Screaming in High Heels: The Rise and Fall of the Scream Queen Era is one of those documentaries that I’ve been waiting to see, since hearing about it. I’m a big fan of Linnea Quigly from films like “The Return of the Living Dead” and “Night of the Demons” and Brinke Stevens from “Slumber Party Massacre” to some of her most current work like “Witchouse 3” and “Die Delta Die”.
The documentary focuses on three actresses in the 1980’s, who found cult fame in various horror films during that time period. Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer and Linnea Quigley were known as “”The Terrifying Trio”. They would usually headline an upwards of ten films of year and fending off various monsters and pubescent teenage boys. The three actresses would also appear together in films like “Nightmare Sister” and”Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama”. The document remembers these actresses and how they were smart to play very dumb.
Going into this documentary, I was a bit skeptic that the sixty-three minute running time was going to hurt the film and it would leave me wanting more. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case for the most, as I enjoyed “Screaming in High Heels: The Rise and Fall of the Scream Queen Era”.
Director Jason Paul Column does a very good job documenting this time period in horror film history. I liked how the film was started with the director interviewing various B-movie personalities about the history and market of the B-Movie. It does a very good job setting up the three main scream queens that are focused in this documentary. When it came to the film focal point, it was a very interested look at these three actresses. There are various topics that Column goes into, from the actresses early day before horror film to the fun stories that they had making these types of films. It helped give you a sense of what the B movie horror landscape was like during the eighties and early nineties. The other thing that I liked about this, it also spend a little time on dark side of the business that each of the actresses experienced during the time as B-movie stars. It added something that was needed to get a full picture of their careers and explore that there is a dark side to the movie making business.
If there was one complaint that I had with it, I thought the film was short. It would have been have nice to have more interview time with Quigey, Stevens and Bauer, even though there is more interview material with each of the actress as part of the DVD extras. Even with that minor grip, I was still satisfied with the end result.
This is a must see, if your fans of Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer or Linnea Quigey. “Screaming in High Heels: The Rise and Fall of the Screen Queen Era” is a very entertaining documentary that goes into the highs and lows of the scream queen era.
