They may be A-list stars now, but these celebrities got their starts in some spooky (and occasionally cheesy) horror flicks.
Before Jennifer Aniston became a household name due to her success with Friends, she appeared in the 1993 film Leprechaun. The actress reflected on the role during an October 2019 interview on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show.
“I really thought I arrived when I did Leprechaun,” she explained. “It was with Warwick Davis, the guy from Willow was in it. It was a big deal!”
Aniston revisited the project during the early days of her relationship with Justin Theroux. (The pair announced their separation in February 2018 after two years of marriage.)
“I watched it like eight years ago with our mutual friend Justin Theroux for s—ts and giggles,” she told host Howard Stern. “We were dating. It was one of those things when I tried to get that remote out of his hand and there was just no having it. He was like, ‘No, no, no, no, this is happening.’ I just kept walking in and out, cringing.”
Despite her apparent embarrassment at the time, Aniston is happy she starred in the “cult classic” flick. “I really did think it was an amazing thing that I was in a movie,” she noted.
Of course, the California native soon after landed the iconic role of Rachel Green and has since starred in a slew of films and The Morning Show. She has also racked up plenty of accolades for her acting, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
Some celebrities had even more memorable experiences while working on horror films. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr., for instance, connected on the set of 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer and married in September 2002.
“By the end of the movie, I just wanted to be friends with her because I thought she was too skinny and I wanted to cook for her. Because that’s what my family does,” the actor exclusively told Us Weekly in April 2020. “And so, we started this weekly barbecue thing at her house, and me and my cousins would come over and cook food for her and her friends. And then we’d make sure everybody ate, and that was kind of how our friendship began.”
Scroll through the gallery below to see who braved the scary genre for the sake of their careers.
The Queen's Gambit star made her big-screen debut in 2015's The Witch. She played Thomasin, a young woman living in 17th century New England who finds herself tempted to become evil by a seemingly possessed goat named Black Phillip.
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Before she won her Oscar, Lawrence played the lead in House at the End of the Street, which premiered in 2012 but was filmed in 2010. She starred as Elissa, who moves to the suburbs with her mom (Elisabeth Shue) only to find out that their neighbor is a murderer.
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In 2015, the No Time to Die actress appeared in Knock Knock, directed by Eli Roth. De Armas played Bel, one of two women who show up at the house of Evan (Keanu Reeves) and promptly start ruining his life.
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The Oscar winner starred in 2007's Disturbia, which was partly inspired by the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window. She played the detective in charge of keeping teenager Kale (Shia LaBeouf) on house arrest while he tries to figure out if his neighbor is a serial killer.
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A real product of its time that couldn't have come out any year but 1998, Halloween H20 featured Gordon-Levitt in a small role alongside Josh Hartnett, LL Cool J and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Curtis reprised her role as Laurie Strode for the first time since 1981's Halloween II, and her mother, Janet Leigh, had a cameo too.
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Before Jon Snow became Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Harington starred alongside fellow Game of Thrones actor Sean Bean in 2012's Silent Hill: Revelation. He played Vincent, the son of a nefarious cult leader (Carrie-Ann Moss).
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"When you can't breathe, you can't scream," reads the tagline of the 1997 cult classic Anaconda, featuring J. Lo as Terri Flores, a documentary filmmaker who comes across a stranded snake hunter (Jon Voight) while shooting a movie in the Amazon. She and her crew — which includes Ice Cube and Owen Wilson — at first think he'll help them find the indigenous tribe they're looking for, but he's way too focused on tracking down the mythically large reptile of the title.
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In one of her first film roles, Aniston played terrorized teen Tory Reding in 1993's Leprechaun.
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After a few small roles, Barton got her first big break playing the terrifying vomiting ghost Kyra Collins in the 1999 Oscar-nominated film The Sixth Sense.
Barrymore played a pyrokinetic little girl whose parents participated in a medical experiment trying to get their own telekinetic abilities in the 1984 film Firestarter, based on Stephen King's novel of the same name.
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Pitt played a high school student named Dwight Ingalls who became a murder suspect in the 1989 horror film Cutting Class.
