Once an actor reaches the stratosphere of stardom, it's easy to forget their humble beginnings. This is even more painfully true when those inauspicious freshman efforts happen to be found in the likes of campy horror flicks. Would you have guessed the rightful King of Gondor once ran with Leatherface? Or that one of America's most beloved Oscar-winning actors was in a movie that earned a rare 0% on Rotten Tomatoes? Let's take a look at stars you never knew started out in low-budget horror films.
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00:00Would you have guessed the rightful King of Gondor once ran with Leatherface?
00:04Or that one of America's most beloved Oscar-winning actors was in a movie that earned a rare
00:09zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes?
00:11Let's take a look at stars you never knew started out in low-budget horror films.
00:15Despite a renewed look at the Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise due to both the advent
00:19of streaming and continued sequels and prequels, horror fans remain divided on Leatherface
00:24Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3.
00:26To be fair, few would know how to follow up Tobey Hooper's zany offbeat sequel to
00:31his own 1974 game-changing original, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
00:35In the director's chair this time around is Jeff Burr, who helmed sequels in the Stepfather,
00:40Pumpkinhead, and Puppetmaster franchises.
00:43The year is 1990, and New Line Cinema has the reins on Leatherface and the dysfunctional
00:48Sawyer family, which now boasts new clan members.
00:51Among them is Tex, played by Viggo Mortensen with Zeal.
00:55Tex nails the final girl's hands to a chair, threatens rape by Leatherface, and throws
00:59temper tantrums before understandably losing a fight with Ken Foray and getting overheated.
01:04But a little fire never hurt the American actor.
01:07He would later fight on behalf of the Free Creatures of Middle-Earth in Peter Jackson's
01:11Lord of the Rings trilogy, and fight nude in a bathhouse in David Cronenberg's Eastern
01:15Promises.
01:16That's only two among a slew of other memorable performances.
01:19Yeah, right?
01:21I'm good.
01:22Before Friends and Office Space, American sweetheart Jennifer Aniston called upon the
01:26luck of the Irish to battle evil in Leprechaun.
01:30Aniston starred opposite Warwick Davis in the 1993 horror film about a knee-high killer
01:34seeking his pot of gold at any cost.
01:36Oh, come on, let him go chase rainbows.
01:38Let's you and I go paint.
01:40After a man named O'Grady returns to the U.S. with the titular Leprechaun's treasure, the
01:45Leprechaun follows and gets trapped in a basement.
01:47Then it's up to Aniston's character, Tori, to somehow escape the jokey murderer's first
01:52of many sprees once he's released.
01:54Unfortunately, Aniston wouldn't make it into space as the franchise kept churning out sequels.
01:59One Leprechaun was enough.
02:00How does Aniston remember the experience?
02:02She told Howard Stern,
02:04"...I watched it like eight years ago, with our mutual friend Justin Theroux, for s----
02:08and giggles.
02:09We were dating.
02:10It was one of those things when I tried to get that remote out of his hand and there
02:13was just no having it.
02:14He was like, no, no, no, no, this is happening."
02:17Aniston isn't the only actor to find success in low-budget horror worlds, but seems to
02:21have more of a reaction than others.
02:24Leprechaun is a cult classic now, but don't expect Aniston to list it atop her career
02:28accomplishments.
02:30Not many people can say that their feature film debut took place in the second film in
02:33history to win all five of the major categories at the Academy Awards.
02:37However, for Christopher Lloyd, who played Max Tabor in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,
02:42that is precisely what happened.
02:44The sky was the limit for Lloyd, but only five years after his cinematic debut, he seemingly
02:49took a step backward in the eyes of many by appearing in the ultra-low-budget horror film
02:53Schizoid.
02:54Likely cast due to his Cuckoo's Nest connection, Lloyd played a creepy handyman named Gilbert,
03:00attending group therapy hosted by Dr. Peter Phails, when suddenly all of his patients
03:04find themselves stalked by a scissor-wielding slasher.
03:07Written and directed by David Paulsen of Dynasty and Dallas fame, Schizoid was not well-received
03:12upon its release.
