Jamie Lee Curtis is one of Hollywood’s most iconic performers. Coming from a family of revered classic actors, Jamie Lee Curtis has managed to pave her career through raw talent. She’s given audiences hilarious performances in True Lies, A Fish Called Wanda, and Knives-Out; she intrigued imaginations with Love Letters, Fierce Creatures, and Mother’s Boys; and she’s made audiences scream in horror as she’s being chased by a knife-wielding maniac. She is the Scream Queen for a reason… here are Jamie Lee Curtis’ 9 best horror performances.
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9 Halloween Kills (2021)
Universal Pictures
Jamie Lee Curtis is spectacular in Halloween Kills. Even seriously injured and bedridden, Laurie is still willing to try and get back on her feet to defeat Michael Myers. Nevertheless, the film ranks lowest over one glaring reason: Laurie’s barely in it, with Halloween Kills focusing on further developing Allyson and Haddonfield as a whole.
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8 Halloween II (1981)
Similarly to Halloween Kills, Laurie’s screen time is halved compared to the original Halloween. But we still get a powerhouse performance from Curtis, who starts Halloween II in shock from her ordeal with Michael, to being in and out of a daze due to heavy medicating, and lastly, regaining full consciousness at the sight of Michael Myers once again. The movie provided the framework for one of Curtis’ best Laurie Strode incarnations in Halloween H20.
7 Halloween Ends (2022)
Halloween Ends is Jamie Lee Curtis’ very last reprisal as Laurie Strode, and one of her uniquest takes on the character. After the events of Halloween Kills and its closing scene of Karen being killed, Laurie decides it’s time to move on with her life by putting Michael’s memory to rest. Instead, Halloween Ends shows a Laurie reminiscent of the seventeen-year-old version from 1978. It was a heartwarming approach to a character that has never been able to lead a full life due to trauma. Of course, Laurie’s still equipped to take down Michael during their final battle.
6 Terror Train (1980)
20th Century Fox
This ’80s slasher has Jamie Lee Curtis portraying Alana Maxwell, a young woman caught in the revenge plot of a man pushed to the brink of insanity by Alana’s friends. Aboard a train celebrating New Year’s Eve, Alana’s mean-spirited friends are killed off one-by-one by a masked assailant. Curtis delivers a nuanced performance as a lead that isn’t entirely pure, but is still a good person who commits a reprehensible decision due to peer pressure.
5 The Fog (1980)
AVCO Embassy Pictures
In her second collaboration with director John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis portrays hitchhiker Elizabeth Solley. Elizabeth is caught in a supernatural happening as bloodthirsty revenants pursue her and other townspeople she meets along the way. This characterization is the complete opposite of Curtis’ previous portrayal as Laurie Strode. Extroverted, adventurous, and rebellious, Solley isn’t one to stand down in the face of danger, or against anyone attempting to hinder her free spirit.
4 Prom Night
Astral Films
Prom Night features Jamie Lee Curtis as a high schooler evading a masked killer once again. Kim is everything Laurie isn’t; popular, confident, and interested in social gatherings such as senior prom. In a plot-twist unintentionally similar to Halloween 2’s (this movie released before it), Kim discovers that her assailant is her twin brother, Alex, who was never solely pursuing her but instead enacting revenge on their cruel classmates. If only Jamie Lee Curtis knew this wouldn’t be her last time facing-off against a murderous sibling character.
3 Halloween H20 (1998)
Miramax Films
Halloween H20 has received significant criticism for its lacking score, its minimal kills, and Michael’s disappointing mask, but it nevertheless marks Curtis’ monumental return to the franchise after seventeen years. A direct continuation to Halloween II, this movie shows the effects of a twenty-year trauma for Laurie Strode. A functioning addict, suffering from PTSD, and possessive of her son, John, Laurie is a shell of the jovial teenager introduced in the original Halloween. In a plot-twist greater than Halloween II’s sibling reveal, Laurie decides to end her nightmare once and for all and becomes the predator, hunting Michael down until his very last breath (until Halloween Resurrection). Jamie Lee Curtis pours her heart into this retelling of Laurie Strode, reiterating that she isn’t only the Scream Queen, but one of cinema’s greatest talents.
2 Halloween (2018)
In one of the most distasteful directions in Halloween history, Laurie Strode is killed off during Halloween Resurrection’s opening fifteen minutes; sixteen years later, and after extensive preproduction delegations, Jamie Lee Curtis is back on set to portray Laurie Strode a fifth time. But this time around, the film ignores every sequel since the first Halloween installment. This Laurie Strode, while sharing the same trauma as her H20 incarnation, resorts to a survivalist mentality to deal with her PTSD, and as a result becomes a dysfunctional human on virtually every level. Alienating her daughter, experiencing two failed marriages, and rejecting any semblance of a normal life–this portrayal depicts the greatest depths a survivor will resort to…to continue surviving. This is by far Jamie Lee Curtis’ most tear-jerking and unsettling performance.
1 Halloween (1978)
Compass International Pictures
Halloween ranks number one…because it’s Halloween. But there’s more to support Jamie Lee Curtis’ top-tier performance than the movie’s icon status. Her first film performance, Jamie Lee Curtis delivers not only a final girl, but a universally relatable character through Laurie Strode. Laurie explores the insecurities every teenager has at some point in their formative years; she’s reserved, but wondrous in her own way; she’s intelligent, but subsequently views it a flaw when weighing out her dating prospects; she’s inquisitive about the unknown, but clutches onto her scholarly knowledge. Laurie Strode reflects an American era of youth revolt, and society’s reaction to it.
