PopHorror Interviews “Queen of the B’s” Linnea Quigley Part 2!

Linnea Quigley is one of horror’s most recognizable faces. Although she’s most known for playing Trash in Return of the Living Dead (1985), she has also had parts in Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), Night of the Demons (1988), Creepozoids (1987), Tourist Trap (1979), Savage Streets (1984), Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-A-Rama (1988), Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings (1993), Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988) and even a soul bursting from Freddy’s chest in Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988). These films are barely the tip of the iceberg for Linnea, who has been in 142 films as of late, and most of them have been horror related. This has earned her the well-deserved nickname Queen of the B’s by genre fans. As I said in the first half of my first interview with Linnea Quigley , I was nervous as hell about talking to such a big name. But as you’ll see in this article, Miss Quigley is one of the most down to earth, relatable celebrities out there. We talked about her role in the soon to be released creature slasher The Barn, Norman Reedus, the documentary she’s trying to get off the ground called Extras, PETA, a very young filmmaker named Fiona Fright and living in the ’80s.

See Part 1 of this interview here!

PopHorror – I noticed that you do a lot of work for PETA. How did you get started doing that?

Linnea Quigley – I saw this show on The Discovery Channel that really affected me. It showed animal testing. It showed horrible things. My life just changed. So I got a hold of the people at PETA and said, “I’ll do whatever I can to help you guys.” I changed my diet. I stopped eating beef and then I stopped eating chicken and fish. I haven’t touched it in 30-something years. It just really, really affected me horribly because you don’t even think these things are going on. You can’t even imagine what goes on. They’re discovering so much now. Some of the ads are changing because of the hormones. They’re saying, “Without hormones! Without steroids!” It’s scary what goes in it. I also wonder how many people would eat meat if they had to work in a slaughterhouse.

PopHorror – Yeah, I can’t even imagine! Is it hard to find stuff you can eat? At restaurants and stuff?

Linnea Quigley – No, it isn’t, usually. But Florida is horrible. They don’t have much. Even Ohio has more vegan stuff. It’s nearly impossible to find a restaurant that serves it. You basically have to buy everything and cook it yourself. You can ask your friends for recipes or go online, but still. At this last shoot that I did a couple of days ago for The Best Laid Plans, we went out for breakfast/lunch at a crab shack and there was nothing to eat but horrible spaghetti. Then, after the shoot at, like, three or four in the morning, the only thing that was open was a place called Steak and Shake (laughs). So I really didn’t eat! I do bring granola bars with me a lot when I travel. Or even oatmeal. You know how they have those coffee makers in the hotel rooms? You can boil water in them.

PopHorror – You must get sick of eating granola bars and oatmeal for every meal though.

Linnea Quigley – Well, you’re only there – at the most – four days. It’s not so bad. If it was, like six weeks, then… I don’t know. Oh, boy. Although I’m kind of a creature of habit, so I’d probably be okay with that (laughs).

PopHorror – You play Mrs. Barnhart in the retro slasher The Barn. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Linnea Quigley – Oh, my God! The Barn is an amazing horror film. I’ve done a lot of films, right? I usually walk away like, “Okay. That was okay.” But this one is amazing! I really love it! I’ve actually watched it a couple times already. It’s that good. What’s really cool is it’s actually premiering tomorrow (November 12th) at the New York City Horror Film Festival. The Barn starts at 2:30 in the afternoon. The weird thing is, I did one called The Everglades Killings, and that one is showing at 10:15! So if New York people can get there for 2:30 and then stay until 10:15 to see The Everglades Killings. I haven’t actually seen that one, but mainly they should check out The Barn. It’s really kickass. The music is great and the actors are superb. It’s just really good.

*The Barn is due to be released on DVD this Wednesday, November 29th. Keep an eye out for it!*

PopHorror – I actually found out about (the director) Justin Seaman when I was researching Volumes of Blood: House Stories, so when I found out that he had this other movie called The Barn, I just had to hunt him down and see it.

Linnea Quigley – Justin is super talented… It’s so weird that he came up with the concept (for The Barn) at nine years old! And it’s a cool enough idea that he ended up making it. How awesome is that?

PopHorror – I think I was still playing with My Little Ponies when I was nine! There’s a little girl named Fiona Fright who wrote, directed and starred in her first horror movie (Speak of the Devil) when she was only 6 years old. Then she made another film short called Daddy Dearest that screened at last year’s Rock and Shock Horror and Music Convention. She was only, like, 11 years old and she already had a movie screening at a horror convention. She made it through Wicked Bird Media.

Linnea Quigley – What?!? You’ve got to be kidding me! That is incredible! I’m surprised I hadn’t heard about her. So she’s acting in it and directing it? That’s amazing! It’s funny – the directors used to all be older than me and now they’re younger than me and it’s just so weird (laughs). But they all still know the ’80s films! So many people come up to me and say, “I wish I was born in the ’80s! You guys must have had so much fun!” Actually, we did. I never remember thinking, like, “Oh, my God – money!” Things were easier and less expensive.

PopHorror – Except cell phones.

Linnea Quigley – (laughs) Except cell phones!

PopHorror – It was a more innocent time. We didn’t have as many worries.We were in between wars. People had more money, like you said.

Linnea Quigley – When you’re living it, you don’t think about it much. You think that this is your life and it’s always going to be like this. But then you look back and wish you had enjoyed it more while you had it. One horrible thing – well, not horrible, really – was the gas crisis. Everybody had to line up to get gas.

