Big Stars That Started in Bad Horror
Nick Chordas - The Columbus Dispatch
Feb 13, 2009
The latest entry in the long-running Friday the 13th movie series will open Friday, but don't roll your eyes just yet. --Horror movies have long served as a training ground for soon-to-be-famous performers, including Clint Eastwood (1955's Return of the Creature) and Jack Nicholson (1963's The Raven and The Terror). --Here are a few more examples of those who truly suffered for their art.
Kevin Bacon
Role: camp counselor Jack in Friday the 13th (1980)
On-screen fate: arrow through the neck
Post-death resume: Bacon has since appeared in more than 1 billion feature films (we're estimating), inspiring the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and earning an MTV Movie Award nomination as best villain in Hollow Man.
Johnny Depp
Role: boyfriend Glen in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
On-screen fate: sucked into mattress, then sprayed onto ceiling
Post-death resume: Depp became a star on 21 Jump Street and has since earned three Academy Award nominations, including one for playing a pirate.
George Clooney
Role: first-victim Oliver in Return to Horror High (1987)
On-screen fate: stabbed to death
Post-death resume: He is now known as something of a heartthrob, having appeared in numerous hit films -- none of which boast the tag line: "Killer to the left. Killer to the right. Stand up. Sit down. Fright! Fright! Fright!"
Viggo Mortensen
Role: cannibal Tex in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990)
On-screen fate: burned alive
Post-death resume: Made the ladies -- immortal Elves and otherwise -- swoon in The Lord of the Rings trilogy as rough-and-tumble Aragorn. Played another cold-blooded killer in A History of Violence.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Role: boyfriend Josh in Critters 3 (1991)
On-screen fate: survives, but undergoes severe mental and physical trauma at the hands of evil, alien hedgehogs
Post-trauma resume: After his big-screen debut in Critters 3, Leo appeared in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Titanic and The Departed, to name a few. But he'll always be Luke Brower from Growing Pains to us.
Jennifer Aniston
Role: heroine Tory in Leprechaun (1993)
On-screen fate: survives but undergoes severe mental and physical trauma at the hands of an evil, 600-year-old leprechaun
Post-trauma resume: Aniston landed the role of Rachel on the long-running TV sitcom Friends. She was most recently paired with a diminutive, demonic co-star in Marley & Me (the dog, not Owen Wilson).
Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger
Roles: cannibal Vilmer and potential dinner Jenny in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)
On-screen fates: He is struck and killed by a low-flying plane; she survives.
Post-death/trauma resumes: McConaughey became well-known as a leading man -- and even better known for removing his shirt. Zellweger, meanwhile, returned to dealing with crazy country folk in New in Town.
Katherine Heigl
Role: heroine Jade in Bride of Chucky (1998)
On-screen fate: survives but undergoes severe mental and physical trauma at the hands of a possessed "Good Guys" doll and his girlfriend
Post-trauma resume: Heigl bounced back from sharing the screen with Chucky (she had already survived sharing it with Steven Seagal in Under Siege 2: Dark Territory) to appear on Grey's Anatomy and star in Knocked Up.
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