Tuesday
Oct232018
Top Ten Quickie - Best Horror Performances?
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 at 8:00PM Eeek! We have planned absolutely nothing for Halloween on the blog just yet so in case we don't here is an impromptu list (mostly off the top of my head) for discussion fun. Since horror is not my preferred genre, it was actually quite hard to come up with the male actors list but the female list was easy but for the difficulty of narrowing it down. Can you believe I had to leave the Exorcist women off the list?
10 Best Lead Actresses in a Horror Film
- Isabelle Adjani - Possession
- Toni Colette - Hereditary
- Bette Davis - Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Shelley Duvall - The Shining
- Mia Farrow - Rosemary's Baby
- Jodie Foster - Silence of the Lambs
- Nicole Kidman - The Others
- Vanessa Redgrave - The Devils
- Sissy Spacek - Carrie
- Sigourney Weaver - Alien
More after the jump...
I had to leave so many great performances off this list. Sorry especially to Essie Davis in The Babadook and Ellen Burstyn in The Exorcist. Actresses have excelled so often in this genre
10 Best Leading Actors in a Horror Film
- Antonio Banderas - The Skin I Live In
- Jeff Goldblum - The Fly
- Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs
- Jeremy Irons -Dead Ringers
- Daniel Kaluyya - Get Out
- Robert Mitchum - The Night of the Hunter
- Jack Nicholson - The Shining
- Haley Joel Osment - The Sixth Sense
- Anthony Perkins - Psycho
- Oliver Reed - The Devils
I showed you mine, now you show me yours. Boo!
Reader Comments (60)
Actress: I'd probably remove Nicole Kidman and Redgrave for Jennifer Tilly, Bride of Chucky and Jenny Agutter, An American Werewolf in London.
Actor: I'd remove Goldblum, Irons, Osment and Kaluuya. If we're allowed more than one entry per actor, I'd put in all three film flavours of Bruce Campbell's Ash Williams and David Naughton, An American Werewolf in London. If we're only allowed one entry an actor, original Evil Dead and Army of Darkness would be replaced with Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead and Kaluuya would be back in the mix.
Actresses:
I remove Toni for Hereditary and put The Sixth Sense because she is god damn good!
And add Mercedes McCambridge as the Devil voice in The Exorcist.
Actors:
Remove Kaluya and Goldblum and add:
the father in The Witch (I forgot his name! His voice is towering!)
Kevin Space - Brad Pitt - Morgan Freeman in Se7en
I loved your lists!
And if I could add one ensemble for horror film I would add
The entire young an child cast of The White Ribbon. Outstanding!!
Charlotte Gainsbourg's fearless work in ANTICHRIST is worth a mention. Her performance is easily one of the best in 2009.
This Deborah Kerr in The Innocents erasure...far too much.
Isabelle Adjani for Possession and Charlotte Gainsbourg for Antichrist. You can't get more intense than those 2 women.
I had a much easier time thinking of women than men...
Isabelle Adjani, POSSESSION
Laura Dern, INLAND EMPIRE
Charlotte Gainsbourg, ANTICHRIST
Sheryl Lee, TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME
Audrey Hepburn, WAIT UNTIL DARK
Julianne Moore, [SAFE]
Bette Davis & Joan Crawford, WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?
Jodie’Foster, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Mia Farrow & Ruth Gordon, ROSEMARY’S BABY
Sissy Spacek & Piper Laurie, CARRIE
Shelley Duvall, THE SHINING
Kathy Bates, MISERY
Ellen Burstyn & Linda Blair, THE EXORCIST
Scarlett Johansson, UNDER THE SKIN
Marion Eaton, THUNDERCRACK!
Sigourney Weaver, ALIENS
Nicole Kidman, THE OTHERS
Catherine Deneuve, REPULSION
Vanessa Redgrave, THE DEVILS
Susannah York, IMAGES
Max von Sydow, HOUR OF THE WOLF
Robert Mitchum, THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
Anthony Perkins, PSYCHO
Anthony Hopkins, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
Alan Arkin, WAIT UNTIL DARK
George Kuchar, THUNDERCRACK!
Daniel Kaluuya, GET OUT
Jack Nicholson, THE SHINING
Sam Neill, POSSESSION
Oliver Reed, THE DEVILS
Mark Patton, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET PART 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE
I think Kaluuya's work in Get Out is a bit overrated. It's a good reactive performance.
For me leaving Essie Davis off the list is just a travesty. But I like every performance you have on the list. Perhaps a top 10 is just too limiting.
Isabelle Adjani in Possession is simply the only performance I can allow. Such a tremendous showcase. Also a good first date movie - if he can handle that film, he can handle me.
these were just the leading performances so dont be upset if you loved a supporting performance as some of those mentioned.
Barbara Hershey in The Entity
Michelle Pfeiffer in What Lies Beneath and mother!
Film Bitch Awards predictions: Toni Collette finally gets her gold medal. I mean, Essie Davis is not in the list after getting a silver!
