demons, Silent Night Deadly Night, and especially Return of the Living Dead. When Visual Vengeance announced that they would be releasing the 2002 Brad Sykes film Scream Queen I was amused in the fact that it did star Quigley. I reached out to them, and they were kind enough to send a

      copy of the release over for review. Like always, I want to thank VV for hooking me up with a copy! The film is centered around the death of a well-known horror actress after she leaves the set of her newest film. The death is considered suspicious because it happened after she had an altercation with a co-star. It doesn't take long for the bodies to start piling up with everyone involved in the film starts dying one by one leaving many to wonder if her death was accidental or is someone exacting revenge for her death. 

      I knew very little about Scream Queen aside from it being directed by Brad Sykes and starred Linnea Quigley. I've covered Brad's work for some time now, and I respect him, which is why it's hard to type this. However, I wasn't a fan of this one. I've been a huge fan of Quigley's for damn nearly 20 years, but this film just doesn't utilize her in a way that I would have liked while delivering a story that is very predictable. I went into this one extremely excited, but it was difficult for me to finish. The acting in this one is awkward from start to finish. It's the only consistent part of the entire film. The cast doesn't deliver horrible performances, but the forced dialogue and unnatural body movement made the scenes feel a bit weird to watch. The story for this one could have been a lot of fun but the predictability and lack of enjoyable characters makes it fall short. The idea of a horror icon meeting a violent end then a slasher like story follows where anyone attached to the film meets a horrible end sound fucking awesome on paper. Sadly, the pacing is all wrong, the scenes are dull, and the story only works if you really can't see who the killer is and, to be honest, you would need to be blind to miss it. Finally, the film's deaths leave a lot to be desired. I went into this one thinking it was going to be a bloody and violent film but was very disappointed in the lack of red stuff and clever deaths. Overall, Scream Queen feels like a movie that was written and shot on the fly. It doesn't feel like it had the love and care that the other films from Syke's have had. I love Visual Vengeance and what they are doing but this is one I couldn't get behind. skip it.