Best actor, worst (horror) movie
October 1, 2024 4:11 PM Subscribe
Kitteh and I have homebrewed our own October horror movie challenge (FanFare discussion) and are plugging in the days. One we could use some help with: This Actor Is Too Good For This Movie.
Discussed and eliminated:
Whadda we got?
Discussed and eliminated:
- Michael Caine, Jaws: The Revenge (seen it, surprisingly often)
- Bill Nighy, various Underworlds (seen them all recently)
- Various actors in Uwe Boll movies -- they all seem a bit too low-rent/undiscerning to qualify. I mean I like Christian Slater, for instance, but I don't think much is "beneath" him.
- Various "before they were famous" actors like Jennifer Aniston in Leprechaun, Johnny Depp in Nightmare on Elm Street etc. -- they weren't "too good" when the movie was shot (and that's another category further on).
- Lawrence Olivier, Dracula (1979)
- Marlon Brando, Nightcomers
Whadda we got?
Everyone in The Haunting (1999), especially Lili Taylor. (Also features Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson.)
Ditto House on Haunted Hill (1999), which features Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, and Peter Gallagher.
I haven't seen it, but Winchester, starring Helen Mirren, looks awful; reviews are a mixed bag.
As a side note, I love your list of themes! I may have to borrow that idea.
posted by mrphancy at 4:29 PM on October 1 [6 favorites]
Ditto House on Haunted Hill (1999), which features Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, and Peter Gallagher.
I haven't seen it, but Winchester, starring Helen Mirren, looks awful; reviews are a mixed bag.
As a side note, I love your list of themes! I may have to borrow that idea.
posted by mrphancy at 4:29 PM on October 1 [6 favorites]
Brian Cox in the American version of The Ring and The Autopsy of Jane Doe. Kind of a cheat, really, since he automatically elevates the quality of any film he's in.
posted by SPrintF at 4:59 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
posted by SPrintF at 4:59 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Richard Burton in Exorcist II: The Heretic. Debatable, depending on your view of Burton.
posted by SPrintF at 5:01 PM on October 1 [3 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 5:01 PM on October 1 [3 favorites]
Lance Henriksen, Pumpkinhead
posted by Archipelago at 5:12 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
posted by Archipelago at 5:12 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
Everyone in The Haunting (1999), especially Lili Taylor. (Also features Liam Neeson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Owen Wilson.)
Ditto House on Haunted Hill (1999), which features Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, and Peter Gallagher.
Alas, these were watched recently, but they would have absolutely fit the criteria. (Ooof, The Haunting was dreadful though. If anyone in that film is slumming, it's definitely Lili Taylor. Too good for the material, indeed.)
posted by Kitteh at 5:18 PM on October 1
Ditto House on Haunted Hill (1999), which features Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridgette Wilson, and Peter Gallagher.
Alas, these were watched recently, but they would have absolutely fit the criteria. (Ooof, The Haunting was dreadful though. If anyone in that film is slumming, it's definitely Lili Taylor. Too good for the material, indeed.)
posted by Kitteh at 5:18 PM on October 1
This is a matter of taste, but maybe Richard Brake in Rob Zombie's 31. The movie is quite bad, but Brake blows the roof off of his scenes.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:25 PM on October 1
posted by paper chromatographologist at 5:25 PM on October 1
Peter O’Toole in Phantoms
Oscar winner Ned Betty, 2x Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones, and Emmy winner John Goodman in In the Electric Mist
posted by chrisulonic at 5:32 PM on October 1
Oscar winner Ned Betty, 2x Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones, and Emmy winner John Goodman in In the Electric Mist
posted by chrisulonic at 5:32 PM on October 1
Your mileage will vary, but what about these? The movies don't have to be bad-bad, right?
