INTL. WOMEN'S DAY SCREAM QUEENS! (PART 1)

SCREAM BEAT
No. 1
1995
Market Square Publications, Inc.
Publisher and Managing Editor: John Russo
Art Director: Bob Michelucci
Cover: Photo cover by Bruce Heinsius
Pages: 64
Cover price: $6.95

The post for today is an example of one of the reasons why you have to click through the Google content warning statement at the gateway to MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD before you get to the "good stuff".

Today is International Women's Day, and marking the occasion is done just a little bit differently here in the Mysterious Mansion. The 1990's brought on a wave of what would become known as "Indie Horror". One of the hallmarks of this defining genre was the use of women in stronger roles than they had normally been depicted. The result was a new era of strong female lead and supporting characters (i.e. ladies that didn't take any shit), but still retained their allure and sexy side. Despite the critics decrying sexism and the objectivity of women, this was all done quite willingly (and in many cases, calculatingly) by the actresses who were comfortable both in and out of their clothes to make their point (no pun intended) on the screen. Now, 20-plus years later, names like Brinke Stevens, Linnea Quigley, Julie Strain and Debbie Rochon are all recognizable among the movers and shakers of indie horror.

This was the first of two issues that contained full-page "pinup" photos of the various scream queens who had appeared in the pages of Market Square's regular publication, SCREAM QUEENS ILLUSTRATED (simultaneously published in the UK). The spin-off was devised as a result of having a large amount of unused pictures from photoshoots that were just too good to be cast aside. Scream Queen fans, I'm sure, are grateful for that.

[Concluded on Sunday.]