Spotlight On: Linda Blair

                                         Actor Spotlight: Linda Blair

Today's post focuses on legendary horror star Linda Blair. She's a bonafide b-movie legend and scream queen. Still most famous for her role as Regan in what is widely considered to be the scariest film of all time, The Exorcist.

 

Blair was born in St. Louis, Missouri on January 22, 1959. She grew up in Westport, Connecticut. Her career started at the age of 6 as a child model. Her first acting role was on the short run Daytime Soap Opera Hidden Faces from 1968-1969. She was selected from over 600 applicants to play Regan in The Exorcist. For this role she won a Golden Globe and a People Choice Award. She was also nominated for an Academy Award. Awards like this, even in the 70's, were rarely given to horror films. She reprised the role of Regan in The Exorcist II: The Heretic in 1977. The film was received poorly but gained Blair another award, a Saturn Award for Best Actress in 1988.

Between the two Exorcist films she appeared as the lead in the highly controversial television film Born Innocent in 1974. The same year she appeared in Airport 1975. The following year she was in two more television movies; Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic and Sweet Hostage opposite Martin Sheen. In 1978 she took the lead role in the Wes Craven directed tv horror Summer of Fear.   

In 1979, she starred in the film Roller Boogie. Throughout the 80's Blair appeared in numerous successful low budget b-movies, mostly horror and exploitation, including Savage Streets with Linnea Quigley, Chained Heat, Hell Night, Savage Island, Grotesque, Witchery, & more.

Since the 80's she's made guest appearances in films and television, including Wes Craven's Scream and Supernatural. She also hosted the series Scariest Places On

Earth and appeared on Celebrity Ghost Stories.

Blair has had a long and memorable career in horror and will remain a legend in horror history for her role in The Exorcist. She is also an advocate for animal and human welfare. She has her own foundation, the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation which you can check out here: http://www.lindablairworldheart.org/

 xoxo, Spooky Stephie

#LindaBlair #Exorcist #ScreamQueen #Actor #Horror #Exploitation #Bmovie #WesCraven #TelevisionMovie #LinneaQuigley

Scream Queen Feature: Felissa Rose

                Today's Featured Scream Queen: Felissa Rose Esposito Miller

 Felissa Rose Esposito-Miller is an American actress most well known for her role as Angela Baker in the seminal slasher film Sleepaway Camp (1983). She later reprised the role in the sequel Return To Sleepaway Camp (2008).

Felissa was born in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City and grew up in Long Island. Felissa loved to perform and entertain people and while still in school started to look for representation. She auditioned for three different films and one of them ended up being Sleepaway Camp. She watched the film for the first time with her eighth grade class!

The original Sleepaway Camp was given the Scream Factory treatment in 2014. The Scream Factory Collector's Edition features a DVD and Blu-ray double disc set with custom artwork and includes new commentaries with Felissa.

 After Sleepaway Camp she took a break from acting to go to school at New York University in the Tisch School of the Arts. As of 2003, she has resumed her acting careeer and starred in several horror flicks with many more coming up. Some of her recent films include Under Surveillance, Psycho Sleepover, The Perfect House, Camp Dread with Danielle Harris and Eric Roberts, and Zombie Killers with Dee Wallace amongst many others. Coming up she'll be appearing To Jennifer with fellow Scream Queen Jessica Cameron, Dead End, Bethany, and Within These Walls.


















Felissa has been married since 2004 to musician Deron Miller with whom she has 3 children. She is the Head of Independent Genre Division at Carolco Pictures. She also has her own line of jeans coming out called Toxic Rose. She makes regular appearances at conventions and keeps in touch with fans through twitter and facebook!

Please follow Felissa on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/Felissa_Rose

Twitter for her movie Camp Dread: https://twitter.com/CampDread

Twitter for Sleepaway Camp Fans: https://twitter.com/SleepawaycampF

Her facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/felissa.esposito?fref=ts
                                  https://www.facebook.com/felissa.miller?fref=ts

Also on facebook, a Felissa Rose fans page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Felissa-Rose-Fans-Page/561962240612903?fref=ts

Also check out her imdb page for updates on all of her future films! -xoxo, Spooky Stephie

Scream Queen Feature: Jessica Cameron

                          Today's Featured Scream Queen: Jessica Cameron

Jessica Cameron is a Canadian actress who started out studying fashion design at Ryerson University. She had a job as a clothing designer and was featured as a Wedding Dress stylist on the TLC series Brides of Beverly Hills. After taking acting lessons she developed a love for filmmaking and starred in several independent horror films before moving to Los Angeles. She has a huge love for horror and now lives in LA full-time writing, directing, and acting. She has her own production company, Small Town Girl Productions. You can follow her on twitter, facebook, and instagram where she keeps in touch with fans and gives updates on her projects.

Jessica has an impressive work ethic. Constantly promoting her films through appearances at conventions, giving in depth interviews, and tweeting along with filming she is seemingly tireless. I feel like she has an awesome body of work that will only continue to grow. She's got a huge future. Her love for horror is so obvious and I love her enthusiasm for the genre.

