Don’t Call Barbara Crampton a Scream Queen

If you’ve ever waited in a long convention line to meet Barbara Crampton, one of horror’s most beloved actresses, you might have made the innocent mistake of referring to her as a “scream queen.” Even though she has felt this way for a while, Crampton recently made it known — again — that she is ready to move on from that reductive label.

Fangoria recently re-published an essay written by Crampton for Birth.Movies.Death in 2016 which explains her dislike for the term and gives explicit reasons why society should move past such dated, misogynistic titles. She even gets reactions — both postive and negative — from other luminaries in the horror world, including Heather Langenkamp, the Soska Sisters, Lin Shaye, Bill Moseley, and more.

Granted, most of us use the phrase “scream queen” as a term of endearment, which Crampton acknowledges evokes a sense of royalty in a sense; but it’s more of the minimalist references of the term that rub her the wrong way.

We highly recommend you read her full essay on Fangoria for more information.