03:14In an episode of sneak previews, legendary critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert lambasted
03:19the film's misogyny, going as far as to call it gruesome and despicable.
03:24Lloyd spent the next five years acting in westerns and forgettable dramas, until 1985,
03:29when he would nab the role of Doc Brown in Back to the Future that would change his life
03:33forever.
03:35A heartthrob like Brad Pitt is the perfect physical specimen for a killer in hiding,
03:38and that's exactly who he played in 1989.
03:41Cutting Class features Pitt as bad boy Dwight, who competes with recently released mental
03:45hospital patient Brian for a young girl's affection.
03:48The film becomes a whodunit that wants you to guess the murderer between Dwight and Brian.
03:52The production uses a body double during slasher sequences, so it's impossible to detect Dwight
03:57or Brian's figure.
03:58Pitt hasn't mentioned Cutting Class in quite some time, so there are no recent tidbits
04:02about whether or not starting in horror gave him any advantage.
04:06Pitt did, however, become romantically coupled with co-star Jill Sholin, leading to an engagement
04:10but no marriage.
04:12Cutting Class isn't exactly a classic of the horror-comedy subgenre, which might be why
04:16no one's clamoring for Pitt's decades-old opinion.
04:19Still, the film is worth checking out, just for curiosity's sake, not that Pitt needs
04:23any support in getting fans to watch him on screen.
04:26He's saved Private Ryan, he's been a castaway, he's been down the green mile and the road
04:33to perdition.
04:34Like a long-distance runner who seemingly never runs out of energy and will, he keeps
04:37on trucking, picking up Oscars and numerous other accolades along the way.
04:42Looking back on his illustrious career, it seems that Tom Hanks really has done it all.
04:46This is especially true when you realize that he was even a potential victim in the deep-cut
04:501980 slasher He Knows You're Alone.
04:53Coming out of the shockwaves sent by John Carpenter's Halloween just a couple of years
04:57prior, Armand Mastroianni's directorial debut capitalized on slasher formulas set around
05:02a single theme, in this case, weddings.
05:05As a bride-to-be is hunted by a blade-wielding maniac in the weeks before the big ceremony,
05:10Hanks appears as an aw-shucks acquaintance of hers named Elliot.
05:13He goes on a tangent about the thrill of roller coasters in horror movies, saying,
05:17"...it's safe.
05:18You can leave the movie or get off the ride with a vicarious thrill and the feeling that
05:22you just conquered death.
05:23One hell of a first-class rush."
05:25Slightly obnoxious, but technically correct and likable, Hanks' Elliot predates the genre
05:29expert Randy Meeks of Scream by a decade and a half.
05:33Thankfully, he has spared the knife, but the same can't be said of his co-stars.
05:37Leonardo DiCaprio may be one of Hollywood's premier leading men, but the former teen heartthrob
05:41didn't actually have his feature film debut in the Academy Award-nominated What's Eating
05:46Gilbert Grape, as many assume.
05:48That honor was reserved for the low-budget horror film Critters 3.
05:52Currently boasting an impressive 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, Critters 3 was directed
05:56by Christine Peterson and was the first in the film's franchise to not take place in
06:00its usual setting of Grover's Bend.
06:03As goofy as this direct-to-video sequel about furry aliens destroying the world is, DiCaprio
06:07delivers some genuine emotional depth as Josh.
06:10He's stepson of a corrupt landlord, who eventually gets eaten by the Krites, and the love interest
06:15of the film's protagonist, Annie.
06:17When he discovers he's accidentally trapped his stepfather in a room with the aliens,
06:21his reaction gives the audience a preview of the superstardom awaiting him in the future.
06:25A good actor is a good actor, regardless of the material.
06:28DiCaprio himself described his role,
06:30Your average, no-depth, standard kid with blonde hair.
06:33But his obvious talent added some unexpected nuance to the ridiculous world of Critters
06:383.
06:40The same year he verbally sparred with Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, Paul Rudd, aka Ant-Man,
06:45went toe-to-toe with the boogeyman himself.
