My Favorite Scream Queens

Lupita Nyong'o

Lupita Nyong'o Breakthrough Performance was in 12 Years of Slave. However, in my opinion not only is her best film Us (directed by Jordan Peele), but I think her dual Performance in this terrifying horror film should’ve earned her an Academy Award. In Us she plays a mother & wife who is traumatized from her past and comes face-to-face with it in form of a doppelganger. When I think of facial expression actors I automatically think of Lupita Nyong'o and she is excellent at displaying terror. She is even great in horror comedies such as her performance as a teacher who teams up with a washed up musician to take down zombies in Little Monsters. Even though it's not my favorite film of 2024 she is still great in A Quiet Place: Day One.

Noticeable Performances: Us, Little Monsters & A Quiet Place: Day One

Maika Monroe

I first heard about Maika Monroe when I saw her performance in the film Watcher about a woman who relocates to another country with her husband and discovers that their neighbor is watching and stalking her. A lot of people's first introduction to the fellow Scream queen actress was It Follows but I was late on the bandwagon. As this article is released I personally think that Longlegs is her best character performance so far. Horror performances aren’t just about jumpscares, it's about conquering your fears and even displaying your own fears for people to see and Maika Monroe is excellent at both of these things. What makes her performance in Longlegs so great is that she is so emotionally closed off from a traumatic experience as a child that whenever she does talk in the film every word matters.

Noticeable Performances: It Follows, Villains, Significant Other, Watcher & Longlegs

Jenna Ortega

Jenna Ortega is one of the Scream queens that seems like getting into the horror genre was always the plan. In several interviews she talks about how she always loved the idea of being scared and she displays it really well. I would love to see Jenna as the lead in more Horror films because I know she's more than capable considering that she was the reason a lot of people watched Wednesday and got back into the Scream franchise. She's a great character actor and going forward I’d love to see her in more leading roles in the future.

Noticeable Performances: The Babysitter: Killer Queen, American Carnage, X, Scream V, Wednesday, Scream VI & Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

Melissa Barrera

Seeing how I grew up on the Scream franchise, the fifth installment was my introduction to Melissa Barrera as an actress. Since hoping into the genre she has not turned in a bad performance at all. It definitely seems as if she is getting better with each film that she is in seeing how she continues to top her last performance or attempts too. Even doing horror comedy isn’t easy and she was able to knock it out of the park with her recent horror-comedy performance in Your Monster that depicts her character falling in love with a Monster in a Beauty & The Beast recreation.

Noticeable Performances: Scream V, Scream VI, Abigail & Your Monster