Despite not fully understanding what the term “Scream Queen” means, Mia Goth is expressing her gratitude for the love and support she has received from the horror community.
Since the 1930s up to this day, the horror genre has already seen its fair share of actresses hailed as “scream queens” due to their prominence and influence in the darkest side of cinema. Some of the classic examples include Janet Leigh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Heather Langenkamp, Shelley Duvall, and Linda Blair.
The genre has added new names to the list of iconic stars dubbed as modern-day scream queens, including Samara Weaving, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jenna Ortega, Melissa Barrera, Lupita Nyong’o, and Goth. Now, with MaXXXine gracing cinemas on July 5, the actress shared in an interview with Collider her appreciation for horror fans who have embraced her as one of the contemporary scream queens.
“I don’t really know what a Scream Queen means. I never really use that term for other actresses. I’ve definitely heard it a lot in passing, and I know that sometimes they describe me like that. I guess it just means an actress that’s working in the horror genre. It’s tricky. I don’t really know how to talk about that because, on one hand, I feel so embraced by the horror community and the genre community in general, and it’s something that I really welcome, and I’m really grateful for, that X and Pearl and MaXXXine , in particular, have resonated with people as much as they have,” said Goth.
She added, “But then on the other hand, I see myself as just an actor, and I happen to come across these roles that just so happened to exist in this genre. But when I’m working on the roles and preparing the roles and, really, in the scenes, too, I’m just kind of in my head. I’m just in, like, a family drama. Then it’s everything else that comes later with the edit and cut and how they market it and all of that. It’s a tricky thing.”
What are Mia Goth’s other horror roles?
Goth has been in the genre before Ti West’s X (2022) and Pearl (2022) took the world by storm, which only further cemented her name as a horror icon. Her horror credits include A Cure for Wellness (2017), Marrowbone (2017), Suspiria (2018), High Life (2018), Infinity Pool (2023), and 2024’s MaXXXine, the third film in West’s X trilogy. The actress also lent her voice in 2022’s stop-motion animated dark comedy The House, in which she played the role of Mabel.
Besides Goth, MaXXXine stars Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Halsey, Giancarlo Esposito, Lily Collins, Bobby Cannavale, and Kevin Bacon.
