Outstanding Performances in Horror.
 

A movie i saw on the weekend got me to thinking..

As horror fans - we're used to sub-par everything. The genre hasn't been taken seriously since the 70's (until just recently) and fans like us have been subjected to cheap production values and amateurish acting - to the point where we have been judging films by : 'well, considering they had a budget of 50$ - it was pretty good" - and we spend our time praising their ingenuity and imagination.

thats all well and good - but every now and then we are treated to a rare film that makes us go 'holy shit - that's what a good horror film looks like !"

for me - it usually boils down to

- editing
- lighting
- performances.


In this thread i'm just thinking about performances. standout performances where someone wen't (unexpectedly) above and beyond what we're usually exposed to in horror films.

I've got 3 off the top :


1) Michael Moriarity - Q - The Winged Serpent. Incredible job - the guy gives the performance of his lifetime in a low budget monster movie. Probably the best I've ever seen.

2) Mickey Rourke - Angel Heart. A guy i consider to be one of the worlds greatest actors at the apex of his career.

3) George Clooney - From Dusk Til Dawn - hypnotizing performance from a smooth operator.


can anyone else think of anything (in the last 30 years) anywhere near the quality of these performances ?

thought of another :

Angela Bettis - May displayed a broad range of talent in this role.

Slasher Man has you on Ignore from now. :p

But yea, a rivetting performance by the lead actor makes even the baddest movies tick.

I loved Sigourney Weaver's take in Alien and Aliens - I thought she displayed just about all the emotions of Ripley in both of those contrasting movies...when she was scared to death and extremely fragile in the first, nonchalant, guilty and motherly in the second...lots of kudos to her.

I also liked Sid Haig in Spider Baby, and Boris Karloff / Bela Lugosi in The Black Cat. Which reminds me, Bela Lugosi was wonderful in Dracula.

Robert Mitchum was great in Night of the Hunter and Cape Fear...Bob DeNiro also pulled off an amazing performance in the Cape Fear remake.

Johnny Depp is a class act in all the movies he's done...whether it be Sleepy Hollow or Sweeney Todd, he is outstanding.

william forsythe - the devils rejects.

he's a good actor.

Kathy Bates in Misery.

I know it's fashionable to hate Nick Cage, but I thought he was amazing in Vampire's Kiss. A great study of a man's descent into madness.

I thought he was really good in that one as well. And I don't hate him, in fact, I quite like him. He just makes some horrible choices sometimes.

Kevin Spacey was great in Seven, I think (though I know several don't consider it horror).

Clooney is From Dusk Til' Dawn... He dominated that entire movie.

Rose Mcgowan in Planet Terror

All the actors in Dog Soldiers

The Shining(Jack Nicholson was superb)

Excellent case in point. I forgot that one...