Jamie Lee Curtis: Cinema Wellman’s 1st “Final” Girl
Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David, and it’s Halloween, so we have our annual Halloween episode to add to your bag of treats.
We’ve already given you Halloween episodes about movies adapted from Stephen King books, we ranked all of the Friday the 13th movies, and we did the same with all of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.
This year, we turn our attention to a person who is synonymous with horror, but really can do anything (and has proven that over the years), longtime Friend of Cinema Wellman, and our first “final girl,” Jamie Lee Curtis.
Oscar winning actress, writer, activist, daughter of Janet Leigh & Tony Curtis, Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal’s godmother, friend of Cate Blanchett, and overall quality human being.
I’d be lying if I told you that I remember her playing “Girl in Dressing Room” in an episode of Quincy, M.E., Mary in an episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, or “Waitress” in an episode of Columbo (which I’m positive I saw!), but I DO remember her next role playing Lt. Barbara Duran in 23 episodes of Operation Petticoat in 1977, so that’s when I fell in love with Jamie Lee Curtis.
Operation Petticoat wasn’t that good, and she was the only reason I watched all 23 episodes.
When she made Halloween, she was 19 and I was 16, so I always thought she’d fall for me if she ever got a chance to meet me.
When I first saw Halloween, I wished Laurie Strode went to my high school.
I remember being jealous of Adam Ant when they were in a relationship together, but I love that she married Christopher Guest, because I love him as well!
I can’t say I like all of her work, but neither does she.
She hates Virus and regrets making it and Grandview U.S.A. I also hated both of those films.
Rob Reiner used to host parties where he’d ask guests to bring some of their worst work for screenings, and she would always bring Virus!
I mentioned that Jamie Lee Curtis is Cinema Wellman’s 1st Final Girl, but she’s technically not the first “final girl” in film history.
If you’re not familiar with the term “final girl” (also known as “survivor girl” which doesn’t have the same vibe for me), is a horror movie trope referring to the last surviving female character to confront the killer.
The term “final girl” was coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1987 article “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.”
In that article, Clover suggests the viewer begins by sharing the perspective of the killer, but has a shift in identification to the final girl partway through the film.
Clover further explored this phenomenon in her 1992 book “Men, Women, and Chain Saws,” which I think I need a copy of, pronto.
Voices of Desire, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and, of course, Halloween all feature final girls.
Most film historians agree that Jess Bradford, played by Olivia Hussey, in 1974’s Black Christmas is the first "final" girl.
Sally Hardesty, played by Marilyn Burns in 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is also mentioned as one of the pioneer final girls.
But, many would agree that the definitive, and most iconic, final girl is Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, in the 1978 classic slasher Halloween, a role she played in films released in six different decades.
More on that film in a minute.
Since it’s Halloween, we’re just going to focus on Jamie Lee Curtis’ horror portfolio, and we’re going to concentrate on her early horror films with a little Jack O’ Lantern Mt. Rushmore: Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train.
Funny that she’s kind of synonymous with horror yet horror films terrify her and she prefers not to watch them.
Why did she do so much horror when she was younger? She has said it was because she felt she was too young to turn away work, which makes total sense to me.
Non horror highlights include a sitcom with Richard Lewis titled “Anything But Love” (which I thought was wonderful, and they were great together), and movies including Trading Places, Dominick and Eugene, A Fish Called Wanda, My Girl, Forever Young, Freaky Friday, Freakier Friday, Knives Out, and her Oscar winning turn in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
She’s currently starring in a new sitcom with Tea Leoni and Tim Daly titled “Newlyweds” and Leoni and Daly really ARE! They got married last year!
The first episode of Newlyweds is currently on the Cinema Wellman DVR and will be watched soon.
I’m looking forward to it because I like everyone in it, and I think Curtis is phenomenal when she’s doing comedy.
But it’s Halloween, so let’s get going with the horror.
I recently watched all four of these films and enjoyed them as much as I did the first time I screened them as a teenager.
Let’s go in chronological order and begin with the film that “Introduced” Jamie Lee Curtis.
Halloween (1978)
R/91 m/IMDb: 7.7/directed by John Carpenter
IMDb: “Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a mental hospital and returns to the small town of Haddonfield, Illinois, to kill again.”
Made for $300,000, shot in 20 days, and it grossed $47 million at the U.S. box office - one of the most successful independent films of all time.
Half of the budget was spent on Panavision cameras, and the Captain Kirk mask that became the Michael Myers signature look was purchased for $1.98.
All of the actors wore their own clothes, and Jamie Lee Curtis apparently outfitted Laurie Strode for just $100 at J.C. Penny’s.
In yet another example of necessity producing greatness, the dark lighting in so many scenes is because they couldn’t afford the equipment needed to light things “properly.”