Marsha Mason in Audrey Rose is one of the greatest.
My two favorite actresses in a horror movie? Emma Thompson and Laura Linney in Love Actually. That’s the scariest movie I ever saw.
You know you’re a MF, Nathaniel? We've had hardly agreed on this site, but your choices here align a lot with mine. Terrific taste... :P
Besides that, I want to point out how underrated Jason Miller's performance is in The Exorcist since he's barely mentioned when people cite the movie (the autocorrect just highlighted the word EXORCIST in a different color. Help... ;_;).
Also, there can not be Toni Collette without Alex Wolff.. Wherever that kid goes from now on, he already has a performance for the books (or at least my books) in the section of excellence in acting.
Solid lists, although I’m with Jon in favoring Collette in The Sixth Sense over her in Hereditary. There are so many great performances in these films that it’s hard for me to pick favorites - but, I’d strongly consider adding Maika Monroe for It Follows and Barry Keoghan for The Killing of a Sacred Deer (maybe that’s not strictly horror, but if Baby Jane and movies like it count ...).
My #1 of all-time will always be Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby. She is hard to cast but sensational when she is in the right role in a great movie.
And I would count Black Swan as a horror film... in witch case Natalie Portman should make the list. A mesmerizing, unforgettable turn that transformed Portman's reputation.
That's a great list Roger. I love The Shining since it reveals the moon landings were fake, and is generally so creepy, like our President.
Agree with Gainsbourg and Adjani but for the love of me why are people still not realize that Silence of the lambs is A-Not scary B-Jodie is at best mediocre in it (really the lambs the're crying? Please.....)
No particular order:
Nobuko Otowa, Onibaba
Anthony Perkins, Psycho
Freddie Jones, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed
Max Schreck, Nosferatu
Ernest Thesiger in Bride of Frankenstein
Jeff Goldblum, The Fly
Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers
Vincent Price, Theater of Blood
Essie Davis, The Babadook
Not going to emphasize the exclusion of Bates. But shocked you didn't include Julianne Moore for Safe.
In no particular order and also think I included 11 but whatever....
Toni Collette, Heriditary
Sigourney Weaver, Aliens
Angela Bettis, May
Nicole Kidman, The Others
Liv Tyler, The Strangers
Essie Davis, The Babadook
Ashley Judd, Bug
Alison Lohman, Drag Me to Hell
Ellen Burstyn, The Exorcist
Shelley Duvall, The Shining
Sissy Spacek, Carrie
I also really had to figure out the differences between a thriller and a horror film. I consider Misery, Silence of the Lambs and Antichrist thrillers. I also had to remove Neve Campbell for Scream 2, which was hard to do.
How has no one mentioned Neve Campbell or Courtney Cox in Scream. HOW.
My favorite all time performance ever is Sissy Spacek in Carrie
I agree with Adjani and Davis but Kidman....i feel like she is always very stylized and dont transmite me many emotions. Haven't seen the rest of the list.
I could add Angela Bettis in May, Harvey Scrimshaw in The Witch, Eui-sung Kim in Train to Busan, Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Drew Barrymore in Scream and i know that is a mini-series but the performance of Tim Curry in IT is just one of the greatest horror performances.
Neve Campbell in SCREAM! Courteney Cox should have got a Supportng Actress nom. Unlike Neve's "final girl but with depth" role, Gale Weathers is a type not often seen in this genre: A fame-hungry tabloid journalist so desperate for a story she flirts with a deputy and and sneaks her way into a high school party!
Very commendable list, but where is Deborah Kerr in the Innocents? Such an amazing performance: perhaps the best of het entire career (and that's saying something!) And on the male side: why not throw in something like Jeffrey Combs in Re-Animator? Such a great, fun performance!
I have to agree with Dieter on Deborah Kerr in The Innocents. I would also vouch for Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion, Garance Marillier in Raw, Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow, and Julie Harris in The Haunting.
Kathy Bates for Misery is definitely one of my favorite Oscar wins of all times.
"I'm your #1 fan" Always gives me chills….
Where's the line betweeen Thriller and Horror? I think Robin Williams was simply amazing in One Hour Photo!
Nathaniel THANK YOU for including Shelley Duvall on this list. It BLOWS MY MIND reading some of the vitriol that gets thrown her way for her work in that movie. She's freaking incredible in it!! MVP for sure, in what is arguably the hardest part that the movie ultimately pivots on most.
You have great taste in horror leading ladies, though I'd maybe swap out Nicole (sorry) and Sigourney (love her but the first Alien isn't really an actor movie so much and she gets way more to play in the second movie) for the Davis and Burstyn. I would also feel guilty about Moore in Safe but I don't know I completely buy that as horror.
Love this list, although one leading performance that's (somewhat surprisingly) stayed with me over the years is Neve Campbell in Scream 3. It's such a muddled, inconsistent movie but the layers she adds to her character's barely buried trauma gives the film unexpected resonance.
