Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer are the focus of horror fan/filmmaker/gentleman scholar Jason Paul Collum's new documentary Screaming in High Heels.
Jason Paul Collum has long made a career, of sorts, of understanding the women who we call Scream Queens. His prior documentary, Something to Scream About, featured interviews with a range of actresses with full careers in horror such as Debbie Rochon, Julie Strain, and Felissa Rose, and last year he made a documentary about the woman-directed Slumber Party Massacre series.
Screaming in High Heels is his new film, which focuses on what are usually called the Big Three, the "original" scream queens - Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, and Michelle Bauer, and their rise to fame on the video horror circuit beginning in the 1980s. These three women, the first EVER to be called "scream queens," have starred in literally hundreds of horror films, often together, that have had a major impact on not only the way horror films are made today, but on how actresses in horror movies see themseleves. From the film's official description,
Quote:
A passion project for nearly a decade, this documentary gathers b-grade horror film actresses Linnea Quigley (Return of the Living Dead), Brinke Stevens (The Slumber Party Massacre) and Michelle Bauer (Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers) to tell the story of how they all "accidentally" became cult icons of the late 1980s. Follow the ladies and their fellow directors and cast mates through the major direct-to-video boom which had them filming upwards of ten films per year, fighting off men in rubber monster suits, pubescent teenage boys and deadly showers. They were flown all over the world, dined with President Reagan and built profitable mini-empires from their fame by exploiting the industry which exploited them. Then it all came crashing down.
Having received little respect at the time, and today their importance & substantial contributions to the horror film industry mostly forgotten (sometimes deliberately), this documentary will bring an educational, fun and positive aspect to express how smart these three women were to play stupid
The doc features new interviews with not only the three actresses but also filmmakers Fred Olen Ray, David DeCoteau, Ken Hall, Ted Newsom, Richard Gabai and actor Jay Richardson.
The film, which just got final funding today, is almost complete. Check out the trailer/teaser below:
Also something cool about Michelle/Pia, she appeared in one of the first 'femme porns,' French Butler.
Looks good. But I was under the impression that Michelle Bauer was kind of like Barbara Steele in that she was really dismissive about the whole thing and didn't want to talk about it.
I guess I heard wrong.