It is always a fun thing to catch the early film appearances by people who would later become famous actors. It is even more fun when those early film appearances are in bad movies, and especially when they are from the horror genre. As film nerds, we come across this phenomenon a lot both intentionally and by happenstance. When you have seen as many films as we have, it is bound to happen eventually. So, we figured why not compile some of the more fun and noteworthy examples. Now to be clear, this is in no way an exhaustive list. There are far more examples of this wonderful phenomenon than these six examples. Again, these are just six of our favorites. There are actually so many examples of this phenomenon of prominent actors in bad horror movies in their pre-fame era that we could easily turn this into a series with parts two and three. So, why not keep an eye out for those future entries as well.
Tom Hanks – He Knows You’re Alone (1980)
MPAA Rating: R
He Knows You’re Alone from 1980 was one of many stalk-and-slash films that came in the wake of 1978’s Halloween. The premise of the film is a mysterious figure stalks and murders brides on the night before their wedding. While the film has a somewhat interesting premise for a slasher film, the execution largely falls flat. The film would have been largely forgotten by time, even more so than it already has been, if not for one little quirk of the casting. He Knows You’re Alone is the first film appearance by one of the most popular and critically acclaimed actors ever. That of course is Tom Hanks. Hanks was an unknown actor at the time and has a rather small role in the film. He plays a psychology student that tries to explain away the woman’s feeling that someone is following her as being only in her head.
Overall, while not horrible, the film is largely forgettable and thus there is a reason why it has been somewhat lost to time. However, if you are the type of person that reads lists like this one and needs to see famous actors in bad or mediocre movies from before they were famous, then 1980’s He Knows You’re Alone is an essential.
Dennis Quaid – Jaws 3-D (1983)
MPAA Rating: PG
Jaws 3 or Jaws 3-D is of course the third film in the Jaws franchise, and is the first entry in that franchise to be truly terrible. Essentially, this time a different giant shark attacks a SeaWorld. As you can surmise from the title, the film uses 3-D technology, and it does not look good at all. Dennis Quaid plays the adult version of one of Roy Scheider’s sons from the original film. Quaid’s character of course works at the SeaWorld under attack and is intimately involved in the effort to get people to safety and eventually kill the shark.
This is a somewhat different situation for Dennis Quaid than it was for Tom Hanks above. Quaid was not a big name actor at this time, but he had small film and television credits going back into the late 1970s. Rather, Quaid was an actor on the rise at the time looking for a breakout film appearance, and here he is one of the lead actors. 1983 would actually provide him two of those breakout roles with of course Jaws 3-D but also the astronaut dramatic film The Right Stuff. Jaws 3-D was more commercially successful, but The Right Stuff is easily the superior film. It is also worth mentioning that Dennis Quaid now admits that he was heavily doing cocaine at the time and that he was high during the filming of every scene for this movie.
Again, Jaws 3-D is a rather terrible movie, so in any other circumstance we would not actually recommend it. But if you want to see a big name actor in a bad horror movie from before they were famous, then Jaws 3-D with Dennis Quaid certainly fits the criteria.
Jennifer Aniston – Leprechaun (1993)
MPAA Rating: R
1993’s Leprechaun was the first entry in what would become the long running Leprechaun film series. Warwick Davis stars as the titular murderous though comedic leprechaun in the first six entries, and honestly, he is the best part of all of these movies. None of the Leprechaun movies are actually good but the first film is noteworthy as being the first film appearance of Jennifer Aniston. She had a few television credits before this, but Leprechaun was her first theatrically released film, and she is the second lead actor (after Davis of course). She plays the ‘final girl‘ type of character that is responsible for thwarting our evil leprechaun.
Aniston’s career would of course take off the following year (in 1994) with her role as Rachel in the long running television series Friends. Again, Warwick Davis is the most entertaining part of these Leprechaun films. And as they say in the JoBlo video above, this first film in particular screams 1990s in its clothing and props, so it is somewhat enjoyable in retrospect on that angle. But in reality, most people that see this movie nowadays are doing so for the reason that it features a younger Jennifer Aniston in a bad horror movie before she was famous.
