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As I take a mental inventory of the many actors and actresses that have appeared in horror features, it puzzles me as to why more females have not placed their stamp on the horror genre.

One of the few that has, however, is Jamie Lee Curtis, leading lady and prominent player in a number of mainstream films in recent years. I am delighted she has been successful and not become typecast, but we fans lost a valuable scream queen over 20 years ago when she began to appear in conventional films.

Halloween, (1978), The Fog, (1980), Prom Night, (1980), Terror Train, (1980), Road Games, (1981, and Halloween II, (1981), are the films in which she made her mark and established her reputation. Halloween and Terror Train are two of the very best of the era and I consider them classics, Terror Train especially, in which she co-starred with the much admired Ben Johnson and a very young David Copperfield. All of these films, however, have been panned by various critics, with some justification when reviewing The Fog and Halloween II. Still, I came to the conclusion long ago that most critics do not understand horror and their respective opinions should be taken with that in mind and with a large grain of salt. Indeed, if this early work by the beautiful and extremely attractive Ms. Curtis was so poor, why do we remember and talk about these particular B films years later?

Jamie Lee Curtis, the daughter of Tony Curtis and the equally beautiful Janet Leigh, was born in Los Angeles on November 22, 1958. (Her mother Janet was perhaps the original "scream queen," as it was her fate, as the vulnerable Marion Crane, to be stabbed by the psychotic Norman Bates in 1960's Psycho). Jamie Lee, now almost 50 years of age, has aged well and is still a very attractive and photogenic woman. Although she usually turns in fine performances in her film roles, most of her work since Halloween II has not been particularly noteworthy, with 1994's True Lies being the lone exception. In that film, she displayed a remarkable range of acting versatility, portraying a mousy housewife who transforms into a very erotic woman of the world. Her exotic dance for co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger is classic in every sense of the word. I'm safe in saying that having a woman like Jamie Lee dance for you the way she did for Arnold in the story is every man's dream of dreams, and she evoked this emotion without removing clothing, although the body-tight dancing dress left little of her outstanding figure to the imagination. Go rent True Lies for the reasons described above. You won't be disappointed.

But, I am disappointed that Jamie Lee has not played in more such roles. She truly is a fine actress, but rarely does she appear in anything I will pay to go see.

I saw her 1999 film, Virus, and was keenly disappointed. Most of her work since that time has been mainstream, although she did appear as Laurie in 2002's Halloween: Resurrection.

If any of you readers just happen to be horror screenwriters, do all of us a favor and write something for Jamie Lee Curtis. You will be forever in our debt.

Learn more about this author, Tom Fowler.
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