Of all the beloved archetypes, it’s our Scream Queens horror fans prize most of all. From Jaime Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell to Samara Weaving and Maika Monroe, we love to watch these empowered women battle their way through film after film. Seeming to specialize in roles that chill us to the bone, sometimes a Scream Queen becomes famous for playing a single character whose saga endures through a storied franchise, but more often than not, she stuns in a series of disparate characters stretched across the genre spectrum.
Though women have always been the heart of horror, only a select handful of actresses make it into this celebrated sorority. With the dual February releases of Gavin Polone’s Psycho Killer and Jonny Campbell’s Cold Storage (which also happens to be produced by Polone), another Scream Queen joins these rarified ranks.
Born in South Yorkshire, England, Georgina Campbell was discovered on the street at the age of 16 and recruited to lead Clair Breton’s innovative web series Freak. She’s spent the last decade building an impressive resume of enigmatic heroines in a wide variety of genre roles. From lovers, survivors, influencers, and officers, Campbell excels in creating relatable characters who manage to win our hearts in the depths of horror.
Murdered by My Boyfriend (2014)
Campbell’s first prominent role was inspired by a real-life tragedy. Based on the shocking death of Casey Brittle, Paul Andrew Williams’s Murdered by My Boyfriend is a harrowing study of intimate partner violence and the devastating cycle of abuse. Campbell stars as Ashley, a young and idealistic woman who is swept off her feet by a charming older man named Reece (Royce Pierreson). But his kindness masks a violent streak sparked by uncontrollable jealousy, and Ashley finds herself trapped in a destructive pattern of pain and shame. This heartbreaking film does not diminish Ashley while exploring her complex reasons for continuing this terrifying relationship. Campbell won a BAFTA TV Award for her sensitive portrayal of an all-too-relatable character.
Black Mirror (2017)
After appearing in a number of TV series and independent films, Campbell received her second BAFTA nomination for a starring role on Charlie Brooker’s anthology series Black Mirror. The high point of season 4, “Hang the DJ,” follows Amy (Campbell) and Frank (Joe Cole), a couple matched by a restrictive app that determines the length of their time together. After a successful first date, they’re placed in long-term relationships with other people, forced to wait until Pairing Day to see if they’ll be deemed a soulmate match. With a jaw-dropping twist, this episode explores the horror of using faceless technology to control our most sensitive decisions and the dangers of gamifying emotional vulnerability.
Barbarian (2022)
Campbell’s breakthrough performance came in Zach Cregger’s 2022 shocker Barbarian. We first meet Tess (Campbell) on the doorstep of a sketchy Airbnb. Fumbling with the lock code, she’s surprised when Keith (Bill Skarsgård) opens the door, and the attractive strangers realize they’ve been double-booked. The film’s opening act plays out like a hellish meet-cute as Keith and Tess bond over the awkward situation. But horror lurks in the pleasantly anonymous house. I won’t spoil the genuinely delightful twists and turns this bizarre story takes, except to say that Tess becomes our guiding light through a world of increasingly predatory men. Fast and salacious, Barbarian is a wild ride that introduces Creggor as an unpredictable storyteller and Campbell as a Scream Queen in the making.
Bird Box: Barcelona (2023)
From this point on, Campbell would be a hot commodity in the genre world. She followed her big screen debut in Àlex and David Pastor’s Bird Box: Barcelona, a sequel/spinoff of the 2023 adaptation of Josh Malerman’s bestselling novel. On the other side of the globe, another group of terrified survivors tries to negotiate a world plagued by mysterious entities that drive anyone who views them to suicide. Campbell follows Sandra Bullock’s celebrated performance as Claire, a psychiatrist caring for a little girl seemingly orphaned by the apocalypse. Desperate to survive, Claire senses danger when their small group absorbs a so-called “Seer” named Sebastián (Mario Casas). Though the film received mixed reviews, especially compared to its predecessor, Campbell provides the story’s heart as a brave psychiatrist in a world filled with monsters adept at murdering through mental illness.
Lovely, Dark, and Deep (2023)
That same year, Campbell would star in Teresa Sutherland’s feature debut, Lovely, Dark, and Deep. Lennon (Campbell) is a backcountry ranger tasked with searching for hikers lost in the dangerous Arvores National Park. Years ago, her own sister went missing in the same dense woods, and Lennon has been drawn to the source of this tragedy, holding out hope for her rescue. When the experienced ranger also loses her way, she discovers that the forest is home to otherworldly entities who thrive on a steady source of stolen souls. Now Lennon must decide how far she will go to protect this dangerous secret, knowing other families will suffer the same devastation that once ruined her life. Campbell received rave reviews for her steady performance, grounding a gorgeous, yet fantastical story.
The Watchers (2024)
Next, Campbell would lose herself in another sinister forest in The Watchers, Ishana Shyamalan’s directorial debut. Adapted from A. M. Shine’s harrowing book, the story follows Mina (Dakota Fanning), a lonely courier who becomes trapped in a glass-walled enclosure known as The Coop, where a small collection of survivors are observed by hordes of hidden beasts. Ciara (Campbell) is a fellow captive waiting for her husband to return from an ill-advised rescue mission. Though not the film’s marquee star, Campbell breaks our hearts as Ciara must accept his inevitable death while denying his frantic doppelganger begging to be let back into the Coop. The story takes several twists and turns, but we’re anchored by Campbell’s human reactions to this increasingly mythological threat.
Influencers (2025)
In 2025, Campbell co-starred in Influencers, a sequel to Kurtis David Harder’s surprise 2022 hit. Roughly a year after escaping the island she’d been using as a deadly trap, CW (Cassandra Naud) has found a seemingly happy relationship. But she’s tempted back into her old predatory patterns by a captivating influencer named Charlotte (Campbell). CW’s deceptive tactics once again threaten to destroy the safety she’s built, and old friends come calling as the gorgeous predator zeroes in on another influential victim. Campbell dazzles in a showy role that morphs with Charlotte’s unusual fate. She stands out in this exciting film, bringing complexity to a character that could easily become a vacuous stereotype.
February presents Campbell in two starring roles, which sit at opposite ends of the genre spectrum. Psycho Killer sees the empathetic actress tackle a tricky role as a recent widow determined to find her husband’s killer, a masked man dedicating his murders to Satan. Grisly and bleak, Campbell navigates a range of emotions while grounding an overwhelmingly sadistic story. On a much lighter note, she co-stars with Joe Keery as low-level managers of a self-storage facility in Jonny Campbell’s futuristic horror comedy Cold Storage. She and Keery lead an all-star cast of disparate characters clumsily trying to save the world. This dual release is a microcosm of Campbell’s multifaceted talent.
With multiple projects on the horizon, including buzzy genre title The Shepherd, it’s safe to say that for this newly minted Scream Queen, the best may be yet to come.