Top 10 Horror Movies That Actors Regret Doing

“Return of the Killer Tomatoes!” (1988)
In the late ‘80s, George Clooney hadn’t become an A-list star yet, so he couldn’t be too picky with the acting jobs he took. One of those gigs was this “Killer Tomatoes” sequel which, as the title would suggest, doesn’t take itself seriously. At an Oscars roundtable with Newsweek in 2012, Clooney brought up the “Killer Tomatoes” role as one he had to take because he needed money at the time. With this frank admission, the actor brushed off the bad film with the same self-deprecating humor that he’s used to explain away other projects like “Batman & Robin.”

“He Knows You’re Alone” (1980)
Just like with Clooney, Tom Hanks took on a role in a horror movie early in his career to get his foot in the door. In the film, Hanks plays Elliot, who’s only in the movie for a couple of scenes, yet this forgettable film was Hanks’s motion picture debut. Years later, when Hanks broke out as a star, he brought up this movie on an appearance with David Letterman. He characterized the movie as capitalizing on the slasher craze of the early ‘80s and then compared the experience to being on the cast of “Gilligan’s Island.”

“I Know Who Killed Me” (2007)
By the time Lindsay Lohan made this movie, she was already a big-name star, so she couldn’t say she was using this role to build up her résumé. In this strange psychological thriller, Lohan plays identical twins, one an aspiring writer and the other a stripper, with the latter seeing visions of the former’s ostensible murder. The film was panned by critics and was a box office flop. It even earned Lohan a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. In 2013, when a fan said on twitter that she once saw the film twice in one night, Lohan replied, “Two times too many.” Enough said.

“Dark Tide” (2012)
While making an appearance on “Chelsea Lately,” Halle Berry brought up how difficult it is to know if a movie is going to be good. The example that was brought up by Chelsea Handler as a not-so-good movie was “Dark Tide,” and Berry agreed. In this not-so-thrilling thriller, Berry plays a shark whisperer or sorts - and keep in mind this was before “Sharknado” made it cool to produce bad shark movies. However, the silver lining for Berry was that she met her future husband Olivier Martinez while shooting this film. Though they have since separated, so even that is a little mixed.

“The Happening” (2008)
By the time “The Happening” came out in 2008, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan had clearly seen better days. At a press conference for “The Fighter” in 2010, Mark Wahlberg had brought up that co-star Amy Adams was supposed to appear in another movie with him, but luckily for her she didn’t. At first, Wahlberg was hesitant to say which movie it was, but then he came clean and said it was “The Happening.” Wahlberg then went on to say he only took the role because he wanted to change it up by playing a science teacher instead of a “cop or a crook” like he normally does. But after seeing the final product, maybe he should stick to what he’s good at.

“Leprechaun” (1993)
This whacky film about a killer leprechaun was Jennifer Aniston’s first credited film role, coming out one year before her breakout on “Friends.” While starring in such a movie now would seem mortifying for a big star like Aniston, she’s been able to look back and laugh at her involvement with the movie in several interviews, including a 2019 appearance on the “Howard Stern” show. She told Stern that she was drawn to the project because of Warwick Davis but hadn’t watched it until 2011; Justin Theroux, Aniston’s boyfriend at the time, made her watch it with him on TV. Aniston described it as a cringeworthy experience, and couldn’t bring herself to sit down for the entire movie.

“Virus” (1999)
Scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis starred in one of the best horror films of all time, but that film sure wasn’t “Virus.” Based on the Dark Horse comic book, “Virus” is about a ship invaded by an alien force that wants to take over the Earth. Curtis has atoned for starring in the film, calling it a “piece of [you know what]” in multiple interviews and appearances. In 2003, she told IGN that the one good thing about appearing in such a bad movie is if her friends were showing off bad movies they were in, she could have them beat. Now there’s some positive thinking.

“The Blair Witch Project” (1999)
When this faux documentary horror phenomenon came out in 1999, it made its three leads massive public figures, including Heather Donahue. In an interview with GQ in 2016, the “Blair Witch” actor opened up about the downsides regarding the fame that came out of the film’s success. There were conspiracy theories suspecting that the real Donahue died in the film, leading people to accuse her of pretending to be Heather to promote it. Donahue also told GQ that when producers asked her to appear in the 2016 “Blair Witch” sequel, she not only turned them down but asked them not to mention her character by name.

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010)
In the 2010 “Elm Street” remake, Rooney Mara plays Nancy, the final girl who took on Freddy Krueger in the original film. While promoting “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” in 2011, Mara told Entertainment Weekly that the “Elm Street” role was one that she actively avoided, but despite intentionally sabotaging her own audition, she ended up getting the part. The experience shooting the film was so bad that she considered giving up her dream of becoming an actor. Fortunately for Mara, her passion was reignited soon after when she read for a part in “The Social Network.”

“The Witch” (2015)
Unlike most of the entries on this list, “The Witch” received critical acclaim upon its release, as did Anya Taylor-Joy, the actor who starred in it. In a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Taylor-Joy described her reaction when she first saw the film at the Sundance Film Festival. She thought her performance was so horrible that it was the end of her career and that she had let down loved ones. She went on to say that the feeling gave her shivers years afterward. Given her success with later film and TV roles such as her Golden Globe-winning turn “The Queen’s Gambit,” Taylor-Joy was obviously worked up over nothing.