1. What film/actor/actress/director/writer first got
you into the genre?
Sam Rami's Evil Dead II.
2. What is the definition of "scream queen" to you? and other than yourself, what actress represents that the most?
Although most would probably describe a scream queen as a desirable
young vixen with a great set of lungs I strongly believe that many of the women in this genre have/had the ability to sicken, arouse and most of all scare us! In turn, brains and talent are an absolute must!!!
Vampira is my favorite scream queen.
3. As a whole, do you feel that horror films and the
genre degrade women, or do you feel that society takes what they see in the wrong direction as far as what the film is implying?
In regards to whether the genre degrades women, no more than they degrade men.....I mean come on, if the door is locked the guy can't break it
down...if the car breaks down the guy is never able to fix it...and if he fixes something it never works right. What is he? A moron? And then six of them get together and make a plan to disarm a mentally handicapped man with a knife, and they can't even accomplish that?
In regards to what the film is implying, I think that there are far more prevalent issues at hand than whether a buxom blonde running scantily clad through the night constitutes degradation. For example, what factors in
this young man's life led to his need to indiscriminately whack people up-side the head with an axe?
4. Do you feel that the time of the "scream queens" is
passing due to the influx of the "WB" crowd of actresses that are taking the majority of the so called "mainstream" horror roles? (ex. Neve Campbell
in Scream, Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Grudge: Ju-on remake, etc.)
The WB crowd of actresses are landing roles in the genre
but there are still many independent productions available for the real scream queens and the market exists to fill both.
5. If you could change anything about the genre today, what would it be?
Although I love the elements of the genre i.e. gore, semi clad women etc. I would like to see more creativity in the execution of the sequences. We all know that someone will be faced with his or her untimely demise and it’s the how
he or she will in fact die that I anticipate. When the sequence is done in a way that I don’t expect… the film is that much more satisfying i.e.Takashi Miiki’s ‘Ichi The Killer’.