Doc Rotten's 666 Revelations: Scream Queens of 1973

When discussing Scream Queens in 1973, it is impossible not to include Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist. She is undeniably the most recognizable horror icon of the decade, a decade that introduces us to Bruce the shark, Michael Myers and Leatherface. Guided by William Friedkin’s Golden Globe winning direction, Blair’s performance leaves a lasting and influential mark on horror. It is rare a horror movie is recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Golden Globes, but the innocent looking thirteen year old was nominated for her supporting role. Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil was also nominated for lead actress. It’s a stellar year for scream queens. But they aren’t the only ones who gave memorably and commendable performances this year. Julie Christie plummets into depression and sorrow in the harrowing Don’t Look Now. Pamela Franklin faces her greatest fears in Legend of Hell House. Pam Grier leads a voodoo clan and battles William Marshall in Scream, Blacula, Scream. And Margot Kidder gives a dual performance as both Danielle and Dominique in Brian DePalma’s Sisters. Here are the six Scream Queens who made an impression on horror cinema in 1973.

JULIE CHRISTIE as LAURA BAXTER in DON’T LOOK NOW

In Nicholas Roeg’s haunting film Don’t Look Now, actress Julie Christie plays Laura Baxter who struggles to deal with the loss of her child who drowned in a pond. Her husband, John (played by Donald Sutherland), takes a job in Venice, Italy (restoring an old church) and brings her along in hopes to overcome her depression and repair their stressed relationship. While John works, Laura encounters and befriends two elderly women, one of whom is blind, psychic and claims to be in contact with her deceased daughter. While her husband is suspicious of their motives, Laura is given great comfort from the pair and continues to visit them even after tragedy strikes again upon the films conclusion. Julie Christie, a cherished, sought-after and well respected actress, brings a deep sorrow and passion to the character of Laura Baxter. In a rich, cerebral film that requires such, Christie provides a rare mature, realistic woman, simultaneously strong and fragile. Christie, who previously starred in Fahrenheit 451 (1965), returns to the genre in Demon Seed (1977).

ELLEN BURSTYN as CHRIS MACNEIL in THE EXORCIST

In a year of strong female horror roles, Ellen Burstyn is nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Chris MacNeil in William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. Burstyn stars as the mother of a young teenager who is possessed by an evil spirit. Chris MacNeil is a successful, strong woman and a single mother, dealing with the stress of her job, her divorce and her blossoming teen. As the strange and frightening events that surround her daughter increase, she faces them head on, resilient When the doctors (and science) continually fail her, she fights back insisting on answers and options. After all further options prove unsuccessful, and believing her daughter is now possessed by an evil spirit, she reaches out to the church for answers, requesting an exorcism. Finding the church, like the doctors and psychiatrists before them, are hesitant to believe her plight, she fights yet again for her daughter, convincing Father Karras to move forward with her request. It is her role as the ever-vigilant mother who will never give up on her daughter that anchors the film and keeps the audience invested in the narrative. Burstyn never truly returns to genre, but does finally receive the Oscar the following year for her role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974).

LINDA BLAIR as REGAN MACNEIL in THE EXORCIST

For her role as the possessed young Regan MacNeil in Exorcist, Linda Blair was nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, she is also nominated for the Golden Globe in the same category. Unfortunately as it was learned her role was handled too heavily with special effects and voice work from Mercedes McCambridge, that the likelihood of winning diminished considerably (She does win the Golden Globe however). While such a sour downturn continues to haunt much of Linda Blair’s career, her role provides a powerful and haunting performance that deserves such recognition. As the story unfolds, she refers innocently to an invisible friend in the basement named Captain Howdy, then as the horror begins to take hold and she behaves unexpectedly or encounters unexplainable phenomenon, and she must brave the cold and unfeeling methods of modern science. The audience feels her pain along with her as she braves needles and probes and huge machines wailing loudly as they examine her. Then, when medicine fails her, a psychiatrist is brought in to examine her and he hypnotizes her in hope of speaking with the mysterious Captain Howdy. When the demon insider her is brought to the forefront, Blair’s Regan transforms into a snarling, twisted version of her previous self. From then on, she quickly becomes the possessed child most horror fans are familiar with, her face scarred with lashes from holy water, eyes glazed over white and spitting bile at the exorcists trying to save her. Hers is a brave and strong performance. Linda Blair returns to the franchise with Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) and the genre with films like Hell Night (1981).

