Saturday Scream Queens: Milla Jovovich

It's not the Halloween Season until Milla Jovovich hs been featured as a Saturday Scream Queen at Terror Titans! 

Born in 1975, Jovovich spent her earliest childhood in Ukraine, but came to the U.S. when her parent emigrated to the United States in 1981. A natural performer and lover of the spotlight, she began modeling and acting at the age of 11. She been delivering the goods in action films, horror films, and action-horror films (as well as a few historical dramas, oddball comedies, artsy-fartsy independent productions, music videos... and so on, and so forth from) ever since. Not all movies she's been in have been good over all, but she's always been great!

You can check out other posts featuring photos of and reviews of films with Milla Jovovich by clicking on her name below this post. You can see even more by clicking here and visiting the Shades of Gray blog.

Saturday Scream Queen: Jennifer Mischiati

Italian actress Jennifer Mischiati was born in 1986. Her early childhood was spent constantly on the move, living all over Italy and eventually in various places in the United States. The one constant for her wherever she lived was her interest in volleyball and studying dance. 

The family eventually returned to Italy, and, while they were living in Rome, Mischiati developed an interest in performing. By the time she was 15, she had resolved that acting would be her life.

After initially studying acting at Italian universities, Mischiati secured a student visa to the United States and relocated to Hollywood at the age of 20 to continue her studies. While in the U.S., she became fluent in English and worked hard to gain a natural-sounding American accent so she could more easily gain parts in American productions. Her athleticism and grace served her well as she learned her craft, as she also came to master stage combat and sword fighting. Eventually, she graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) at the top of her class. 

Mischiati returned to Italy in 2009 and launched into a busy international acting career that has spanned stage, television, and film. From working as a stuntwoman (including being a stand-in for Angelina Jolie); to leading roles in Shakespearean stage productions (such as Desdemona in "Othello"); supporting roles on several Italian television shows; appearing in short films and numerous music videos; and a number leading roles in independent films--mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and horror-- she gets busier with each passing year.

Among Mischiati's most notable horror film appearances are key supporting or starring roles in "Ex Inferis" (aka "Back From Hell") (2011), "Evil Things" (2012), "The Plan" (2017), "Curse of the Blind Dead" (2020), and "Fade Out" (aka "Succubus") (2021). Most recently, she played the lead role in "Dead Bride" (2022), and she is also starring in the soon-to-be released "The Follower".

Saturday Scream Queen: Katy Ford

Born in 1992, Katy Ford is an up-and-coming actress and model who's this year's 31 Nights of Halloween leading lady, appearing in five different films. You'll see her again in future films, right here at Terror Titans, but in the meantime, Ms. Ford is our only Scream Queen of 2021.

 For a little more information about Ford (and a few more pictures), check out this post at our sister blog, Shades of Gray,

Saturday Scream Queen: Peculia

Peculia made her first appearance in "Evil Eye" #1 (Fantagraphics 1998), a quarterly anthology title featuring stories written and drawn by Richard Sala. Peculia went onto become one of Sala's signature characters, as well as a favorite of her creator and his fans alike.

Most of Peculia's adventures start with her just going about her day... and end up with her fighting for her life against cultists, monsters, or bodice-ripping villains who have learned some tricks from mad scientists and mad slashers.

Peculia in a world where the horror and thriller movies of the 1920s through the 1950s could all easily have taken place, and where no one thought twice about encountering the supernatural or the by-products of mad science.

Sala never revealed much about Peculia's background. All we ever learn is that she's an orphan who lives alone in a large mansion located on the outskirts of a town. Here, she is looked after and assisted by a short manservant named Ambrose. Meanwhile, a bandage-swathed mystic known as Obscuras watches her from afar--although he and his minions cause almost as much trouble for Peculia as they rescue her from. 

In 2002, nine of Peculia's adventures were collected in "Peculia" (review and some excerpts here, including the history of our heroine's lost shoes). After the cancellation of "Evil Eye" in 2004, Sala revised and expanded the Peculia story from #11 into the graphic novel "Peculia and the Groon Grove Vampires" (review here) in 2006.

Sala wrote in 2010 that he had several unpublished Peculia stories and "hundreds" of sketches and drawings involving her, and that he hoped to some day to a book collecting them. Sadly, Richard Sala passed away on May 7, 2020, and the Peculia collection he thought of never came to pass.

While many of Sala's Peculia sketches and drawings have made their way onto the internet over the years, there are at least two Peculia stories that have never been reprinted outside issues of "Evil Eye", and at this point we'll probably never get to see them, nor the treasure trove of unpublished material from his sketch- and notebooks.

But... Peculia lives on, wandering the countryside of the imagination and finding trouble, whether she is looking for it or not.

