Linnea has racked up over 100 performances in many of the genre’s classic films and TV shows, and has also worked with all the best genre stars, but unlike some people will “always say that horror" got her where she is today.

Had you always wanted to act or did you just stumble into it?
I did always want to act, but didn’t think I could. I would mouth things in glee club, and never took part in any plays or even spoke up for that matter. I wasn’t a cheerleader or popular by any stretch of the imagination. I made some awful attempts to fit in and hated school. I was picked on and even had books thrown at my head, the works.

When I was alone I would sing along to Jackson 5 and Donny Osmond. I hate to say it but it’s true. I would only do this when no one was looking and the door was closed.

You are known as the "Queen of the B's", are you a fan of the horror genre or did you just find that these were the type of roles offered to you?
I think it just happened. I love B-movies, and went to the drive-in in Iowa all the time. I saw Billy Jack 15 times and had his hat and loved Boxcar Bertha and all the weird stuff, so when I got offered the chance to act I went for it. I also can’t forget TCM the original which inspired me too.

I have a problem with actors and actresses who try to hide their horror past. Do you share my disgust with people who are ashamed of their start in the genre? After all everyone who is anyone started in the horror genre!!
Yes I share your disgust! I don’t get it? I presented Peter Jackson with an award one year at Fango and he didn’t mention Dead Alive. He is nice and he still seems nice, even after all his success and all so I don’t want to judge. Maybe he forgot to mention that film. But I agree, mostly it is actresses that are the worst. They don’t mention it, and try to cover it up. Hey it got them somewhere and in my opinion there is no better place to learn.

Your first major role in a horror movie was in 1981's Graduation Day which was recently released on DVD here in the UK. In the movie, you played Dolores. How did you get the part and what was the project like to work on?
I got Graduation Day by going in and having to act scared. This other girl had already been cast as Delores but once she got on the set she refused to show her breasts, so they called me and I was scared too, but I wanted to do the film so badly, and back then it was like a huge no no to refuse to do nudity, so I guess I got lucky. Bad luck to who ever she is. I was also working on The Black Room at the time and had to run a lot. I learned the hard way never to run after eating. Despite this, I thought it was so much fun and luckily it wasn’t too cold I hate cold.

Linnea: "I had to be impaled on antlers and it was taking forever".

You had parts in Psycho from Texas and Don't go Near the Park the same year, and then continued to work before appearing as Denise in 1984's Silent Night Deadly Night. At time of release I was only 2 years old, but am aware that there was huge controversy surrounding the film. Can you tell us about the project and the controversy?
Oh you heard about that? When Silent Night Deadly Night was released, I was in Mexico filming Treasure of the Moon Goddess a comedy with Don Calfa and some other cool names, and my manager called and told me what was happening. I couldn’t understand why they made a big deal of it. I was like why???? The public’s reaction was more frightening than the movie itself!! It did the movie good though. The movie was shot in Utah and I had to be impaled on antlers and it was taking forever, and then they had to stage a fight over me in winter, so I’m up there trying not to breath so that you can’t see my breath in the cold and so the antlers wouldn’t move, and I was frozen and then to make matters worse, this other girl working on the film was given a present and I wasn’t so I felt really bad.

The same year you appeared in Fatal Games. What was that movie like to work on?
I think the movie you’re referring to is Fatal Frames (note: I did actually mean Fatal Games but it should be noted that the original title for that film was ‘Killing Touch’ so it’s an easy mistake to make) and that was an interesting shoot!! I have two books out where you can read about that. The first is “I’m Screaming as Fast as I Can” and the other is “Linnea Quigley Chainsaw Biography” but basically, I had to chase my money around on a scooter in Rome. How fun is that? I saw my ex husbands faxes to the filmmakers saying fuck you over and over again as he was doing effects on it, but he was in the States and his crew were over there so it was weird. It ended up that I had to go back a year or so later to finish it. I had to finish ‘Treasure’ in the Phillipines and had to go during the uprise and Donald Pleasance was in the hotel having a vacation it was weird. A lot of weird stuff happened around this time.

Also in 84 you played Linda Blair's sister in Savage Streets, what was Linda like to work with? I think it's a shame that the public can't get past her Exorcist image as she is a good and likeable actress.
Linda was actually cast in the movie at the last minute which made me very nervous as I was playing her younger sister and I had light eyes and looked totally different to her so I was thinking “oh they will fire me for sure”. The first time we shot on set, I went so far as trying to be shorter, but it worked out great. She is nice and a great actress also. Linda has done really well for herself and has also done a lot of great work for animal rights which I am also a firm believer in and supporter of.

In the movie, your character is gang raped. Nudity has often been a requirement for your roles, is it very nerve wracking to appear nude in front of lots of people knowing that the whole world might see you or do you find it liberating?
I don’t find nudity liberating at all. I had a hard time every time I was required to be nude, since the cast and crew all have to try to get on set like they have never seen a naked woman before, so I always tried to have closed sets, but now I’m doing very different things and if you go to my site www.linneaquigleycircle.com you can see my music and what I am doing. It took a long enough time to get where I am, but I will always say horror got me here.

