THE MONSTROUS QUESTION OF THE MONTH – AUGUST 2010
(Questions Provided by Michael Arruda)

THIS MONTH’S QUESTION:
Who gets your vote for the hottest, sexiest performance by an actor – male or female – in a horror film?

RESPONSE # 4—MICHAEL ARRUDA:

I’d have to go with Linda Blair in THE EXORCIST (1973).  When her head completes that 360 degree turn— just kidding.

I’ve already written how sexy a performance Frances Dee delivered in I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943).  She is incredibly sexy, and her performance is well worth checking out.  Consider her an honorable mention.

Sexy pose by 1930s beauty Helen Chandler

Another honorable mention is an actress I’d overlooked for years, and that would be Helen Chandler in DRACULA (1931).  She played Mina, and there is something very sexy about Chandler.  If you pay close attention to her, and granted this is sometimes difficult since she shares screen time with the powerful presences of both Bela Lugosi and Edward Van Sloan, you’ll see in her eyes an exuberance, an energy, a love of life, and this energy is made all the more sexy because of the tragedy of what’s to come, that her world is about to be crushed by the evil of Dracula.

Now, this just might be me projecting what I know about Chandler’s real life, as her life after DRACULA was sad and full of tragedy, and it didn’t end well.  I don’t know, but I do know, that if you watch her closely in DRACULA, you’ll see a woman with a charged sexuality just waiting to burst out from the confines of a 1930s Hollywood production.  I wouldn’t mind being Bela Lugosi sneaking into her bedroom!

But my number one pick for the hottest, sexiest performance by an actress in a horror movie would have to be Britt Ekland in the 1973 version of THE WICKER MAN starring Christopher Lee.  When she comes on to Edward Woodward, oh – my – God!  Her nude “siren song” where she tries from the adjoining room to seduce Woodward’s Puritan butt onto hers, is one of the hottest scenes going.  I’m shaking right now.  Sure, when she spanks her own bare butt, it’s not Ekland, but a body double, but ask me if I care?  Sizzle!

The beautiful Britt Eckland heats up THE WICKER MAN

Britt Ekland in THE WICKER MAN is my pick for the hottest performance in a horror movie, as her nude siren song is enough to steam a room.  Excuse me while I defog my glasses.

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