Deadly Beauty: Horror’s Scream Queens and Rising Talent: Lanee Landry
“Lanee Landry was born and raised in Louisiana. At an early age, she was competing in dramatic reading and public speaking, winning several awards on local, regional, and state levels. She has degrees in History, Liberal Arts, and Mass Communications. Some of her hobbies include reading horror, forensic and true crime novels, watching giallos, and collecting lps. She has studied acting from The Method, and Meisner, to The Chubbuck Technique and continues to train. In addition to acting, she is also a screenwriter and is in various stages of development on several of her feature length projects. Recently, she has completed work on ‘The East’ and ‘The Town That Dreaded Sundown.'”*
1. How did you get into the industry?
I had worked on a few shows as an extra and realized that I really wanted to do acting. I’ve loved horror since I was a child. Most kids wanted to hear fairy tales before sleep and I was the odd little girl yelling, “tell me a ghost story.” I was competing in dramatic readings and public speaking as a child so acting didn’t appear to be a far stretch. I had done a few small plays and skits so when I saw an ad for casting for “The Deepening” I submitted. I ended up with a role and a best friend, my director, Ted Alderman, out of it.
Through Ted, I met Steve Sessions and Luc Bernier, when I did “Shriek of the Sasquatch” and once again, made wonderful friends from that film. I went on to work on Luc’s film “Hate.”
2. Which Scream Queen inspired you the most?
Such a difficult question to answer! I think I was most influenced by the style and grace of all the Hammer Scream Queens. I can remember some of the most striking images from “The Gorgon” with Barbara Shelley, as well as “Village of the Damned” and “Rasputin the Mad Monk.” Barbara Steele from the classics “Black Sunday”, “The Pit & the Pendulum” and “Castle of Blood”. Then there’s Karen Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Adrienne Barbeau. Honestly, I believe I was most influenced by my three favorite horror actors, Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, and Vincent Price. It didn’t matter the role, these men have such a strong presence and their acting is amazing.
As an actor, I try to become whatever the director envisions. For example, in “The Deepening” Ted Alderman paid tribute to the drive-in genre where you have a female victim. With that in mind, I didn’t focus on a strong female such as Jamie Lee Curtis or Adrienne Barbeau. My strongest visions of them are in “Halloween” and “Coma” where they were fighters and didn’t give up. However, in Luc Bernier’s “Hate” I was a stronger character with a will to live. It was very easy to recall how Jamie or Adrienne would handle that situation.
3. What are the next projects that you are working on?
I just finished working on “The Town That Dreaded Sundown” and am presently writing a couple of scripts. I am also seeking funding for my psychological thriller “Split Innocent”. The development stage can be very tedious. Acting and writing for me are a lot of fun, but I do prefer to leave the business aspect to the business majors who really enjoy that. Ha ha maybe a director will get in touch and give me a much needed break from all this paperwork. I need to get back to acting before I get a permanent headache!
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*Bio Courtesy of Lanee Landry
