Doc Rotten's 666 Revelations: Scream Queens of 1974

Scream Queens in 1974 are a broad mix of roles. Some are monsters, such as Juliet Mills in Beyond the Door, Marki Bey in Sugar Hill and Carol Speed in Abby, while others begin defining the final girl, such as Olivia Hussey in Black Christmas and Marilyn Burns in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Many are supporting roles such as Caroline Munro in Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter and Julie Ege in The Legend of Seven Golden Vampires. Terri Garr even gets to play the “straight man” in Young Frankenstein, while Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman hone their comedic skills in the Mel Brooks' classic. And Sharon Ferrell deals with the fears of giving birth to a monster in It’s Alive. Be they monsters, final girls or comic relief, here are six of the Scream Queens of 1974.

JULIET MILLS as JESSICA BARNETT in BEYOND THE DOOR

The Exorcist (1973) gave birth to a wave of exorcism movies looking to cash in on its box office success. The devil and his demon counterparts seem to be taking possession of innocent women across the world at an alarming rate. In Italy, director Ovidio G. Assonitis, cast actress Juliet Mills in Beyond the Door. In the story, Mills’ character, Jessica Barrett, pregnant with her third child, starts to show signs of possession. When Richard Johnson shows up to help it turns out the baby may just be the son of the devil. Much like Linda Blair’s Regan, she begins to not only physically change appearance but also spit green bile, speak in tongues and foul language, and spin her head around 180 degrees. Mills, best known as Phoebe Figalilly in the TV series Nanny and the Professor, only stars in two genre films during her career, this film and Waxwork II: Lost In Time (1992).

OLIVIA HUSSEY as JESSICA BRADFORD in BLACK CHRISTMAS

1974 is a landmark year for the final girl concept of horror films, especially slasher films in their infancy. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre along with Black Christmas both propel their female leads into the final girl role. For Bob (Porky’s and A Christmas Story) Clark’s Black Christmas, also known as Silent Night, Evil Night, Olivia Hussey steps into the role of Jessica Bradford who must survive when a murderer invades her sorority house. The exotic beauty is previously best known for the star-making, celebrated role of Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968). In the Canadian low-budget shocker, she adds to the tension by starting the film very cool, very in control and then degenerating into a nervous, frightened wreck by the film’s conclusion. Hussey breaks new ground with this role and provides a blueprint for many final girls to follow, from Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween (1977) to Carol Kane in When A Stranger Calls (1980) to every final girl in the Friday the Thirteenth franchise.

CAROLINE MUNRO AS CARLA in CAPTAIN KRONOS, VAMPIRE HUNTER

Caroline Munro continues her rise to fame with the role of Carla in Hammer’s Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter. On their way to Durwood Manor, Captain Kronos (Horst Janson) and Professor Hieronymus Grost (John Carter) encounter the young gypsy girl Carla and free her from imprisonment. Carla becomes a student of Kronos, learning the ways of hunting and killing vampires. She also becomes romantically involved with Kronos. While she does become the victim – twice – Carla is more a member of the man’s club in the Hammer chiller. She assists Grost in tracking the vampires (burying toads!) and is a key element to gaining entrance back into Durwood Manor to confront the vampires. With this film, Munro completes her contract with Hammer; however, she follows the director, Brian Clemens, to her next role as Margiana in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and later becomes a Bond girl in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). She continues to make a splash in the Horror genre including the slasher flick The Last Horror Film (1982).

MARKI BEY as DIANA “SUGAR” HILL in SUGAR HILL

As does Carol Speed in Abby (1974), Marki Bey plays the title in Paul Maslansky’s Sugar Hill role as Diana “Sugar” Hill. When Diana Hill’s fiancée meets an untimely death, she sets out to get revenge on those responsible, including the local crime lord named Morgan played by horror icon Robert Quarry. She enlists the help of the voodoo queen Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) to strike a deal with the Lord of the Dead, Baron Zamedi (Don Pedro Colley). She is given control over the Baron’s voodoo zombies to track down and kill Morgan and his gang. When “Sugar” needs to awaken the zombies, she too changes - transforming from the straight-haired, beautiful Diana Hill into a Coffy clone, complete with Pam Grier’s afro and white jump suit. She is also cursed with some of the silliest dialog ever. Still Marki Bey manages to make an impression and carries her striking wardrobe quite well. She has a relatively short career starting with The Landlord (1970) and ending with TV appearances on Charlie’s Angels (1977), Starsky and Hutch (1977-1979) and Trapper John, M.D. (1979).

MARILYN BURNS as SALLY HARDESTY in TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE

If Olivia Hussey began to draft the outline for the final girl in horror films; Marilyn Burns solidified the concept in Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as Sally Hardesty. Traveling with her brother Franklin (Paul A. Partain) and friends, Jerry (Allen Danzinger), Kirk (William Vail) and Pam (Teri McMinn) in Texas, the group encounters a family of cannibals, including the homicidal Leatherface. One by one, the family begins to pick off the youngster until Sally is left to fend for herself. Somehow she survives Leatherface’s attacks and flees capture all the while avoiding becoming lunch and being crafted into a fashion accessory. While her role is often reduced to screaming and then screaming some more, she still manages to bring a strength to the character and an intelligence that enables her to escape. Before she can though, she is put through hell: jumping out a second story window, being kidnapped by the owner of a nearby gas station, bound, gagged and sat before the family dinner, surviving “Grandpa’s” hammer and leaping through a window yet again before being chased by the chainsaw wielding Leatherface. Sally Hardesty may be one of the most important female roles for the horror genre, influencing final girls in movies such as Halloween (1978), Friday the Thirteenth (1980) and most every slasher film in the Eighties. Marilyn Burns appears in the genre again in Helter Skelter (1976) and Eaten Alive (1977).

TERRI GARR as INGA in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

The horror comedy is a tough genre-blending beast to successfully master. Mel Brook’s lucked out when he cast the beautiful and talented Terri Garr as Inga, the gypsy lab assistant, in his comedy/horror masterpiece, Young Frankenstein. Staring alongside Gene Wilder as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein and Marty Feldman as Igor, Terri Garr must become their straight man. But she is far more than that. In her breakthrough performance, she is able to hold her own beside the two comedic talents and show her funny bone as well. The script also affords her some of the funnier lines in the movie as well and she is able to upstage both Wilder and Feldman from time to time. The three make a delightful trio that finds few to rival their timing, charm and banter. Who else could deliver the line “He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker” with such finesse? Garr follows Young Frankenstein with very few genre related pictures, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), and becomes more famous for her comedic roles in Oh, God! (1977), Tootsie (1982) and Mr. Mom (1983).