Scream king

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The American actor Robert Englund, who has played Freddy Krueger throughout various Nightmare on Elm Street related productions, is an example of a "scream king".

A scream king is an actor who is prominent and influential in horror films through either a notable appearance or recurring roles. Scream queen is the equivalent for women. Notable scream king examples include Vincent Price, Bruce Campbell, Robert Englund, Nicolas Cage, Justin Long, Patrick Wilson and Bill Moseley.

The term "scream king" has been used to refer to male leading actors who have made their name through taking on leading roles in horror movies as a "final guy" character. Rachel Roth defines the rise of the "scream kings" as a result of moving away from formulas where men are typically cast as monsters for a female character to fight off and female actresses being cast less as victims and sometimes as the monster or villain themselves. Roth cites Bruce Campbell as an early example of a scream king for his role in the Evil Dead franchise (where Bruce Campbell screamed like a girl).[1] Campbell has also been referred to as "the definitive scream king."[2]

Another notable early example of a scream king would be Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.[3][4]

Ryan Heffernan from Dread Central states "A scream king is an actor that doesn’t merely work in genre cinema on occasion or by chance but a fella that does so deliberately and proudly embraces his horror credentials." Scream kings may branch out and work in other areas but gentlemen of this ilk always find their way back to the horror space when the right project comes along.[5]

Tony Todd's crowning achievement as one of the all-time great scream kings though comes from his role in the Candyman (1992) films, playing the eponymous villain haunting the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago.[5]

History

List of scream kings

References

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