Entertainment

19 Celebs You Forgot Were In Ridiculously Cheesy Horror Movies

by Amy Roberts
Trimark Pictures/Dreamworks Pictures

If frights aren't quite your thing, then perhaps all the famous celebrities in cheesy horror movies will inspire you to check out a scary flick. Hell, even if you're something of a connoisseur when it comes to horror, there's still something fun about discovering a celebrity you know in a movie where you least expected them. For many actors, horror movies provide the basis of the start of their careers, giving them some of their first roles. For others, however, the horror genre is simply a fun place for them to drop a cameo or to enjoy the messy thrills of being covered in fake blood on a shoot.

Either way, there's something disconcerting (and often hilarious) about seeing a celebrity outside of whatever context we know them from. Be it the fact that these actors have since become Oscar winners or nominees, gone on to star in hit TV shows, or have been part of a band that you'd never in your life associate with the horror genre or Halloween, these guys just feel odd in these movies somehow. But here they are, screaming their little faces off, fighting and becoming monsters, and delivering some high quality cheesy dialogue. You don't want to miss these.

1Jennifer Aniston

Before she landed the role of Rachel Green in Friends, Aniston was in Leprechaun, a legendary B-movie horror in which she was tormented by an evil leprechaun.

2& 3. Renée Zellweger & Matthew McConaughey

If you want to see McConaughey turning his crazy up to 11, and Zellweger looking scared silly in a prom dress, then this is the movie for you. As you might expect, it isn't exactly the finest Texas Chainsaw installment, but Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4: The Next Generation certainly is fun.

3Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Sometime between 3rd Rock From The Sun and becoming a legit Hollywood superstar, Levitt starred as slasher bait for Michael Myers in Halloween H20. Fair warning: He does not fare well against the legendary killer.

4Paul Rudd

Look, we all love Rudd. He's a national treasure. But wow, his performance in Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers, the widely reviled installment of the Halloween franchise, is really something to behold.

5Jack Black

Inexplicably, Black plays a white, marijuana-smoking Rastafarian in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the problematic sequel to the 1997 slasher. Digest that information however you see fit.

6Jon Stewart

That's right, The Daily Show's former host once played a school teacher possessed by alien bugs in the underrated '90s horror The Faculty.

7Elijah Wood

Miramax

A teenage Elijah Wood also appeared in the same film.

8Kelly Rowland

Back in the band's prime, nobody would have ever predicted that a member of Destiny's Child would go on to challenge Freddy Krueger to a fight in Freddy Vs. Jason. But that's exactly what happened with Rowland in this crossover between Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th.

9& 11. Kate & Rooney Mara

While Rooney only has a small role in the movie (she was apparently only visiting her sister on set and wound up on screen), her sister had a lead role in Urban Legends: Bloody Mary, a straight to video sequel.

10Scott Patterson

Maybe you hate gory movies and have avoided Saw since forever, or maybe you weren't a Gilmore Girls convert before you saw these particular installments. However you approach it, it still feels shocking to see Patterson (a.k.a Luke Danes) playing an FBI agent in Saw IV, V, and VI. It's even weirder just seeing him without Luke's signature baseball cap, to be honest.

11Lauren Graham

Dimension Films

Speaking of Gilmore Girls, before she played the older Lorelai Gilmore, Graham played the background role of Marie in Nightwatch, a 1997 horror thriller about a necrophiliac serial killer. Which. Ew.

12Paris Hilton

Kim Kardashian's former bestie met a painful end in House Of Wax, the forgettable 2005 remake of the 1953 classic.

13Adam Brody

Dreamworks Pictures

Prior to stealing our hearts as The O.C.'s beloved Seth Cohen, Brody enjoyed a brief role in The Ring, the 2002 US remake of the Japanese horror. To be fair, the film itself is a classic, but the actor's cheese role featured him as a young teen who maybe knows something about that scary VHS that killed his friend, but not enough to be featured in more than one single scene.

14Amber Tamblyn

In the same film, Tamblyn plays one of the ill-fated schoolgirls at the start of the movie who made the bad decision to watch a cursed VHS tape a week earlier.

15& 18. Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright

The Baby Driver director and Star Trek actor have collaborated on numerous projects together, including the zombie-romantic-comedy Shaun Of The Dead. Which is exactly what compelled zombie maestro and Land Of The Dead director George A. Romero to including a cameo from the two in the movie.

16Torrey DeVitto

Prior to playing Melissa Hastings in Pretty Little Liars, DeVitto starred in I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, the straight-to-video follow up to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. It has 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, so. Enough said.

Round up all of your favorite movie buddies, because you definitely deserve a celebrity-themed cheesy horror movie marathon this Halloween. That performance from Rudd in Halloween 6 in and of itself is a treat that needs to be shared with others.