Editorials
[Special Feature] 10 Widely Seen And Wildly Underrated Horror Performances!
While many of our favorite horror performances enjoy their richly deserved iconic status, there are plenty of great turns out their that don’t get nearly enough credit. And it can happen for a variety of reasons. Perhaps the movie tanked or wasn’t well regarded. But sometimes the films were hugely successful (or found cult popularity later) and their roles were simply outshined by the other stars, or elements, in the picture.
In this list I take a look at 10 performances that I feel haven’t gotten their due. I wanted the focus to be on films that you’ve likely seen (and love), so there’s a chance you may already feel the same way about many of these performances. In some cases these are roles that already get a fair amount of credit in the horror community – but are ignored in popular discussion of the performer’s overall career.
Disagree? Did I miss someone? Make sure your voice is heard in the comments!
Hit the jump to check out the list!
Platinum Dunes’ Friday The 13th entry has a lot going for it. Sure the kills aren’t creative as they could be and I’m not sure what’s up with that tunnel system, but it gets almost everything else right. It’s brutal and has a high body count along with plenty of misbehaving teens and 20-somethings. And it also has one of the biggest d*cks of the franchise in Travis Van Winkle’s Trent. He’s insanely stand-offish, a huge prick to his girlfriend and generally hilarious. You can’t wait for him to die. Bonus? He’s get the best pillow talk in history. Fact. “You’ve got perfect nipple placement, baby!”
Second bonus? I’m pretty sure he plays the same character in Transformers. Both are named Trent and both are total *ssholes. And both are produced by Michael Bay, so there could be a connection.
For Drag Me To Hell it was kind of a tossup between David Paymer’s smarmy bank manager Mr. Jacks (“Did I get any in my mouth?”) and Reggie Lee’s conniving Stu. I wound up going with Stu. He’s the perfect workplace adversary to Alison Lohman’s Christine, sniveling enough to warrant our desire to see his comeuppance and effectively manipulative enough to pose a genuine threat to the corporate ascendence she so badly wants. His character actually has to hit quite a few beats and reversals (like in the diner scene near the end) and Lee pulls it all off with aplomb.
It’s a shame that Nancy Kyes (aka Nancy Loomis) has disappeared from the film world. She was an intelligent, strong and funny screen presence whose combined attributes made her sexy. And her Annie Brackett might just be my favorite character in John Carpenter’s Halloween. Where Jamie Lee Curtis’ Laurie Strode was stridently virginal and demure and P.J. Soles’ Lynda was stridently sexual and rebellious – Annie struck a good middle ground between those two extremes.
Even though she has less screen time than Curtis (and possibly less screen time than Soles) she feels like a much more fleshed-out character than either. Not boring (Laurie) and not annoying (Lynda), Annie was the one I was the saddest to see go.
The Final Chapter is perhaps the best entry in the pre-zombie Jason canon (though I oddly prefer Part 2) and it certainly has one of the franchise’s most memorable characters in Crispin Glover’s Jimmy Mortimer. The cast is full of stand-outs (relative statement to the franchise, I wouldn’t stack it against Ocean’s 11 or anything) But I’d put Glover at the tippy top. He’s vulnerable, he can dance, and we feel genuinely bad for his demise. Plus, he’s got an arc! He goes from being worried that he’s a “dead f*ck” at the beginning of the film to proving he’s not!
Gremlins 2: The New Batch is one of the weirder major sequels to ever be released. It’s so completely different from the original it boggles my mind and it makes me nostalgic for a time when pulling something like this off was even remotely possible. Today’s Hollywood is so protective of its franchises that the creative life is often snuffed out of them the moment a sequel is greenlit. One of the great touches of Joe Dante’s gonzo sequel is John Glover’s mega-mogul Daniel Clamp, the Donald Trump inspired owner of the glitchy tower in which the film is set. The bold choice here? He’s a nice guy. Misguided, unaware and out of touch, but genuinely nice. His enthusiasm is admirable, as is his intention of preventing any further Gremlin-related harm.
