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Is it a mistake to use well known actors in horror movies?

I was thinking of this as I was responding to the post about Dawn of the Dead, and it occured to me again as I was on another site reading some comments about Wrong Turn.

I have a hatred for seeing known, "popular" actors in horror movies. It makes them less real, and ruins the overall feel of the film.

Seeing Ving Rhames and Mekhi Phifer in Dawn of the Dead was an exception to that-- they did a good job. BUT seeing annoying teeny-bop actresses like Eliza Dushku in Wrong Turn totally ruined the movie for me. Then of course you have those horrible thrillers like "I Know What You Did Last Summer" with a whole cast of annoying well known actors.

What do you think about this? Would you prefer to have unknown actors in horror movies, or do you enjoy seeing well known actors play the roles?

Mix, I like lesser known or less prominant actors like Ving Rhames. I know him best from Radio Shack commercials, and Mission: Impossible franchise.

I think he's badass, did you see the cannons on that guy?

I don't think casting known stars affect a horror picture......or any picture at all.

If the actor is right for the part and is going to make the movie better......so be it. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are both great in Se7en. Both play thier roles perfectly.

I think alot of times studios get carried away. They want a big name in the film to sell tickets.......even if the big name isn't the right person for the role and won't make the film good.

Movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer............I can't put any fault at all on the actors. It's not that they were wrong for the roles.......they just didn't have anything to work with. The movie was a turd. You can have some unknown guy playing a turd......or you can have Kevin Spacey playing a turd........either way it's going to be a shitty movie.

Look at horror movies like The Omen. Fuccking Gregory Peck was the star. You would have been hard pressed to find many stars in Peck's league at the time. He turned out an awesome performance........the movie was a great movie..........it all came together. Would a no-name actor with Peck's acting ability still make the movie just as good? Yes.......but having an actor of his stature didn't negatively affect the movie in any way.

Many good horror movies use well known or big name actors. It's all in the movie. If the movie is good.....it's going to be good no matter who is cast. If it's bad.......the biggest star on the planet can't make it good.

Cinemaaddiction-- I agree about Ving Rhames

Evil Dead-- I am not talking about films like Se7en or The Sixth Sense. I mean real horror. Maybe it's just the younger actors that bother me. I think putting some teeny-bop actor in a horror film makes it almost...corny in some way.


You are right, a lot of classic horror movie had older, well known actors in them-- but they were classy in some way, not Britney Spears clones running around barely able to act...

He IS badass He was my favorite character in the dotd remake

Evil Dead is right on the money with this one. Actors for the most part don't ruin roles in horror movies. Horrible plots ruin horror movies. Wrong Turn was a garbage movie not because of Dushku, but because the movie was garbage. Put an Oscar winning actress in the role, and the movie still sucks.

Doesn't mean that famous actors can't ruin movies though. The worst place for a famous actor in my opinion is in an established role. Whether it be a character from a previous movie, a book, a comic book, video game, etc.; you don't want a famous actor bringing baggage to a role that already has expectations. That's why the Nicholas Cage Superman movie flopped once people saw his skinny-ass in those tights and never made it into production. See what happens if you try to put a famous actor into Robert Englund's shoes; then we'll have a real problem.