Hey, there! I love, love, love these Top Twelve countdowns. This blog entry I pay tribute to the ladies of horror. Mind you, these are MY top twelve, so feel free to comment with your own. I’m a hetero female, so I don’t give a rat’s booty who shows the most titty (I’m looking at YOU, Linnea Quigley!) I chose these 12 women because they are some truly badass babes of blood!

12) Adrienne Barbeau

Adrienne Barbeau starred in tons of horror movies, such as Swamp Thing and John Carpenter’s The Fog, but my favorite of her roles was as Henry’s bitchy wife in “The Crate” on the first Creepshow movie. Although it made me cringe that her character is sipping a mixture of milk and whiskey, it made me smile that she gets her just desserts.

11) Katharine Isabelle

Katharine Isabelle is in some great flicks, from her powerful role as teenage werewolf in Ginger Snaps, to her gory descent into underground surgery in American Mary, it’s hard to look away when this scream queen is on the screen. Even her more mundane roles, like run-of-the-mill teenager in Freddy Vs. Jason, are not without a certain charm. Katharine is too darn cute.

10) Denise Crosby

Denise Crosby plays horror so well. She can play a damsel in distress as easily as a sinister monster. You might remember her as Mary (leader of Terminus) from Walking Dead, who enjoys cannibalizing zombie apocalypse survivors, but I first came across her at age six, when she scared the **absolute fucking bejesus out of me** as she told the story of her dead sister, Zelda, in the original 1989 Pet Sematary.

9) Linnea Quigley

It simply wouldn’t be right to leave Linnea Quigley off ANY scream queen list. What would the 80s have been without her? If this girl wasn’t being impaled on the antlers of a dead animal, she was shoving tubes of lipstick into her nipple or dancing naked on tombstones. Linnea always kept things interesting in the horror genre.

8) Naomi Watts

Okay, the first time I saw The Ring, I said, “That was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. Let’s watch it again!” So of course Noami Watts made my list. But this talented beauty also stars in my favorite depiction of King Kong, as the classic character Ann Darrow, an actress who comes to realize that the humans who traveled with her to Kong Island to enslave “the monster” are–in fact–the true monsters. Let’s not overlook the movie Funny Games, either. If you haven’t seen it, please do, but brace yourself. Brace yourself HARD.

7) Christina Ricci

Some of Ricci’s horror titles include Sleepy Hollow (1999), in which she starred alongside our beloved Johnny Depp, Cursed (2005), and Afterlife (2009), but come on… everyone knows her TRUE masterpiece was as Wednesday Addams. The only pre-teen us bitter adults can relate to!

6) Kathy Bates

Bates’s performance as Annie Wilkes in Stephen King’s Misery marked her Hollywood breakthrough, winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress. But her various disturbing characters on American Horror Story are what landed her on my countdown. She ALWAYS steals the show, no matter which season.

5) Virginia Madsen

I enjoyed The Haunting (1999) and The Haunting in Connecticut (2009), both films equally “haunting” in their own right, but Virginia Madsen’s portrayal of Helen Lyle alongside charismatic Tony Todd in Candyman, was nothing less than stunning. Tragedy meets urban legend in this storyline, and the result is ultra-spooky. Don’t believe me? Say her name five times into the mirror.

4) Barbara Crampton

I. Love. This. Woman. I’m a SUCKER for campy 80s horror, and Barbara Crampton was in some of the campiest! Re-Animator, Chopping Mall, Frankenhooker, Castle Freak, and From Beyond are all personal favorites of this blogger. In more recent years, I fell for those soft blue eyes again during her performance in the film We Are Still Here.

3) Dee Wallace

She was spot-on in The Howling and Cujo, and I really enjoyed her portrayal of rough prison guard, Greta, in 3 From Hell and her performance in Red Christmas (2017). There’s been talk of her joining the cast of the upcoming Munsters movie, and that sounds super fun!

2) Chloë Grace Moretz

I watched this girl grow up. I remember her early performances in the Amityville Horror remake and Wicked Little Things. She went on to hit films such as Let Me In and Carrie (2013). And this child star didn’t burn out. She’s still rocking the horror world. Chloë Grace Moretz could be crowned the Horror Remake Scream Queen because in addition to Amityville and Carrie, the new Suspiria wasn’t half bad either!

1) Lin Shaye

I don’t know about you, but my choice for number one is, hands down, Lin Shaye. Best known for James Wan’s Insidious series, Lin has been in other movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street, Critters, 2001 Maniacs, Snakes on a Plane, Dead End, and The Final Wish that earned her a spot right here at #1. She has this moxie that lights up every role she takes on. I love her!

So there you have it. My Dirty Dozen Top Twelve Scream Queens. Who are YOUR favorites?