Kevin Baconis a household name today for being a passionate actor with an amazing range. With nearly five decades in the industry, he’s been in countless films, playing a variety of characters. He broke out in Hollywood with the leading role inFootloose, one of themost memorable 1980s movies associated with one song, but he’ll always be linked with the horror genre. While he’s a relatively minor character, his role inFriday the 13thhas become a fan favorite over the years, and he’s been in even more slasher movies since.
Bacon’s newest work, coming out soon, is a horror showas well. Thetrailer reveals that the Prime Video showThe Bondsmanfeatures Bacon as a bounty hunter who has been revived by the Devil to hunt down demons who have escaped Hell.The Bondsman’s premise actually sounds similar toBrimstone, asci-fi TV show that should be remade. Another exciting horror project featuring him is also around the corner, as he stars in theToxic Avengerremake, releasing later this year — and making now the best time to revisit his horror career.
John Logan is one of the great screenwriters of Hollywood and has earned three Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay; forGladiator,The Aviator, andHugo, the last of which is one of Martin Scorsese’sbest movies that don’t get enough love. While he had written horror movies before, including theSweeney Toddremake starring Johnny Depp,They/Themis Logan’s first slasher film.
For the first-time director, the topic of conversion therapy is personal (viaMoviemaker), and so, he directed the film himself, after writing it.They/Themfollows a group of queer young adults at a conversion camp that is deceivingly progressive in its approach, claiming that conversion is a choice they can opt not to make. However, things get sinister very quickly. Unfortunately, thesatirical message gets mixed up due to the slasher elements, creating entertainment out of queer trauma. Despite being Kevin Bacon’s return to the slasher genre, it’s his worst horror movie.
Blumhouse has become an iconic film studio in recent years as a consistent producer of horror B-movies. From supernatural to slasher movies, there’s no kind of horror cinema that hasn’t been produced under their banner. While they’re mostly silly films without much substance, barring quite a few notably good exceptions, Blumhouse horror movies serve as good flight entertainment if nothing else. Unfortunately, even that isn’t true forThe Darkness.
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Co-written and directed by Greg McLean,it tells the story of a family who goes to the Grand Canyon and returns with a supernatural entity’s presence.The spirit feeds off of their fears and wreaks havoc in their lives. Bacon plays the father in the family, and while his performance is still commendable, the movie was rightfully panned by critics on its release.The Darknessstereotypes the autistic younger son and even uses him as a jumpscare at one point. Moreover, it also reinforces harmful racist tropes common in horror.
David Koepp is a rather hit-and-miss screenwriter. He has written some of the best thrillers of the 21st century, likePanic RoomandCarlito’s Way.Jurassic ParkandSpider-Man, both of which are greatnon-animated action movies perfect for watching with kids, were also written by him. However, he’s also written the two worstIndiana Jonesmovies and the remake ofThe Mummy. Only the latter is perhaps worse than his second horror film starring Kevin Bacon.
Directed by Koepp as well,You Should Have Leftis based on Daniel Kehlmann’s 2017 book of the same name. It uses an intriguing concept to explore the guilt of a retired banker who, despite suspicions, has been acquitted of the murder of his first wife. While the atmosphere isn’t bad, and the final reveal is relatively interesting, the movie is quite bland and predictable at times. Despite having a short runtime of an hour and a half,it often seems to dragand is one of the more forgettable horror movies under Blumhouse’s banner.
7The Demon Murder Case (1983)
Directed By William Hale
1982 was a big year for Kevin Bacon. With a major role inDiner, he made a significant impression on many directors and producers, which would eventually lead to his breakout role inFootloose. However, before that, he won an Obie Award for his off-Broadway performance inForty Deuce, a role he reprised in the movie version. Soon after, he appeared in his second horror movie, William Hale’sThe Demon Murder Case, Bacon’s last film beforeFootloose.
Based on a real paranormal phenomenon, it tells the story of a young man, played by Bacon, who is supposedly possessed by demons. His brother-in-law is undergoing exorcisms at the Church, butthe demons who possess him can force Bacon’s character to commit murder. While the movie isn’t as gripping as the premise suggests, it earns points for marking Bacon’s first leading role in a horror movie.
