When the term “scream queen” is brought up annually around this time, images of white women narrowly escaping the clutches of a crazed killer or evil entity across film franchises or pivotal genre entries come to mind. Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, locked in a 45-year-long battle against Michael Myers. Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, opposing the varied murderers donning the famed Ghostface mask within the Scream franchise. Naomi Watts because the longsuffering mother fighting supernatural forces in The Ring and Shut-In, or scratching for survival in Funny Games or Goodnight Mommy.

Less often mentioned are the contributions that Black women have made to the genre. Marlene Clark’s conflicted bloodthirst in 1973’s Ganja & Hess. Rachel True‘s vengeful teenage witch in 1996’s The Craft. Naomie Harris as a post-Apocalyptic warrior in 2002’s 28 Days Later.

But perhaps essentially the most prolific yet often ignored of those in the present era of horror is Betty Gabriel.

Starring in titles like violence thriller The Purge: Election Yr, futuristic sci-fi/horror Upgrade, Screenlife slasher Unfriended: Dark Web, cybercrime horror-thriller limited series Clickbait, and after all, Jordan Peele’s innovatively genre-pushing racial horror, Get Out, Gabriel has broken the mold of the disposable Black friend of the protagonist or the film’s first victim.

Gabriel’s performance as “Georgina,” the white grandmother of villain Rose Armitage (Allison Williams), inhabiting the body of an unnamed Black woman, is one of the vital iconic within the genre’s history, hands down. Though she had only a handful of lines within the film, her spine-tingling, smiling-yet-tearful monologue concerning the kindness of the Armitage family is one of the vital recognizable frames of the film. Subtle yet chilling, it’s the strongest clue of the horror at the basis of the story before the hand is revealed within the film’s third act. And it helped set the tone for a renaissance of Black horror that has begun during the last 6 years.

“I hadn’t really been aware that my contribution to the horror genre was significant in any way,” Gabriel says in conversation with ESSENCE about her status as a staple of contemporary horror. “I take it with gratitude.”

Paradoxically not much of a horror film watcher herself – “I’ll get nightmares,” she says laughing – Gabriel fell into starring in a string of scaries by pure happenstance.

“Starting out, you don’t really have much of a selection. You only take whatever work you’ll be able to get,” the actress says. “Blumhouse, which was the predominant producer behind a variety of these movies, kept hiring me, and I kept on saying yes to them. It wasn’t like I had a selection between this and a rom-com. It was a selection between this and never working.”

“But I feel perhaps on a subconscious, universal level, there’s something about me that’s drawn to those movies, or they’re drawn to me.”

Her first foray into chills and thrills got here in 2016, for the second sequel within the wildly popular dystopian motion horror franchise, The Purge: Election Yr. Playing on societal fears over the turn the nation would take in the course of the election cycle going down in the true world just months later (and preluding some real-life political horrors that got here about in the course of the next Presidential term), the film tackled topics of politics and policy through the lenses of race, class, and religion – with a healthy dose of violence and mayhem, after all.

Gabriel portrayed Laney Rucker, an ex-purger often known as “La Pequeña Muerta” in her youth, now an EMT assisting victims of violence each purge night, fighting to maintain a peaceful senator in line for presidency alive for the night with the hope of Purge eradication on the horizon.

“It’s something I don’t really wish to eat as an audience member, but as a person, these are things that I definitely am haunted by,” she says of her connection to the fabric. “Just complete and utter chaos, the breakdown of our system, the guns always being an element of our on a regular basis reality, and oppression.”

“It’s one in all those movies where it’s like, ‘Is this horror? Or is that this only a
really tousled version of reality which may come true, that sort of [already] is true?’”

But her true big break into horror icon status got here after a reasonably harrowing audition process for Blumhouse’s latest horror feature, written by that one comedian from Key & Peele.

“I used to be backpacking through the mountains of Peru, as one does once you’re soul-searching and single,” she reveals. “So, I didn’t have any technology, no smartphone, no wifi, nothing. I used to be going to an online cafe a couple of times per week, paying 10 cents for an hour for web, and I got the e-mail audition notice.”

Initially inclined to pass the method up, with no access to camera equipment, web access, and even too many other people around who knew English, Gabriel tried to let this one go and move on. But something concerning the opportunity wouldn’t let her rest.

