Quotes

I never wanted a sugar-coated life.

You have more say on a low-budget film. You don't have a million people telling you what to do.

[on nudity in movies] As I've done more and more films, I find that they sometimes impose nudity in certain scenes where I really don't want to do it. There should be some kind of restraint on love scenes. I love to watch them when they're nicely shot, but don't necessarily show a lot. You can show just a little bit and still get the idea.

My favorites, selected from my own movies, are Savage Streets (1984), The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988). One of the differences between my association with horror films and scream queens of past generations is that I don't faint as much.

Oh, come on, men love naked women. It's a compliment, like women hate construction workers gawking at them, but when they stop, that's bad.

I like playing tough girls, because they're so different from who I am. It's really boring to play the good, nice girl--that's too much like my real personality.

Nudity is a big part of a lot of my films. The guys get upset if they don't see some breasts.'

[Nudity] is part of life. Guys go to the beach to see girls in bikinis. It's just guys being guys. It doesn't make a difference if I'm wearing a bikini or not.

[most fun she's had with a role] Well, the role of Trash was a lot of fun, but I think the most fun I had, because I hadn't at that point played that many parts like that, was probably Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama, where I got to be the tough girl. I had no nudity, and it was so fun. It was like a dream role.

[fake Scream Queens (in 1999)] Everyone who had done a home movie or whatever, and wore little clothing at these conventions, were calling themselves "scream queens" and were going around selling things. Consequently, neither films nor conventions are paying like they used to pay. They would pay real good money to have us [authentic scream queens] appear, but, all of a sudden, these amateurs would pay their own way or do anything just to be there. That hurt people who were legitimately working. The people who put on the shows figured, "Hey, as long as we have warm bodies here."

[ending up in low budget films] The B-movie thing just happened. I really didn't know that much about it to say "this is an A-movie" and "this is a B-movie." To me, a movie was a movie. I was a drive-in freak. I'd go and watch things like Boxcar Bertha. To me, that movie was just as good - if not better - than The Sting or something like that.

[her husband special effects artist Steve Johnson (1992)] I think he's proud of me. However, the nudity bothers him, although he's getting better about it.

[being popular at conventions] The first time I went to a horror convention, I was mobbed and hid in the bathroom because I didn't think anyone would recognize me ... or care. Now, I'm used to it and it's great. The people are really nice.

[horror films causing people to be violent] If anyone is loony, they're loony to begin with. I think [horror films] are a safe way for people to get out their emotions, to go and be scared. They feel better afterwards, rather than holding it all in. Fans of horror movies I've met are all really nice people - it's the quiet ones you have to worry about.

[starting out as an actor] I found it really, really exciting. Everyone was an actress and a model so I started going to auditions, even though I didn't know anything about it. But things started to happen. It was so exciting. I didn't mind going to 100 auditions.

[the paranormal? I'm not a believer in the paranormal. Only because I've never experienced it. Unless I experience something, I can't really believe in it. My dad was a doctor, so I have a really scientific type of attitude. It's like, "well this could be caused by this or that," and I'm skeptical. I'm not saying it doesn't exist but I'm skeptical.

[did she think her films would be cult classics] Oh no, we didn't even know if they would watch them when they came out. We had no clue. Or, like with some films, they never come out. I've got films that I did, they keep saying they're going to come out, but they were done 25 years ago! It's crazy.

[movies she wanted to be part of] I would have loved to have been involved with Terminator. I love that movie. That was a really cool franchise. Or Alien, of course. That would have been great and so fun. I don't even care if I would've gotten killed right away or whatever, it just would have been great to have been in that film.

[guidelines before accepting a role in a horror film] My rules are mainly "No animals hurt during filming," and "No weird nudity." I haven't really done nudity in awhile but in Europe you gotta be more careful.