Before “Modern Family”, Ty Burrell made a splash as Steve In Zak Snyder’s James Gunn scripted Dawn Of The Dead remake. It’s a much quicker moving film than the original, one that drops a good deal of the subtext, but it’s full of nice (if not perfunctory) character moments. It’s one of the better remakes out there because it does what remakes should do, take the central premise of the original and explore different territory. Burrell’s Steve is the comic relief of the piece, but he’s also one of the two primary audience access points (Sarah Polley’s Ana being the other). In a movie full of Ving Rhames’ typical bluster and bravado, it’s saying something that I remember Burrell’s snarky quips as vividly as I do. This is what they mean when they say, “stealing the show.”
Kurtwood Smith’s Clarence Boddicker is such an amazingly chilling (and entertaining) villain I don’t even know where to start. He’s completely aware of how evil and cruel he is. He also shows a surprising modicum of social/political savvy for someone who’s ostensibly just a thug. The way he toys with Peter Weller’s Alex Murphy before he and his gang commence his protracted murder (which, obviously they don’t technically complete) still makes me squirm. It’s such a strong performance that “That 70’s Show” was arguably able to exploit its menace for years to come.
First of all, if you haven’t seen Lamberto Bava’s Demons you need to fix that sh*t real quick. I know a lot of people write off foreign horror as “boring” or “arty”, but Bava’s film is a crass, fun, fast-paced and gory ride. It feels almost as American as a Golan Globus production. Bobby Rhodes’ Tony is a man whose proverbial pimp hand is strong as steel. While his misogynistic attitude might initially be offensive, it’s clear that the film is completely in on the joke and doesn’t endorse his sentiments. Demons has great fun toying with and exploiting this particular male archetype and I can’t imagine anyone but Rhodes pulling it off. Bonus? I saw him do a Q&A for this film at the New Beverly and he was as sweet as can be. The complete opposite of his character.
While the rightful stars of Attack The Block are John Boyega’s Moses and his gang of charismatic wayward thugs, I don’t think Jodie Whittaker’s performance as Sam gets nearly enough attention. She doesn’t have quite the hero’s journey of Moses, but she imbues her character with a grounded pragmatism (and frustration) that’s easy to relate to. She’s able to fend off “gorilla wolf motherf*ckers” and Pest’s advances with equal amounts of grace and intelligence.
Oh boy. Look, I love A Nightmare On Elm Street, okay? But let’s face facts, Heather Langenkamp’s performance as Nancy isn’t really all that great. I often find myself wishing that Tina didn’t get killed off so early. If she had been the main protagonist and had been forced to find the same internal strength that Nancy does, the film would have been all the better because of it. I can actually see Wyss pulling off the last act of the film with the convincing and steely reserve that Langenkamp lacks. NOES is a home-run either way, but killing Nancy and keeping Tina would have knocked it out of the park.
Five decades ago, Stephen King published the story of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers and forever changed the world of horror.
Carrie follows a high school misfit who seeks revenge for a hideous prank by psychically destroying her senior prom. The name Carrie White has become synonymous with the concept of a formal dance thanks to a flawless adaptation from Brian De Palma. Now fifty years after the film’s release, Mike Flanagan is putting his own stamp on the troubling story.
Rather than a feature film, the writer/director will expand King’s relatively slim debut novel into an eight-episode miniseries for Amazon Prime set to premiere on October 7.
Flanagan is no stranger to the world of Stephen King. A long-time Constant Reader, he first made waves with his daring adaptation of Gerald’s Game (2017), a novel many fans considered un-filmable. His underrated Doctor Sleep merges the disparate plot of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with King’s original source material, and his 2024 genre-bending tearjerker The Life of Chuck faithfully executes one of the author’s most metaphysical novellas.
