Almost as a rite of passage for any up-and-coming actor, the horror genre doesn’t discriminate. It welcomes everyone, young and old, black and white, with open claws. If performed well, it showcases a talent and mastery of timing from an actor that only the cobweb covered corners of horror can provide, which will give them the footing to move on to bigger roles. But for every Jaws, there is a Jaws: Revenge.
As an actor starting out, you’ll take anything you can get (see the likes of Jennifer Aniston running away from Warwick Davis’ gold-obsessed Leprechaun), with some performances coming from actors that are practically taking the pay check while begging to be killed off so that they can move on to something better (check out our number eight spot).
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Below are some of the biggest stars today, as deceased nobodies back then, and we’ll break down how they died, who killed them, and why it’s memorable. Spoilers obviously lie ahead for all the films discussed.
Katee Sackhoff, Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
Dimension Films
How? Decapitation.
Who by? Michael Myers.
Following the success of The Blair Witch Project on the big screen in 1999 and Big Brother on televisions in 2000, Halloween: Resurrection took on found footage and celebrity intrigue for this edition of Halloween. Winning a competition, a group of teens must stay the night in Michael Myers’ childhood home while documenting the process for the internet. Only, their timing sucks, as tonight is Halloween and Michael doesn’t like them wandering around in his home.
Soon to be praised for her work in the Battlestar Galactica series, Katee Sackhoff as a Gwen Stefani doppelganger who gets her head sliced clean off by Myers for the whole of the World Wide Web to see. Sackhoff commented on her experience with the film, revealing behind the scenes info and sharing that a body double was used in her place after refusing to do any nudity.
Eva Mendes, Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (1998)
How? Jumps into a silo.
Who by? Religious brainwashing.
Brainwashed by the words in the children’s bible, Kir (Eva Mendes) puts herself forward as tribute for their god, “He Who Walks Behind the Rows,” in the utterly unnecessary Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror. Mendes hops into a CGI fire at the bottom of a pit and is not seen again. This particular series has always sucked, and this addition is no different, despite the otherwise wonderful Eva Mendes’ inclusion.
George Clooney, Return to Horror High (1987)
How? Murdered behind closed doors.
Who by? No one! It’s a ruse by the production company.
Return to Horror High is a weird, surprisingly fun movie about which Steve Miller, in his horror film tome 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See, wrote, “The narrative threads of this low-budget spoof of slasher films are more tangled than the cocaine-fueled fever dreams of Quentin Tarantino.” Return to Horror High follows a film crew making a picture based on the unsolved killings of 1982; in one scene, a high-haired George Clooney wanders the halls of a high school dressed as a cop. Leaving the beaten track, he finds some blood dripping from the ceiling and is snatched by the killer. Although he does not reappear, it’s assumed he survives and that it is all for show.
Props to Clooney that already, still so young here, he has a watchable quality to him — despite only being on-screen for two minutes. In a really neat touch, you can see Clooney’s final breath on the glass of the door as he is “killed.”
Crispin Glover, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
How? Corkscrew in the hand, machete to the face.
Who by? Jason Voorhees.
Most remembered for his bizarre dance moves, Crispin Glover stars and is subsequently murdered in (the prematurely titled) Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.
Just a year before his turn in Back to the Future as George McFly, Crispin Glover was just another horny teen in this slasher flick. When searching for the corkscrew to toast his bygone virginity, Jason shows up and makes the celebration short-lived. Corey Feldman also features.
Jack Black, Mars Attacks! (1996)
Warner Bros.
How? Vaporized by ray gun.
Who by? Martians.
In this science -fiction horror spoof, upcoming comedy legend Jack Black (before High Fidelity and School of Rock) dons ‘a short back and sides’ as an American patriot. Introduced in the film as being able to assemble a rifle while blindfolded in under two minutes, hick Billy volunteers for “Martian detail.”
On the aliens’ arrival going south, Billy charges the invaders and is executed in a really rather sad moment in this surprisingly vicious movie. Props to Black here that he has his own dedicated moment in Mars Attacks! as a relative unknown among one of the grandest ensemble casts ever assembled.
Kevin Bacon, Friday the 13th (1980)
Paramount Pictures
How? Stabbed through the chest.
Who by? Mrs Voorhees.
Before starring as a horror antagonist in films like Hollow Man and They/Them, Kevin Bacon began as a victim. All alone and smoking a joint, a droplet of blood falls to Jack’s brow. Before he has time to figure out exactly what’s up there, a hand grabs the boy from under the bed and stabs upwards through the mattress and through his neck.
Friday the 13th basically writes the book on horror clichés, and having just gotten laid and now lighting up some of the devil’s lettuce in the very same scene, Jack breaks two of the golden rules of how to survive the genre. Kevin Bacon talks through the practicalities of how the Tom Savini effect happened in this interview from 2021.
Alec Baldwin, Beetlejuice (1988)
How? Car accident.
Who by? A dog in the road.
Before he had a chance to kill people on sets of his own, Alec Baldwin was being killed on-screen. Both simultaneously a more obvious choice and also not (because it happens in pretty much the first scene, and the character remains throughout the movie, albeit as a ghost), a pre-Hunt for Red October, Alec Baldwin starred alongside Geena Davis in the universally beloved Beetlejuice. Adam and Barbara’s idyllic lives are upended as they have a car accident and are killed in the first ten minutes of the run time. The long awaited sequel has been announced, with director Tim Burton set to return.
Jada Pinkett Smith, Scream 2 (1997)
How? Stabbed.
Who by? Ghostface.
Scream 2 somehow managed to hit the same highs as its original, if not improving on them. In this cold open (something Scream 2 would cement as a calling card for the series), a couple watch the latest Stab movie in a packed out theatre. Goons in Ghostface masks and rubber knives run about the place and popcorn is thrown everywhere. Watching the action unfold, we realize that a real killer hides among all the pretend ones. Jada Pinkett Smith dies bloody and breathless on stage, kicking off this thrilling sequel.
John Travolta, Carrie (1976)
MGM
How? Car toppled, and then exploded.
Who by? Carrie.
As one of the genuine villains of the movie, John Travolta plays Billy, Chris’ boyfriend in Carrie, and getting to finally see Travolta’s character die at the end of this film is such a fist pump moment. After having tormented Carrie (Sissy Spacek) throughout the entirety of the runtime, Chris drives Billy’s car directly toward Carrie in an attempt to kill her after her rampage.
Turning at the last second, Carrie telepathically takes the car off-road, causing it to flip again and again. Not quite enough, Carrie makes sure to blow the car up with the two of her tormenters inside. Travolta, Allen, and director Brian De Palma would reunite for the masterful Blow Out in 1981.
Johnny Depp, A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
New Line Cinema
How? Eaten by a crease in the bed and spat out via blood fountain.
Who by? Freddy Krueger
The credits of A Nightmare on Elm Street literally read, “Introducing Johnny Depp,” something the film certainly does. Depp plays Glen, the boyfriend of final girl Nancy (Heather Langenkamp), and he just can’t keep his eyes open. As Nancy takes on Krueger in a final showdown, the unreliable Glen falls asleep with the TV in his lap. Sucking him into the bed itself, Glen disappears. There’s silence for a second — before a shower of blood emerges from the hole and up to the ceiling. To be remembered as arguably the most iconic kill in the whole series, across a series with so many kills, remains very impressive.
Depp would return to the series and get hit in the face with a frying pan in Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare.