Laurie’s high school is obviously NOT in Illinois because it features an open campus with outdoor lockers (you’re not finding that in Illinois!), and it obviously wasn’t filmed in the fall since the trees are all full of green leaves. The crew had a few bags of prop fall leaves they kept tossing around for scenes and then gathering them up to use again.
And NONE of that matters because you’re so mesmerized by The Shape and his voyeuristic stalking of the young women of Haddonfield.
I love that Laurie and Tommy are shown watching The Thing, which John Carpenter remade four years after Halloween.
The Fog (1980)
R/89 m/IMDb: 6.8/directed by John Carpenter
IMDb: “Local legend tells of a ship lured on to the rocks of Antonio Bay being enveloped by a supernatural cloud as it sank; the myth says that when this mysterious fog returns, the victims will rise up from the depths seeking vengeance.”
The Fog cost just over $1 million to make, and Avco Embassy spent triple that on advertising and promotion, and even rigged up expensive fog machines in the lobbies of some theaters.
This is the first of only two films Jamie Lee Curtis made with her mother, Janet Leigh, the other being Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.
Adrienne Barbeau, in her movie debut, plays DJ Stevie Wayne. The part was written specifically for her and she was director John Carpenter’s wife at the time.
Stevie’s radio station plays jazz music since it was cheaper to secure the rights to jazz music than rock music.
Gas was .52 cents a gallon at the time of shooting.
That had nothing to do with anything else, but I wanted to mention it.
Jamie Lee Curtis is not the lead in this film, but to capitalize on the success of Halloween, she is featured on the movie’s poster.
Is a lighthouse the best place for a radio station? Does that make any sense?
Not to mention the 140 steps to get to it.
The entire movie has the feel of one of those “Tales of the Unexpected” comics that I loved reading when I was a kid.
“There’s something different about this fog…it glows.”
I have to admit that these reanimated waterlogged sailors armed with lots of hooks and assorted sharp implements are pretty damn scary.
Prom Night (1980)
R/92 m/IMDb: 5.3/directed by Paul Lynch
IMDb: “At a high-school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years previously.”
Jamie Lee did her own stunts in Prom Night, which we always applaud.
She has second billing after Leslie Neilson who made Airplane! the very same year, so Prom Night pretty much ended his dramatic career.
The whole locker room/shower scene bit in slasher movies has always fascinated me.
Did high school students really shower after gym class?!?! Is this something that happened at one point in high school in this country?
This was shot in 1979. I was in high school in 1979.
We did NOT shower after gym class, and every time I see a movie that shows this it puzzles me.
Did I just attend a stinky high school?
The prom scene was shot with then current disco music which filmmakers later found out they couldn’t afford, so the film’s composer, Paul Zaza, wrote similar sounding disco tunes to use in the film in just five days, and it totally works!
Not the first movie in which Jamie Lee Curtis shows us she can dance, and I like this dance sequence more than the entire movie Perfect, that’s for sure.
Terror Train (1980)
R/97 m/IMDb: 5.8/directed by Roger Spottiswoode
IMDb: “Three years after a prank went terribly awry, the six college students responsible are targeted by a masked killer at a New Year’s Eve party aboard a moving train.”
More pranks going terribly awry?!
Stop it with the pranks, you kids!
Jamie Lee Curtis shot this back to back with Prom Night, one in Toronto, the other in Montreal.
Second billed behind Ben Johnson.
The mask in the film and all of the promotional posters is supposed to be Groucho Marx, but it always looked like Geraldo Rivera to me.
Hart Bochner’s character is an asshole med student whose nickname is “Doc,” which has always annoyed the shit out of me.
I wanted to mention that I almost added two horror films but decided against both during a final edit.
Halloween II wasn’t included because I really don’t like sequels, especially if they don’t have “everyone” back.
John Carpenter wrote the film, but did not direct, and I missed Carpenter’s style and touch.
I also almost included Road Games, but after rescreening and having to wait so long to see Jamie Lee Curtis, and then not seeing her enough, well it reminded me of why I didn’t like it in the first place.
Well, that is a wrap for our Halloween Special/Jamie Lee Curtis lovefest!
We love you here at Cinema Wellman, Jamie Lee, and we will continue to follow your career and support your activism.
We’re not that into celebrities here even though we love movies, and we only follow three celebrities on our social media; Jamie Lee Curtis, SNL’s Ashley Padilla, and Rush’s drummer Anika Niles, three bad ass women.
We hope you join us again tomorrow as we break down the Best and Worst of the month of October.
Yes, Chet, you’re working tomorrow.
Until then, take care.






