PAMELA FRANKLIN as FLORENCE TANNER in LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE

When Dr. Lionel Barrett (Clive Revill) is hired to investigate the haunting of the Belasco Mansion, he brings along his wife, Ann (Gayle Hunnicutt) and two different type of psychics to uncover the truth behind the supernatural events, Ben Fischer (Roddy McDowell) a physical medium and Florence Tanner, a spiritual medium. The young, attractive, naive and vulnerable Tanner is played by Pamela Franklin and it is through her that the research team (and the audience) first encounter the spirit (or perhaps spirits) inhabiting Hell House. She is in constant confrontation with Barrett who distrusts her and her methods and believes the spirits are only scientific “energy” and not spirits. Through her intent to prove Barrett wrong, and never wavering in her beliefs, she invokes the spirits, succumbs to a spiritual molestation and jeopardizes her safety. She even overcomes her own fear and faces down the spirit of the house during the film’s climax. 

PAM GRIER as LISA FORTIER in SCREAM, BLACULA, SCREAM

Pam Grier makes a striking Voodoo Queen as Lisa Fortier in Scream, Blacula, Scream. The rising star quickly shows she can hold her own against the Shakespearean trained actor playing Blacula, William Marshall. The make a formidable pair. When Mama Loa passes, her adopted apprentice, Lisa Fortier, is chosen over her own son, Willis, to be her successor. Willis resurrects Blacula to keep Lisa from becoming the new Voodoo Queen, but the black prince becomes enamored with her instead. Unlike most scream queens in similar horror features, Grier’s character is as entrenched in the supernatural workings as the antagonist and she is armed with knowledge and tools typically scripted for the likes of Professor Van Helsing as played by Peter Cushing. Not only does she battle and defeat Blacula, but she also saves the male lead from certain death as well. Bravo.

MARGOT KIDDER as DANIELLE/DOMINIQUE in SISTERS

As director Brian De Palma evolved into a respected director often compared favorably to the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, he offered the challenging role of Danielle Breton and Dominique Blanchion in the film Sisters. De Palma places Kidder in the Norman Bates role with Sisters and heavy-handily draws inspiration from Psycho (and other classic Hitchcock films). However, he brings with him a technique he soon claims as his own: the split screen. This technique is used to great effect in Sisters as it also visually represents the Danielle and Dominique’s fractured personalities, separation from each other, and simultaneous points of views throughout the film. In one of her earliest roles, Kidder leans on De Palma’s skills to illustrate the characters she is given to portray in Sisters and elevates her performance above what it may have been in other hands. Margot Kidder follows Sisters up with other Seventies horror classics such as Black Christmas (1974), The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) and The Amityville Horror (1979). During this time, she is offered the lead female role in the big screen adaptation of DC Comics’ iconic costumed hero, Superman (1977), and forever becomes associated with the character Lois Lane.

Doc Rotten's 666 Revelations: Movie Monsters of 1973

1973 is the year everything changed. The genre has been toying with “maturing” over the recent years with entries such as Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and Night of the Living Dead (1968). But with The Exorcist, horror shakes the world with its mature themes and creates a blockbuster. There are plenty of movie monsters this year; some cash in on the craze, others become adolescent and get looked over. The bar is raised. Along with the devil himself, possessing young, innocent Regan MacNeil, 1973 sees the return of a few Seventies fiends such as Blacula in Scream, Blacula, Scream, the Knights Templar in Return of the Blind Dead, Paul Nachy’s Waldermar Daninsky in Curse of the Devil and Christopher Lee’s Count Dracula in Satanic Rites of Dracula. Yul Brynner shows up as the robotic gunslinger in Westworld and Peter Cushing faces the Creeping Flesh. Along with Blacula, blaxploitation unleashes Blackenstein. Frightening killers sharpen their knives in Don’t Look Now, Sisters and Horror Hospital. Strother Martin turns into Dirk Benedict a ssssnake in SSSSSSS and Vincent Price chews up the scenery in Theater of Blood. Here are 6 of the Movie Monsters that scare up box office receipts (or TV ratings) in 1973. 

POSSESSED REGAN MACNEIL in EXORCIST

Suddenly there was a face to the old saying “The devil made me do it” when a demon possesses a Georgetown pre-teen in director William Friedkin’s adaptation of William Blatty’s Exorcist. Audiences find themselves subjected to unthinkable visuals: Regan levitates above her bed, her head spins completely around, she vomits green bile, and she stages unspeakable acts with a crucifix. The demon spouts foul obscenities to Regan’s mother and the priests who perform the exorcism in order to cast the creature out. The soundtrack only amplifies the audible fear with booming sound effects and Tubular Bells. Perhaps the greatest movie monster of the decade comes to life in the face of a child and the movie going public and the future of horror cinema will never, ever be the same.  

