10 Movies That Hired Famous Actors Solely To Kill Them Off
5. Drew Barrymore - Scream
Scream borrowed a couple of pages from the Psycho playbook, by casting a well-known actress, plastering her all over the poster and then brutally murdering her in the opening sequence. While Scream led the way for any number of annoying, self-consciously hip slasher movies in the mid-1990’s, it can’t be denied the original film was great.
The opening worked so well precisely because it featured a name like Drew Barrymore, and everyone expected her to escape. Director Wes Craven brilliantly milked the scene for every ounce of tension it was worth, and Barrymore’s eventual death was both shocking and gruesome.
Plus it sent the message that if the biggest star could die horribly, then a cast made up of mostly unknowns were probably in for a rough time too.