10 Horror Movie Casting Choices That Shouldn't Have Worked (But Did)

Excision is a 2012 psychological horror film revolving around Pauline, a disturbed teen outcast with aspirations of entering the medical field, who has bad skin, greasy hair, and terrible posture.

One might've been tempted to laugh when the very beautiful, not remotely "unattractive" AnnaLynne McCord was cast in the role of Pauline then, especially given Hollywood's ridiculous tendency to cast conventionally good-looking people as "ugly" characters.

Yet McCord, best known for playing ultra-confident, put-together young women both before and since being cast in Excision, absolutely did the work to convince as Pauline. 

She was certainly aided by the stellar work of the film's makeup team, who successfully made McCord look as "plain" as possible, though ultimately it's McCord herself who strips away her typical moxie to play a more subdued, mousy character.

McCord plays aggressively against type here to perfection, in turn delivering one of the most criminally underrated horror performances of the 2000s so far. 

Excision certainly isn't for the faint of stomach, but absolutely worth watching for McCord's superb work above all else.