Scream Queen B-Team

Being a horror fan for the last twenty years, I’m still disappointed that I didn’t get to experience the glory days of the scream queen in real time. Alas, queens of a particular kind of scream had their heyday in the early nineties and it would have been pretty inappropriate for a ten-year-old to be watching Sorority House Massacre 2 and reading Femme Fatales.

I’ve made up for lost time, of course—yet my knowledge of what it means to be a mistress of the macabre still comes from what are now historical documents. Mostly documentaries, actually. And I’m glad there are a surprising number of flicks examining the history and influence of horror heroines readily available. I’ve seen most of them, and I’m always on the lookout for something new, or something under the radar.

The DVD set has been in my collection for a few years now, but I never would have known about Sleepless Nights (the documentary that, um, documents the Slumber Party Massacre franchise) if I hadn’t picked up the Shout Factory re-release of the SPM trilogy. It’s become a treasured possession—not so much for the movies themselves, but for the context provided by the behind-the-scenes doc. 

Though not specifically about scream queens, Sleepless Nights offers the female perspective on a certain era and type of movie. The cast and crew—all three of the slasher flicks were written and directed by women—are mostly positive about their experiences and the legacies of the films. The first two movies, for all the classic Corman exploitation tropes, could certainly be argued to have themes of feminism. The third installment, which is the darkest of the three, seems to attempt to prove how misogynistic these films are by being blatantly misogynistic. Definitely my least favorite, though it does have a pretty strong assemblage of scream queens with Hope Marie Carlton and Maria Ford. (Yes, I have a broad definition of the term—basically anyone who’s been in more than two B-horror flicks has earned the title in my view.)

The franchise is also covered in the original Corman doc, Some Nudity Required—which will eventually get its own post. Suffice to say that these films receive all manner of criticism and praise, and that dichotomy has absolutely inspired my own work. Not that you could tell, since I cleverly cloak everything with obscure references and potty humor.

Biggest takeaway from Sleepless Nights: Horror definitely has the most welcoming and supportive fandom. I mean, I feel like this is pretty well-known and often reaffirmed, but there’s nothing wrong with constant validation. Beyond hearing the actors talk about the fans of SPM, it’s great to see Jason Paul Collum and Tony Brown’s near-obsessive devotion (and I am NOT dissing that) to this trilogy. They really are the caretakers and ambassadors of slumber party massacres, and it makes me consider adopting a lonely slasher classic as my own (I’m looking at you, Unmasked: Part 25).

Even if you have no interest in what may seem like a trio of goofy slashers, the DVD is worth picking up for the documentary alone. Personally, I just love seeing people being positive about horror—especially if it’s a group whose voices aren’t always represented. As Brinke Stevens (my personal favorite scream queen) says in the doc: “I love being a queen of horror because it’s such a supportive industry.” Sleepless Nights is evidence of exactly that.