For lots of millennials, Scream was something of a cultural milestone. It introduced many of us to the horror genre and kicked off a few exciting years of post-modern, self-referential teenage bloodbaths that we begged our parents to sneak us into or let us rent for our next slumber party. It was a rite of passage.

Upon re-watching it for a recent episode of Homos on Haunted Hill, I found myself riveted all over again. Like the front blurb of…well, just about any Dimension Home Video release from the ’90s, it was “hip, sexy, and non-stop scary.” Yes, I’d be recommending this thriller to friends.

The raw terror of that opening scene with Drew Barrymore (in and of itself, a perfect short film), the wonderful cast who tiptoe across that tricky tonal high wire the entire time, Wes Craven’s perfect barometer about what should be played for scares and what should be played for laughs, Kevin Williamson’s whip-smart script with memorable characters, endlessly quotable dialogue, and a whodunit mystery that would still work without the humor. And finally, Marco Beltrami’s aggressive score…I could go on and on.

Scream taught me a lot about the world of horror. If it weren’t for Scream, I’d have never heard of Prom Night, The Fog, Terror Train, I Spit on Your Grave, The Town That Dreaded Sundown, and many others. These became some of the many films I’d find myself tracking down in the months and years after I saw Scream to complete my horror education and see if I’d be able to withstand all the non-stop terror and thrills promised to me by each one of their lurid, sun-bleached VHS boxes that stared at me from the dusty shelves of my local video store.

I love the movie.

Adore it!

It’s perfect!

One thing did always bother me, though.

In the film, horror film nerd and video store employee, Randy (Jamie Kennedy), states that there are three major rules one must heed in order to survive if you happen to find yourself in a scary movie (in no particular order).

1.) You Should Never Say “I’ll Be Right Back.”
2.) You Can Never Drink or Do Drugs.
3.) You Can Never Have Sex

At the time, I didn’t question it, because what the hell did I know about horror films? I’d seen maybe six of them. However, the more I delved into the genre, the more I came to realize that these rules don’t apply to as many films as you’d think and this myth of virginity, in particular, might not be as much of a cliche as the casual fan might assume.

At one point, as the film’s heroine, Sidney (Neve Campbell), looks through a stack of movie rentals featuring Jamie Lee Curtis, Randy says:

“Jamie Lee was always a virgin in horror movies.”

While she might not have been featured in any scenes worthy of Red Shoe Diaries in her early horror work, she’s far from a virgin in most of her horror roles. Yes, Halloween’s Laurie Strode seems like a repressed Amish girl having the worst Rumspringa ever for her first two battles with Michael Myers (although, she is given a sweet “will they or won’t they?” relationship with the adorable paramedic, Jimmy, in the sequel), but her next horror role in John Carpenter’s The Fog (1980) had her playing Elizabeth, a horny hitchhiker who jumps into bed with Tom Atkins after knowing him for approximately 32 seconds. And who could blame her? It’s hard to resist the Atkins.
The same could be said for Curtis’ other horror roles. It’s not unrealistic to think her high-kickin’ prom queen wannabe, Kim, in Prom Night (1980) got down and dirty with her boyfriend, Nick (Casey Stevens). In fact, she alludes to it in a scene where she reassures her virginal friend, Kelly (Mary Beth Rubens), that she was the one who asked Nick to have sex and not the other way around. Progressive!

You keep asking the cops to watch Prom Night and save time, Randy, but maybe you should give it another watch, too. Her Alana in Terror Train (1980) seems DTF for David Copperfield (playing a magician in an astounding display of range). That’s a long way from ol’ repressed, butter-churnin’ Laurie.

Besides Curtis’ early horror films, there are several other instances of non-virginal characters making it to the end of their respective films. Even before Halloween, you have Bob Clark’s eerie Black Christmas (1974) where Jess (Olivia Hussey) is not only sexually active but is planning on getting an abortion so that she can have a life of her own before becoming a housewife and cheerleader to her unhinged boyfriend, Peter (Keir Dullea).

It’s an alarmingly candid and still refreshing story arc to feature in a slasher film being made at the same time the Roe v. Wade case was being debated in America. What’s even more interesting is how both remakes of that film have avoided this story arc completely. As far as we like to think we’ve come as a society, there are, unfortunately, still some topics that filmmakers (and risk-averse studio execs) are scared will alienate some audiences.

Even the slasher films that followed in Halloween’s wake weren’t as moralistic as some of the genre’s more fervent detractors would have you believe. In Friday the 13th (1980), it’s implied that Alice (Adrienne King) has spent the night with her boss, Steve (Peter Brouwer), and she still lives to see that beautiful morning on the lake. Y’know, before Jason pulls her into the lake. In that film’s 1981 sequel, Ginny (Amy Steel) spends the night with boyfriend, Paul (John Furey), and not only lives, but becomes one of the most kick-ass heroines the genre has ever seen. Even Part III’s Chris (Dana Kimmel) and The Final Chapter’s Trish (Kimberly Beck) are actively flirty with the men in their lives and far from sheltered. They have needs, too.

Final girls just wanna have fun, y’all!

Both 1980’s He Knows You’re Alone and 1981’s My Bloody Valentine feature love triangles where the heroines, Amy (Caitlin O’Heaney) and Sarah (Lori Hallier), are torn between two lovers (and feelin’ like a fool). Poor Laurie couldn’t even get Ben Tramer to notice her snazzy new knee-highs while Amy and Sarah’s cups runneth over. Talk about unfair! And how could I forget Scotty (Rebecca Balding) in 1979’s Silent Scream getting jiggy with her boarding house neighbor while sporting an admirable Dorothy Hamill? You get you some, gurl! #Goals

Of course, Scream’s brilliance is that it brings up the “surviving virgin” stereotype only to slap it right in the face when the film’s heroine, Sidney, ends up surviving even after she sleeps with her psychopathic boyfriend, Billy (Skeet Ulrich). Not only that but she’s allowed to survive the sequels, only becoming stronger with each go-round. And here’s hoping that’ll be the case for Sid’s newest adventure with Ghostface.

In spite of all this, if you attend a packed screening of a new horror film, you’ll inevitably hear someone say something along the lines of “oh, she’s safe. She looks like a virgin.” It’s odd that this is still such a common misnomer about the genre. Perhaps Halloween was just such a huge cultural event that it’s the only example people draw from when they think “slasher.”

Maybe going forward, we can embrace the final girls and guys with a little bit of mileage and experience on them. How about some final men and women? People who’ve had a few marriages, a couple of poorly adjusted children, and a handful of addictions?

Besides, what makes virgins so interesting anyway? Anyone who’s ever poked their head into an incel chat room or attended an evangelical purity ball would tell you that’d be a faulty little fable.

Think of the possibilities! HR Massacre! Time Share Slayer! How about Slaughter High at a 30 or 50-year reunion? Jason Takes the Sizzler! Leprechaun 24: Shady Pines, Lep! Children of the Creamed Corn!

The future is bright.