10 Amazing Horror Movie Performances That Should've Won Oscars

Because The Exorcist III is often unfairly dismissed as another junky belated horror sequel, it's fair to say that Brad Dourif has never really gotten his flowers for his jaw-dropping work in the film.

Even though the threequel has a terrific George C. Scott front and center, it's Dourif who categorically steals the movie as James Venamun, an unhinged serial killer known as Gemini who is clearly loosely based on the Zodiac Killer.

No matter that Dourif spends most of his screen time in a straightjacket, he brings a pulse-quickening unpredictability to the part, vacillating between eerie calm and explosive intensity at a moment's notice, ensuring the audience can never get comfortable in his presence. Dourif is basically hypnotic in the film's lengthy monologues, using his physicality and wonderfully expressive face to make Gemini a villain more than worthy of the original Exorcist's demonic entity.

Fascinatingly, Brad Dourif's performance almost never happened at all, as Fox brass didn't want to cast him in the role of Gemini, and only did so after their initial choice - original Exorcist star Jason Miller - was too unwell to play the part.