1985 saw you take on your most notable role, that of Trash in Return of the Living Dead. How did you get the part?
Oh man, I got RLD when they re-cast the movie. They didn’t get the money that they had quite hoped for and the casting director Stanzi Stokes who cast me in ‘Silent Night’ called me in. I was called again and again and I finally got it but they wanted me to shave my eyebrows and cut my hair but I still got it. The girl who was originally cast to play Trash got pregnant so I landed the part instead. Hey I see a pattern here.

Roles followed in Creepozoids and Nightmare Sisters before you played Spider in the cult classic Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. Was that enjoyable to work on?
I loved playing the tough girl in SBabes. I just loved it, and I had cool costumes and it was just so much fun. It was all nights and a lot of stuff happened there too.

The film had an excellent cast, many of which you are friends with, which included the beautiful and talented Robin Stille. Would you care to comment on the tragedy of her untimely death?
I know Robin had a huge drinking problem. She had kamakazies all the time on the set, and I think she lied about a lot of stuff, but I feel bad. I still don’t know what the real truth under it all was. I think she was a good person and something happened to her, I don’t know what, she got so drunk she actually hurt me on set and that never happens as I’m very careful on stunts.

In 1988 you appeared as a soul in Freddy's chest in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4. Can you tell us a bit about the process and what it was like to appear in Robert Englund? A proud moment I assume?
I actually got engaged on the set of that movie right after coming out of Freddy’s chest. Steve Johnson who did effects on it gave me a ring so that was funny. While he’s hosing my KY jelly off me and after it fell over almost killing us and some others, he still managed to ask me to marry him.

The same year you appeared in the attention grabbing role of Suzanne in Night of the Demons. You had great lines and THAT lipstick scene which is one of the most talked about scenes in horror movie history. Was the part of Suzanne a dream come true and how much fun did you have on set?
I had fun on Night of the Demons, but I hated having the makeup on my face. It is not good no matter what they tell you! One night it took from 3 in the afternoon till dawn the next day it was 12 hours of it, and I came up with ways out of it. Despite that, Kevin is a great director and I almost didn’t get it as I told my agent that I wasn’t going to go to the audition as I felt that I was too old for the part and didn’t want to be rejected, as being over 18 is not considered a good thing in LA. My agent persisted however stating that they really wanted to see me and in the end I got the part.

In 1995 you were in Jack O. The DVD release has been long delayed here, can you tell us a little bit about the film?
I loved working with Steve Latshaw and did another film with him called Death Mask which was also with James Best. It was so cool I did my own behind the scenes on that which kicks ass.

Linnea: "The genre has changed for the better lately but man it took a wrong turn and got off track for a while there.".

In 1999 you were in the severley underated Kolobos which actually had a lot of positive reviews here in the UK. What was that like to work on, and what did you think of the finished film?
I thought Kolobos was brilliant, very cool. I got stuff cut as they changed the ending, but I didn’t recognize myself as I was padded up and was walking like an old woman. The makeup they did horrified me. I mean it was good for the part but man I looked different.

You had a small part as a hooker in The Prophecy 3 in 2000, did you have any scenes with Christopher Walken and what was he like?
I don’t think unless they used old footage that I’m in Prophecy 3. I have to see it sometime but I wish I could have worked with them. Damn, if you have seen it and I’m in it let me know.

Scream Queen sounds interesting, can you tell us a bit about it?
I don’t know if Scream Queen will be released. I have it and all but it was shot on video, so I have no clue? It’s on my site but I have no idea if any one has it out or not.

Zombiegeddon has the most impressive B-movie cast list I have ever seen!! What can you tell us about the project and your role?
I was shooting a cool movie The notorious Colonel Steele and doing the music for it, and they came up and shot me on video so I haven’t seen it. Now if you want to see an impressive cast go to www.itcamefromtrafalgar.com I’m also doing music in that, and go back to film more soon and do a CD. They also shot our first performance of The Skirts after 20 years or so. They shot 4 videos and it's being edited just now. We had Joey Image from The Misfits on drums, who is so cool. I ’m hoping to use him all the time now but he is in LA and I’m here in Florida. I hope to have him he is so good

What is your opinion on the current state of the genre? Do you feel that the industry has changed drastically over the years and is it a change for the better?
The genre has changed for the better lately but man it took a wrong turn and got off track for a while there. There are still lots of bad remake mistakes but on the whole, I think that things are a bit better.

Frost and Unaware are scheduled for release this year, what can you tell us about the movies?
Unaware was shot on HD and for more info you can go to www.unawaremovie.com It looks like a million bucks. I’m not sure about the release plans for Frost. Since I left LA I have not been able to get a handle on anything. I hate it, and I know now that I should never have left. I miss my house, my neighbors, and the people so much it hurts.

What are you working on next?
Well let’s see, I did an interview for Starlog recently so look out for that, and then I have a movie coming out later this summer called Miss Maniac you can get info on that at http://members.aol.com/missmaniacmovie

I have a lot of work to get ready for, and I have some other projects that I am interested in, but I will wait until I actually shoot anything until I let you hear about them. You know how the biz can be. If you want to keep up to date with my music go to Rocketcityrecords.com

"Thank you ever so much for taking part in this interview Linnea.
And we wish you the very best of luck in the future."

You can visit Linnea's official web site right here: www.linneaquigleycircle.com

Read Part 1: Grayce WeyInterview right here >>	Read Part 2: Julie Strain Interview right here >>
Read Part 3: Tiffany Shepis Interview right here >>	Part 4: Judith O'Dea Interview right here >>