Redefining horror and powerhouse acting at the same time.
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00:00We all love a movie about an underdog, and we all actually love an underdog starring
00:04in a movie.
00:05It's just uplifting to see someone achieve something that everyone said they never could.
00:08And this extends to people giving absolutely stellar performances in horror movies, given
00:13that the genre is generally thought to be the lowest of the low.
00:16So, if you want some ammo to prove your friends wrong when they say that there's never been
00:19a decent performance in a horror movie, we've got you covered.
00:22I'm Amy from WhatCulture, and here are 10 Horror Movie Performances That Proved Everyone
00:27Wrong.
00:2810.
00:29Katie Featherstone in Paranormal Activity
00:32There was a time when everyone would argue that the best horror movies are big budget.
00:36You have to have cash to make something good.
00:38Well, along came Paranormal Activity and blew that idea out of the water, an unpretentious
00:44movie made with so little money that it really needed some good performances to carry it.
00:49Filmed on a budget of just $15,000, Paranormal Activity, in the performance of the unknown
00:54actress Katie Featherstone, utterly redefined the horror genre.
00:58Shot in the style of a home movie, the film manages to milk every ounce of tension physically
01:02possible out of a scene.
01:04The style of shooting meant that everyone who saw the movie suddenly imagined the bone-chilling
01:08events taking place in their own home with their own camera, which added a whole new
01:12level of dread.
01:13Featherstone, a complete unknown at the time of production, masterfully portrays the identically
01:18named Katie, a woman haunted by a demon since childhood who ultimately succumbs to the grip
01:23of her tormentor.
01:24Paranormal Activity is a case study that highlights that horror films don't need enormous amounts
01:28of cash or outrageous special effects.
01:31With a good premise, a good star, and a good director, they can still scare the living
01:35daylights out of the audience.
01:379.
01:38Anthony Perkins – Psycho
01:39There's arguably no more iconic scene in the horror genre than the shower sequence
01:44in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho, but you wouldn't believe how close the world
01:50came to never even seeing that.
01:53Executives at Paramount Pictures rejected the initial premise for the film, and even
01:56refused to provide legendary director Hitchcock with the necessary funding to make it.
02:01Hitchcock literally bore the financial risk of the picture to get it made, in spite of
02:05the heavy opposition from the higher-ups.
02:07Well, the rest, of course, is history.
02:09Whilst reviews at the time of the release were kind of mixed, Psycho has gone on to
02:13become an immortal outing of the horror genre.
02:15And much of that praise rests on the shoulders of Anthony Perkins, who provides an incomparable
02:20performance as the disturbed hotel owner Norman Bates.
02:23The terrifying performance of Perkins has established Psycho as an unquestionable staple
02:27of the horror genre, and certainly played no small part in cementing the film as one
02:32of the all-time horror greats.
02:348.
02:35Jane Levy – Evil Dead
02:37When the remake of Evil Dead was announced for 2013, the yawn from horror fans was almost
02:42audible.
02:43While the original version of Sam Raimi's franchise had developed a cult following,
02:46the franchise had not produced an outing since 1992.
02:49There was sort of a sense that the franchise had had its heyday, and it was over now.
02:53Even the original iconic protagonist, Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams, had been confirmed
02:57as not returning.
02:58Well, this lack of excitement did not slow down director Fede Alvarez, who got to work
03:03on what was marketed as the most terrifying film you'll ever experience, casting Jane
03:08Levy as central protagonist Mia Allen.
03:10Mia, a recovering drug addict, becomes possessed by a demon as her friends attempt to wean
03:14her off drugs in a remote forest cabin, and despite all her doubters, to say that Levy
03:19is merely terrifying feels like an understatement.
03:22Levy's face contorts into a hideous demonic mask, rasping out the vilest obscenities as
03:28she attempts to murder her closest friends in the most sadistic, gory fashion imaginable.
03:33Her stupendous range is further demonstrated in the latter stages of the film, where she's
03:37free of the possession.
03:38Effortlessly transforming from hunter to hunted, she morphs from a snarling, nightmarish creature
03:44to a traumatised, vulnerable girl, doing so with apparent ease.
03:487. Robert Pattinson – The Lighthouse
03:51People had a lot of reservations about The Lighthouse when it was first announced.
03:55Generally, these days it's a bit weird to watch something in black and white, or something
03:59in a weird aspect ratio, and it definitely came across as weird that the two main characters
04:03were cast as Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, a highly unlikely duo.
