20 Great Horror Roles Ruined By Terrible Acting
4. Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers - Tommy Doyle
Tommy Doyle was the child being babysat by Laurie Strode in the original Halloween, and in 1995's appallingly bad Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, a grown-up Tommy was one of the movie's protagonists. In this case, he was played by Paul Rudd.
Yes, that Paul Rudd.
Like quite a few other big names - Johnny Depp was in A Nightmare on Elm Street, John Travolta was in Carrie, Leonardo DiCaprio was in... Critters 3 - Rudd had an early, high-profile role in a horror movie. He was just one of the many good-looking young people roped in, with no one knowing the amazing heights he would reach one day.
Well, no one would've been able to guess that from watching this. As much as we all love Paul Rudd, he's horrendously bad in this sixth Halloween picture and ruined the character of Tommy Doyle with his utterly bizarre, stilted performance.
Tommy is a character who's worked just fine in all of his other appearances. He was a thankfully un-irritating child character in the first film, and Anthony Michael Hall (who seemed like a questionable casting choice at first) did commendable work as him in 2021's Halloween Kills. Nevertheless, in his biggest role to date, the character was godawful, and as much as it hurts to say this, it's mainly down to Paul Rudd's performance.