She began her reign as Scream Queen Supreme in 1978, via the seminal slasher flick Halloween. She then brought her (doomed) girl-next-door charms to genre classics like Terror Train, Prom Night, The Fog. and, most recently, Halloween H20.

Not many survive a battle with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's Leatherface, but Marilyn Burns did. As the plucky teen Sally Hardesty, she endured physical abuse and a grody dinner before escaping sane enough to play final girl again in Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive.