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5 Oscar Winners Who Were In Terrible Horror Movies

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Movie trailers and posters will proudly boast if their cast includes an Oscar winner or nominee. This list is proof that even with the assistance of some of the best acting skills in the business, some movies simply cannot be saved.

Faye Dunaway – The Bye Bye Man

Faye Dunaway, my darling, what are you doing here? Between Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde, and Network, Dunaway is absolutely iconic. Why she was in The Bye Bye Man is beyond me. The editing is terrible, the pacing and scene cuts are just weird and awkward. And what’s the lore here? Who is the Bye Bye Man? Where did he come from? What’s with the coin? Why couldn’t they come up with a better name? I left this movie with questions that I didn’t even know I cared about.

Let’s briefly talk about that wasted opportunity of an ending. Spoiler alert, but I’m talking about the last scene with the brother and niece. We’re so close to an amazing ending where the niece finds the secret of the Bye Bye Man and continues his curse on the family, but no. The writer basically put food on the table, walked you up to it, and said “oh wait, you’re not hungry!” and took the food away. Like, bitch, yes I was hungry. Sure, you maybe got a consolation cookie, but that beautiful meal looked so much better.

Her role may have been small, but, Faye Dunaway, you’re better than this.

Matthew McConaughey – Texas Chainsaw Massacre:
The Next Generation

This movie actually boasts two Oscar winners in its main cast – Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger. It’s still awful though. McConaughey, smooth as ever, does manage to sneak in an “alright alright alright”, which I was pretty happy about. He also has a hydraulic leg with several remote controls to actually work the damn thing, which only seems to be used as an opportunity to foil his dastardly attempts at… whatever he’s doing.

McConaughey is clearly having a great time in the role though, and he’s really the best part of the whole movie. But Leatherface is a mess here. He’s a mostly useless, cross-dressing, caterwauling franchise plug. Honestly, he sounds like a 50 year old crying baby – as if his vocal chords were Benjamin Buttoned into producing nothing but a wailing sound that in no way inspires fear. It’s overly complicated (with a vaguely Cabin in the Woods side plot) and surprisingly boring. For a Texas Chainsaw Massacre, there is actually no chainsaw massacring. At all. It’s very disappointing.

Louise Fletcher – Exorcist II: The Heretic

Exorcist II is probably the worst movie with the best production pitch. The top-billed cast are all either Oscar-nominated or (in the case of Louise Fletcher) Oscar winners, and it was directed by Oscar Nominee John Boorman (Deliverance). But at 2 hours long, it’s just so dreadfully boring. Apparently the audience on opening night hated it so much that they threw things at the screen to express their disgust.

Louise Fletcher acts her ass off in this one, but even with the combined efforts of all the cast, there’s no saving it. It’s so slow, some of the scenes last way too long, and it’s generally just dull. I have a hard time actually calling this one a horror movie because really there’s probably about 5 minutes of the 2-hour movie that are even remotely “horrific”, and it’s mostly just Father Lamont’s uncomfortable lust for demonic teenage Regan.

Michael Caine – Jaws: The Revenge

Jaws: The Revenge boasts a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Even Michael Caine couldn’t save this movie. His character, Hoagie, spends most of his time being suave as hell while hitting on the protagonist’s mother, who happens to be Chief Brody’s widow (get it, Hoagie). The son spends a lot of time being generally suspicious of Hoagie. It’s kind of bizarre because it leads you to believe there’s going to be some ridiculous reveal – Hoagie was in cahoots with the shark the whole time!! – but it never really goes anywhere.

In the movie, Chief Brody’s family is being systematically hunted down by another shark in search of revenge (hence the snappy title). The shark somehow follows the family from Amity to the Bahamas to continue his hunt. There’s one big problematic question here. How is this shark tracking the family? The whole movie has one easy solution – just move away from the damn ocean.

Christopher Plummer – Dracula 2000

Christopher Plummer is an acting legend, so naturally, he’s going to play Van Helsing in this ridiculous modern version of Dracula. Naturally. But you have to wonder what the hell he’s doing here in a cast chock-full of 2000-era cameos (with stars like Vitamin C and Danny Masterson). This movie is painfully dated with its hybrid weapons, quippy one-liners and extensive wirework, like it’s trying to be Blade, but it doesn’t have the same edge. Also, you can definitely tell when a female character has been transformed into a vampire because suddenly her straight hair has gorgeous voluminous curls. Not sure how that works, but, sign me up.

Again, I’m not sure how or why Christopher Plummer got here, but it feels like he wandered onto the wrong set one day and someone handed him a script so he just rolled with it. It’s weird, but, much the like metallic pastel eyeshadow trend, it happened.

Still confused about why these actors were involved? Check out the list of 8 Actors and Their Early Roles in Horror Films

Do you know a terrible movie that somehow has an Oscar winner in the cast? Tell us in the comments!