CREEPING FLESH in CREEPING FLESH

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are the go-to team for UK horror films. Starting with Hammer film’s Curse of Frankenstein in 1957, the duo makes classic gothic chiller after another, such as Horror of Dracula (1958), the Mummy (1959), Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) and more. They manage to elevate themselves to the highest of horror icons status alongside the likes of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Vincent Price. Hammer and Amicus commonly snatch the two up to star in horror outings. One such pairing is Creeping Flesh in 1973, directed by Freddie Francis, where Cushing’s scientist Emmanual Hildern returns from New Guinea with a large humanoid skeleton. He soon discovers, while cleaning the specimen, that when the bones come in contact with water flesh begins to grow on its surface. Fearing the being is evil, Hildern keeps the skeleton dry and hidden safely in his laboratory, until his corrupt half-brother, James (Christopher Lee), steals it on a dark, stormy night. The rain regenerates the creature into the creeping flesh and it begins to wreak havoc. 

GUNSLINGER in WESTWORLD

In an early example of technology gone wild, Westworld is a popular adult attraction where lifelike robots co-inhabiting the park for entertainment begin to malfunction, go against their programming and kill off the patrons. Famous author Michael Crichton writes and directs the feature starring Richard (Love at First Bite) Benjamin and James (The Car, Amityville Horror) Brolin as two of the park’s guests. When all hell breaks loose, the pair must face the most fearsome of the renegade robots, the Gunslinger, played by the legendary western actor Yul Brynner. Stoic, silent, slow moving, and unstoppable, the malfunctioning maniac continues to pursue Benjamin from park to park, rising after each defeat in actions similar to but predating Halloween’s Michael Myers from John Carpenter and Terminator’s T-800 from James Cameron. Even after being destroyed during the conclusion of Westworld, the Gunslinger returns briefly in the sequel Futureworld in 1976. 

BLACKENSTEIN in BLACKENSTEIN

Hoping to recapture the success they had with Blacula, AIP hires director William A. Levey to helm a twist on the Mary Shelley classic Frankenstein under the title Blackenstein. The end result, unfortunately, is a bit silly and ineffective. Much like Blacula, the title monster appears very much like its Universal Monster cousin, but with an Afro. In the story, a Vietnam vet, Eddie Turner, returns from the war horribly disfigured having lost all his limbs. His fiancée, Doctor Winifred Walker, takes him to Dr. Stein, volunteering him for experimental procedures that may return him to his former self. Instead, they create a monster that goes on a rampage. Where William Marshall at least challenges Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee in their similar roles, John De Su does little more that stumbling around, becoming a parody of the Universal Monster played by Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Glenn Strange. 

CREATURES in DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK

In John Newland’s TV horror movie of the week, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Kim Darby and Jim Hutton inherit a creepy two-story Victorian house that they soon discover has menacing creatures hidden in the dark. Sally (Darby) Farnham uncovers a bricked up fireplace in a locked up study and unwittingly unleashes a gaggle of miniature monsters terrorizing her night after night. Makeup man, Mike Hancock, gives the little beasts a frightening visage with shriveled up little heads. They hide in the shadows and whisper at Sally from the dark and threaten to drag her into the pit below the fireplace from whence they came. A minor success when it came out in 1973, as a TV movie, it became all but forgotten afterwards until Guillermo Del Toro recently announce that he was producing a theatrical remake for 2011. 

THE MAD DOCTOR STORM in HORROR HOSPITAL

Michael Gough stars as Doctor Christian Storm in Antony Balch’s Horror Hospital. Doctor Storm runs a “health clinic” where he cures degenerates by lobotomizing them into brain-dead zombies. He also drives around in a limousine equipped with a retractable blade and basket for decapitating his victims. He also pals around with a creepy dwarf, Skip Martin from Vampire Circus, who assists him in tracking down new candidates for his experiments. In Horror Hospital, Doctor Storm is a campy, dark humored, gore-infused take on the mad doctor theme, on science gone mad. Things turn sour for Storm when he targets the niece of his assistant (Aunt Judy) and her friends when they arrive at the clinic in search of missing friends. Doctor Storm, in the capable hands of Michael Gough (Trog, Horrors of the Black Museum, Konga), is a prime example of Seventies evil scientist looking to save the world in his own twisted, disturbed, maniacal way.