Predator 2
Paxton continued his tradition of playing doomed sidekicks in Stephen Hopkins’s Predator 2. In the film, he portrays Jerry Lambert, the rookie on Danny Glovers’s character’s team. He bites it about halfway through the film, but still manages to make an impression.
The Vagrant
Paxton’s gets to play it straight in his role as yuppie Graham Krakowski in Chris Walas’s (The Fly II) The Vagrant. It’s not the best film on this list, but there’s something oddly entertaining about seeing Michael Ironside drive Paxton crazy. The black comedy doesn’t always work, but somehow you just can’t look away.
Tales From the Crypt – “People Who Live in Brass Hearses”
Who would have ever thought Bill Paxton and Brad Dourif (Child’s Play) would make for a compelling brotherly duo? Dourif is great, but Paxton completely steals the show as the thuggish Billy DeLuca. Paxton imbues Billy with a considerable amount of cockiness and energy that he makes what could have been a run-of-the-mill Tales From the Crypt episodes one of the best episodes of the series.
Frailty
Paxton’s directorial debut was this highly effective thriller about a father who believes that God has commanded him to kill demons disguised as people. Paxton also portrays the father in the film and gives a truly chilling performance as a man who may or may not be completely insane.
Club Dread
Paxton’s last genre outing is not so much a horror film as it is a comedy. Since it came from the minds of the Broken Lizard (Super Troopers, Beerfest) comedy troupe, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Club Dread isn’t a great movie, but Paxton’s Coconut Pete always managed to inspire a few laughs.
What are your favorite genre roles of Bill Paxton? What film of his, horror or otherwise, will you be watching to celebrate his life (mine will be True Lies). Let us know in the comments below!