In late October, a steady stream of 1980s horror films flood living rooms around the world. But the genre has a significant year-round following that adores these spooky classics like Friday the 13th and Halloween. Fans learn and obsess over every detail including the famous victims.
Although Canmore resident Tiffany Helm was slain on screen decades ago, her character, Violet, the goth girl in Friday the 13th Part V, is immortal, reaching cult status among horror fans.
Helm, who is still acting, grew up in a thespian family.
"Both of my parents were actors and actresses and my aunt as well,” says Helm. “My mom was on a lot of those seventies shows – Mission Impossible, Mod Squad, Charlie's Angels, Brady Bunch, etc.”
Helm’s mother, Brooke Bundy, was also in the 80s horror films Nightmare of Elm Street 3 and 4.
Her father, Peter Helm, acted in movies like Andromeda Strain, the science fiction thriller based on Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel and namesake of a famous mixed climb in Banff National Park.
Young Tiffany took on roles from a young age, but it was her own style that caught the attention of casting directors and landed her the part of Violet. Growing up in Hollywood during the early punk scenes in the 70s and 80s, TK was one of the original goth girls.
“I welcomed the whole goth scene because it seemed more like a more fashionable and introverted way to go,” says TK. “I also liked the music. I really adopted the lifestyle very early on.”
Back then, goth fashion was not widely accepted. TK and her goth friends who often get comments from “square” strangers –
“They would say ‘Hey, it's not Halloween. Hey, look at your calendar. It's not Halloween,’ “ laughs TK.
But it was TK who got the last laugh.
“I got cast and Friday the 13th Part V, it was a call from my agent and they were actually looking for a “Pat Benatar type” because that's kind of what Hollywood viewed as the alternative scene or punk or goth, the video ‘Love is a Battlefield’ just came out. Hollywood casting really had no idea what was going on with any kind of alternative scene.”
TK’s authentic self won the casting directors over and they changed the part to accommodate her.
“I sold them that I should be Violet, even though I was nothing like Pat Benatar – I was not the body type. I was not the look, I wasn't any of that,” says TK.
Now, 36 years later, TK’s Violet is still a beloved icon.
“I'm going to a horror convention this weekend,” says TK. “I do these, semi-regularly and they are huge. They started by reuniting actors and fans of the older films. And now it is all the films – old and new. This con will have both the actor who was the little boy eaten in Jaws, and an actor from the more current It. But there's a whole new generation of 80’s horror fans. Sometimes I meet very young fans and families who are very up on all the 80’s horror.”
“If you go onto YouTube and look up ‘Violet dance Friday, the 13th’, there are parodies of it! Horror fans love it,” says TK. “You really never know when you do these roles, what you're going to be remembered for. I certainly didn't think Violet was going to be ‘a thing’ that people seek me out for. And lo and behold, here it is.”
Follow Tiffany Helm on her fan page.