PopHorror – Oh, right! And wasn’t it set up where you could only get gas on certain days depending on the first letter of your last name? Like if you last name started with A-L, you could get gas on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or something like that.

Linnea Quigley – Yeah! Yeah, I forgot about that. But that was one of the only bad things.

PopHorror – Especially compared to what we have now.

Linnea Quigley – Yeah, now we have people blowing each other up. Kids shootings kids for fun in the schools. People are torturing animals. God! I don’t know if it’s what people are eating or drinking.

PopHorror – Or standing too close to the microwave.

Linnea Quigley – It could be!

PopHorror – Makes you want to build a bunker and live underground.

Linnea Quigley – I know! It makes you wonder if those doomsday preppers are on to something (laughs). And now with the elections, with California wanting to go off and be it’s own country. People are just spewing hate. It’s scary!

But getting back to films and things. I’m directing my own documentary in the Penelope Spheeris type of way called Extras. I’ve wanted to do it for, like, 20 years because extras just fascinate me. I’m really passionate about it. Some people do [extra work] just to do something. To have something to do. And some people do it because they really think they’re going to make it and be noticed standing by a tree next to Tom Hanks. There are a lot who started off as extras but are now big stars.

PopHorror – Like you!

Linnea Quigley – Yup! I was an extra, that’s for sure! They give you a box lunch – if you’re lucky. And then there are people like Marilyn Monroe who are just discovered after someone walks by them and says, “Hey! How would you like to do this?”

PopHorror – I was just reading on IMDb.com that Mitchell (Musolino) from The Barn, he was getting away from acting but then was noticed by a modeling scout or something. So it does still happen.

Linnea Quigley – You know, I think I remember something about that. Some people don’t see what they can really do. They think they’re not handsome enough or tall enough or whatever. But somebody else can see the possibilities. They fit their mold of what they want. It’s funny. Norman Reedus from The Walking Dead has become this sexual icon. He’s a really nice guy and everything. But if you look at him… he’s not Hollywood handsome. But he fit that role. And everyone loves him for it. But it could also be the bad boy thing, too.

*We talked quite a bit about the most recent episode of The Walking Dead and that horribly happy song Easy Street.*

PopHorror – It sounds like you just got finished filming The Best Laid Plans. Can you talk about it yet?

Linnea Quigley – Yeah, I can. Marty Morrero is an agent of mine down here. He does casting and stuff like that. He is the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet. Not a bad word about anybody. He played in the movie as a drug dealer or something. Anyway, the director (Michael LiCastri: October 31st 2010) wanted to get some names into his film. He asked for two guys. Marty said, “Well, I’ve got Linnea.” So they changed one of the parts to a girl. Marty said to me, “Do you know anyone else who’s a horror icon?” So I said, “Yeah, let me try to get a hold of some people.” The one I really wanted to Ed Neal (Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974). He is so good of an actor and so funny. He just keeps you in stitches. And he said yes!

But we had so many problems. The DP (director of photography) got there an hour late. It was a night shoot. It was election night. They guy who owned the building promised we could use his alley. It was all graffitied up and everything. He said, “No problem! You can plug into my electricity.” Well, he got drunk while we were shooting. He came out and got more and more belligerent. He also had these three big dogs in there that just kept barking and barking. We couldn’t exactly call the police on him because we didn’t have a permit (laughs). But you can’t own the alley. You can own the building but you can’t own the alley. He was blocking us in, bringing his car into the alley.It was horrible. We couldn’t reshoot anything because we would have had to move somewhere else and try and get power. We couldn’t match anything to what was already done. It was this whole big ordeal and this guy ruined it. So we didn’t get as much shot as, I’m sure, they wanted.

It’s really well written. Even though I thought it was a suspense and it was actually a comedy. It was written amazingly by the director. And you had to say every line exactly. No ad-libs. No missing a word. Of course, I have a three page monologue. It was long! I was dying! Especially with everything else. I hadn’t had any sleep and I had gotten up early. Shooting that day was just a little bit… crazy.

PopHorror – Plus the elections were going on…

Linnea Quigley – Yeah! No one could turn on their cell phones in case one went off during filming. Everyone was wondering if people were going to riot or what. Where I live was on the news. It’s is a small city near Fort Lauderdale. Our little seaside town actually was on FOX National News because there was some sort of ruckus.

It’s weird, too. My next door neighbor is Camille Keaton (I Spit On Your Grave 1978) and she also is one of my best friends. We hang out. There was also, unfortunately, (the late) Hershell Gordon Lewis and Patty Mullen (Frankenhooker 1990). Horror people that all live around me.

PopHorror – Why does everyone gravitate to Florida?

Linnea Quigley – I don’t know, because everyone hates it (laughs). I just know that I want to go back to LA. Also, the ID channel has a show called Stranger in Florida. I’m like, “Oh, yeah!” (laughs) The bugs don’t bother me but the people… whew! I also heard that there’s crocodiles coming in now. Now that’s scary!

*The conversation turned toward Connecticut’s rabid beavers. No, that’s not a spelling mistake. We had rabid beavers in Connecticut this summer.*

PopHorror – Is there anything else you want to talk about that we haven’t covered?

Linnea Quigley – I wanted to let people know that they can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @LinneaQuigley and on Facebook, they can find me at Official Linnea Quigley. I’m determined to finish Extras. The Kickstarter campaign has ended but there are still ways to support the film. So if anyone wants to help out with that, they can contact me about that as well.