Richard Buton, Lee Remick and Lino Ventura in The Medusa Touch
Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill in Possession
David Warner in the Omen, Tron, The Final Programme or In the Mouth of Madness
Eddie/Suzy Izzard in Dr Jekyll
Terence Stamp in Hu-Man or The Mind of Mr Soames
Joan Crawford in Trog or What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
Keith Carradine in Idaho Transfer
David Hemmings in Harlequin or Deep Red
James Franciscus and Karl Malden in Cat O' Nine Tails
Richard Basehart in Mansion of the Doomed
Vincent Price in Theater of Blood, The Monster Club, The Last Man on Earth or Dr Phibes
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 5:59 PM on October 1
Richard Buton, Lee Remick and Lino Ventura in The Medusa Touch
Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill in Possession
David Warner in the Omen, Tron, The Final Programme or In the Mouth of Madness
Eddie/Suzy Izzard in Dr Jekyll
Terence Stamp in Hu-Man or The Mind of Mr Soames
Joan Crawford in Trog or What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
Keith Carradine in Idaho Transfer
David Hemmings in Harlequin or Deep Red
James Franciscus and Karl Malden in Cat O' Nine Tails
Richard Basehart in Mansion of the Doomed
Vincent Price in Theater of Blood, The Monster Club, The Last Man on Earth or Dr Phibes
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 5:59 PM on October 1
1985's The Stuff had a stacked cast. It included:
posted by ejs at 6:01 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
- Danny Aiello
- Paul Sorvino
- Mira Sorvino
- Patrick Dempsey
- Eric Bogosian
posted by ejs at 6:01 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Oh shoot, just saw you have The Stuff on your list already! Alas!!
posted by ejs at 6:11 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
posted by ejs at 6:11 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Mira Sorvino, F Murray Abraham and Giancarlo Giannini in Mimic
Carla Gravina in Exorcist clone The Antichrist
Janet Leigh in Night of the Lepus
Mimsy Farmer in Four Flies on Grey Velvet or Autopsy
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 6:12 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Carla Gravina in Exorcist clone The Antichrist
Janet Leigh in Night of the Lepus
Mimsy Farmer in Four Flies on Grey Velvet or Autopsy
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 6:12 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
European edition:
Erich Von Stroheim in The Lady and The Monster
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Death Laid an Egg
Michel Simon in The Head aka Die Nackte und der Satan
Monica Bellucci in Nekrotronic
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 6:26 PM on October 1
Erich Von Stroheim in The Lady and The Monster
Jean-Louis Trintignant in Death Laid an Egg
Michel Simon in The Head aka Die Nackte und der Satan
Monica Bellucci in Nekrotronic
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 6:26 PM on October 1
Oh god, The Swarm (1978). Are you ready? Henry Fonda, Michael Caine, Olivia de Havilland, Katharine Ross, Jose Ferrer, Fred MacMurray, Patty Duke, Lee Grant.
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:02 PM on October 1 [6 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:02 PM on October 1 [6 favorites]
Ray Milland in Frogs.
Myrna Loy in Ants!
William Shatner in Kingdom of the Spiders.
This seems to have been a phenomenon with animal attack movies in the 1970s for some reason.
posted by Hex Wrench at 8:44 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Myrna Loy in Ants!
William Shatner in Kingdom of the Spiders.
This seems to have been a phenomenon with animal attack movies in the 1970s for some reason.
posted by Hex Wrench at 8:44 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Tentacles (1977), Henry Fonda (again?), Shelley Winters, and John Huston. Bo Hopkins tries to play it straight as the hero, but this is beyond even my admittedly low standards for a Jaws ripoff.
posted by TrishaU at 8:51 PM on October 1
posted by TrishaU at 8:51 PM on October 1
Anthony Hopkins and Marsha Mason in Audrey Rose, which is like a low rent Exorcist.
posted by brookeb at 10:11 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
posted by brookeb at 10:11 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Island of Dr. Moreau (the 1997 version) has David Thewlis playing straight man to Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer and all manner of dubious insanity. Everybody deserves a medal for that one.
posted by philip-random at 11:19 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 11:19 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]
Nic Cage in The Wicker Man technically counts, but I think he gets his own special exclusion from this category.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:54 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:54 PM on October 1 [1 favorite]
Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill in Possession
David Warner in the Omen, Tron, The Final Programme or In the Mouth of Madness
I like the way you bracketed Neill's... worthiness?... here. Too good for The Possession, but no better than ItMoM.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:22 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]
David Warner in the Omen, Tron, The Final Programme or In the Mouth of Madness
I like the way you bracketed Neill's... worthiness?... here. Too good for The Possession, but no better than ItMoM.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 4:22 AM on October 2 [1 favorite]
UK/Euro edition:
Everyone in Lair of the White Worm but especially Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi.
posted by parm at 5:24 AM on October 2 [4 favorites]
Everyone in Lair of the White Worm but especially Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi.
posted by parm at 5:24 AM on October 2 [4 favorites]
The Serpent's Egg with David Carradine and Liv Ullmann, directed by Ingmar Bergman?
posted by ovvl at 5:39 AM on October 2
posted by ovvl at 5:39 AM on October 2
Robert De Niro in Godsend (4% on Rotten Tomatoes). Or Daniel Craig and Rachael Weiss in Dream House (7%).
