On May 27th, Linnea Quigley celebrated her birthday, and we thought we’d belatedly celebrate the occasion. Quigley is an iconic horror actress known by horror fanatics for her love of rock, her great sense of humor, her knack for playing appealing characters, and her incredible sex appeal. In honor of the great Quigley, here are five essential performances from her career. Though every horror fan has their favorites, this is five I quite adore.
Also be sure to re-read our interview with the horror goddess!
5. Savage Streets (1984)
Considered Quigley’s big screen debut, “Savage Streets” is revenge exploitation starring the vivacious Linda Blair as the leader of a gang of female thugs. Quigley is Blair’s mute younger sister who is savagely raped by the male rivals of Blair’s gang. After she’s horrifically gang raped, Blair’s character goes on a violent campaign of revenge and murder to avenge her little sister. Quigley’s role is smaller but very essential in a damn good action picture.
4. Nightmare Sisters (1988)
Made almost directly after “Bowl-O-Rama,” this single setting horror comedy involves Quigley co-starring alongside two other iconic horror actresses Brinke Stevens and Michelle Bauer. Quigley is fun as a frumpy college girl seeking a party with other male students. After she discovers an ancient artifact, she and her two gal pals are transformed in to sex starved succubi. When a local frat crashes their triple date, they begin to literally eat their boy toys alive. Quigley has a good time with the role performing one of her original punk rock songs. The musical number is inexplicable filler, but raucously fun.
3. Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988)
One of her most low budget cult films, Quigley once again embraces her punk rock roots playing heroine Spider. When a frat and local sorority decide to break in to the local bowling rink, they unleash a magical imp from a trophy that grants them their wildest wishes. Of course Spider and another frat brother are wise to his tricks and opt out, prompting the imp to turn on them and do his best to murder them in the walls of the bowling rink before dawn approaches. “Bowl O Rama” is a fun single setting horror comedy with some laugh out loud and deliriously silly moments, and Quigley gets to kick ass this time around.
2. Night of the Demons (1988)
Though Mimi Kinkade’s Angela does become the primary villain for “Night of the Demons,” the chaos and mayhem does begin with insanely sexy and vain Suzanne. Another of Quigley’s very iconic horror performances where she’s never above flaunting her remarkable assets, she and friend Angela accidentally unleash a demonic force in a cursed funeral parlor on Halloween Night. Quigley is given a ton of very memorable moments in the film including her bare butt introduction, her use of lipstick (including the still very impressive effect involving her breasts), and her thrashing of her fellow partiers using her allure.
1. Return of the Living Dead (1985)
This is arguably the grand jewel of Linnea Quigley’s film career, the role that made her one of the most iconic horror actresses of the eighties. Quigley has a large and very important role as punk rocker sex bomb Trash. Trash is a red maned hell cat who delights in dancing naked in cemeteries and dreams of being grabbed at all corners by old men. When the acid rain pours unleashing a torrent of brain eating zombies, she’s one of the first to suffer the wrath of the undead brain fiends. Ironically she re-emerges as a zombie with a striking pale nude body and a horrendous zombified face and stretching jaw she uses to tear in to her victims and devour their creamy cranial insides. Quigley is both sexy and terrifying her performance and inspires her friends to literally dance at her naked feet like a deity.