Who needs Halloween to binge on scary movies (nothing is scarier than bad acting and even worse hair)? Many of our favorite celebrities of today got their start in these cheesy horror flicks — many of which live solely online. Here are 14 movie stars that would probably like to forget these roles ever existed. When Thanksgiving rolls around, they can all be thankful social media didn’t exist back then.
Charlize Theron
“Straight to video” is not a phrase this Oscar winner is accustomed to, but her very first film appearance in Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (1995) never saw a theatrical release, which is why it’s so hard to find a clip online. Theron was also uncredited — something she might actually be thankful for today. Here’s some super grainy video of her, lest she forget where she came from.
Eva Mendes
Five years after Charlize Theron took a turn in the fields, Eva Mendes followed-up with the (also) straight to VHS Children of the Corn V: Field of Terror.
Kevin Bacon
Not many people knew Kevin Bacon before Footloose (1984), but he had one of the more dramatic death scenes four years prior in the original Friday the 13th (1980).
Jack Black
Before his breakout role in Shallow Hall (2001), he had an uncredited role as Titus Telesco, who meets an untimely death in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998). Check out that hair!
Leonardo DiCaprio
Who knew back in 1991 that Critters 3 would lead to leading man status for Leo? This “horror” flick was his very first movie appearance.
Johnny Depp
An young, pre 21 Jump Street Johnny Depp got his very first movie gig in a small indy film nobody’s ever heard of called A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Back when mullets were hot.
George Clooney
Between leaving his role as hot commodity George Burnett on The Facts of Life and getting cast in Return of the Killer Tomatoes! (1988), Clooney landed his second movie role in the hugely forgettable Return to Horror High (1987). Here he is getting killed off. And he looks good doing it.
Tom Hanks
Right before Bosom Buddies debuted, Hanks got to purge his serious acting chops in the low budget He Knows You’re Alone (1980). It was his very first acting gig on screen. And one that is easily forgotten.
Jennifer Aniston
The year prior to Friends, Aniston starred as Tory Redding, a less spoiled Rachel Green who goes up against an evil leprechaun in what has been called “the worst movie” in her career: Leprechaun (1993). It was her very first credited movie role.
Chloë Grace Moretz
She was only 8-years old when she landed her first movie role as Chelsea Lutz in The Amityville Horror (2005) co-starring Ryan Reynolds as her father. Not a bad first gig.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Thank goodness Louis-Dreyfus landed the role of Seinfeld’s Elaine Benes in 1990, otherwise people might still remember her less famous role as Jeanette “the Nymph” Cooper in her inaugural roll in Troll (1986), alongside her real-life husband Brad Hall.
Skeet Ulrich
Before Riverdale (2017), As Good As It Gets (1997), and his breakout role in Scream (1996) there was The Craft (1996), Ulrich’s first credited appearance in a movie.
Renée Zellweger And Matthew McConaughey
This is a twofer. And not really a “start” for either actor. But it’s interesting to note that both Zellweger and McConaughey had roles in Dazed and Confused in 1993 and reappeared the following year n Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation. It was the fourth movie appearance for both.