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:58 AM on October 2
posted by DirtyOldTown at 5:58 AM on October 2
The 2011 Fright Night! Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant - just, why?
posted by Ms. Toad at 6:08 AM on October 2
posted by Ms. Toad at 6:08 AM on October 2
Bela Lugosi in Plan 9 From Outer Space
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 AM on October 2
posted by flabdablet at 6:40 AM on October 2
Bruce Dern in The Incredible 2 Headed Transplant (also featuring my favorite horror host, Larry “Seymour” Vincent).
posted by elphaba at 7:02 AM on October 2
posted by elphaba at 7:02 AM on October 2
Mod note: One removed. Please keep the recommendations to the horror genre, as the OP requested.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:41 AM on October 2
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 7:41 AM on October 2
Joseph Cotten in The Hearse, Delusion, The Survivor, Island of the Fishmen
John Cassavetes in the Southern Ontario shot the Incubus
Ida Lupino (and Ernest Borgnine and Eddie Albert! As well as Travolta and Shatner) in Devil's Rain
James Mitchum in Monstroid (or Monster)
Rod Steiger in Modern Vampires
Peter Graves in the Clonus Horror
Keenan Wynn in The Dark
Frankie Avalon in Blood Song
Joan Crawford in Trog
Jack Palance in Craze
Martin Landau in Without Warning
Farley Granger in So Sweet, So Dead
Philip Seymour Hoffman in My Boyfriend's Back
Leonardo DiCaprio in Critters 3
Tom Hanks in He Knows You're Alone
Clint Eastwood in Tarantula
Julianne Moore in 6 Souls
Demi Moore in Parasite
Brad Pitt in, more a horror comedy then a straight horror, Cutting Class
Anthony Perkins in Edge of Sanity (but any of the Psycho sequels likely count)
George Clooney, Laura Dern, Charlie Sheen, Louise Fletcher and John Rhys-Davies in Grizzly II
And as always YMMV with some of the choices as some of the above films mention in my comment as well as others that are actually good IMO (Possession is bad? Its one of the great films of the 80s or Death Laid an Egg? or Lair of the White Worm? The Stuff? all good).
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:29 AM on October 2 [3 favorites]
John Cassavetes in the Southern Ontario shot the Incubus
Ida Lupino (and Ernest Borgnine and Eddie Albert! As well as Travolta and Shatner) in Devil's Rain
James Mitchum in Monstroid (or Monster)
Rod Steiger in Modern Vampires
Peter Graves in the Clonus Horror
Keenan Wynn in The Dark
Frankie Avalon in Blood Song
Joan Crawford in Trog
Jack Palance in Craze
Martin Landau in Without Warning
Farley Granger in So Sweet, So Dead
Philip Seymour Hoffman in My Boyfriend's Back
Leonardo DiCaprio in Critters 3
Tom Hanks in He Knows You're Alone
Clint Eastwood in Tarantula
Julianne Moore in 6 Souls
Demi Moore in Parasite
Brad Pitt in, more a horror comedy then a straight horror, Cutting Class
Anthony Perkins in Edge of Sanity (but any of the Psycho sequels likely count)
George Clooney, Laura Dern, Charlie Sheen, Louise Fletcher and John Rhys-Davies in Grizzly II
And as always YMMV with some of the choices as some of the above films mention in my comment as well as others that are actually good IMO (Possession is bad? Its one of the great films of the 80s or Death Laid an Egg? or Lair of the White Worm? The Stuff? all good).
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:29 AM on October 2 [3 favorites]
Klaus Kinski a) wasn't generally discerning in his roles and b) was a monster of a human being. That said, Crawlspace and Vampire in Venice might fit here.
Christopher Plummer had a role in Dracula 2000 which is a really bad movie. (He was also in Vampire in Venice.)