Paul Rudd – Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
MPAA Rating: R
Paul Rudd is one of these actors that plays essentially himself or variations on the same character in every movie. While we have come to expect this from him and other actors that are more established, it is bizarre to see them do it even at the beginning of their careers. Paul Rudd is never not playing Paul Rudd, and it is fun to see him do it as a young actor in this truly bonkers sixth entry into the Halloween franchise. The actual story is bonkers nonsense about a cult that supposedly controls Michael Myers. We do not disagree with the JoBlo people in that video above that the film has some interesting visuals and aesthetics thrown in there, but overall it is truly one of the worst entries in the franchise largely because of this asinine plot. There is a reason why they rebooted the franchise three years later and retconned this movie out of existence with the superior H20 film in 1998 that brought back Jamie Lee Curtis.
Rudd plays Tommy Doyle who is the adult version of the boy that Jamie Lee Curtis’ character Laurie Strode was babysitting back in the original 1978 Halloween film. The character thus has an attachment to the Myers history and thus contributes to the effort to stop Myers and the cult behind him. But again, Paul Rudd is always enjoyable to watch on screen, and this film was Donald Pleasence’s final appearance in the iconic role of Dr. Loomis, as Pleasence would die in early 1995 after filming was finished. While Paul Rudd’s career might have been marginally improved by his prominent role in Halloween 6, his real career boost came from his other film from 1995, which was of course Clueless.
Adam Scott – Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
MPAA Rating: R
The Hellraiser franchise is one of those long running horror franchises that has a lot of black sheep. The series has taken many strange turns, and some have been better than others. Bloodline is the fourth entry in the series and was the final one to be released theatrically. Bloodline is often dismissed for its space-based storyline and for the fact that it was disowned by its director due to studio interference and thus is officially credited to the pseudonym Alan Smithee. So, when you the viewer hear ‘Hellraiser in space’ as the story concept and that the project was formally disowned by the director, then you know you are in for a wild ride. Now having said that, we are inclined to agree with the JoBlo people that Bloodline is not as terrible as you might expect. But still, it is not actually good and definitely not one of the better films in the series. The film still features an interesting story concept about one family’s role in the creation of this demonic box and the struggle of their descendants to defeat it. The story is told largely in flashbacks as we examine three periods or generations of the Merchant family and their encounters with the Cenobites. The final generation occurs in the year 2127 and thus takes place on a space station.
Adam Scott makes his first film appearance here in Bloodline as the assistant to an evil French aristocrat in the late 18th century. Scott had some television credits before this, but again this was his first film role, and it is actually a decent sized part within that segment of the film. Star Trek diehards will also remember that he had a small part as a bridge officer on the USS Defiant in Star Trek: First Contact the same year.
Katherine Heigl – Bug Buster (1998)
MPAA Rating: R
Bug Buster is actually a very dumb movie, but it is knowing in its comedic dumbness. It is a monster movie about a chemical that transforms cockroaches into this large mutated form in this small town. They eventually bring in a television pest exterminator played by Randy Quaid to wipe out the bugs that are killing people. Again, this is a silly movie and most of the actors play it that way including Randy Quaid himself as well as Star Trek legends George Takei and James Doohan.
However, as you can guess from the nature of this list and the previous five entries, the film also benefits from one quirk in the casting. If one does not know it going into this film, we get the benefit of a largely pre-fame Katherine Heigl as one of the young people in town being terrorized by the mutant cockroach infestation. Heigl has a rather sizeable role here, and while the film is definitely not good it is the type of film that is somewhat enjoyable as a dumb monster movie. Heigl would appear in a similar capacity in the superior Bride of Chucky film from the same year. She had appeared previously in a few small roles throughout the 1990s, but she would not get her real breakout until the debut of the Roswell television series in 1999.
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