Jessica's twitter: https://twitter.com/JessicaCameron_

Twitter for Small Town Girl Prod. : https://twitter.com/SmallTownGirlPR

Twitter for her films; Mania, Desolation, Save Yourself, Truth or Dare, Utero, The Tour Short Film, Kill the PA, All Through The House:

https://twitter.com/filmtruthordare

https://twitter.com/ManiatheMovie

https://twitter.com/DesolationMovie

https://twitter.com/SaveYourselfMVE

https://twitter.com/through_house

https://twitter.com/uterofilm

https://twitter.com/KillthePAdoc

https://twitter.com/TheTourMovie

Jessica's Website: jessicacameron.com

Jessica's FB: https://www.facebook.com/ActressJessicaCameron?pnref=story

She has also been selected as "Movie Girl of the Month" at iwatchmike.com

Also check her out on instagram at ActressJessicaCameron!

Look her up at imdb for her full filmography and check out her reel on Youtube!!

xoxo, spooky stephie

My Favorite Film: CARRIE

I wanted to start my blog with a post about my all time favorite movie, Brian De Palma's 1976 horror classic, Carrie. There isn't a single second of this movie that I don't love. To me, this movie is 100% perfect. Casting, direction, script, the original story, perfect. Carrie '76 is so dark, so raw, and so disturbing. Neither of the remakes have come close to recapturing the atmosphere and the FEELING of this one. One of the many reasons I love this movie so much is that I relate to it so well. I have thought often that I could very well have been the Carrie of my class, being bullied from a very young age for not looking and acting like everyone else. Being the quiet, sensitive girl surrounded by people determined to give me hell for it. From the moment the movie opens we see her get berated and bullied by her classmates. Getting whacked in the head and sworn at for missing the ball in a volley ball game. She's a misunderstood outcast in school and abused by her fanatical mother (a superb Piper Laurie) at home. Starting her period in the showers at school and thinking she is truly going to die and then getting viciously taunted and humiliated by her classmates simply cause she's been unfairly sheltered. This particular scene is so pivotal as it is the moment that sets off the chain of events leading to Carrie's full discovery of her powers and the cruel prom night prank that unfortunately turns deadly.  I always feel a rush of emotions when watching this film which is why I pretty much always watch it alone.

Sissy Spacek is outstanding as Carrie White. Her performance is so real and riveting that you truly believe these things are happening to her. You truly believe she has these powers. I've often wished I had the power of telekinesis because of this film. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone with them like what unfortunately happened here... but to scare people with them, make people leave me alone...I think anyone who's been seriously bullied can relate to that feeling.

The cinematography is stunning. Brian De Palma is a master and the prom sequence is legendary for a reason. I LOVE the slow build-up as Carrie and Tommy Ross take the stairs up to the stage. You know what's going to happen but that build-up just ups the tension and you can't help but sit at the edge of your seat, eyes glued to the screen, as the scene unfolds. Once the blood spills onto Carrie and her fury is unleashed through her powers the split screens take over. I love the use of the split screen. Watching Sissy Spacek's face and actions while watching the prom goers at the same time is chilling.

The ending has it's own special place in horror history. Carrie's hand reaching out and grabbing Sue (Amy Irving) by the wrist as she's laying flowers on Carrie's grave is considered one of horror's greatest conclusions. The makers of Friday the 13th took inspiration from Carrie for the surprise ending to their film just 4 years later. It pretty much invented that one last jump scare ending that has become so popular in horror.

While on the subject of Carrie...I have always been disappointed in the first remake, the 2002 made for tv version starring Angela Bettis. I do like the theatrical remake from 2013 starring Chloe Grace Moretz. I'm a fan of Moretz as an actress and I was happy to hear she was taking on the role. I saw this in the theater and walked out happy. I know a lot have had mixed feelings on it but I truly enjoyed it.

One more thing to love about the original is that magnificent score from Pino Donaggio.  I'd love to own a copy of the hard to find soundtrack someday.

Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the film. I'm hoping for some kind of special edition blu-ray perhaps. There is a book being worked on at the moment called "Blood Among The Stars: The Making of Carrie" which sounds marvelous. I am keeping an eye out for any updates and if we can get this book by the end of next year to celebrate the anniversary I will be so stoked.

I look forward to posting more about this film in the future. I hope that any of you that have not seen the film will maybe want to check it out. If you're a fan like me, leave me some comments. I love talking to fellow Carrie fans. Thank you so much for reading! xoxo, Spooky Steph

Welcome

Welcome to Spooky Stephie's horror blog! I'm a huge fan of horror movies and here I'll be sharing posters, trailers, artwork, and photos from the world of horror. I'll also give thoughts on movies and actors and share my own lists of favorites. I'll be posting quite often so if you love horror like I do, keep checking back. xoxo, stephie