Us Ranks the Top 10 Scream Queens: From Jamie Lee Curtis to Neve Campbell

There are endless types of horror movie villains that will scare you, shock you and haunt your nightmares for years after the credits roll — but none would be quite as compelling without the characters you can actually root for; the ones who will have you screaming, “He’s right behind you!” as you hold your breath in hopes they make it to the bitter end.

None of those characters are more impressive than the famous Final Girl, the female character who rises above the odds to — hopefully — defeat the monsters, serial killers and ghouls and make it to the other side alive. Evolving over the years, the Final Girl trope once started as damsels in distress, but soon evolved into badass women learning to take down their own demons.

Certain actresses along the way have brought these characters to life, time and time again. From Jamie Lee Curtis’ decades-long portrayal of Laurie Strode in the Halloween franchise to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s endless roles in horror and horror-adjacent projects, there are handfuls of women who have cemented themselves as queens of the genre — and relish being the heroes of their own stories.

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“In TV women are the stars, but in films we’re still struggling to play the leads. This particular genre is where women seem to get the best roles and can really shine,” Gellar explained in a 2004 interview. “And I like films that are challenging – I couldn’t just be the girlfriend or the wife in a film. So I’ll be wherever the good female roles are. I like horror.”

So who are the top 10 Scream Queens of all time? Keep scrolling to find out:

Credit: Dimension Films ; Cover Images (2) ; Universal Pictures

Us Ranks the Top 10 Scream Queens of All Time: From Jamie Lee Curtis to Neve Campbell

So who are the top 10 Scream Queens of all time? Keep scrolling to find out:

Credit: Vlad Cioplea/Netflix

10. Jenna Ortega

Where You Can See Her: Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013), The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020), Scream (2022), X (2022), Wednesday (2022-present), Scream VI (2023), Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Ortega showed a talent for horror as early as 9 years old when she appeared in the sequel to Insidious, but it wasn’t until 2022 when people really started to notice a new Scream Queen rising. In one year, Ortega captured the public’s fascination with her deadpan portrayal of Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday, revamped the Scream series with a spine-chilling film for the new generation and solidified her prowess in the slasher genre with Ti West’s X. She has since starred in another Scream film and joined a star-studded cast in the Beetlejuice sequel. What Ortega lacks in experience (purely because of her age), she makes up for in raw talent. As far as Us is concerned, we can’t wait for her to lead us into the next era of horror. Ortega, wherever you go, Us will follow.

Credit: New Line Cinema

9. Marilyn Burns

Where You Can Watch Her: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Helter Skelter (1976), Future-Kill (1985), Butcher Boys (2012), Sacrament (2013), Texas Chainsaw (2013)

One of the OG Scream Queens, Burns appeared in the 1974 classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as Sally, the Final Girl who escapes Leatherface on a flatbed truck as the sun goes down on his abandoned small town. One of the most brutal films to exist for its time, Burns has said she was the “happiest girl alive” after the grueling shoot was finally over as the cast notably was forced to shoot in unbearable Texas summer temperatures that caused exhaustion, foul smells and heat stroke. In true Scream Queen fashion, however, she reprised the role in the 2013 revival and continued to appear in horror projects like Sacrament, Future-Kill, Butcher Boys, Helter Skelter and more.

Credit: Columbia Pictures

8. Jennifer Love Hewitt

Where You Can See Her: I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), “And Then There Was Shawn” (1998)

While Hewitt is often known for comedy over horror, there’s no denying that her performance as Julie James in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise cemented her as one of the best Final Girls of all time. From balancing the vulnerable and tough Scream Queen persona perfectly — “What are you waiting for?!” will go down in movie history — to fighting for her life after getting zip-tied into a tanning bed, Hewitt was perfectly cast. She later returned for the 1998 sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and although it’s ambiguous if she survived the hooked killer hiding under her bed after the second movie, fans are still clamoring to see her appear in the IKWYDLS revival, out in 2025.

If you’re still not convinced, check Hewitt out on Boy Meets World’s season 5 episode “And Then There Was Shawn,” where, as Jennifer Love Fefferman, she proves she has the vocal pipes to live up to the Scream Queen title, too.

Credit: Neon

7. Maika Monroe

Where You Can See Her: The Guest (2014), It Follows (2015), Greta (2019), Villains (2019), Watcher (2022), Significant Other (2022), Longlegs (2024)

Monroe might be a younger actress, but she’s already made a major mark on horror with a massive chunk of her resume dedicated to the genre. While lesser-known films like The Guest, Greta and Significant Other are all worth the watch, Monroe proved she was the ultimate Scream Queen with 2015’s It Follows, a cult classic that has become a fan favorite Halloween watch.

While It Follows nabbed her the label of Scream Queen, 2024’s Longlegs cemented her all-time status as one of the most memorable of her generation. The creepy serial killer horror-thriller, which features Monroe in the role of FBI agent Lee Harker, is only elevated by her uncanny ability to put the audience at a deep unease from start to finish. Also, endless props to her for being able to work opposite Nicolas Cage’s truly terrifying serial killer persona every day on set. That takes guts.

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

6. Linda Blair

Where You Can See Her: The Exorcist (1973), Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Hell Night (1981), Grotesque (1988), Witchery (1988), The Chilling (1989), Dead Sleep (1990), Sorceress (1995), The Exorcist: Believer (2023)

From a pool of over 600 applicants, Linda Blair was hand-selected to play Reagan, the possessed 12-year-old in The Exorcist, and rightfully so: It’s hard to imagine anyone else portraying the iconic — and terrifying — role. At just 14 years old, Blair took home a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress and earned an Academy Award nod for her performance. She reprised her role in sequels Exorcist II: The Heretic in 1977 and The Exorcist: Believer in 2023.