Finally, if someone has the good taste to make a Peculia movie, "Trouble is a Friend of Mine" MUST be the theme song for it. It's also great music to listen to get you in the mood to read any of Peculia's adventures... and the video has the added benefit that it feels like it could have been animated by Richard Sala!

Saturday Scream Queen: Valeska Miller

Valeska Miller was born in Malibu, California, in 1987. She is a classically trained ballerina who has been working as an actress and model since 2008. She has so far mostly appeared in thrillers and comedies, but she completed filming on the fantasy film "Empires of the Deep" (no release date announced yet) and has starred in two excellent horror short films in 2020--both of which you can watch as part of this year's 31 Nights of Halloween celebration. (If you haven't already seen "Shadow", click here. Her second appearance will come later today.)

Some might say it's a bit premature to crown Valeska Miller as a Scream Queen... but we've liked what we've seen of her so much that we hope we'll be seeing her in a lot more horror films to come. Then we'll be able to say, "We knew she was going to be great!"

Saturday Scream Queen: Colleen Kelly

Colleen Kelly is an American model and actress who gets most of her bread-and-butter from appearing in television commercial, but has also from 2012 onward been front-and-center in some very excellent horror short films, such as "Overly Possessive" (2017), "The Devil's Passenger" (2018), and "Window Dressing" (2019). Other horror credits include in the 2012 micro-television horror series "Kisses", the Twilight Zone tribute film "Mr. and Mrs. Kill" (2012), and the feature length fright film "Clawed" (2017).

You'll see Kelly in two short films during this year's 31 Nights of Halloween, and, now that she's on our radar, she'll probably also pop up during the "off-season" Terror on the Thirteenth posts.

Saturday Scream Queen: Milla Jovovich

Milla Jovovich got her start in show business as a child model in the mid-1980s (she was 11), landed her first acting roles during the late 1980s (at the age of 13), and she's been going strong in both fields every since. She survived the tricky transition form child/teen performer to adult with ease and even branched out into fashion design, music, and raised a family (three children so far, with her current husband, film director Paul W.S. Anderson) along the way.

Over the years, Jovovich has been in everything from small budget, intimate indie drams and comedies, thrillers and mysteries, explosion-laded action films, blood-spattered horror and monster flicks, and special effects-driven, big-budget science fiction blockbusters. She's been a favorite around here since we first saw in in "The Fifth Element", and while not every project she's been part of has been good, she's often been the best part of them. This is especially true when it comes to the "Resident Evil" film series.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given her Most Favored Status, Jovovich has also been a mainstay of the Terror Titans and Shades of Gray blogs. She's been featured as a Saturday Scream Queen more than other actress (including every single Saturday during the 2012 31 Nights of Halloween celebration), and the Milla Jovovich Quarterly has been going at Shades of Gray since 2011.

Jovovich turns 45 this year, and she is still going strong on the acting and modeling fronts. We looking forward to seeing her in many more roles as we all travel into the future. 

Of the things featuring Jovovich in the near future, we're particularly looking forward to the fantasy/horror flick "Monster Hunters" (2021) and the big-screen adaptation of "Corto Maltese" (no projected release date as of yet). 

Saturday Scream Queen: Lotta Losten

Once-upon-a-time, Saturday Scream Queens were crowned each and every week here at Terror Titans. From 2009 until April of 2013, mini-bios and photos of roughly 170 different actresses featured, with some favorites being honored more than once.

Since then, Saturday Scream Queens have made irregular appearances as part of the 31 Nights of Halloween festival. They return this year... and we're going to feature five profiles this time out! So... now you can say something good came out of this year!

The first Saturday Scream Queen of 2020 is Lotta Losten. Born in 1981, this Swedish actress has been featured in half a dozen short films over the past few Octobers, and she'll be making an appearance in one later today. Lotta may not be the traditionally sexy Scream Queen we usually feature, but every time she appears on screen, we know that spooky fun, or creepy horror, is about to unfold. 

Losten has also appeared on the big screen, feature-length horror films, such "Light Out" (2016) and "Annabelle: The Creation" (2017). She is married to director David F. Sandberg.

Saturday Scream Queen: Jamie Lee Curtis

Born on November 22, 1958, Jamie Lee Curtis claimed her place among the great Scream Queens with her first starring role in "Halloween" (1978). She is unquestionably one of the quintessential actresses of 1980s horror films--also starring in such classics as the 1980 films "The Fog" and "Terror Train", and the teen-slasher genre founding flick "Prom Night" (1980).

Curtis also made her mark on comedies and action films with "Trading Places (1983), "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), "Blue Steel" (1990), "True Lies" (1994), and many, many others.