“I went to the hostel, and went to bed, and just couldn’t sleep. So, I just woke up and went, ‘Ugh…I’ve got to figure this out. I’ve got to work out how you can get that tape in. I can’t pass this up.’”

That realization led to a 24-hour bus ride to the following village over to go to a documentary filmmaker she stumbled across through a referral on Facebook, who not only had access to all of the equipment she needed to film and upload her audition for the role but was from Chicago and knew English.

“We actually shot it outside. There have been birds chirping throughout the entire thing,” she laughs. “12 hours later, it was uploaded and submitted.”

The remainder, after all, is horror movie history. Get Out led to a renewed interest in horror movies centering Black protagonists in authentically Black experiences, making way for movies like Spell, His House, 2021 reboot sequel Candyman and shows like Lovecraft Country and Them.

“I feel that ultimately, we’re being more inclusive, and we’re being a bit more aware in how we don’t fully invite people to the table,” Gabriel says of the increased space that’s been made for Black people within the horror genre. “And I do mean certain ‘we’s.’ The ‘we’s’ in power. We pat ourselves on the back for issuing crumbs. In any genre, I hope it isn’t a trend. Hopefully, we see more beautiful Black women on screen.”

Beyond the expression of horror in front of the screen, Gabriel is hopeful that the trend toward stories told by Black creators and about Black experiences continues, with increase.

“I feel with the horror genre specifically, there’s a lot to be mined
there, because there may be a variety of horror throughout the Black female experience on this country,” she says. “I stay up for that being conveyed, and in a way that’s profound, and never necessarily [gratuitous].”

Like many modern film watchers, Gabriel has a tough time viewing “Black struggle” and racialized violence against Black bodies committed to screen, though she sees the horrific stories they portray as beneficial expressions.

“I do find myself not capable of watch certain stories that basically give attention to slavery. I just find it difficult and retraumatizing. But that’s to not say that they’re not essential and that I don’t try,” she said. “And, there’s at all times an audience for any story.”

“Personally, I feel there’s something [special] to striking a balance between horrifying images, and transcendent nuances that we don’t at all times take into consideration or see. Or things perhaps we all know on some level, but we haven’t quite seen [conveyed].”

“I stay up for seeing horror evolve typically. I personally am drawn to subtlety, with plenty of layers and complexities concerning the human experience,” she continues. “I feel that’s what made Get Out so wildly successful was that everybody related to this protagonist. Regardless that a white person won’t ever know what it’s to be a Black person, something about that journey was relatable and universal. So, I hope that’s the long run of horror, with Black stories and Black people behind and in front of the camera.”

Indeed, as Get Out opened Hollywood’s eyes to the bankability of Black horror, it opened doors personally for Gabriel, who has gone on to star in 17 more projects because the film’s release, 4 of which fall into the horror genre. The actress revealed that her role as Sophie Brewer in Netflix’s cyber-kidnapping thriller Clickbait, was essentially the most pivotal on her journey through the genre.

“For me, that was essentially the most personal, since it was essentially the most extensive journey that I had been on playing a personality,” she says. “It was my first time playing a lead, and though it wasn’t my first time playing a mom, I used to be a mother who needed to really be the mother and keep the family together, while also having all these secrets and all this shame that she was processing and coping with.”

Though the actress was considering stepping away from horror altogether in an effort to avoid typecasting, one other horror project from a director of color recently got here her way that was just too good to pass up. Now presented with a selection, she selected horror once more – this time from one other BIPOC perspective rarely seen in American theaters.

The as-yet-untitled horror slated for a 2023/24 release comes from Indian director Bishal Dutta and centers on ancient Indian legends and private immigrant experiences, subject material which is more likely to resonate with Black viewers just as much as our South Asian brothers and sisters. She also joins season 3 of Prime Video’s motion drama Jack Ryan this November, and Discovery’s Manhunt, dramatizing the seek for John Wilkes Booth in the times after Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.

“I feel we’re in such an anxious place collectively that [horror is] really manifesting itself in a variety of stories,” Gabriel says. “So, yeah, I don’t think you’ll be able to escape it.”