No other movie genre has to fight to prove its own legitimacy quite like horror. For example, you need look no further than how routinely horror is snubbed by major awards institutions like the Oscars, with just a few rare exceptions.
No filmmaking discipline is underestimated in the horror genre more than acting, with many still holding outdated beliefs that horror simply offers actors less opportunities than, well, just about any other type of movie. But the annals of horror history prove this categorically wrong, and while we’ve all screamed from the rooftops about Toni Collette’s astounding work in Hereditary, Lupita Nyong’o in Us, and Essie Davis in The Babadook – to name just a few – what about those excellent horror performances that have been largely overlooked?
We’re talking about those incredible feats of horror acting that have bafflingly fallen by the wayside for one reason or another. Perhaps they were overshadowed by another, more audience-friendly performance, or maybe the movie itself simply didn’t get the distribution it deserved. Whatever the reason, these 10 stunning horror movie performances deserve to be held high among the genre’s very best.
It’s fair to say that very few horror fans were excited about the prospect of a Nightmare on Elm Street remake at all, let alone one which sought to replace the great Robert Englund in the role of iconic serial killer Freddy Krueger.
Freddy is part of the Mount Rushmore of horror movie villains, and that’s in large part due to Englund’s inimitable work in the role. And so, many simply weren’t prepared to entertain the prospect of another actor playing the Krueger part.
That said, if you put all the hand-wringing aside, Jackie Earle Haley did a fantastic job of giving fans a totally different version of Freddy – less playful than the quasi-parody that Englund’s version had become, and more skin-crawlingly grotesque.
Now, Haley’s performance is always going to be handicapped by the generally tawdry quality of the Elm Street remake, but he’s pretty much the only worthwhile aspect of the movie and acquits himself admirably in an extremely challenging role. Jackie Earle Haley absolutely deserves to get his flowers for that.
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