8 Great Acting Performances That Outshone The Horror Movie

Although horror is and always will be a polarising genre amongst cinema-goers, both audiences and critics alike have always waved a white flag and admitted when a horror performance hits the sweet spot. Above all else, it’s an exceptional acting portrayal that allows the success of an average horror movie to spill over into mainstream critical acclaim.

The chemistry of Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in 1991’s sensational Best Picture winner Silence Of The Lambs springs most to mind; as does Mia Farrow in the disturbing unfold of 1968’s Rosemary’s Baby or Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s game-changing Stephen King-adaptation, The Shining. The list could go on. There’s something particularly riveting and absorbing about an on-screen horror performance - it’s all in the sheer unfiltered terror of a victim’s eyes or the deafening haunt of their scream.

However, amongst the great horror classics, there is, unfortunately, a list of horror movie missteps that were swept under the rug before its performances could really be given a proper look at.

Bad horror movies are notoriously labelled as shameful flops, but sometimes a performance can act as a shining superior counterpart to the film’s awfulness. These actors and actresses are those who now deserve an overdue round of applause for their underrated performances in their ultimately inferior movies.

It’s easy to forget that in the same year as her breakthrough role in The Social Network, Rooney Mara also starred as the alternate ‘Nancy’ in the remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street - big shoes to fill after Heather Langenkamp’s fan favourite portrayal in the original 1984 classic.

To put it simply, Mara’s performance ticks a lot more boxes than it does cross-out any, but the movie itself? Well, it’s just another shoddy, pointless remake.

Released 26 years after the original, this 2010 reboot can be praised for its glossy re-envision, as can the cast performances be given a moderate round of applause too, but it's hard to avoid the feeling that it's just a needless and characterless Michael Bay modernisation that simply no one asked for.

If we think back to the 2010s, there was a string of Platinum Dunes horror remakes that pretty much all failed to ignite any significance with fans or critics - including Friday the 13th, The Hitcher, and Amityville Horror - and arguably, A Nightmare on Elm Street’s CGI-infused remake is the worst of them all.

Its writers aimed for it to be darker and scarier re-telling, including the delve into Freddy’s child-molesting back-story, but ultimately, one of the only aspects that provoked any greater sense of fear and terror was Rooney Mara’s performance.

As we’ve now seen in psychological-thrillers like 2011’s Girl With The Dragon Tattoo or 2017’s A Ghost Story, Mara has a knack for immersing audiences in her melancholic moody charisma. It’s just a shame the rest of A Nightmare on Elm Street failed to deliver anything else, most notably including the failed impossible task of re-inventing Fred Krueger with Jackie Earl Hale.

Sorry Jackie, you did a passable job, but you’re no Robert Englund.