Horror movies need to be careful when it comes to casting, as many great films have an unfortunate fly in the ointment thanks to one cast member that doesn’t quite gel with everyone else. Because characters in horror movies react to such extreme things, it’s very important to make sure the entire cast is on the same page when it comes to the general tone of the film. Sadly, even the best horror movies can fall prey to a single actor not understanding the ᴀssignment and bringing the entire effort ever-so-slightly down.

In all fairness, it isn’t always the actor’s fault when their final performance turns out awkwardly. Even great actors can be directed poorly, and without solid vision and leadership to guide their reads, it’s easy for a given character to stick out like a sore thumb. This is particularly damaging to horror movies, which need a specific congruous tone in order to effectively scare. Bizarre casting risks can hurt movies just as badly as poor writing or inert visuals can.

10

Chris Rock

Spiral

Comedians don’t tend to show up in horror movies meant to be played straight, and Chris Rock’s time in the Saw series with Spiral is proof enough of that. Chris Rock stars in the film as a spiritual successor to Detective David Tapp, going after a Jigsaw Killer copycat murderer who seems to be targeting police officers specifically. Helping him in his investigation is his estranged father, played by Samuel L. Jackson.

Chris Rock is better known in show business for his stand-up routines, narrating his childhood in Everybody Hates Chris, and playing a wise-cracking zebra in the Madagascar movies. In the earlier parts of Spiral, Rock attempts to imbue the morbid franchise with his signature humor, which mixes about as well as oil and water. Even when he tones down his showy performance later in the film, he feels bizarrely out of place in the grim world of Spiral, putting an awkward slant on the entire installment of the series.

9

Keanu Reeves

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Perhaps the most infamously standout performance in a horror movie for all the wrong reasons is Keanu Reeves’ Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It’s still up for debate whether Keanu Reeves is, or indeed ever was, a good actor, with some ᴀsserting that his wooden performances were always carried by his voice. That makes it all the more surprising that Francis Ford Coppola took a chance on Reeves to play one of the most important characters in the original Dracula story, the man who meets the dreaded vampire before anyone else.

Keanu Reeves’ British accent in the film is one of the most laughably bad ever featured in a prestige movie, making it hard to stay invested every time he opens his mouth. Without his iconic cool and collected voice, Reeves’ utter lack of charisma in the period setting begins to shine through, leaving him utterly eclipsed by the likes of Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins. A fundamental miscast that stands in contrast to every other character, Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker’s Dracula is the definition of a casting failure.

8

Kelly Rowland

Freddy vs. Jason

Trying to squeeze good movie performances out of other entertainers like musicians and athletes is never easy, and the crossover horror film Freddy vs. Jason learned this the hard way with the casting of Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland. Rowland plays Kia, one of protagonist Lori’s closest friends and generic sᴀssy best friend archetype. To say her line reads leave much to be desired would be an understatement of mᴀssive proportions.

In fact, the former R&B star actually took some alarming liberties with her character, ad libbing a monologue for Freddy vs. Jason in which she calls the former a homoSєxual slur. Even beyond this bit of poorly-aged dialogue, Rowland’s obnoxious performance crossed the line even for the cheesy needs of the shlocky slasher, and by the time Kia is punted into a tree at Mach 5 by Jason, it’s a satisfying relief. Freddy vs. Jason isn’t exactly about the performances, but even so, Rowland’s stunt casting hurts the final product.

7

Gavin Rossdale

Constantine

Admittedly more of a superhero movie than a horror film, Constantine still has enough supernatural horrors to qualify as a solid horror flick. Keanu Reeves is actually a far better fit here somehow, though the film is still burdened with its own standout miscast weighing things down. Enter Gavin Rossdale, another musician-turned-actor who starred in Zoolander following the dissolution of his band Bush before being cast as the half-breed demon Balthazar in Constantine.

Again, for such a dour world, Rossdale’s performance is quite showy and gregarious. He attempts to give off the air of a confident, swaggering villain, but he just comes across as hilarious, seeming like he’s trying to flirt with John Constantine rather than intimidate him. With his half-demon makeup on, he goes even further into campy territory, shaking his head and spitting with every enunciation. Compared to the rest of the relatively reserved characters, Rossdale stands out as an oddity.

6

Cary Elwes

Saw

Sadly, Chris Rock isn’t the only major character in the Saw movies to suffer from an awkward position among the cast of his own film. In fact, the very first Saw had a glaringly strange omission to the general trend of quality among the Jigsaw Killer’s victims, namely Cary Elwes as Dr. Lawrence Gordon. Elwes is best known previously as the dashing protagonist of The Princess Bride, a swashbuckling role he truly excelled in.

