10 Actors Who Ruined Their Careers By Starring In Horror Movies

It’s fair to say that working on The Exorcist affected the lives of everyone involved. Backlash from Christian communities and the apparent ‘curse’ meant that people just weren’t the same afterwards. Poor little Linda Blair was one of the few who were severely affected by the film, as after her role as the possessed Regan MacNeil she struggled in the film business.

Blair received a lot of scrutiny thanks to the film which resulted in death threats. It got so bad that Warner Bros. had to bring Blair on a press tour just to prove that she was an ordinary teenager and not some spawn of Satan. However, NBC picked up Linda Blair after The Exorcist and decided to capitalize on the shocking success of the movie by placing her in the film Born Innocent, the highest-rated TV movie to air in the US.

As the years went on, Blair found herself starring in low budget horrors and exploitation films such as Savage Streets, Chained Heat, Hell Night and Witchery during a very low point in her life. These films started earning her multiple Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actress and nobody could take her seriously.

Her career could have been so much different had she not agreed to star in The Exorcist. However, these days Blair has a new found retrospective on her career in horror by starring in multiple documentaries and parodies.