Brinke Stevens started her Scream Queen legacy in 1982 as Linda in the cult slasher The Slumber Party Massacre.
Forty-two years later, Stevens says her scream in that film is still her best. She certainly delivers one of the all-time great shrieks of terror as a killer with a power drill attacks her. I still remember the cutaway of her chilling scream resonating inside an empty gymnasium.
“The soundman took me out to the parking lot, and I screamed for 45 minutes into a tape recorder, until he felt I’d done the perfect scream that illustrated my gruesome death,” Stevens says in an exclusive interview with lionelraygreen.com.
Stevens is among the guests featured at FrankenCon 2024. The third annual horror convention is scheduled May 10-11 at the Hilton Knoxville Airport in Alcoa, Tennessee. Tickets are available at frankencontn.com
Stevens joins Linnea Quigley and Michelle Bauer for a Scream Queen Reunion, one of the highlights of the convention. A San Diego native, Stevens became a B movie cult horror film icon in the late 1980s alongside Quigley and Bauer in films like Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama and Nightmare Sisters.
Stevens explains the secret to her longevity.
“I’ve been doing a lot of reunions and film festivals for (The Slumber Party Massacre), and it always amazes me how well that little movie has stood up over such a long time,” Stevens says. “It was my first speaking role and that’s what convinced me to pursue acting seriously. I’m still shooting upwards of ten films every year, just because I enjoy acting so much, and I’ve built a good reputation as being easy to work with.”
While The Slumber Party Massacre sparked her acting career, Stevens’ favorite role was playing Victoria Munroe in 1990’s Haunting Fear.
“It’s one of my favorite movies because I play a woman who’s slowing going insane,” Stevens says. “Also, I’m in almost every scene, I’m still alive at the end, and I was thrilled to work with Karen Black, Jan-Michael Vincent, and Robert Quarry.”
Before becoming an actress, Stevens earned a master’s degree in marine biology (“Dolphins are way oversexed, and sea lions are playful like puppies”) and studied seven foreign languages (“I’ve forgotten most of them by now, except for English, French, and Spanish”).
“I never aspired to be an actress and fell into it quite accidentally,” she says. “I like to say, ‘My career chose me; I didn’t choose it.'”
Besides Stevens, other highlights at FrankenCon 2024 are The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Reunion and Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving Reunion. Scheduled guests include Brian Bremer, Frank Saladino, Ginger Lynn Allen, Mick Strawn, Ken Sagoes, Honey the Mail Girl, T. Brooklyn Bellissimo, Nick Benson, Tamara Glynn, Kaylie Guerrero, and Bradley Fowler.
So, what can fans expect from the Scream Queen Reunion?
“Come meet our delightful trio at FrankenCon!” Stevens says. “We’ll be sitting at our tables to chat with you, tell stories, and sign autographs. There’ll also be professional photo ops available for us individually and as a group. Maybe they might schedule a panel discussion for us too; I don’t know yet.”
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