She has also been a regular on numerous successful television series, such as "Anything But Love" (1989 - 1992), the 2012 season of "NCIS" and the "Scream Queens" series (2015-2016). And then there have been the countless guest-starring appearances on shows of every genre.

Jamie Lee Curtis could only look more 1980s if she was wearing a Walkman.

But throughout her career, Curtis has returned to the horror genre in pictures like "Virus" (1999). She has also revisited the character who launched her to stardom, Laurie Strode, in "Halloween II" (1982), "Halloween H20" (1998) and the best-forgotten "Halloween: Ressurection" (2002).

In the early 2000s, Curtis mostly retired from acting to focus on writing. However, she has continued to appear in one or two projects a year, and starting in 2010, she ramped up her acting career again. Curtis has most recently returned to horror, as well as the is the Halloween series with a film simply titled "Halloween". It "reboots" the series by wiping out all sequels to the original 1978 film (save perhaps "Halloween II."). Is it better than all the sequels it is overriding? Is it worse than some, better than others? You can let the world know in the comment section bemow. But, regardless, Curtis is undoubtedly be excellent in it.

Saturday Scream Queen: Amy Smart

This is Amy Smart's second appearance as a Saturday Scream Queen, but, as you'll see if you watch "The Visitant"--appearing here this evening as part of the 31 Nights of Halloween celebration--you'll see that it's well deserved. In fact, if you've seen any the horror films she's had a large role in, you know it's well deserved.

Born in 1976, she studied dance and acting as a child, and had her first professional acting gigs in 1996. She added horror films to her resume in 1997 with "Campfire Tales" and "Strangelands" and they've been a regular part of her busy schedule ever since.

Horror films in the past ten years that have been graced by Smart's presence are "Mirrors" and "Seventh Moon", both released in 2008; "Among Ravens", Flight 7500", "Run for You Life", and "The Visitant" (all debuting in 2014); "Hangman" (2015); and, most recently, "The Keeping Hours" (2017).

Saturday Scream Queen: Allison Miller

Born in 1985, Allison Miller studied acting, music, and dance in High School, and after dropping out of college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Since her first professional job in 2006, she has stayed with a variety of roles on television series, and in films that have run the gamut from soap operas to mind-wrenching terror flicks.

Miller is perhaps best known for her roles as Skye on the sci-fi television series "Terra Nova" (2011), and as Laura on the sci-fi thriller series "Incorporated" (2016).

Miller's first horror role was co-starring in "Blood: The Last Vampire" (2009). Other horror films on her resume include "Betwixt" (2010), "Devil's Due" (2014), and the horror comedy "Strange Calls" (2016).

She currently part of the ensemble cast on the ABC series "A Million Little Things."

Saturday Scream Queen: Juliet Landau

Born in 1964, Juliet Landau is the daughter of  Martin Landau and Barbara Bain, so performing is literally in her blood. She grew up in England and studied acting and classical ballet before returning to the United States at the age of 18 and embarking on her acting career.

Landau remains best known to horror fans for her role as Drusilla, the insane vampire on the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997-2003) and its spin-off "Angel" (2000-2004), but aside from her famous TV horror role, she's been in the horror-drenched sci-fi flick "Ravager" (1997); "Tool Box Murders" (2004) and "Hack!" (2007);  the zombie movie "Fairfield" (2014); and, most recently, "The Terror of Hallow's Eve" (2017); and several others.

Saturday Scream Queen: Cerina Vincent

Cerina Vincent first found fame as the Yellow Galaxy Ranger in "Power Rangers: Lost Galaxy" (1999), but she soon became a familiar face to horror movie fans. On her expansive horror movie resume include "Fear Runs Silent" (2000), "Cabin Fever" (2002), "It Waits" (2005), "Seven Mummies" (2006), the just-released "Tales of Halloween" (2015), and more.

Vincent can also be seen later today in the 31 Nights of Halloween short "Skypemare". Watch for it at 4:44pm (PST)!

Saturday Scream Queen: Emma Roberts

Emma Roberts, daughter of B-movie icon Eric Roberts, is on the verge of making the transition from child star to adult A-lister. It remains to be seen how her future career unfolds.

She made her horror movie debut with "Scream 4" (2011), and she currently appears in the television horror/comedy series "Scream Queens" She was fated to be among the Saturday Scream Queens here at Terror Titans, especially taking into account that she will have a recurring role in upcoming and will have a recurring role in upcoming episodes of the horror series "American Horror Story" and is the star of "Nerve", a thriller slated for release in 2016.

Saturday Scream Queen: Kerry Finlayson

Kerry Finlayson is an up-and-coming actress whom you'll see in at least one of the horror short films featured here at Terror Titans during our 2015 31 Nights of Halloween mini-film festival. 

