[crabapple]

I would tend to agree that it matters less--that's not saying that it doesn't matter at all, of course. A bankable star can always be a useful draw. But I think there is something about the thematics of horror, the degeneracy and the universality/primal nature of the themes, that makes the unknown "new" actor or "anyperson" more acceptable. There are so many examples of big horror classics that were just tiny independent productions, with actors the audience had never heard of before...