06:47Halloween, The Curse of Michael Myers, sees Paul Stephen Rudd assuming the role of Tommy
06:51Doyle, one of the two children Laurie Strode babysits in the original Halloween.
06:56Bright-eyed and neurotic, a clearly traumatized Doyle is the only person other than Dr. Loomis
07:01who understands just how evil Michael Myers is.
07:04And soon, very soon, he'll come home to kill again.
07:10He spends the rest of the movie stalking his neighbor, taking care of a baby he found in
07:14a bathroom, and depending on which cut of the film is playing, beating the life out
07:18of Michael Myers with a pipe.
07:20No Pym particles required
07:22Not only does George Clooney claim the honor of appearing on this list, but he dies a slasher
07:27victim's death in 1987's Return to Horror High.
07:30The film is Clooney's official low-budget horror debut, where he plays an actor starring
07:35in some filmmakers' exploitation thriller that uses the abandoned location of actual
07:39murders.
07:40Clooney's performer plays a cop investigating fake murders in the real Crippen High School,
07:44where he's offed by what most presume is the original killer's second act.
07:48Clooney only makes it about 12 minutes into Return to Horror High before he's attacked
07:52offscreen and fatally dispatched.
07:55There's not much gore beyond Clooney's bloodstained face pressed against a classroom door's window,
07:59which speaks to the film's lower budget.
08:02He doesn't get an excessively gratuitous exit, just some yelps and gurgles before a stabbing
08:06noise clues viewers into the method of assassination.
08:09Who knew the actor who plays a failed actor would eventually become one of Hollywood's
08:13most popular megastars?
08:15Keira Knightley has made a name for herself as the queen of the prestige period piece
08:19and big blockbuster pirate fare.
08:21But the same year she played a decoy for Queen Amidala in Star Wars Episode I, The Phantom
08:26Menace, Knightley was cast in British indie horror The Hole.
08:29The project was an adaptation of Guy Burtt's short YA horror novel, After the Hole, from
08:341993.
08:35Keira Knightley was 16 years old at the time and starred as Frankie.
08:39At that point in her career, Knightley was a relative unknown.
08:42She'd worked on a handful of other productions, but always in bit parts.
08:46This was her first major role, and she loved getting to explore the character's duality.
08:50She said around the film's release,
08:52"...Frankie is a real b----, so she was fantastic to play.
08:55She's sparky, fun, and headstrong."
08:57The movie is more than 20 years old at this point, but it's still worth going into it
09:01as fresh as possible.
09:02Suffice to say, there are two sides to the story, and the twist is pitch black.
09:07Knightley is a big part of that.
09:08A gory, Cronenberg-esque relic of the VHS horror era, Parasite might not necessarily
09:14have an enduring legacy, though it was a moderate hit upon its 1982 release.
09:19There's plenty to love about this bloody post-apocalyptic creature feature, namely Demi Moore's second
09:24on-screen appearance.
09:26Set after an atomic event in the not-too-distant future, Parasite tells the story of a shady
09:30government entity called the Merchants.
09:33They employ Dr. Paul Dean to genetically engineer parasitic creatures to feed off of the humans
09:37that survived.
09:39This allows the Merchants to take control of the remaining citizens, reducing the risk
09:42of apocalyptic lawlessness.
09:44That is, until the parasites themselves become too dangerous to be controlled.
09:49Moore plays Patricia, a lemon farmer who teams up with a newly infected Dean to try and stop
09:53the parasitic spread.
09:55Her occupation and the constant visual motif of lemons tease that the citric fruit could
10:00have factored into the defeat of the blood-sucking entities, although it turns out that good
10:04old-fashioned sonic blasts and red-hot flames will do the trick.
10:07While the plot of Parasite might not be the most creative form of horror, its gnarly practical
10:12effects and no-holds-barred attitude towards blood and guts make it worth seeking out.
10:17After all, who isn't curious about the prospect of Demi Moore as a lemon farmer in a veritable
10:21nuclear wasteland?
10:23Patricia Arquette has played a wide variety of roles over the years.
