Fay Wray In King Kong (1933)
In one of the most famous creature-features of all time, you would be surprised to hear the film’s most piercing scream before the titled beast even appears onscreen. It is for this particular scream, and many others in the film, that star Fay Wray has become known as one of the primary scream queens in the canon of horror cinema.
The scream comes very early on in the film, as Ann Darrow (Wray) awaits her arrival to Skull Island, where she will be shooting a film. In anticipation of the shoot, Darrow does some screen tests with her director Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong). Initially, Denham instructs Ann on a couple of poses and his direction becomes more and more specific, until he finally tells her to “scream for your life!”
Throughout the film, Wray’s screams are just as loud as this one; often they are even longer. Interestingly, the film never achieves the same sense of dread as it does with this scene. Something about the fact that we do not see what is terrifying Ann is quite chilling. As an actress, Ann surely has an image in her head, but before the appearance of Kong and the film’s dinosaurs, it is impossible to imagine what that image is.
Since the 1933 classic, many sequels, spinoffs, and two remakes have been made. The remakes respectively featured Jessica Lange and Naomi Watts – two immensely talented actresses – but neither of them ever capture the look of terror Wray displays in this monumental moment. In fact, in the 2005 remake, director Peter Jackson attempted to recreate this classic sequence. It was filmed, but eventually cut. If anything, this shows us that no one will ever be Wray’s equal.
– Matt Hoffman
