New Blood, New Breed: The Top Women In Horror.

Jay Giles
Straight Up Movies
Published in
5 min readNov 19, 2014

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The Horror Genre has always been one where a lot of women got their start and then moved on to other genres and left their horror days behind. Some have crossed over like Jamie Lee Curtis and others have embraced the genre and made huge names for themselves like Linnea Quigley, Danielle Harris and Katherine Isabelle.

In recent years the women of the genre have really been taking it over not just on screen scream queens but as well as behind the scenes, that are on par with the likes of their male counterparts.

These are the women who I believe are re-establishing the horror genre and some of the best working today.

Devanny Pinn

Pinn is quickly rising in the genre as one of the top scream queens of this era, first appearing in The Lovely Ones(2006). Since then Devanny has steadily been making a name for herself with turns in 15 till midnight(2010), Wonderland, The Black Dahlia Haunting(2012) just to name a few.

Not only is she putting in work in front of the camera, but also behind it, where she is writing and producing a lot of her own works. Her most recent film, Truth or Dare (2013) has been getting a lot of praise and most deserving so. Devanny Pinn should be on every horror fan’s watch list.

Heather Dorff

Best known for her 2011 breakout short film What They Say In which she starred, produced and co wrote. Since then, Heather has been putting together a nice resume, as one of the newer scream queens she is taking that moniker and running with it, co starring with fellow scream queens Jessica Cameron and Devanny Pinn 2013's Truth or Dare. Heather Dorff is a name to keep your eyes out for.

Tristan Risk

“Little Miss Risk” burst onto the scene in Jen/Sylvia Soska 2012 horror/thriller American Mary as Beatress which was a breakout performance that helped put her on everyone’s radar, with her name buzzing in the industry, I for one am looking forward to see what she does next. She does team up with the Soska’s for their segment in The ABCs of Death 2 (T is for Torture Porn).

Christa Campbell

She’s been someone that I’ve followed their career for a long time now and have enjoyed her work weather in front of the camera in horror films like 2001 Maniacs and its sequel 2001 Maniacs:Field of Screams, Spiders or more mainstream films like 2011's Drive Angry, The Mechanic and The Iceman(2012).

More recently she has been producing a lot of films Texas Chainsaw 3d(2013), Straight A’s, and the forthcoming Leatherface prequel. Currently her film The Taking of Deborah Logan has been getting a lot of good reviews(mine being one of them) because it’s one of the better found footage/possession style films. With her success in front of the camera as well as behind it now, everyone should always be on the look out for any and everything Christa Campbell is involved with.

Jessica Cameron

She is one of, if not the hardest working woman in the horror genre today, from acting, producing,directing, promoting, whatever the case maybe be she is one of the best at doing it, and you should pay attention to because Jessica Cameron is a must know name in the horror genre

She first drew my attention in 2011's Camel Spiders and since she has been a must watch for me. Her latest film, Truth or Dare, is getting high praise and for good reason. Jessica is becoming a tour de force in the genre and I can’t wait to see what she does next and beyond.

The Soska Sisters (Jen/Sylvia Soska)

What can be said about The Twisted Twins that haven’t been said already, they might be right now the most IT girls going right now in the genre, because of their unique style and approach to filmmaking helps them stand out, they have really taken the horror genre by storm and won’t be stopping anytime soon. first coming on the screen with 2009's Dead Hooker in a Trunk, it got people to talking, 2012's American Mary made everyone take notice of their talents as filmmakers(check out my review where I talk further about it).

Since skyrocketing to the top of everyone’s list, any and everything that The Soska’s touch draws attention. Their latest film the WWE co produced horror film See No Evil 2 has been very well received, and their next film Vendetta seems to be more of an action movie but i’m sure they will add their on unique twist to it and I can’t wait to see how that goes.

One thing about all of these ladies aside from the fact that they are all beautiful, is that they all have the passion and desire and love for a genre of filmmaking that gets overlooked a lot and watered down by the main stream, but its one that the fans enjoy and its very good to see these ladies are leading the resurgence of a great genre.

So hopefully for anyone who reads this if you haven’t seen anything featuring the fore mentioned ladies of horror, you should check out their works because they are all very good at what they do.

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