The horror movie is a genre that has sometimes struggled to gain critical affection or acclaim, especially since it tends to deal with the less appealing aspects of life--death, blood, murder, destruction--and because so many horror movies are made on a small budget. The same is true for those who star in horror movies, and many famous actors try to avoid the genre.
However, a surprising number of actors who either had been or would go on to be famous spent time acting in horror films, often elevating the material with their performances.
Joan Crawford in Trog (1970)
Trog has the distinction of being the last movie in which the classic Hollywood star Joan Crawford appeared.
While its plot is very silly--it focuses on Crawford’s character Dr. Brockton and her attempts to civilize a primitive man discovered in a cave--she still manages to elevate the movie, endowing her character with both charisma and pathos. The movie has gone on to enjoy a cult status among horror movie fans.
Charlton Heston in The Omega Man (1971)
Charlton Heston was one of the most successful actors of the classic Hollywood era, and even today he is remembered for his portrayal of epic heroes such as Moses and Ben-Hur.
However, he also appeared in a post-apocalyptic horror film, The Omega Man, in which he portrays a man trying to survive in a world where almost everyone else has been turned into primitive creatures that spurn technology. It’s a haunting movie, and Heston endows his character with a gritty determination fitting in a man trying to survive in a dangerous world.
Gregory Peck in The Omen (1976)
Gregory Peck was another famous actor from the classical era of Hollywood, and he kept acting in several movies even after the height of his career. His later credits include the horror movie The Omen, which focuses on Peck’s character Robert Thorn as he contends with the reality that his son is, in fact, the Antichrist.
It’s a haunting movie, and Peck’s Thorn is clearly a man faced with a terrible series of choices, and his death at the end is a shocking and haunting reminder of the implacability of evil.
Roddy McDowall in Fright Night (1985)
Roddy McDowall had quite a successful career in Hollywood for several decades, and he would become quite famous for playing the ape scientist Cornelius in Planet of the Apes.
He also appeared in the horror movie Fright Night, in which he plays the character of Peter Vincent. The brilliance of McDowall’s performance in this movie is that he manages to be both aware of how campy it is and yet also conveys the sense that he takes his job as an actor quite seriously.
Johnny Depp in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Johnny Depp has been quite famous for quite some time now (and, in some ways, infamous), but some might not remember that before he became the actor who played strange and eccentric characters, he also appeared in the first A Nightmare on Elm Street.
In the movie, he plays something of a teenage heartthrob but, as with so many of the other characters in this first installment of the series, he meets a grisly fate at the hands of Freddy.
Kevin Bacon in Friday the 13th (1980)
Friday the 13th has gone down in horror movie history as one of the most influential slasher movies of all time, setting the stage for the many imitators that would come after.
It also has as a member of its cast someone who would go on to become quite famous in his own right: Kevin Bacon. With his youthful good looks, he was an excellent choice to play a young man who is, of course, murdered after hooking up with his girlfriend.
Leonardo DiCaprio in Critters 3
Leonardo DiCaprio is rightly regarded as one of the most successful and talented actors of his generation, and he has appeared in numerous critically well-received movies. However, while he is famous now, he got his start in a horror movie, and one that was actually the third in a franchise, Critters 3.
This isn’t the strongest of the franchise, but DiCaprio shows even in this low-budget horror movie that he has the sort of charisma that will allow him to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Chris Hemsworth in The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Even though he is now famous for playing the superhero Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, that role wasn’t the only one that he took on in the early part of the 2010s. In fact, the same year that he played in The Avengers he also appeared as Curt in the horror movie The Cabin in the Woods.
In that movie, he plays an athlete who is part of a sacred ritual. The movie doesn’t give him a great deal to do, but he still manages to make the most out of the limited time that he appears on the screen.
Octavia Spencer in Halloween II (2009)
Octavia Spencer is rightly regarded as a phenomenal actress, and she has appeared in some very high-profile and highly-regarded movies. In 2009, she also appeared as Nurse Daniels in Halloween II. The role doesn’t give her a lot to work with, and she ends up being a victim of Myers.
However, Spencer would go on to demonstrate that she had what it takes to appear in a horror movie of her own when she starred in Ma.
Angela Bassett in Critters 4 (1992)
Leonardo DiCaprio wasn’t the only actor to appear in Critters who would go on to attain significant fame later on, and Angela Bassett actually appeared in 1992’s Critters 4.
Even though the movie is quite ridiculous and more than a little campy, Bassett more than holds her own, and her character Fran exhibits the same tough and gritty determination that would become such a key part of the roles that Bassett would take on later in her career.