04:07While Willem Dafoe's performance as a maniacal lighthouse keeper is as excellent as audiences
04:12have come to expect from a veteran actor, unexpectedly, the man who really shines in
04:16this bleak, taut thriller is Robert Pattinson.
04:19Far from his beginning days in Twilight and Harry Potter, Pattinson has recently established
04:23himself as a serious, dramatic actor.
04:26And so I guess it makes sense that he would perform well here, we just couldn't visualise
04:30it.
04:31Well, as you would expect from any complete professional, he really threw himself into
04:34this role, delivering a harrowing performance as a haunted man running away from his past,
04:39managing to land jokes with perfect comedic timing, and also drag us down on his psychological
04:44down-spiral.
04:45Utterly transforming the preconceived notion that contemporary audiences require a colour
04:50production, Pattinson's chilling turn in The Lighthouse is a good enough reason for
04:54anyone to see it.
04:566.
04:57Stephen Lang – Don't Breathe
04:59As a concept, being hunted by an old, blind man in his own house doesn't sound particularly
05:04scary.
05:05It seems highly unlikely that he would have any chance of catching you.
05:08And if he does, what's he gonna do?
05:09He's old.
05:10Is he gonna trip me over with his walking stick?
05:13Those are all things I would say if I was a simple idiot.
05:16And simple idiots we all were before seeing Don't Breathe.
05:19The film follows three thieves who break into this old man's house, thinking he's an
05:23easy target to steal from.
05:25They quickly realise that this isn't the case, however, as everything starts going
05:28wrong.
05:29The man in question may be blind, but he's a veteran with deadly military skill, going
05:34on to hunt the group through his house in the most deadly game of cat and mouse.
05:38Stephen Lang's performance is utterly engrossing.
05:40The actor arguably conveys more menace than a killer who could see his victims, and his
05:45almost superhuman hearing ratchets up the dread a few notches every time one of the
05:49hunted makes a minute sound.
05:51The sequences all around the house are nail-bitingly relentless, and Lang's twisted exploration
05:56of the character as the film progresses only serves to horrify the viewer further.
06:005.
06:01Simon Pegg – Shaun of the Dead
06:03Before Shaun of the Dead hit our screens in 2004, the assumption was that horror movies
06:08couldn't be funny.
06:09Simon Pegg saw that and said, nah, I'll do you one better, before launching into the
06:14world the best film of all time, the certified peak of cinema, Shaun of the Dead.
06:18The gory yet utterly hilarious zombie comedy sees waste-of-space loser Shaun finally get
06:24his act together, all in a desperate attempt to win back his girlfriend as the apocalypse
06:28unfolds around them.
06:29Shaun of the Dead is absolute gold from start to finish, and at the centre of this masterpiece
06:33is Pegg, who went on to become known by mainstream audiences in an explosion of popularity following
06:38the film's release.
06:40Pegg seamlessly flows between a depressing deadbeat electronics shop worker freshly dumped
06:44by his girlfriend, to a Mad Max-esque cricket bat-wielding badass in the zombie apocalypse.
06:50It was an absolutely flawless performance that blew us all out of the water.
06:544.
06:55John Krasinski – A Quiet Place
06:57Even all these years later, I think it's still safe to say that most people know Krasinski
07:01as Jim from The Office.
07:02He'll be the first to say so.
07:04So how do you take goofy, good-guy Jim, and plant him in the middle of the apocalypse?
07:08Oh, and get him to direct it as well?
07:10This was the question asked by the public when, in 2018, Krasinski launched out his
07:14wonderful masterpiece A Quiet Place.
07:17The film sees a family living in a world overtaken with monstrous creatures, possessing impenetrable
07:22armour and supernatural hearing, even so much as a footstep or the crunch of a crisp packet
07:27can send one hurtling towards you, leading you to meet your certain end.
07:31A Quiet Place is an incredibly tense, danger-fraught experience from start to finish, and this
07:35is all thanks to the creative brain of Jim from The Office.
07:38Krasinski's direction and his lead performance are both absolutely enthralling.
07:43Through his facial expressions alone, the actor conveys an absurd range of emotion,
07:48perfectly capturing the essence of a desperate father trying to help his family survive,
07:52no doubt inspired by thinking of his own family, to whom he dedicated the movie.