In the grim reality of Saw, however, Elwes’ theatrical bearings are totally drowning. Next to strong, grounded performances like Danny Glover’s Detective Tapp or Michael Emerson’s Zep, Elwes is utterly out of place, shouting with cringeworthy efficacy. Curses feel awkward as they leave his mouth, and it becomes increasingly clear with each re-watch of Saw that the romantic man-in-тιԍнтs didn’t make sense in such a gritty slasher flick, let alone as the victim of the form of torture the series is named after.

5

Johnny Depp

Tusk

As something of a horror-comedy, Kevin Smith’s Tusk is able to get away with a sort of half horror movie, half stoner comedy vibe that works well enough for the ridiculous nightmare of being sewn into a living walrus suit. Where things go off the rails is when the film suddenly introduces Johnny Depp’s cameo character, Guy LaPointe, a French-Candian Detective searching for the film’s elusive serial killer. Clad in a beret, sporting a long, silly mustache, and smoking a cigarette, the entire character is like something out of a parody cartoon.

The static medium-close sH๏τ introducing Johnny Depp in such a goofy getup speaking in an exaggerated French aspect goes on for unbearably long, putting a screeching halt to any sense of tension the film is finally beginning to establish. Tusk finds plenty of comedy to be mined in its absurd premise and despicable main character, to be sure, but Depp’s Guy LaPointe is jarringly disconnected from the rest of the film. In truth, Tusk would be better off with this unfunny gag character completely edited out.

4

Zooey Deschanel

The Happening

Easily one of the bigger critical duds in the filmography of M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening is admittedly full of problems. From the nonsensical concept of plants causing people to kill themselves in the first place to the meandering plot with no firm direction, the entire thing is an ironically enjoyable and unintentionally hilarious mess. At the center of all the chaotic, bizarre performances by the likes of Mark Wahlberg and John Leguizamo is Zooey Deschanel’s usual brand of disinterest.

Compared to the nostril-flaring mild panic Wahlberg inflicts with his own custom brand of bad acting, Zooey Deschanel is far too subdued for The Happening, scarcely able to muster the smallest iota of panic in her voice as she witnesses one horrific suicide after another. The other performances in the film aren’t good either, to be sure, but they’re at least entertainingly fraught with worry as they navigate the strange situation. Deschanel sticks out like a sore thumb due to how closely she plays her emotional cards, never branching out to give in to the insanity.

3

Chloë Grace Moretz

Carrie

Horror movie reboots happen all the time, and the best of them are able to improve on the original story by introducing some modern, more relatable acting techniques to a stale film. Sadly, the 2013 Carrie reboot fumbles this opportunity in a big way with one major decision, the actor behind Carrie herself. Chloë Grace Moretz is by no means a bad actor, being the best part of the Kick-ᴀss duology at 13 years old as Hit Girl.

Unfortunately, as the tortured Carrie, Mortez simply isn’t able to believably carry the role. While the other performances in the film are suitably nasty to her, Carrie’s reactions here don’t convey the same kind of fear, guilt, or terror that the original version did. When she’s finally splashed with a bucket of pig’s blood, she reacts only exasperatedly, like someone spilled water on her, rather than with outright disgust. Considering how hard the rest of the film works to be as eerie and depraved as possible, this safe performance simply doesn’t cut it.

2

Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd

The Shining

Child acting has improved a lot in the modern day, and older horror movies relying on kids to inspire fear were always in for an uphill battle. Yet even by the standards of child actors in the 80s, Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd as Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is by far the only weak point in the film. Funnily enough, it’s hard to blame Lloyd himself for this at all.

Despite being incredibly demanding of other performers like Shelley Duvall, Stanley Kubrick infamously tricked Daniel Edward Sidney Lloyd on the horror movie’s set, keeping the child actor convinced that The Shining was a domestic drama rather than a supernatural thriller. As a result, Danny Torrance seems unfazed and clueless even when he should be terrified, in stark contrast to his shrieking mother. Kubrick’s reasons for doing this may have been pure, but trusting kids with the full context of horror movies have delivered some amazing results before.

1

Brad Pitt

Se7en

The magnum opus of David Fincher, Se7en is a gripping tale of zealous murder that’s hard to stomach for even seasoned horror fans. Though Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey turn in some of their best work throughout the macabre crime story, the same can’t be said for Brad Pitt as Detective David Mills. Even opposite his in-universe wife, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt seems hopelessly outmatched read for read.

This especially proves true in the infamous ending, the disturbing nature of which is somewhat undercut by the way Brad Pitt whines “What’s in the box?” like he’s an impatient child on Christmas. His reactions to John Doe’s atrocities simply feel too dramatic compared to the relatively subdued yet masterful performances of Freeman and Richard Roundtree. Though it doesn’t ruin the movie, Brad Pitt in Se7en represents some of the most wasted potential in all of horror.