10 Most Underrated Horror Movie Performances

10. Jackie Earle Haley - A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

It's fair to say that very few horror fans were excited about the prospect of a Nightmare on Elm Street remake at all, let alone one which sought to replace the great Robert Englund in the role of iconic serial killer Freddy Krueger.

Freddy is part of the Mount Rushmore of horror movie villains, and that's in large part due to Englund's inimitable work in the role. And so, many simply weren't prepared to entertain the prospect of another actor playing the Krueger part.

That said, if you put all the hand-wringing aside, Jackie Earle Haley did a fantastic job of giving fans a totally different version of Freddy - less playful than the quasi-parody that Englund's version had become, and more skin-crawlingly grotesque.

Now, Haley's performance is always going to be handicapped by the generally tawdry quality of the Elm Street remake, but he's pretty much the only worthwhile aspect of the movie and acquits himself admirably in an extremely challenging role. Jackie Earle Haley absolutely deserves to get his flowers for that.