07:56To be able to capture that much emotion without uttering a single word is generally very
08:01impressive.
08:023.
08:03Nicolas Cage – Mandy
08:05Most people by now think, and it's not entirely unfair that they think this, that Cage will
08:09literally do any movie that he's offered.
08:11This seemingly careless approach has absolutely landed him in some stinkers, but we also can't
08:16ignore the few fantastic turns he's taken in the past few years.
08:19It's a dangerous assumption to make to think that Cage is well past his prime, and this
08:23is exemplified perfectly in 2018's psychedelic horror-revenge flick Mandy.
08:28Cage plays a grief-stricken outsider on a vendetta for revenge.
08:32His girlfriend, the titular Mandy, was murdered by a cult, being set on fire right in front
08:37of his eyes.
08:38And, as you can imagine, that'll mess anyone up.
08:41Cage received rave reviews for his performance in the blood-soaked revenge romp.
08:46In fact, many critics argued that it played to his strengths as one of the most versatile,
08:50underrated actors of his generation.
08:52Cage proved that time and all the negative critical responses in the world would not
08:55stop him from producing great performances, and this horror served as a showcase of his
09:00unquestionable dramatic talent.
09:022.
09:03Bill Skarsgård
09:04It.
09:05I think my favourite part of Bill Skarsgård's Pennywise is seeing him do the face.
09:09You know, the face with the drool and the wonky eyes.
09:11He does that just normally, that's not special effects.
09:14The man can do that with his face, on command.
09:16I, like many others, just generally really enjoy the Skarsgård brothers, and I think
09:20they've done a lot of great stuff.
09:22But for a lot of people, hearing that Bill was going to be Pennywise just didn't quite
09:26hit the mark.
09:27He's too much of a nice little blonde boy, he's not scary.
09:30How is he going to take this terrifying, infamous clown and deliver the performance to the standard
09:34that we want?
09:35Well, the answer to that is with hard work, dedication, and a great amount of talent.
09:40Stop being so cynical, y'all.
09:42All these concerns went on to vanish within the first five minutes of the new It film.
09:46The moment we saw Pennywise emerge from the sewers, we knew it was all over for us.
09:50Skarsgård manages to be spectacularly scary from start to finish.
09:54His ability to lurch from childishly creepy, foreboding figure to full-fledged, nightmarish
09:59sewer monster is a spectacle to behold.
10:01The voice that he bestows on his take of Stephen King's immortal character leaves a particularly
10:06haunting impression, coupling a sing-song tone with dialogue that positively drips with
10:10menace.
10:11The lesson to be learnt here?
10:13Being a nice, smiling, youthful actor does not impede one's ability to play a hellish,
10:17disturbing clown.
10:191.
10:20Nicholson in The Shining
10:21The Shining is unanimously agreed upon by critics to be one of the greatest horror films
10:25ever made.
10:26And today, the most iconic face to come out of that film is of course Jack Nicholson,
10:30in particular when he's forcing his face through the little gap in the door.
10:33Based on Stephen King's novel, Stanley Kubrick's 1980 adaptation sees Jack Torrance, played
10:38by Jack Nicholson, slowly lose his grip on sanity after accepting a job as a caretaker
10:42and moving his family to a haunted hotel.
10:45What many people don't know, however, is that when Kubrick first pitched the idea of
10:49using Nicholson in the main role, Stephen King said, uh, hell no, not in my book, and
10:53rejected the idea straight up.
10:55The author felt that Nicholson's previous performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
10:58Nest meant that audiences would already have a sort of preconceived idea of what a mentally
11:03unwell Jack Nicholson character looks like, damaging the tone of the film and making it
11:08somewhat less unique.
11:09Thankfully, though, Kubrick persevered and King relented, and Nicholson went on to give
11:13an absolutely unforgettable performance.
11:16His immortal, here's Johnny line, and the demonic grin as he manically chops through
11:20the bathroom door has been a staple of pop culture ever since the film debuted.
11:24So I'd say that's not too shabby for someone rejected out of hand by the man who literally
11:28wrote the story.
11:30And with that, we've reached the end of this list of 10 Horror Movie Performances That
11:33Proved Everyone Wrong.
11:35If there are any more you can think of that you would have included, let us know in the
11:38comments down below.
11:39And remember to check out WhatCulture.com for more lists and articles like this every
11:43single day.
11:44As always, I've been Amy from What Culture, and I'll catch you next time.