10 Stars Who Featured In Horror Movies Before They Were Famous

You don't get to the top of Hollywood without fighting a monster or two!

A Nightmare On Elm Street Johnny Depp
New Line Cinema

The end of the 20th Century was a special time for horror movies. CGI techniques weren’t yet as sophisticated as they are now, so film makers were forced to be more creative with their story lines and practical special effects to get their scares. These often led to better performances from the actors as they had something real to react to and they had to rely more on their acting skills as the effects couldn't just be added later digitally.

Low budgets meant that film makers couldn’t afford to hire big stars, which turned out to be good news, as some of our greatest actors and actresses got their big breaks in horror when they were still pretty much unknown. Some of the films were terrible, but some turned out to be cult classics, and they obviously didn't do their careers any harm.

Horror movies have a loyal fan base, so even if a film is not the greatest, there is a good chance people will watch it just because they like the genre. This makes horror a very good choice to start out an acting career.

While they may want us to forget some of these films, they are a great reminder that everyone has to start somewhere and an opportunity to see how far their acting skills have developed over the years.

Here are ten (technically 11) stars who featured in horror movies before they were famous.

10. Renee Zellweger And Matthew McConaughey – Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994)

A Nightmare On Elm Street Johnny Depp
Sony

Two for the price of one! Both Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey were unknown when they starred in this terrible sequel to the iconic original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was originally titled The Return of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Zellweger’s character Jenny was a pretty good final girl, who gets caught up with the infamous Slaughter family (re-named from the original Sawyers’) when her car crashes on the way home from prom. McConaughey is also surprisingly convincing as a manic and unhinged Vilmer Slaughter, who is disappointingly killed by a random ex machina plane while chasing Jenny with Leatherface.

When Zellweger subsequently got her breakthrough, first with Empire Records and then more noticeably in Jerry Maguire a year later, the film was re-cut, re-named and re-released in 1997 to capitalise on her fame. McConaughey’s agents tried unsuccessfully to block it, saying it would harm his career. It was unsurprisingly still a critical and financial failure.

Contributor

Acclaimed horror novelist and screenwriter... just kidding, eats pizza and watches horror movies with her cat