Queen of the Damned‘s strong ass brow game: Before Twilight and True Blood turned sexy vampires into a full-fledged tween phenomenon, there was 02’s Queen of the Damned. A loosely adapted film version of Anne Rice’s third Vampire Chronicles novel (you might remember a wee Kirsten Dunst starring in the series’ first volume, Interview with a Vampire), Queen saw Aaliyah’s second silver screen forray. In her leading role as vamp queen Ashka, Baby Girl’s eye makeup game is on (clapping emoji) smash (another clapping emoji). With expertly arched brows that extend past her temples and smouldering smokey eyes, Ashka’s look lives up to her royal title.
Long hair don’t care in Exte: Hair Extensions: If homegirl’s hair in The Ring wigged you out, for the love of god, do not watch this movie. As you may have ascertained from its title, Hair Extensions is a film about weaves with a vengeance. A morgue attendant with a sinister hair fetish sells haunted headpieces to local salons just trying to stay on that Willow Smith grind. But when the possessed weave starts coming out of its wearers eye sockets and mouths, that’s kind of the cue to pull a Britney Spears.
Night of the Demons‘ all over lipstick looks: This late 80s supernatural slasher opens with ten high school teens throwing a Halloween rager in an isolated mortuary (always a good idea.) Pin the tail on the Donkey isn’t exactly cutting it in the party game department, so the gang skips straight to a friendly seance, which leaves blonde bombshell Suzanne the first possessed party animal. The lipstick scene that follows ended up on Complex’s bizarrely specific 15 Most Uncomfortable Moments of Female Nudity in Movies list, so we’ll spare you the gory details. But before Suzanne jams the tube of Barbie pink where the sun don’t shine, her heart-shaped facial application is straight from the pages of i-D.
Return of the Living Dead‘s punk face paint: Linnea Quigley might have played prom queen would-be Suzanne in Night of the Demons, but the 80s horror queen was all punk for zombie flick Return of the Living Dead. Quigley portrayed Trash, the crust gang’s lone female member who stole the show with a memorable striptease atop a gravestone. Before she became a zombie, Trash’s shocking red hair and spiderweb facepaint makeup made her the film’s ultimate alternative beauty with a very Vivienne Westwood twist.
Return of the Living Dead 3‘s punk piercings: Return of the Living Dead must have a thing for punk rock redheads, because the series followed up Trash with another take-no-prisoners ginger, Julie Walker. Brought back to life after a motorcycle accident, Julie develops a hunger for brains. Upon discovering that self mutilation temporarily satisfies her desire for human flesh, Julie pierces her face with nails and shards of glass. While the look is severe to say the least, we’ve gotta give it to her for the most extreme beauty moment.
Nail art in Nightmare on Elm Street: Who says sociopathic serial killers that live inside your dreams can’t also be your nail-spiration? Accessorized with a fashion fedora and very Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis 94 striped sweater, Freddy Krueger’s metallic manicure is terrifying, yes, but also sort of chic if you’re into really, really bold looks.
Battle Royale em-braces beauty: Kinji Fukasaku’s Japanese cult classic Battle Royale spins the tale of class 3-B, 42 ninth-graders who are forced to fight to the death in a series of matchups that makes The Hunger Games look like an episode of Sesame Street. As photographer Stef Mitchell and seven kids with train tracks proved in i-D, braces are beautiful–even when wielded by the creepy and cutthroat Mai.
Debbie Harry does #nomakeup in Videodrome: Sometimes no makeup is the best makeup, especially when it comes to ageless beauty Debbie Harry. Although the Blondie frontwoman certainly knows her way around an eyeshadow palette and bottle of peroxide, we’re loving her au naturale and brunette look for David Cronenberg’s impossibly disturbing Videodrome. To adapt the film’s final line “Long live the nu(de) flesh.”
Psycho, the ultimate wet hair look: In addition to being one of the best known scenes in cinema history, Hitchcock’s aquatic murder in Psycho is also the OG wet hair moment. Janet Leigh might meet a grim end as sultry secretary Marion Crane, but the character’s slicked back and wispy wet strands went on to inspire one of the most prevailing runway beauty trends of late, executed most notably at Prada and Jacquemus.
Grace Jones’ everything in Vamp: The super chic Ronald McDonald red ‘do, the cat eyes, the mime-white face and red lips combo, the almond shaped metallic silver manicure, the Keith Haring body paint: Grace Jones is doing absolutely everything right in her role as Queen Katrina, the “surreally artistic stripper” from 86’s Vamp. Leave it to the avant-garde Jamaican goddess to push typical vampiric tropes like pale skin and red lips to completely new places–hers might just be the most ultimate horror beauty moment of them all.
Credits
Text Emily Manning
Image via YouTube