Five awesome new school scream queens (and five old school)

Our final addition to the roster of new-school Scream Queens is Anya Taylor-Joy, who, like our other queens, has mad acting skills (see Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit), but usually leans heavily into darker fare. Her first film was Robert Eggers’ chilling slow-burn masterpiece The Witch, and she was still a teenager at the time.

Her performance as Thomasin, unfairly accused of witchcraft by her bratty younger siblings was serious and heart wrenching. While Thomasin did eventually more or less go over to the dark side, Taylor-Joy’s sensitive portrayal made me really feel for her.

She followed up that performance by playing the title role in sci-fi/thriller Morgan, another sympathetic character who did some very bad things. Taylor-Joy then appeared in Split, Marrowbone, Glass, X-Men spinoff The New Mutants, The Northman, The Menu and Amsterdam.

My personal favorite performance in a horror film by Anya Taylor-Joy is her turn as Sandie in Last Night in Soho. It’s a twisty-turny film that keeps the viewer on their toes the whole way through. When the character of Ellie begins experiencing vivid dreams about a young, vivacious woman named Sandie, it’s easy to see why she becomes so captivated.

Taylor-Joy brings to life the character’s determination to be a star, and at first, Ellie thinks her idol is accomplishing everything she planned to. Sadly, we soon find out that Sandie was instead exploited by her “manager”, and that changes her into a vengeful, ultimately murderous young woman.

But again, it’s Taylor-Joy’s ability to make her characters so sympathetic that won me over, and Last Night in Soho was one of my favorite films of 2021.

How do you feel about this list of old school/new school Scream Queens? Who would you add to the list? Give us your nominations in the comments section.