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 three in this ongoing series. We previously did a Part One and a Part Two. 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 four, so keep an eye out for that.
Sharon Stone – Deadly Blessing (1981)
MPAA Rating: R
Of the six movies included on today’s list, I think this one might be the most contentious amongst horror fans for whether it belongs here. There are some people that like this film, but I am certainly not one of them. I am usually a diehard fan of director Wes Craven, but I consider Deadly Blessing to be one of the few true misfires in the man’s filmography. And again, the general consensus here is that this is not one of Craven’s better films. At the very least, there were a lot of better horror films that came out in 1981. However, this film also finds its way onto this list because it features an early career performance by one of the most gorgeous actresses ever. That of course is Sharon Stone. While this is not technically her first film appearance, Deadly Blessing was certainly well before her peak popularity in the 1990s with films like 1992’s Basic Instinct and 1995’s Casino.
Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger – Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
MPAA Rating: R
I had been saving this one because it is a bit of a ‘Holy Grail’ when it comes to star actors in terrible horror movies from before they were famous. Now this is not the first film in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series to feature a big name actor before they were famous. Regular readers might remember that we included Viggo Mortensen’s appearance in the third Texas Chainsaw Massacre film back on Part Two of this list series. But I call this fourth film the Holy Grail because it truly is a bottom of the barrel derivative and also simultaneously bonkers and implausible film. It truly checks all of the boxes for what makes a bad horror movie bad. But it also is the Holy Grail because it is a twofer! It features not one but two before-they-were-famous actors in this piece of crap. Those of course are Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. McConaughey plays Vilmer a member of the villainous and murderous Sawyer family. Zellweger plays a teenager named Jenny that along with her friends after attending her prom is attacked by the Sawyers. Zellweger is of course our final girl. While the movie might be crap, both actors are entertaining in their roles. And that is particularly the case for McConaughey who really throws himself into the role.
Michael Sheen – Mary Reilly (1996)
MPAA Rating: R
Mary Reilly is one of these movies that is head scratching when you start to ask yourself why this movie exists and who it is even for. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Valerie Martin. But the story is just a retelling of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Strange Case of Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Except in this version, the story is told from the perspective of one of Jekyll’s servants, the titularly named maid Mary Reilly. In the 1990s, following the critical and commercial success of 1992’s Dracula film, there was an attempt to craft prestige horror films based on the classic monsters. So, in that vein, a 1990s prestige horror film with the Jekyll and Hyde story and with a Hollywood budget and star power behind it (i.e. Julia Roberts, John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Ciaran Hinds, etc.) should work. However, it really does not work. I understand that it might be the focus of the Mary Reilly novel, but the focus on the maid as the main character is truly a baffling creative choice for a Hollywood movie. Why would you ever pour a $47 million budget into a movie that is centered around Jekyll’s maid? Seriously. Sure it was an untold story, but is it a story that really ever needed to be told? The answer is a resounding no! Mary Reilly, for me at least, is one of those ultimate examples of a needless movie that no one was asking for and that does not justify its own existence.
Now, those are all reasons why Mary Reilly was definitely not on our best horror movies of 1996 list. However, the reason it is on this list is because it notably features an early career performance by Michael Sheen. This was only Sheen’s second ever film role, and it was before he became more well known to horror fans with the Underworld series and before he became more known in mainstream circles with his portrayal of Tony Blair in 2006’s The Queen. In Mary Reilly, Michael Sheen plays another of Jekyll’s servants named Bradshaw. Sadly, because it is a minor role, Sheen gets limited screentime.
Jack Black – I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
MPAA Rating: R
There might be some people that enjoy this movie, but frankly I do not know what is wrong with you/them. This film is of course a sequel to 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer, which you diehard readers might remember was not on my best of 1997 horror movies list. And that is because even the original film is really not that good. It is nothing more than a retread of the slasher conventions but does not even do them in a witty or self aware manner like Scream did to make the formula feel fresh. This sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is even more brainless and implausible than the first one. One of the very few shining elements of this film is an early career appearance by Jack Black in a minor role. This was certainly not his first film appearance as he had played minor roles in several films throughout the 1990s, including notably 1996’s Mars Attacks. However, his breakout role and the film that would make him a star was not until 2000’s High Fidelity. Here in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer he plays a character named Titus that is an employee at the resort and is the resident pothead and drug dealer. Simply put, Jack Black steals every scene he is in, and he is without a doubt the best thing about the movie. He is possibly the only reason why I would ever recommend this film to anyone. But sadly, Jack Black only appears in less than five minutes total throughout the film and his character is killed off, so maybe just watch those scenes (see the video clip above).
Kristen Stewart – Cold Creek Manor (2003)
MPAA Rating: R
We started this list with an early career appearance by Sharon Stone in Deadly Blessing, so why not continue with another Sharon Stone movie? Here we are focusing not on Sharon Stone, but instead on the actress playing her daughter. That of course is a young Kristen Stewart who was only thirteen years old when this film was released. Cold Creek Manor was not her first film appearance, as she had also notably appeared in 2002’s Panic Room as Jodie Foster’s daughter. However, Cold Creek Manor was her first true horror film, and of course came before her star making role as Bella Swan in 2008’s Twilight.
As for the plot, Cold Creek Manor sees a family (with Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone as the parents) buy a foreclosed house out in the country and move into the residence. From there they are repeatedly harassed and threatened by the former owner (played by Stephen Dorff). And things move into the homicidal realm when the family begins to uncover what happened to the ‘missing’ wife of the former owner. Kristen Stewart has only a minor role in the film but she gets a decent amount of screentime nonetheless. However, despite the amount of star power in the film (including Juliette Lewis and Christopher Plummer as well), the film just comes across as lackluster and forgettable. It is one of those films that is a stark reminder of how disappointing 2003 was for horror cinema.
Henry Cavill and Katheryn Winnick – Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)
MPAA Rating: R
This is a fun one that I only recently realized qualified for this list, and even better that it is another twofer. I of course mentioned above how the fourth Texas Chainsaw Massacre film is the biggest twofer possible for these types of lists, but I am glad to have another one nonetheless.
Hellraiser: Hellworld is the eighth film in the series and is the fourth of the direct-to-video Hellraiser films. It was actually the second Hellraiser film from 2005 with Hellraiser: Deader also being released the same year. The plot of Hellworld follows a group of friends who are avid players of this online game called Hellworld that is based on the Hellraiser franchise. Yes, the series went meta with this one. The group is invited to a private party for Hellworld enthusiasts, and there they are (mostly) killed off. This film has only the most tenuous connections to the Hellraiser series, and it is really just a mediocre revenge slasher in Hellraiser garb.
However, what this film does have is early career appearances by Henry Cavill and Katheryn Winnick as two of the members of the friend group. Cavill is of course known these days for his portrayal of Superman in the DCEU movies as well as Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher series. Hellworld was certainly not his first film appearance, as he had appeared in 2002’s The Count of Monte Cristo as well as a couple others, but it was certainly an early appearance. Katheryn Winnick rose to fame for her portrayal of Lagertha in the Vikings television series that debuted in 2013. Here in Hellworld she plays our gorgeous blonde final girl.
So, to recap: we started with a gorgeous blonde in Sharon Stone and we end with another gorgeous blonde in Katheryn Winnick. George Lucas would say it is like poetry, they rhyme. That readers is how you do a list properly!
Doctored Entertainment 