15 Seemingly Terrible Horror Castings That Totally Paid Off

14. Send Help - Rachel McAdams

When the legendary Sam Raimi made his long-awaited return to the horror genre with Send Help, he ended up casting Rachel McAdams in the lead role. His previous directorial effort had been 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - an awful film, though Raimi's directing was easily the best thing about it - and he'd rightly felt that McAdams was wasted in it, so he wanted to give her a better role here. 

The result was pretty much the best performance of the Canadian star's career, although it wasn't a performance many saw coming. McAdams has always been an immensely likable and gifted actress (even if her Oscar nod for Spotlight was questionable) but she hadn't played this kind-of dark, psychopathic role before. 

Well, after this, hopefully she'll return to the horror genre as soon as possible. McAdams crushed this role and all of its dualities, being hilarious and frightening, crazy yet sympathetic in equal measure. Send Help itself does suffer from stretching a very thin premise a bit too far but it's still a good work overall, and so much of that is down to McAdams' fiendishly entertaining performance. 

It's official - there is so much more to Rachel McAdams than comedies and romantic dramas, and it's high-time Hollywood took notice of this.