@Sonja I think that the line that separate horror from thriller is the fictional/fantasy/paranormal elements and the thriller use to be more focused in the twisted mind from a character or resolve a crime/mistery instead of a massive bloody number of deaths.
I would made a list apart from thriller just to include more actors and will be topped from Sandrine Bonnaire in La Ceremonie and Fele Martinez in Tesis.
In no particular order, and I had to leave many folks off:
Lead actresses:
Deborah Kerr - The Innocents
Zohra Lambert: Let's Scare Jessica To Death
Alexandra Essoe - Starry Eyes
Virginia Madsen - Candyman
Mia Farrow - Rosemary's Baby
Karen Black - Burnt Offerings
Nicole Kidman - The Others
Adrienne Barbeau - The Fog
Jessica Harper - Suspiria
Sissy Spacek - Carrie
Have to say I'm surprised that anyone considers Neve Campbell as a fave. She's fine in the Scream movies, but so one-note.
Lead Actors:
Haley Joel Osment - Sixth Sense
Tony Perkins - Psycho
Jeffrey Combs - Re-Animator
Jeff Goldblum - The Fly
Robert Englund - A Nightmare on Elm Street ('84)
Donald Sutherland - Invasion of the Body Snatchers ('78)
Alex Wolff - Hereditary
Mark Duplass - Creep & Creep 2
David Naughton - An American Werewolf in London
Robert Hunter - Night of the Hunter
Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland in Don't Look Now!
Of the performances you didn't include (and these are FANTASTIC lists, Nathaniel!), I would have to mention Max Schreck in Nosferatu and Ashley Judd in Bug right off the top of my head.
Any "best of" list that includes Isabelle Adjani in Possession is alright by me!
Do not forget Ahsley Judd and Michal Shannon in BUG.
Catherine Deneuve in REPULSION.
Actress:
Neve Campbell, Scream 2
Toni Collette, Hereditary
Sissy Spacek, Carrie
(are we counting Kathy Bates in Misery as horror?)
Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby
Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs
Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween
The ENSEMBLE of THE DESCENT
Actor:
Robert Englund, Nightmare on Elm St
Daniel Kaluyya, Get Out
Anthony Hopkins, Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Perkins, Psycho
Ralph Ineson, The Witch
My TOP 5 performance by an Actress in a Horror Film are:
#1: Mia Farrow, ROSEMARY'S BABY
#2: Isabelle Adjani, POSSESSION
#3: Charlotte Gainsbourg, ANTICHRIST
#4: Scarlett Johansson, UNDER THE SKIN
#5: Sissy Spacek, CARRIE
.
and an honorable mention to Janet Leigh for PSYCHO
.
Sorry, I know actresses often excel in this genre, but I see no way to ignore Charlotte Gainsbourg for ANTICHRIST and Scarlett Johansson for UNDER THE SKIN. So, so, so good!!!
Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady
Everyone -- i really dont like Gainsbourg in "Antichrist"...
Peggy Sue -- LOLOLOL
Another vote for Angela Bettis, (May) - such a disturbing performance.
When I was a kid - Vincent Price - Theater of Blood gave me nightmares!
How has nobody mentioned the divine Angie Dickinson in DRESSED TO KILL
Three others I love:
Jamie Lee Curtis - Halloween (best Final Girl ever)
Amy Steele in Friday the 13th Part 2 (2nd best Final Girl)
Maika Monroe - It Follows
@Andrew - This is a best *lead* actress in a horror film list, so Dickinson doesn't qualify (even though she really is Dressed to Kill's MVP).
The horror/thriller line is a tricky one to gauge, but Misery is as much of a horror film as The Silence of the Lambs. In that case, Bates definitely deserves to be on a top 10 list, as does Williams in One Hour Photo 'cause...yikes!
Davis in The Babadook, Judd in Bug, and Madsen in Candyman are so, so good. I'd add as well Cécile de France in Haute Tension, a 2003 French horror film that lingers with (haunts?) me to this very day. She's fantastic in it.
P.S. Mad respect for Shelly Duvall. #JusticeForWendy
If we consider David Lynch movies horror (which they can play that way), add Naomi Watts for MULHOLLAND DR. and Laura Dern for INLAND EMPIRE.
I'll also throw a bone to Kim Ok-bin for THIRST.
Is Duvall actually giving a performance in The Shining or is everyone floored by the manifestation of Kubrick's onset abuse of her captured on film while she recites lines crumbling in terror from her director and not imaginary circumstance from her costar?
Lina Leandersson in Let The Right One In
Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive
Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs
Liv Ullmann Hour of the Wolf
Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko
Christian Bale in American Psycho
Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Perkins in Psycho
/3rtful, influenced by the filming circumstances, but don't rob the woman of her hard fought achievement of a performance.
Manuel -- I CAN'T BELIEVE I LEFT OFF CHRISTIAN BALE IN AMERICAN PSYCHO. MUST CHANGE LIST!!!