10:27She was terrifying as Dee Dee Blanchard on Hulu's The Act, adorable as Alabama Worley
10:31in True Romance, and inspiring as ghost whisperer Allison on Medium.
10:36Arquette has dabbled in the stranger side of cinema as well, working with David Lynch
10:40on Lost Highway and Martin Scorsese on his psychological drama film Bringing Out the
10:45Dead.
10:46But before she did any of those, she faced off against one of the scariest movie monsters
10:50of all, Freddy Krueger.
10:52Arquette's very first role was in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Dream Warriors, playing the
10:56lead role of Kristen Parker, a teenage girl whose nightmares are haunted by Freddy.
11:01She teams up with her new therapist and Freddy's former victim, Nancy Thompson, to try and
11:05stop the murderous monster once and for all.
11:08Dream Warriors is beloved by both critics and fans alike, with two fabulous final girls
11:12teaming up to finally finish Freddy, at least until the next sequel.
11:17Arquette is excellent in her film debut and shows exactly the kind of skill that she'll
11:20display throughout the rest of her prolific career.
11:23Even if slashers aren't your jam, Dream Warriors is one of the best.
11:27Julia Louis-Dreyfus is one funny lady, but before she was yucking it up as Elaine on
11:32Seinfeld or making politics palatable as the Vice President of the United States on Veep,
11:37she had a bit role in a 1980s cult horror classic.
11:40Her very first movie role was in Troll in 1986, playing a young woman who becomes possessed
11:46by the spirit of an ancient troll and starts behaving like a wood nymph.
11:50She dances around her apartment in the nude, with some carefully placed leaves to keep
11:53things PG-13, but doesn't really do much else.
11:57She's one of the many characters in the apartment complex who fall under the spell of the troll.
12:01However, the main focus is on the Potter family, whose daughter Wendy Ann is the first to be
12:06bewitched.
12:07Eventually, son Harry Potter — yes, his name's Harry Potter — finds a good witch
12:11in the building, and they are able to fight the troll's malicious magic.
12:15Troll is a wild and weird B-movie that's as much fantasy as it is horror, and it's perfect
12:19for Louis-Dreyfus because it also has plenty of laughs.
12:23Though her career would almost entirely stick to comedy after she found fame, Troll proves
12:27that she can do a little bit of everything.
12:29Okay, I get that, I respect that.
12:32About a year before cutting a rug and breaking jaws at the enchantment Under the Sea Dance
12:36in Back to the Future, Crispin Glover was body-dropping at the hands of one of horror's
12:40most iconic killers.
12:42Pamela Voorhees' hockey-mask-wearing undead son Jason is four films deep into the extensive
12:47Friday the 13th franchise by this point.
12:50The latest crop of fresh blood is made up of more sexed-up teens looking to party, plus
12:54a baby-faced Corey Feldman.
12:56Director Frank Zito pulled from his Rolodex and brought in the prowler SFX makeup maestro
13:00Tom Savini to handle the body count and kill his own SFX creation of Jason Voorhees.
13:06Among Savini's gorier works is the death of Crispin Glover's fumbling character Jimmy,
13:11who ventures into the kitchen for a bottle of wine.
13:13In a scene shot in reverse for more effect on the impact, Jimmy takes a corkscrew to
13:17the hand and a cleaver to the face, twitching and all.
13:21Thanks to his run on the Emmy Award-winning Schitt's Creek, Dan Levy has become one of
13:25the most well-liked actors in the industry.
13:27The son of legendary Canadian comedy actor Eugene Levy, Dan obviously had some advantages
13:32breaking into the industry.
13:33Still, the former host of Canada's MTV Live got his start in film the way so many others
13:39do, by starring in a low-budget horror movie.
13:41In 2012, Levy starred alongside Misha Barton in the Lifetime thriller Cyberstalker.
13:46Barton plays a woman named Aiden Ashley, whose life was ripped apart when an online stalker
13:51showed up at her home and murdered her parents 13 years earlier.
13:54After that, she wisely stays offline for a long time, but when she ends up promoting
13:58a showing of her work at an art gallery online, the stalking begins again.