Blair went on to star in other horror films, including Wes Craven’s Stranger in Our House and she even made a cameo appearance as a reporter in Scream. While her other horror movie roles were often low-budget and foreign films, she also hosted the paranormal reality series Scariest Places on Earth from 2000 to 2006. While she was young when she earned her place in Scream Queen history, anyone who has seen The Exorcist will never forget the haunting image of a possessed Reagan speaking in tongues.

Credit: Universal Pictures

5. Dee Wallace

Where You Can See Her: The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Howling (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cujo (1983), Critters (1986), The Frighteners (1996), Halloween (2007), The House of the Devil (2009), The Lords of Salem (2012), Ouija House (2018), Jeepers Creepers: Reborn (2022), Stream (2024)

A Wes Craven original, the 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes yielded another iconic Scream Queen in Wallace. The highly successful cult classic film, which follows a family being hunted by cannibal savages in the Nevada desert, launched the horror movie career of Wallace, who went on to star in eight more thrilling flicks, including Steven Spielberg’s E.T. and the 2007 Rob Zombie Halloween remake. The sheer breadth of films Wallace has appeared in is a feat in and of itself (are her vocal cords doing OK?), and standout performances in Cujo and cameo appearances in more recent films like Jeepers Creepers: Reborn make the actress a mainstay in the Scream Queen community.

Credit: Cover Images

4. Janet Leigh

Where You Can See Her: Psycho (1960), Night at the Legus (1972), The Fog (1980), Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

The Final Girl who started it all, Leigh won a Golden Globe and nabbed an Academy Award nomination for her role as Marion Crane in the Alfred Hitchcock classic. Her portrayal, and the infamous shower scene, has been one of the most wildly emulated and referenced moments in the horror sphere over the years, and eventually earned her a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. While Leigh would go on to appear in multitudes of films and stage plays of all genres, she remained loyal to her Scream Queen roots with films like The Fog, Night at the Lepus and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, where she crossed over with fellow Scream Queen Curtis.

Credit: Columbia Pictures

3. Sarah Michelle Gellar

Where You Can See Her: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1996-2003), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Scream 2 (1997), The Grudge (2004), The Grudge 2 (2006), The Return (2006), Possession (2008), Wolf Pack (2023)

Gellar’s role as Buffy makes her an instant addition to this list. The actress swung, kicked and dropped one liners for seven seasons on the vampire series as the titular main character — and, spoiler alert, even resurrected from the dead twice in the process — which already earns her a top five spot.

But beyond her slayer roots, Gellar has appeared in various notable horror roles throughout her career that often go unnoticed due to Buffymania. In 1997, she starred alongside Hewitt I Know What You Did Last Summer. And while her character, Helen Shivers — a popular beauty queen — was opposite of Buffy in many ways, she still put up a massive fight that led to what is arguably the movie’s best, and most memorable, death scene.

Gellar also appeared in Scream 2 — though she took a secondary role to Final Girl Neve Campbell — and led the charge as Daphne in the 2002 movie Scooby Doo and its subsequent sequel, 2004’s Scooby Doo 2: Monster’s Unleashed, as well as stepping into the Final Girl for 2004’s The Grudge. After a long break from the supernatural, she returned to her roots in 2023 for Paramount+’s short lived Wolf Pack.

Credit: Dimension Films

2. Neve Campbell

Where You Can See Her: The Craft (1996), Scream series (1996-present), Wild Things (1998)

C’mon it’s in the title! Craven’s Scream franchise is almost synonymous with its main protagonist and Scream Queen, Sidney Prescott, played by Campbell. Of course, there’s many things to love about Scream and its six-plus films, but the franchise’s standout performance is that of Campbell. While SIdney starts out as a victim of Ghostface, similarly to Curtis’ Laurie Strode, she quickly evolves into a powerful heroine, defeating iteration after iteration of the masked killer haunting her. With each threat to her life, Sidney becomes stronger rather than weaker, overcoming the odds to land on top at the end of each film, after many screams and a couple of close calls, of course.

While Campbell’s filmography in the horror movie canon is mainly limited to the Scream series, she also plays a witchy teenager in 1996’s cult classic The Craft and joins Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon in the 1998 erotic thriller Wild Things.

Credit: Sony Pictures

Where You Can See Her: Halloween movies (1978-2022), The Fog (1980), Prom Night (1980), Terror Train (1980), Scream Queens (2015-2016), Knives Out (2019)

On October 25, 1978, Curtis made her film debut in John Carpenter’s Halloween, and Laurie Strode, the most iconic Scream Queen of all time, was born. The success of the film — which follows the battle between masked serial killer Michael Myers and a teenage Strode — spawned a dozen additional films (a spooky total of 13) over the next four decades.

In the meantime, Curtis kept busy building her Scream Queen resume with other horrors, like Carpenter’s The Fog and Prom Night and Terror Train — all of which were released in 1980. It was Curtis’ defiant performance as Laurie Strode, though, that launched the actress’s career, and the character’s decades-long standoff against the constantly resurrected Myers sustained the franchise for years on end.

More recently, Curtis starred in Ryan Murphy’s homage to the titular trope in his series Scream Queens, which premiered in 2015. She also held a formidable role in Rian Johnson’s murder mystery Knives Out. While her career has comprised a diverse array of roles including comedy and drama, Jamie Lee Curtis will always be Us’ No. 1 Scream Queen.

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