Regarding big name actors in horror flicks, I think a lot of times it takes away from the movie because 9 times out of 10, they either end up being the killer in the end, or they can't die because they are the big star. It's part of why Drew Barrymore's role in Scream is so memorable.

Listening to a podcast called "That Was Pretty Scary" with Freddy Pinze Jr and Jon Lee Brody, they talked about how it was actually just a Miramax decision at the time to always put the biggest star on the poster, regardless of screen time. It was a way to sell tickets to the least common denominator. They don't do that anymore and I believe a creepy lawyer sued over one film for like false advertising over it.

The point is, it wasn't a conscious decision like what we saw with Sleuth or Seven or any of those beautiful marketing jobs. It really was just a greed factor. Thankfully, it worked in Scream's favor.

And lets be real, this wasn't Janet Leigh type situation where this was a mega star getting offed.

Drew Barrymore was certainly noteworthy, but she was a few years removed from doing the Amy Fisher TV Special. It wasn't really "shocking" to have the movie go on without her.

Explosivo12 said:

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neat thread guys.

Allow me to highlight an underrated and amazing actor. His mark he left on horror when active was indelible and that's the great Tom Atkins.

Night of the Creeps -- what a strange little 80s romp about a college that gets overrun by slugs whom animate the dead and bring havoc and mayhem on a small college campus. Tom Atkins plays the hard nosed cop who has more one liners than Arnold in Running Man (ok maybe not that many), but the man has a certain grizzled charm that makes this little movie really work.

Maniac Cop - Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins, Robert Z'Dar and the great Larry Cohen team up for this gritty 80s masterpiece set in sordid and scummy New York City where a cop comes back to life to score revenge. Tom Atkins plays a cop (what do you know) along with Bruce Campbell who's a detective who has to take down the crazed zombie cop who kills (Robert Z'Dar). Just one of those films that would be tough to be made again. Amazing film!

Halloween 3: Season of the Witch - While the film got blasted for charting a new course sans Michael Myers, it has since seen a resurrection of fans now that the rubble has fallen. It's actually a great horror movie if viewed separate from its predecessors. Tom Atkins plays a hard nosed doctor (are you seeing a trend here?) attempting to stop the Silver Shamrock and its charmed masks that kill. It's a very interesting horror movie and Tom knocks it out of the park.

Oh and he was pretty good in The Fog as well.

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I finally watched Halloween 3 this past October and a agree it's a good stand alone horror movie. Still have that silver shamrock song stuck in my head.

Proposition Joe said:

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And lets be real, this wasn't Janet Leigh type situation where this was a mega star getting offed.

Drew Barrymore was certainly noteworthy, but she was a few years removed from doing the Amy Fisher TV Special. It wasn't really "shocking" to have the movie go on without her.

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It's a mega star when you consider the rest of the cast. She was one of the only notable people outside of Courtney Cox and maybe David Arquette who were hardly in the advertising materials at the time. It was a tremendous bait and switch. It really was lightning in a bottle, but the impact of the normal "final girl" dying in the first scene was akin to Ned Stark dying in Game of Thrones. The audience was simply unprepared for it. It was a perfect "movie within a movie". It's the pinnacle of short story horror.