14:02So, she hires Dan Levy's character Jack Dayton, a cybersecurity professional, to investigate.
14:08In a not-so-shocking turn of events, the wheelchair using Jack Dayton is revealed to have been
14:12the cyberstalker all along, and the person responsible for killing Aiden Ashley's family
14:17and friends.
14:18Yes, that means that David Rose of Schitt's Creek made his film debut playing a slasher
14:22villain.
14:23When asked for a short review of his film debut on an episode of the popular web series
14:26Hot Ones, Levy said,
14:28"'It's bad.
14:29How about that?
14:30And if I was allowed a third word, it's very bad.'"
14:33"'Yes.
14:34Yes, it is.'"
14:35Funnily enough, seasoned comedian Seth Rogen's first film role was in Donnie Darko, the 2001
14:41surrealist horror drama that would make his co-star Jake Gyllenhaal a household name.
14:45While the actor technically had his debut as Ken on the Judd Apatow-produced TV show
14:49Freaks and Geeks back in 1999, his small role in Donnie Darko heralded the first of many
14:55film performances for Rogen.
14:57He played Ricky Danforth, one of the titular character's many high school bullies.
15:01Still, his part ended up taking a backseat to the demented Frank, a man in a very sinister-looking
15:06bunny suit who follows Donnie around.
15:09Whether Frank is a mere figment of Donnie's imagination or a personal, tragic omen remains
15:13unclear.
15:14Don't turn to Rogen for deeper insight, though.
15:16In an interview with Collider ahead of the release of 2007's Knocked Up, Rogen admits
15:21to still not grasping what exactly went down in Donnie Darko.
15:24He claims he didn't know back then and still doesn't know now, but all that matters to
15:28him is that he had a good time making the film.
15:31So Donnie Darko may have been one of Rogen's rare dramatic pursuits, but his ability to
15:36have fun on set was one and the same with his subsequent comedic ventures.
15:40Jack Nicholson has played many horrific characters over the years, from Jack Torrance in The
15:44Shining to the actual devil in The Witches of Eastwick.
15:48So it shouldn't be all that much of a surprise that he got his start in horror.
15:51It also shouldn't be any more surprising to find out that it was the great Roger Corman
15:55who gave the future A-list star his start.
15:57One of Nicholson's first appearances was as the masochistic dental patient Wilbur Force
16:02in the original The Little Shop of Horrors.
16:04He brought eager, manic energy to the guy who gets off on dental pain.
16:08It's quite an off-putting performance, by the way.
16:10It might be an early indicator of the madman we see in The Shining.
16:14Nicholson would then star in The Terror for Roger Corman, but it was his less-than-three-minutes-on-screen
16:19in The Little Shop of Horrors that really made audiences sit up and take notice for
16:22the first time.
16:24Bill Paxton's first starring role was in a 1983 cheapo horror movie called Mortuary,
16:29which sees the charismatic young actor playing the bad guy, a creepy young man who works
16:34as an embalmer for the local mortuary.
16:36He's weird even when he's just himself, but he's also depicted as a ghoulish hooded figure
16:40stalking the main character.
16:42Horror once again underlines its importance in being Hollywood's talent scout here, as
16:46Paxton was given all the room to be broad, theatrical, and effectively creepy in this
16:51early outing.
16:52Considering he always seems to have a foot in both the comedy and genre worlds, it makes
16:56sense that Paxton's talents were well-suited for this first low-budget horror picture.
17:01This $850,000 movie might not be regarded as a classic, but it is an early showcase
17:06for Paxton, who really swings for the fences, leaning full-on into the camp movie he's in.
17:11In 1999, Hilary Swank impressed the world with her performance as transgender man Brandon
17:16Tina in Kimberly Pierce's harrowing Boys Don't Cry.
17:20It was a performance that shocked many who only knew Swank for her roles on the teen
17:23drama Beverly Hills 90210 or her breakout performance in The Next Karate Kid.
17:29While Swank is known now as a remarkably talented dramatic actor, many forget that she got her
17:33cinematic start in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
17:36The 1992 feature-length predecessor of the popular television series of the same name,
17:41Buffy leaned heavily into the world of camp cinema, with Swank's performance as Kimberly
17:45Hannah being one of the standout roles.