Gary Oldman in Tau as an evil AI!
posted by Bryant at 10:13 AM on October 2
Christopher Plummer had a role in Dracula 2000 which is a really bad movie. (He was also in Vampire in Venice.)
Gary Oldman in Tau as an evil AI!
posted by Bryant at 10:13 AM on October 2
Bela Lugosi in that ed wood film?
posted by j_curiouser at 10:22 AM on October 2
posted by j_curiouser at 10:22 AM on October 2
Ewan McGregor in Doctor Sleep - the movie is just no fun and pointless in my humble opinion though, so I can't even really recommend it as I would Jaws: The Revenge. I love that you've seen the latter a lot!
posted by queensissy at 10:29 AM on October 2
posted by queensissy at 10:29 AM on October 2
Also Julie Christie in Demon Seed - Evil Smart Home AI traps and impregnates Julie Christie. Randomly saw on TCM years ago - truly bizarre!
posted by brookeb at 10:29 AM on October 2 [2 favorites]
posted by brookeb at 10:29 AM on October 2 [2 favorites]
Bela Lugosi in that ed wood film?
The film Ed Wood featured a remarkable performance by Martin Landau as Legosi.
posted by SPrintF at 10:34 AM on October 2
The film Ed Wood featured a remarkable performance by Martin Landau as Legosi.
posted by SPrintF at 10:34 AM on October 2
Per GCU Sweet and Full of Grace and Ashwaganda's comments above, I wanted to clarify that I did *not* try to imply that Possession was not a great film. It was! And Sam Neill acted the hell out of his role.
Death Laid an Egg, Lair of the White Worm and The Stuff were indeed also great.
I was just commenting based on how challenging Shepherd's original ask was: If the actor is "too good for this movie", is it because the movie is not on par with their more famous roles, because the movie was bad, because "genre" movies are not as revered as more conventional dramas or "auteur" films? I should not have used the words "bad bad". It was poorly stated.....
Some movies called "bad" by critics are great films (e.g. from Messiah of Evil to Beyond the Black Rainbow, who were not reviewed kindly, yet developed a stronger reputation over time). Some "serious" filmmakers intentionally played with the tropes of bad or genre movies to make a great auteurial statement (Alphaville comes to mind, with its use of hardboiled Usian detective and mad scientist tropes). In the end, it all adds up to cinematic enjoyment for those who discover these overlooked films - and roles.
TL/DR: FWIW, all my examples were meant with love! (For the actors and the genre(s))
"I-now-return-you.... to-the-scheduled.... discussion."
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 11:46 AM on October 2
Death Laid an Egg, Lair of the White Worm and The Stuff were indeed also great.
I was just commenting based on how challenging Shepherd's original ask was: If the actor is "too good for this movie", is it because the movie is not on par with their more famous roles, because the movie was bad, because "genre" movies are not as revered as more conventional dramas or "auteur" films? I should not have used the words "bad bad". It was poorly stated.....
Some movies called "bad" by critics are great films (e.g. from Messiah of Evil to Beyond the Black Rainbow, who were not reviewed kindly, yet developed a stronger reputation over time). Some "serious" filmmakers intentionally played with the tropes of bad or genre movies to make a great auteurial statement (Alphaville comes to mind, with its use of hardboiled Usian detective and mad scientist tropes). In the end, it all adds up to cinematic enjoyment for those who discover these overlooked films - and roles.
TL/DR: FWIW, all my examples were meant with love! (For the actors and the genre(s))
posted by Bigbootay. Tay! Tay! Blam! Aargh... at 11:46 AM on October 2
Andre Braugher, Marcia Gay Harden, Frances Sternhagen in The Mist (2007)
Sarah Polley, Adrian Brody in Splice (2009)
Melissa George, Ryan Reynolds in The Amityville Horror (2005)
Tess Harper, Tony Roberts (& early Meg Ryan) in Amityville 3-D (1983)
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:29 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]
Sarah Polley, Adrian Brody in Splice (2009)
Melissa George, Ryan Reynolds in The Amityville Horror (2005)
Tess Harper, Tony Roberts (& early Meg Ryan) in Amityville 3-D (1983)
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:29 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]
The backstory of Michael Caine's quote about Jaws 4: "I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."
posted by blob at 2:40 PM on October 2
posted by blob at 2:40 PM on October 2
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posted by Kitteh at 4:22 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]