Five awesome new school scream queens (and five old school)
By Carla Davis
What’s not to love about Adrienne Barbeau? Her earlier rise to fame came with her appearance as Rizzo in the original Broadway production of Grease, and her recurring role as Carol in the 1970s sitcom Maude.
She stepped into the Scream Queens realm with her appearance in John Carpenter’s 1980 horror film The Fog. Though she was married to Carpenter at the time, no one doubted her ability to become a Scream Queen, thanks to her performance as radio DJ Stevie Wayne.
She then appeared with Kurt Russell as Maggie in Escape from New York before returning to straight-up horror in the George A. Romero / Stephen King anthology Creepshow. You probably remember that performance, where she played the obnoxious Wilma “Call me Billie” Northup. I am pretty sure audiences cheered when the crate-dwelling monster ate her alive.
While she worked steadily in different film genres over the years, she kept returning to horror, appearing in Swamp Thing, Two Evil Eyes, Death House, and most recently, 2022’s Hellblazers. She appeared in Rob Zombie’s 2007 remake of Halloween, but her role ended up cut. You can still see her on the DVD special edition however.
Barbeau is another of the Scream Queens who has maintained her fondness and respect of horror.