17:47As one of Buffy's sidekick best friends, Swank doesn't get a whole lot of screen time, but
17:52she absolutely made the best of every second she was given.
17:55Sure, Deadly Blessing may not be Wes Craven's most acclaimed horror film, but it is distinct
18:00for two glorious reasons.
18:02For starters, it's the first prominent film role of future Hollywood femme fatale Sharon
18:07Stone.
18:08It also features a wardrobe that New York Times critic Janet Maslin described as,
18:11"...six months' worth of lounging pajamas."
18:13Honestly, what more can one possibly desire from their viewing experience?
18:18As it turns out, critics still aren't entirely satisfied by an abundance of negligees and
18:23beautiful women.
18:24The 1981 horror film focuses on an isolated community of people known as Hittites, a sect
18:29so conservative they allegedly make the Amish look like swingers.
18:33Martha married a former Hittite, but they still live in close proximity to the community
18:37on their farm.
18:39When Martha's husband is mysteriously killed, her L.A. friends arrive for the funeral and
18:42an extended visit.
18:44As it turns out, an ancient Hittite incubus might just be the cause of the recent violence,
18:49and the arrival of these beautiful women might just exacerbate things.
18:53Stone's role is minor, but her stunning looks make her on-screen presence totally magnetic.
18:58It would be over a decade before she played the salacious, white-dress-donning Catherine
19:01Tramiel in Paul Verhoeven's 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct.
19:06As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.
19:09Hayley Bennett's name isn't associated much with horror anymore.
19:13She's become a star attached to everything from awards contenders like Cyrano to blockbusters
19:17like the upcoming Borderlands.
19:19That's after finding a career in horror titles like The Hole, Christie, and after facing
19:23her childhood fears by accepting the titular role in The Haunting of Molly Hartley.
19:28Starring alongside a mop-haired Chase Crawford, Bennett tries to escape PTSD by starting over
19:33at a new school.
19:34Then, the supernatural interferes.
19:36Suffice it to say, the role of Molly Hartley was recast in 2015's extremely lesser-known
19:41sequel, The Exorcism of Molly Hartley.
19:44Is no franchise safe from studio continuations?
19:47Bennett told Interview magazine in 2008,
19:49"...I'm pretty mad at horror films for ruining my childhood."
19:53A single viewing of 1990's It caused Bennett to redecorate her bedroom without visible
19:57clowns.
19:58When asked why she chose horror-centric roles as a young professional, Bennett said,
20:02"...playing Molly in The Haunting of Molly Hartley was the ultimate challenge.
20:06There's nothing like exposure therapy in the form of paranormal frights and bloody guts
20:10to shake your fears."
20:11Not to say Bennett's had any ideas about returning to horror since, but her path through slashers
20:16and hauntings has led to extraordinary heights.
20:19"...I need to move on."
20:20Many horror fans remember the 1988 movie Monkey Shines for its offbeat direction by George
20:26Romero or its use of primate performers.
20:29But it should also be known for introducing the world to two amazing character actors,
20:33Stanley Tucci and Steven Root.
20:35The movie stars Jason Begay as Alan Mann, a law student who is rendered quadriplegic
20:40after an accident.
20:41He eventually gets a service animal to help him, a capuchin monkey who has been given
20:45a special brain serum to make her as smart as a human.
20:48As Alan and his monkey begin to bond, things get really weird.
20:52Root plays Dean Burbage, who pushes the scientists doing the monkey experiments to more extreme
20:56results.
20:57At the time, he was a relatively well-known stage performer, but had never done much TV
21:02or film.
21:03Tucci plays Dr. John Wiseman, a spinal surgeon who gives Begay a second opinion on his injury,
21:08plus an unsolicited one about the hair on his derriere.
21:11Both men would go on to have incredible careers.
21:13Seeing them show up in anything automatically makes that piece of media more entertaining.
21:17So it's pretty amazing that they both got their start in a weird little horror flick
21:21about a mind-melding monkey.