FEARnet's Top 10 A-List Celebs with Horror Movie Beginnings
George Clooney fought killer fruit. Johnny Depp battled Freddy. And boy, do we remember Kevin Bacon’s short stay at Camp Crystal Lake. We’ve compiled our very favorite 'Before They Were Famous' roles to remind us all that even A-listers had to start somewhere – be it creature feature, slasher flick, or direct-to-video sequel hell – in order to hack their way to the top.
George Clooney/Return to Horror High (1987)
Think Return of the Killer Tomatoes was the first horror movie in George Clooney’s career? The future TV doctor and Oscar winner appeared in two even more obscure ‘80s horror films before his infamous run-in with mutant fruit: the never-released Grizzly II and Return to Horror High, in which he starred as an actor playing a cop on the set of a horror film come to life.
Jennifer Aniston/Leprechaun (1993)
Before she had Friends and a permanent slot on the A list, Jennifer Aniston chummed it up with a little green goblin in 1992’s Leprechaun. The struggling actress had a starring role, but the movie flopped -- and rumor has it if she hadn’t landed her gig with Ross, Monica, Phoebe and Chandler she might have quit acting altogether.
Kevin Bacon/Friday the 13th (1980)
When it comes to celebrity horror movie deaths, Kevin Bacon – who had an entire Hollywood popularity game named after him – wins, hands down. Especially if you imagine that, before geting an arrow shoved through his neck while smoking a joint, he was frantically punch-dancing his way through Camp Crystal Lake.
Johnny Depp/A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This former teen idol made his feature film debut in Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street as Glen, a teenager whose Nancy suspects that Freddy Krueger is killing teens in their dreams. But before they can lay a trap for Freddy, Glen falls asleep…and is eaten by his own bed!
John Travolta/The Devil’s Rain (1975)
Before Grease, before Saturday Night Fever, and even before he tormented poor Carrie White at the high school prom, John Travolta appeared in this William Shatner vehicle about a Satan-worshiping priest tormenting one Midwestern family. The Devil’s Rain is memorable for an ending in which rain melts a bunch of Satanists, but we’re more intrigued by another piece of trivia: it was during filming that Travolta was first introduced to Scientology.
Jason Alexander/Holly Hunter/Fisher Stevens / The Burning (1981)
This Friday the 13th knock-off slasher flick marked the start of many successful Hollywood careers. Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter, and Fisher Stevens all made their film debuts as teenagers at a summer camp being stalked by a killer handyman, while the film’s writers and producers went on to be Hollywood power players: Brad Grey, the future CEO of Paramount Pictures, and a pair of brothers named Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
Leonardo di Caprio/Critters 3 (1991)
When the nasty alien creatures of Critters make their way from small town America to the big city in this direct-to-video sequel, they terrorize an apartment building full of new victims -- including a 17-year-old, Game Boy-playing Leonardo di Caprio (looking more like a 13-year-old, Game Boy-playing Leonardo di Caprio).
Demi Moore/Parasite (1982)
Eventually she’d run with the Brat Pack, but in 1982’s 3D creature feature Parasite, Demi Moore was the sole female lead battling a government-engineered leech that ate people… from the inside out!
Jennifer Connelly/Phenomena (1985)
Italian horror maestro Dario Argento made his English-language debut with Phenomena, which also marked the second-ever screen appearance of a fifteen-year-old Jennifer Connelly. The future Oscar-winner starred as Jennifer, a teenage girl with a telepathic link to insects, who investigates a series of murders at her European boarding school.
Shannon Elizabeth/Jack Frost (1996)
Granted, Shannon Elizabeth hasn’t had much success following her American Pie days and never came close to being on the A list. But we still get a thrill watching her suffer a grisly bathtub death after being molested by, that’s right, a snowman in her very first on-screen role.