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In 1995's Species, Williams played the younger version of Natasha Henstridge's Sil.
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Zellweger starred opposite Matthew McConaughey in the 1994 thriller Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
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The Big Bang Theory star played the daughter of a mystery writer (played by Stephen Baldwin) who has been cloned and turned into a murderer in 1998's Mr. Murder.
In 1997's I Know What You Did Last Summer, four teens hit a man with their car and dump his body in the ocean. One year later, the friends — played by Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ryan Phillippe — are haunted by the man they presumed to be dead.
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A young Kunis starred in the 1995 Piranha remake about a killer fish terrorizing the Lost River Lake Resort.
The actor played a police officer in the 1987 horror/comedy film Return to Horror High.
Connelly played a young girl whose supernatural ability to communicate with insects helped her solve a string of murders in 1985's Phenomena.
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The actor played Glen Lantz in Wes Craven's 1984 thriller A Nightmare on Elm Street.
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The original scream queen played Laurie Strode in 1978's Halloween. In the film, Strode's neighbor Michael Myers went on a killing spree after escaping from a mental institution.
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The actress played a teenager named Jade in 1998's Bride of Chucky.
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As the star of 1976's Carrie, Spacek's character wreaked havoc on prom night after a prank went too far.
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Long before Ryan and Loughlin starred in When Harry Met Sally and Full House, they appeared together on screen in 1983's Amityville 3-D.
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Hanks had a small part in the 1980 flick He Knows You're Alone, centered around a bride-to-be who is stalked by a serial killer.
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Bacon played camp counselor Jack Burrell in the 1980 slasher film Friday the 13th. The movie went on to become a box office success, spawning nearly a dozen sequels throughout the next two decades.
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The actress played Kristen Parker in 1987's A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. After Freddy Krueger slashed Parker's wrists in a dream, she was placed in a mental institution.
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The socialite was the second character to be slain in 2005's House of Wax remake.
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Watts played Grace Rhodes in 1996's Children of the Corn: The Gathering.
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Stone played Lana Marcus in 1981's Deadly Blessing. Set in Amish Country, the film focused on a woman whose husband was mysteriously killed by his own tractor.
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In 1996's Frankenstein and Me, Gosling plays Kenny, the fraidycat friend of monster-loving Earl Williams.
In 1993's Hocus Pocus, Midler played one of three witches resurrected when a virgin boy lit a magical candle.
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The Gossip Girl actor played a supernatural teen in 2006's The Covenant. The film also starred Taylor Kitsch and Sebastian Stan.
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Morrison played a film student stalked by a fencing mask-clad psycho in the 2000 sequel Urban Legends: Final Cut. Mendes killed it as her totally doomed pal.
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Long before he was cast in the Dallas remake, the actor appeared in the 2003 gross-out flick Leeches!
In the 2010 movie Prowl, Peter (Bowman) and his pals were transported to an abandoned meatpacking factory where bloodthirsty vampires awaited.
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Meester plays the daughter in a family of highly trained investigators who work undercover to unravel the truth about a ghost who has been haunting a local high school in the 2003 film Hangman's Curse.
In the 1997 shockfest An American Werewolf in Paris, Bowen played a ditzy tourist who hooked up with the wrong guy only to be eaten by a werewolf.
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Dunst shared an on-screen kiss with Brad Pitt (and scored a Golden Globe nod!) for her role as scheming vampire Claudia in 1994's Interview with the Vampire.
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The star appeared in the 2002 giant-spiders-run-amok flick Eight Legged Freaks.
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The Thor star played a college student victimized by zombies in 2011’s The Cabin in the Woods.
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The Destiny’s Child songstress tried her hand at acting in the 2003 film Freddy vs. Jason.
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Before he won over fans on the hilarious Schitt’s Creek, Levy portrayed an obsessed tech guru in 2012’s Cyberstalker.
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The actress starred in the 2012 film Silent House as a woman who is terrorized in her family’s vacation home.
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The actress played a convict in 1995’s Demon Knight.
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The Twilight star was still a child when she portrayed a young girl fending off burglars in 2002’s Panic Room.