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The Pope’s Exorcist Officially Announces New Sequel

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The Pope’s Exorcist is one of those films that’s just fun to watch. It isn’t the most terrifying film around, but there’s something about Russel Crow (Gladiator) playing a wise cracking Catholic priest that just feels right.

Screen Gems seems to agree with this assessment, as they have just officially announced that The Pope’s Exorcist sequel is in the works. It makes sense that Screen Gems would want to keep this franchise going, considering the first film scared up almost $80 million with a budget of only $18 million.

The Pope's Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist

According to Crow, there may even be a The Pope’s Exorcist trilogy in the works. However, recent changes with the studio may have put the third film on hold. In a sit-down with The Six O’Clock Show, Crow gave the following statement about the project.

“Well that’s in discussion at the moment. The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances.”

Crow has also stated that film’s source material involves twelve separate books. This would allow the studio to take the story in all kinds of directions. With that much source material, The Pope’s Exorcist could even rival The Conjuring Universe.

Only the future will tell what becomes of The Pope’s Exorcist. But as always, more horror is always a good thing.

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New ‘Faces of Death’ Remake Will Be Rated R For “Strong Bloody Violence and Gore”

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In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, the Faces of Death reboot has been given an R rating from the MPA. Why has the film been given this rating? For strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, nudity, language, and drug use, of course.

What else would you expect from a Faces of Death reboot? It would honestly be alarming if the film received anything less than an R rating.

Faces of death
Faces of Death

For those unaware, the original Faces of Death film released in 1978 and promised viewers video evidence of real deaths. Of course, this was just a marketing gimmick. Promoting a real snuff film would be a terrible idea.

But the gimmick worked, and franchise lived on in infamy. The Faces of Death reboot is hoping to gain the same amount of viral sensation as its predecessor. Isa Mazzei (Cam) and Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) will spearhead this new addition.

The hope is that this reboot will do well enough to recreate the infamous franchise for a new audience. While we don’t know much about the film at this point, but a joint statement from Mazzei and Goldhaber gives us the following info on the plot.

“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”

“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”

The reboot will have some bloody shoes to fill. But from the looks of it, this iconic franchise is in good hands. Unfortunately, the film does not have a release date at this time.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.

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Movie Reviews

Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘The Ceremony Is About To Begin’

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People will look for answers and belonging in the darkest places and the darkest people. The Osiris Collective is a commune predicated upon ancient Egyptian theology and was run by the mysterious Father Osiris. The group boasted dozens of members, each forgoing their old lives for one held in the Egyptian themed land owned by Osiris in Northern California. But the good times take a turn for the worst when in 2018, an upstart member of the collective named Anubis (Chad Westbrook Hinds) reports Osiris disappearing while mountain climbing and declaring himself the new leader. A schism ensued with many members leaving the cult under Anubis’ unhinged leadership. A documentary is being made by a young man named Keith (John Laird) whose fixation with The Osiris Collective stems from his girlfriend Maddy leaving him for the group several years ago. When Keith gets invited to document the commune by Anubis himself, he decides to investigate, only to get wrapped up in horrors he couldn’t even imagine…

The Ceremony Is About To Begin is the latest genre twisting horror film from Red Snow‘s Sean Nichols Lynch. This time tackling cultist horror along with a mockumentary style and the Egyptian mythology theme for the cherry on top. I was a big fan of Red Snow‘s subversiveness of the vampire romance sub-genre and was excited to see what this take would bring. While the movie has some interesting ideas and a decent tension between the meek Keith and the erratic Anubis, it just doesn’t exactly thread everything together in a succinct fashion.

The story begins with a true crime documentary style interviewing former members of The Osiris Collective and sets-up what led the cult to where it is now. This aspect of the storyline, especially Keith’s own personal interest in the cult, made it an interesting plotline. But aside from some clips later on, it doesn’t play as much a factor. The focus is largely on the dynamic between Anubis and Keith, which is toxic to put it lightly. Interestingly, Chad Westbrook Hinds and John Lairds are both credited as writers on The Ceremony Is About To Begin and definitely feel like they’re putting their all into these characters. Anubis is the very definition of a cult leader. Charismatic, philosophical, whimsical, and threateningly dangerous at the drop of a hat.

Yet strangely, the commune is deserted of all cult members. Creating a ghost town that only amps up the danger as Keith documents Anubis’ alleged utopia. A lot of the back and forth between them drags at times as they struggle for control and Anubis keeps continuing to convince Keith to stick around despite the threatening situation. This does lead to a pretty fun and bloody finale that fully leans into mummy horror.

Overall, despite meandering and having a bit of a slow pace, The ceremony Is About To Begin is a fairly entertaining cult, found footage, and mummy horror hybrid. If you want mummies, it delivers on mummies!

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