12 Celebrity Actors Who Took A Chance On Scary Movies and Succeeded

Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles is based on the incredibly popular book by Anne Rice and stars one of the biggest stars in the world Tom Cruise. The film also stars Kirstin Dunst and Brad Pitt, who are also stars who had never done a horror film before. Brad Pitt was in an episode of Tales From The Crypt, though. The film was directed by Neil Jordan, an Academy Award winner for writing his movie The Crying Game. Tom Cruise has also starred in horror films The War of The Worlds and The Mummy, a reboot meant to start up The Dark Universe franchise for Universal. While the Dark Universe didn't pan out, it wasn't for lack of star power.

Cillian Murphy, star of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, was the lead in Danny Boyle's incredible zombie film 28 Days Later in 2002. He also starred as Jackson Rippner in Wes Craven's Red Eye with Rachel McAdams in 2005. He's been working with Christopher Nolan since 2005's Batman Begins. Making horror films hasn't hurt his career, and the fact that he worked with Wes Craven and Christopher Nolan around the same time proves that.

I am bringing Barbenheimer into this because it really shows how far horror films have come. Greta Gerwig is an actress, and is the co-writer and director of one of the biggest movies of 2023, Barbie. One of her most memorable early roles was in Ti West's horror film House of the Devil where she played the role of Megan. Poor Megan. She didn't deserve to go out that way.

The Devil's Advocate stars one of the greatest actors in the world, Al Pacino, and was directed by Taylor Hackford, the well-respected director of An Officer and a Gentleman, and Ray. It was made in the late 90s before the current boom of horror films received as prestige films, and Pacino plays Satan in the movie.

George Clooney starred in this graphic and gory vampire film with Quentin Tarantino, Juliette Lewis, and Harvey Keitel. While Clooney had starred in horror films before as an up-and-coming actor, he starred in this horror, action, comedy hybrid directed by Robert Rodriguez right before his first film as Batman. This was at the height of his 90s fame, and unlike the times when he did horror early in his career, he didn't have to make a vampire movie, but he still did.

Blade is a vampire horror film and Marvel's first successful film. At the time, Wesley Snipes was a massive star in films like New Jack City, Rising Sun, and White Men Can't Jump, so this was not normal. But still, he and Kris Kristofferson, who worked in prestigious films with Michael Cimino and Martin Scorsese, went for it, which was a great idea.

Eight Legged Freaks stars horror favorite David Arquette, but Scarlett Johannson has an early role in this horror comedy. It shows that it doesn't matter if you wait until you are successful and famous to do a horror movie or do one when you are unknown. In this fun movie, Johannson is menaced by jumping spiders intent on eating the entire town.

In Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, actors Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger, starred in this horror franchise sequel and became famous actors in the 2000s. It is probably not what anyone who saw the movie expected, but that is precisely what happened. As actors, you can't turn down opportunities.

Species stars Natasha Henstridge, but her character Sil is an alien that grows at an alarming rate. The well-regarded actress Michelle Williams plays Sil as the slightly younger version that breaks out of the lab. It's a fact that not many people remember, but it's the truth.

Henry Cavill is well known now for playing Superman and Geralt of Rivia. He's also gone toe to toe with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible - Fallout. But way back in 2005, he was part of the cast of Hellraiser: Hellworld, a film that was made to fulfill a contractual obligation required to film Hellraiser: Deader in Romania.

The Sixth Sense is the first horror film that actress Toni Collette did, and she did a second one in 2011, the remake of Fright Night. But her career didn't go to the level it reached until after Hereditary in 2018. While most of her career was spent working on mainstream projects, she has gotten the most acclaim and fame from the horror films she has done.

The Witch was the first film that Anya Taylor-Joy starred in, which is excellent for a first leading role. Before working on the folk horror film with director Robert Eggars, she played an uncredited role in the horror movie Vampire Academy. But The Witch propelled her into the public eye, and she has become a well-known actress since who has since returned to the genre with Last Night In Soho and the comedy horror film The Menu.