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, and this list is actually a part two. We previously did a part one. Again, these are just another 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 might keep this series going with a part three.
George Clooney – Return to Horror High (1987)
MPAA Rating: R
Return to Horror High is an early attempt at a meta approach to the slasher genre. It attempts to blend comedy and slasher horror within the context of a film-within-a-film story about a film crew shooting a movie about a series of murders at a high school as they are themselves being picked off by that same killer. While that might sound like an interesting story, it is not executed well on really any level. The comedy aspects are neither fun nor funny. The horror aspects are minimal and most of the kills are off-screen. On top of that the plot is so convoluted with the multiple layers of film-within-a-film nonsense that it just annoys and frustrates the viewer.
That is why the film is bad. But the film is on this list because it is the first theatrical film appearance for George Clooney. He plays an actor playing a cop in the film-within-a-film. Though his appearance is the most famous aspect of the film, Clooney’s actual appearance in the film is relatively minimal as (spoiler alert) his character gets killed off within the first fifteen minutes. The other fun and noteworthy actor appearance is Maureen McCormick, who famously played Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch. Here she plays a cop investigating the murders. I always enjoy seeing Marcia Brady in things, so there you go.
Brad Pitt – Cutting Class (1989)
MPAA Rating: R
Cutting Class is another bad late 1980s slasher and is one of these slasher movies that tries to be a comedy as well but it just does not really work. The overall story is one of an unseen person killing students and teachers at this high school. However, none of the characters are even aware that anyone is disappearing until halfway through the movie. And though they throw in a little fake out to briefly try to make you think the killer is not the obvious person that it obviously is, the killer of course ends up being the person that the viewer and even the characters suspected it was. So it is not effective as horror, it is not effective as a mystery, and honestly a lot of the comedy bits are more awkward and uncomfortable than they are actually funny.
But of course this film is on here because it was an early film appearance by Brad Pitt. Though he had been in a few things before this, he would not get more well known to the wider public until the 1990s, and specifically 1991’s Thelma & Louise. In Cutting Class, Brad Pitt plays a high school basketball player with a bad attitude that will likely cost him a shot at a college scholarship. He is also the boyfriend of our female protagonist played by Jill Schoelen. The film is also noteworthy because Pitt and Schoelen were actually dating and engaged in real life around this time until she broke up with him.
Viggo Mortensen – Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
MPAA Rating: R
While the original 1974 film is a classic, the rest of this franchise has always felt unnecessary and it is easily my least favorite of the six big slasher franchises (with Halloween, Scream, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play, and A Nightmare on Elm Street being the other five). This 1990 Leatherface film is not really a direct sequel but is instead a bit of a reimagining or reboot of the franchise. As such it is somewhat of a rehash of the ideas of the original but just done in a more overtly bloody and gory fashion. So, in that sense, Leatherface is maybe not as ‘bad’ as some of the other films on this type of lists, but I certainly cannot place it in the ‘good’ column.
The one fun thing about Leatherface is that it was an early film appearance by Viggo Mortensen. While on some level Mortensen did not become significantly famous until he portrayed Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films in the early 2000s, he was a steady working actor during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and his profile rose a bit with each film he was in. For example, 1990 was the same year that he appeared in another horror movie The Reflecting Skin which was actually good and made our list for that year. He was also in 1995’s The Prophecy and 1998’s A Perfect Murder, which made our lists for those years. Anyway, in Leatherface, Mortensen plays Tex, who is one of the numerous members of the murderous Sawyer family in this series. Thus, Mortensen plays one of the villains and that is fun to see him in a more villainous role. And here is where I want to emphasize that Mortensen is a solid actor and he is actually good in this movie even if overall the film is not something to write home about.
Leonardo DiCaprio – Critters 3 (1991)
MPAA Rating: PG13
Critters 3 was of course the third entry into the Critters franchise. I have never been a fan of really any of these types of small furry creatures horror movies that were somewhat common in the 1980s especially after the commercial success of 1984’s Gremlins. But here in Critters 3, a collection of these small alien furry creatures come to Earth and once again start attacking, killing, and eating some humans.
Overall this movie is largely forgettable and I do not have much to say about it. But of course the one thing that it is truly known for is that it was the film debut of Leonardo DiCaprio as a teenager. And you can rest easy people, I believe that little Leo lives through this one.
Eva Mendes – Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998)
MPAA Rating: R
Oh, what to say about this movie… The Children of the Corn series is one of those horror franchises that boggles the mind how they have kept churning out more entries. The original film from 1984 was based a Stephen King short story and was actually an interesting and decent movie. But none of the sequels have been any good at all and I cannot imagine that they made any money, so the economics of it just boggles the mind. Fields of Terror is of course the fifth entry in the series and it is one of the dumbest and most forgettable horror sequels that I have ever seen. The only reason to ever watch this movie is because it was the first film appearance of Eva Mendes. This was actually the same year that she appeared in the music video for “Miami” by Will Smith. Again, she is literally the only reason why someone should ever watch this movie, and even then, her performance was just okay in this.
Jeremy Renner – Dahmer (2002)
MPAA Rating: R
This is another one that might be a hot take for some, since it seems to have become fashionable in certain circles to believe that this is a good movie. But it is not a good movie. This is one of those cases, similar to what I mentioned above for Viggo Mortensen in Leatherface, where you need to separate the film itself from the actor. Jeremy Renner is good in this portraying the titular serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. However, the movie itself is not good. It is overly artsy and weirdly bloodless given the nature of Dahmer’s actual violent actions. It is narratively convoluted as it repeatedly jumps back and forth in time. There is no character arc and there is no satisfying ending to the film, as it just like ends. The film does not show him get caught by police, or the trial, or even his murder in prison. It was as though the film was aware that it only had a one hour and forty minute runtime allowance and then just stopped when it hit that mark. And it takes liberties with reality, which is always frustrating in biopics. So again, the movie itself is not that good. However, Renner delivers a convincing performance and truly he is the only reason why anyone should watch this movie. Dahmer was not Renner’s first film appearance, but it was an early one. This is also one of those situations where the Rotten Tomatoes score tells you a lot. Critics can acknowledge the flaws but still love the artsiness of it all, while fans tend to think it is a dull and boring film that is only partially salvaged by Renner’s performance.
Doctored Entertainment 