He’s currently mired in pre-production for an expansive adaptation of The Dark Tower series, keystone to King’s connected universe, and Warner Bros. recently announced that Flanagan will helm a new version of The Mist, King’s 1980 novella which sees a small Maine town overrun by otherworldly monsters.
Considering the vast array of the author’s previously unadapted material, an obvious question arises. Why reimagine Carrie in 2026? Noting the timeless nature of the content, Flanagan expressed his desire to bring the story of a bullied girl into modern times, mirroring his approach to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He explained, “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.”
His miniseries will maintain the novel’s bloody bookends while delivering “big surprises” along the way.
A New Prom Night Nightmare
The roughly 60-second teaser introduces Summer H. Howell as Carrie White just before the moment of catastrophe. Standing in a prom dress, she smiles at her applauding classmates with an ominous crown perched upon her head. Moments later, Carrie unleashes a rage-filled scream into the night air while promgoers rush for the exit doors. But careful examination of this scene shows Carrie wearing a different, albeit dirty dress as she seems to telekinetically punish her peers.
In an exclusive first look with Entertainment Weekly, Flanagan explains that in his version of the story, “the events of that prom are going to be completely different.” An open trunk emitting a crimson glow does hint at the pig’s blood dumped on Carrie’s head, but it’s likely Flanagan’s formal dance will be a different kind of horror altogether. Despite these changes, the series may end with the widespread destruction outlined in the source material. Unlike any previous adaptations, King’s novel ends with the near-total destruction of Chamberlain, Maine. A flaming street in Flanagan’s trailer promises similar carnage no matter what prank sparks Carrie’s deadly revenge.
The Monstrous Addition of Social Media
On the opposite end of this fiery conclusion is an extreme act of bullying that brings together the story’s main cast. King’s novel begins as Carrie gets her first period while showering in the girls’ locker room. Completely unaware of the concept of menstruation, the sheltered girl thinks she’s bleeding to death. Her classmates respond with vitriolic rage. Led by ultra-mean girl Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), they mock the terrified teen while pelting her with tampons. Glimpses of this disturbing event reveal that Flanagan has excised the scene’s nudity while adding a seismic update. As Carrie sobs in the shower stall, Chris and her friends film the breakdown with their phones.
Other scenes note the presence of social media, bringing King’s fifty-year-old story into the digital age.
Flanagan’s adaptation promises to explore the destructive power of social media, an often invisible entity with a potential for harm rivaling Carrie’s own powers. While King’s tormented heroine suffers in front of a small group of girls, Flanagan’s version of the incident will likely become a viral video, potentially circling the globe on social media. Similar to Katt Shea’s criminally underrated The Rage: Carrie 2, which includes elements of revenge porn exploitation, Flanagan’s modern retelling will distinguish itself by exploring the nebulous cruelty of online bullying, a force ten times more powerful than the irl pranks King first envisioned.
A Completely Reimagined White Family
In addition to modernizing these canon events, Flanagan hints at updates to Carrie’s oppressive upbringing at the hands of her mother, Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan). Dead before the novel begins, we never meet Carrie’s domineering father Ralph, known to carry a bible alongside his gun. Flanagan’s White household will be an altogether different beast. In his version of the story, Carrie and her mother have been hidden away in the unassuming home, forced out of hiding by Ralph’s unexpected death. Perhaps we will finally meet this elusive man whose shadow hangs over his wife and child. Considering the White family’s fundamentalist lifestyle, this reimagining hints at tradwife culture and a home ruled by staunch patriarchal control.
Whereas King’s Carrie has been tormented by her classmates since Kindergarten, Flanagan’s Carrie will be a wide-eyed newcomer to public school, eager to make friends and engage with her peers. We glimpse Carrie cozying up to Chris and the equally popular Sue Snell (Siena Agudong) as she navigates a new social scene. Of course, we know this kindness is part of an elaborate plot designed to lull Carrie into a false sense of camaraderie, setting up an atrocious act of public humiliation. These brief moments of feigned compassion put Sue’s own complicity into question. Will Flanagan’s version of the character find the courage to defend Carrie from vicious bullies or will she succumb to peer pressure and join in the mob mentality?