Finlayson is a British actress who moved to the U.S. in 2006 where she has been making a name for herself both in front and behind of the camera. Her horror credits include several short films, as well as feature films like "Blood Rush" and "Horror House" (both in 2012), the forthcoming films abruptio and "Horror House 2", and many others.

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Bonus Scream Queen: Cherie Johnson

For the third year in a row, I bring you a flag-draped Scream Queen for the Fourth of July, officially making it a tradition.

Celebrate Independence Day with Cherie Johnson, a child actress who got her start on "Puniky Brewster" and made a successful transition to adulthood in front of the camera with roles in horror films such as "Dead Tone", "Killer Weekend" (both 2007), and "Raven" (2010).

Saturday Scream Queen: Sybil Danning

Born an Army Brat, Sybil Danning grew up to be one of the most commanding figures in B-movies of the late 1970s and 1980s. Few actresses could look as deadly and sexy waving a gun (or a sword or some weird alien raygun) around as Danning. Most of her resume are action or various exploitation (and sexploitation) films, but she can also be seen in a few horror films, like "The Lady in Red Kills Seven Times" (1972), "Night Kill" (1980), "Julie Darling" (1983), "Howling II" (1985), and "The Tomb" (1997).

In 1989, Danning mostly retired from acting when she co-founded a production company. She remains CEO pf that operation, but still takes the occasional part. Her most substantial horror roles in recent years was in the 2007 remake of "Halloween" and a recurring part on the homoerotic vampire TV series "The Lair" (2009).

Saturday Scream Queen: June Collyer

June Collyer's film career began in silent movies when she was cast in the 1927 drama "East Side, West Side." She made 11 films before making a successful transition to sound pictures where she was counted among the most radiant leading ladies of thrillers and horror films from the smaller studios; while most of her roles during the silent era were in romantic dramas, most her sound era parts were in mysteries and horror films.

Collyer's greatest chillers and thrillers include "Illusion" (1930), "The Drums of Jeopardy" (1931), "Before Midnight" (1933), "The Ghost Walks" (1934), and "A Face in the Fog" (1936). Also of note is "Murder By Television" (1935), in which Collyer was featured along side the great Bela Lugosi. However, it is not a good film by any measure, and it is only worth viewing for the greatest Lugosi or Collyer fans.

Collyer retired from film after completing "A Face in the Fog" to focus on raising her two children. In 1950, after they were grown, she returned to acting on "The Steve Erwin Show," a sit-com  starring her husand which aired until 1955. The end of that series was also the end of Collyer's acting career, as she retired a second and final time.

June Collyer passed away in 1968. As the years go by, more and more of her films are being lost to time, with many of her silent pictures already gone forever and the same is true of many of her talkies. For some, only one or two known prints are known to survive on fragile nitrate stock and they are not slated for preservation. For all the negative things film snobs like to say about the shoddy transfers on budget-priced DVDs, at least they're keeping otherwise lost classics available for viewing.

Saturday Scream Queen: Julie Christie

British actress Julie Christie spent her childhood on her father's tea plantation in India before being sent to home to England for her education. Desiring to be an actress at a young age, she soon found success on the stage, but was not satisfied; to Christie, film was how well you did on film was how you measured success.

Pushing hard to leave the stage for the screen, her first major opportunity seemed to be the lead female part in the spy thriller "Dr. No," but she ultimately lost the part to Ursula Andress for not being "busty enough." It all worked out for Christie, however, as bigger and better opportunities swiftly developed and she was soon on her way to super-stardom in celebrated landmark films like "Darling" and "Dr. Zhivago."

At the height of her career in the late 1960s, Christie was wealthy enough to not need to work and she became very choosy about the role she picked. As the frequency with which she appeared on screen diminished, so did her profile as an actress and her career went into an intended eclipse. She then began devoting most of her time to political and social causes.

Christie continues to work vocationally in film to this day, choosing mostly small and unusual films to grace with her magnetic presence and beauty. Along the way, she has appeared in several horror films, all of which have been made better by her presence. Among there are "Don't Look Know" (1973), "Demon Seed" (1977), and "Red Riding Hood" (2011).

Saturday Scream Queens: Cherie Johnson

Cherie Johnson got her professional start at the tender age of nine with a starring role on "Punky Brewster" (1984 - 1988). Television audiences could then watch her grow up, as she went onto playing a lead role on other sit-coms, such as "Family Matters" (1990 - 1998) and eventually made a successful transition to adult actress with a recurring role on "The Parkers" (1999 - 2003).

In recent years, Johnson has focused her career on feature films, with a few direct-to-video works thrown into the mix. A handful of horror movies can be counted among the 20 movies she has been featured in over the past decade, namely  "Dead Tone", "Killer Weekend" (both 2007), and "Raven" (2010).