Editing Jamie Lee Curtis (section)

===1980–1982: Scream queen===
Her next film following ''Halloween'' was ''[[The Fog]]'', which was also directed by Carpenter and produced by Hill. The film opened in February 1980 to mixed reviews but strong box office,<ref name="foggross">{{cite web |title=''The Fog'' gross tally |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fog.htm |website=[[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=March 9, 2006 |archive-date=February 13, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213042546/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fog.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> starting Curtis as a horror film starlet. In the years since its release, the film has achieved critical reappraisal and developed a [[Cult film|cult following]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/how-john-carpenters-the-fog-went-from-disaster-to-cult-horror-classic-on-its-40th |work=[[Syfy]] |title=How John Carpenter's The Fog went from disaster to cult horror classic on its 40th anniversary |last=Brigden |first=Charlie |date=February 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229205112/https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/how-john-carpenters-the-fog-went-from-disaster-to-cult-horror-classic-on-its-40th |archive-date=December 29, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> Her next film, ''[[Prom Night (1980 film)|Prom Night]]'', was a low-budget Canadian [[slasher film]] released in July 1980. The film, for which she earned a [[Genie Award]] nomination for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress, was similar in style to ''Halloween'', yet received negative reviews which marked it as a disposable entry in the then-popular slasher genre. That year, Curtis also starred in ''[[Terror Train]]'', which opened in October and met with negative reviews akin to ''Prom Night''. Both films performed moderately well at the box office.<ref name=thenumbers/> Curtis's roles in the latter two films served a similar function to that of Strode—the main character whose friends are murdered and is practically the only [[protagonist]] to survive. Film critic [[Roger Ebert]], who gave negative reviews to all three of Curtis's 1980 films, said that Curtis "is to the current horror film glut what [[Christopher Lee]] was to the last one—or [[Boris Karloff]] was in the 1930s."<ref name="ebert">{{cite web |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Terror Train |url=https://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19801009/REVIEWS/10090301/1023 |date=October 9, 1980 |access-date=March 9, 2006 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |archive-date=May 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070525165346/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F19801009%2FREVIEWS%2F10090301%2F1023 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1981, she appeared alongside [[Stacey Keach]] in the Australian thriller film ''[[Roadgames]]'', directed by Carpenter's friend [[Richard Franklin (director)|Richard Franklin]]; her importation, which was requested by the film's American distributor [[AVCO Embassy Pictures]], was contested by the Sydney branch of [[Actors Equity of Australia|Actors Equity]].<ref name="kangaroo">''Kangaroo Hitchcock: The Making of Roadgames'' (2003). Anchor Bay Entertainment.</ref><ref name="senses">{{cite web |first1=Scott |last1=Murray |first2=Tom |last2=Ryan |title=Richard Franklin: Director/Producer |url=https://sensesofcinema.com/2008/48/dossier-on-australian-exploitation/richard-franklin/ |date=July 12, 2008 |access-date=October 26, 2012 |work=Senses of Cinema |archive-date=April 18, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140418173507/http://sensesofcinema.com/2008/48/dossier-on-australian-exploitation/richard-franklin/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Although the film was a [[box office bomb]] in Australia and Franklin later regretted not increasing the size of Curtis's role, it has achieved a cult following and was championed by [[Quentin Tarantino]].<ref>{{cite AV media |title=Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! |medium=Documentary |year=2008 |publisher=City Films Worldwide |people=Curtis, Jamie Lee; Keach, Stacy; McLean, Greg; and Quentin Tarantino}}</ref> That same year, Curtis reprised her role of Laurie Strode in ''Halloween II.'' She starred in the television films ''[[Death of a Centerfold|Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story]]'', playing the eponymous doomed Playmate, and ''[[She's in the Army Now]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b709b9f41 |title=Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story |access-date=April 27, 2023 |publisher=British Film Institute |archive-date=November 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128223628/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b709b9f41 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7ce9b2e3 |title=She's in the Army Now |access-date=April 27, 2023 |publisher=[[British Film Institute]] |archive-date=April 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418171648/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7ce9b2e3 |url-status=dead}}</ref>