Perhaps the biggest deviation from King’s original text is the relationship between Carrie and her mother. King’s Margaret White is a horrifically abusive religious zealot whose worldview has been hardened by internalized misogyny. She shames Carrie for menstruating, locks her in a closet to “pray,” and regrets not killing her child in infancy. She’s also responsible for Carrie’s social ostracization. Known to berate her neighbors for their “sins,” Margaret forces her daughter to live by an extreme code of conduct and disallows any potential friends lest they corrupt the girl with their worldly ways.
Flanagan’s version of the character is perhaps just as much a victim as Carrie herself. Also trapped inside her home, his Margaret is overly vigilant, her own trauma manifesting as strict control. Describing a more sympathetic depiction of the iconic villain, Flanagan explains, “Our Margaret White is a woman who fiercely loves her daughter and wants to protect her from this world … [She] doesn’t know how to do that and thinks the way to protect her is to close her off; not punitively, but to create this private utopia.”
Despite this potential softening, Sloyan’s Margaret may still have a sharp edge. Though she has appeared in many Flanagan projects, from Hush (2016) to The Fall of the House of Usher (2023), she is best known for her role as the abhorrent Bev Keane in the poignant saga Midnight Mass (2021). Perhaps inspired by King’s Margaret White, Bev is pious and sadistic, willing to punish anyone who does not adhere to her warped approximation of Catholicism.
Flanagan specifically wrote Margaret with Sloyan in mind, likely remembering the actress’s eerie ability to create deceptive empathy and shift our allegiances on a dime.
Expanding Stephen King’s Telekinetic Universe
While most of King’s story deals with an unthinkable prom night in Chamberlain, Maine, large sections of the semi-epistolary novel see experts debating the nature of telekinesis. Do Carrie’s frightening abilities represent a new phase in human evolution or is the prom night carnage merely a fluke? King settles the debate with a shocking denouement in which a young mother recounts her infant daughter’s ability to dangle her crib toys in midair. We’re left to wonder if she will become another tormented girl who surprises the world with metaphysical strength.
Flanagan plans to build out this brief scene while amplifying themes of female empowerment. After introducing our main cast of characters, episode two will open with an unrelated story in which we meet another girl with the TK gene. Each subsequent chapter will expand this world, building out a roster of telekinetic young women. Considering King’s fondness for stories about powerful kids, often described as possessing “the shining,” Constant Readers will no doubt have their eyes peeled for various Easter Eggs nodding to the author’s vast catalogue.
Giving Carrie Her Own Voice
Perhaps the most striking distinction in Flanagan’s new trailer is the extent to which we hear Carrie’s voice. The sneak peek is fully narrated by the titular prom queen as she demands accountability. “I want to know why,” she explains while detailing Chris’ elaborate plan. Aside from the aforementioned coda, King’s book essentially ends with the aftermath of the prom night tragedy, leaving little time for Carrie to reflect. His shifting narrative does bring the reader into her fragile mind, though not before she’s been cowed by relentless cruelty. We watch Carrie sink into bloodthirsty revenge, but never hear a considered desire for justice or repair.
Flanagan’s original monologue allows Carrie to voice her pain and mourn the life she could have had. We’re also treated to a mug shot-style photo of Chris with a bruised and bandaged face, implying that the mean girl will have to answer for her senseless sadism.
Flanagan is known for filling his series adaptations with heartwrenching speeches that cut to the heart of his thematic intentions, and this teaser seems to follow suit. After years of fans, critics, and scholars analyzing Carrie’s pain, perhaps his modern retelling will offer the titular anti-hero a chance to finally speak for herself.
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