Warning: This article contains discussions of sexual assault, kidnap and drug misuse
With Kevin Bacon set to play a central antagonist in They/Them (via The Hollywood Reporter) and The Toxic Avenger (via The Hollywood Reporter), many fans are curious to see whether these villains will be just as memorable as his other roles.
As many fans of the actor know, Bacon always brings something special to all of his characters. Whether it's because of his dance moves in Footloose, his emotive and compelling performance in Murder In The First, or even his action sequences in X-Men: First Class, the actor has managed to enthrall Hollywood audiences with his skills for years. However, while he achieved critical acclaim for these movies, this also meant some of his other films end up flying under the radar for whatever reason. Bacon's acting and characters in these underrated films deserve to be given their due attention.
Flatliners (1990)
Stream On Pluto TV
Flatliners is about five medical students who experiment with near-death experiences until they are forced to deal with the consequences of their dangerous excursions. In the film, Bacon portrays medical student David Labraccio, the idealistic but practical member of the group, who serves as the voice of reason for his fellow researchers.
Playing the role of the pragmatic sounding board to the other students, Bacon is a stable presence that exemplifies the character's grounding personality. While Bacon has often played villains or law enforcement types, his role as David Labraccio allowed the actor to push out of his comfort zone and subvert the audience's expectations, allowing him to stand out in a resume full of eye-catchers.
Tremors (1990)
Stream On Starz
Playing a character with the whimsical name of Valentine McKee, Kevin Bacon gives a memorable performance in the Western-tinged creature feature, Tremors. In a story that involves strange and murderous underground creatures, a small town is forced to defend its home when these monsters start killing people one by one (leading to some intense death scenes in the movie). Valentine McKee is a bored handyman who tries to leave small-town life until he decides to join the fight for survival with other kooky townspeople.
On the surface, the movie should not work as the plot seems fresh out of a schlocky B-movie from the '50s. However, Bacon, in addition to his other cast members, makes the film successful and enjoyable because he adds such passion and personality to the role.
Hollow Man (2000)
Stream On Netflix
A take on the H.G Well story, The Invisible Man, Hollow Man follows ambitious scientist, Sebastian, who tests his invisibility serum on himself when funding for the project is at risk. Sebastian volunteers himself as the first human test subject, despite previous trials of the serum showing to cause aggression.
Kevin Bacon stars as Sebastian and gives a truly menacing demeanor to the character as he becomes more and more hostile and dangerous throughout the movie. Other than Friday the 13th, Bacon is not an actor usually associated with the horror genre, making his foray into the genre in the early 2000s all the more noteworthy.
Beauty Shop (2005)
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Starring Queen Latifah in one of her best movies, Beauty Shop shows hairdresser Gina leaving her jerk boss, Jorge, at a pretentious salon and starting her own beauty shop. When Gina's salon starts to become a hit, Jorge will stoop to any low to shut Gina's shop down.
Bacon plays the over-dramatic and selfish Jorge, hamming it up with an exaggerated German accent and over-the-top attitude. In a role just as silly as it is funny, Bacon showed off his comedy chops in a departure role for the actor that saw him away from dramas and thrillers.
Super (2010)
Stream On AMC+
A dark comedy from a pre-MCU James Gunn, Super is a sad comic movie about a fry cook named Frank, who becomes a masked vigilante when his wife leaves him for the sleazy drug dealer, Jacques.
Bacon is able to make Jacques a calculating villain, as he manages to appear charming on the surface but eventually shows how completely dangerous he can be when someone gets to know him (or if things are not going his way). It is also interesting to see an actor of Bacon's caliber in a film that is as inherently weird and offbeat as Super, which makes his already captivating filmography even more fascinating.
Sleepers (1996)
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Sleepers is the story of four friends, John, Tommy, Michael, and Lorenzo from Hell's Kitchen who, after almost killing a man accidentally, are sent to a reform school where they are brutally abused by the guards. Years later, John and Tommy grow up to be hitmen and see one of the guards who they recognize as their abuser and kill him. When the two are put on trial, Michael is now working as a district attorney and gets assigned to the case. He then has to decide whether he should botch the prosecution and expose the guards.
Playing the abusive guard, Nokes, who is killed by John and Michael, Bacon is tasked with making the character completely despicable and devoid of any shred of goodness or remorse. Although this role could prove to be challenging for other actors, this is not the case for Bacon as he does do an excellent job of showing Nokes' complete unsavoriness by not sugarcoating the brutality of the character.
Wild Things (1998)
Stream From Netflix
A movie with twists upon twists, Wild Things is an erotic thriller, which sees Kevin Bacon's Ray Duquette, a detective, investigate a case that sees two students accuse their guidance counselor of rape. However, as he begins looking into the allegations, the audience soon discovers that not everything is as it appears to be.
Due to Bacon's exceptional acting ability, the audience can never quite put their finger on the detective as he makes it hard for the viewer to see the nature of the character as being good or bad until a seminal moment. As Wild Things is noted most for its frequent hairpin turns, Bacon's performance is a standout that should gather notice as he makes the character integral to one of the final twists in the movie.
Diner (1982)
Stream On HBO Max
A group of friends in 1959 Baltimore struggle to grow up in this coming-of-age semi-autobiographical story from Barry Levinson. In Diner, Kevin Bacon plays Fenwick, a perpetually inebriated trust fund college dropout who is usually a handful for the group.
As Fenwick, Bacon does a fantastic job of communicating the outer persona of the character with a devil may care attitude, while also hinting at the character's inner turmoil and disappointment with his family. The role of Fenwick was a way for Bacon to show that he could deliver comedy and drama all in the same role.
Trapped (2002)
Stream On Hulu
Trapped follows a couple, who are held hostage after their young daughter is kidnapped by extortionists. Bacon portrays one of the extortionists, Joe, in this villainous role and stars alongside Charlize Theron as the mother held hostage.
The tension and antagonism between the heroic character of Charlize Theron and the terrifying Bacon are palpable and add a surge of intensity to this thriller. Instead of playing the character as a one-dimensional villain, Bacon gives a layered performance that gives credence to the twist towards the end of the movie.
She's Having A Baby (1988)
Rent From Amazon Video
She's Having A Baby is about young Jake Briggs who struggles between his desire to be the next great American writer and his increasingly domestic life with his childhood sweetheart Christy.
The film's use of close-ups allows Bacon's expressive facial responses to accurately convey everything that Jake is feeling at any given moment. It is a testament to Bacon's talent that he can deliver what a character is thinking and feeling based on facial expressions. The character, Jake, is one of Bacon's most down to Earth characters. He is not villainous or iconoclastic in any way. Instead, he is simply a man with big dreams who loves his wife despite his fears of settling into suburbia.