Paul Verhoeven is known for making sleazy, violent, and cheesy films likeBasic InstinctandRoboCop, one of theR-rated 1980s movies one can rewatch forever. His most prolific time as a director was in the ’80s and the ’90s when he rose to the peak of his popularity with his erotic thrillers and semi-satirical gorefests. He has only made five films in the 21st century — although he’s currently working on a sixth one — andHollow Manwas the first of them, a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells' famous novelThe Invisible Man.
Bacon plays the protagonist, who is working on a method to turn living beings invisible, but when he tests his research on himself, he discovers that he can’t return to his original form again. In typical Verhoeven fashion, this turns the character bitter, and he becomes violent and vengeful, committing all sorts of terrible crimes, from rape to murder. The depiction of violence is too sensational for the film to feel worth watching, and it barely explores the novel’s original themes.
Ti West is most famous for his recent slasher movie trilogy, comprisingX,Pearl, andMaXXXine. The second of them is undoubtedly the best in the trilogy and features Mia Goth giving one of thebest A24 movie performancesof all time. Goth plays the protagonist in each film, and whileMaXXXineis a letdown in comparison to the first two installments, especiallyPearl, she is still phenomenal in the conclusion.
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As a sequel toPearl, it doesn’t live up to the standards set by the movie.MaXXXineuses gimmicky slasher horror tropes that don’t feel faithful to the trilogy,which often quite tastefully pushes the limits of horror and subverts tropes. While franchises likeScreamplay around with the concept of referring to other classic horror movies on a meta-level, the allusions to iconic films inMaXXXinefeel like cheap tactics to interest viewers. However, Bacon plays John Labat, a secondary villain, whose scenes are some of the best in the movie, and will make you want more.
One of the most iconic horror movie villains of all time,up there in the hall of fame with Michael Myers, Ghostface, and Freddy Krueger, is Jason Voorhees. Interestingly, despite being the main character of theFriday the 13thseries, he’s not present in the first movie in the franchise. There are only flashbacks and an appearance in a dream sequence featuring Voorhees in this movie. The primary antagonist of the movie is Voorhees' mother, who is there to avenge the death of her son.
Jason’s mother is a frightening and compelling villain, with a more real purpose than Jason himself. However, Jason is the more iconic character, who is responsible for some of themost gruesome 1980s horror movie deaths. Bacon plays a minor role in Friday the 13th, and dies in a most remarkable fashion, with an unexpected jumpscare of a hand popping out from under his bed and stabbing him through the neck. While it didn’t make him famous at the time, it’s considered to be one of the most iconic scenes in the entire franchise now.
He is most famous for his Batman movies,Batman ForeverandBatman & Robin, the latter of which features Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, one of themost unintentionally hilarious movie characters of all time. However, Joel Schumacher has made a good number of remarkable crime thriller movies as well, fromFalling DownandVeronica Guerinto8MMandA Time to Kill.
Flatlinerswas remade in 2017, starring Elliot Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton, and Kiersey Clemons as the five students, but it was panned by critics for being significantly inferior to the original.
While Schumacher’s first few films went largely unnoticed, he made an impression first withSt. Elmo’s Fireand thenThe Lost Boys, which was his first horror movie. His next horror,Flatliners, is based on an intriguing premise and follows medical students who attempt to experience death to discover what lies beyond life. The plan to simulate death by stopping one of their hearts goes awry quickly. Bacon stars in the movie in a leading role, his follow-up horror movie appearance toTremors, and it’s one of his best horror movie performances ever.
The first David Koepp film that Bacon starred in,Stir of Echoes, is based on Richard Matheson’s 1958 novel of the same name. Only a year earlier, Bacon had just been featured as a protagonist in one of his most iconic movies,Wild Things, and he plays the main character inStir of Echoesas well. It is Koepp’s sophomore directorial feature, which the author Matheson himself praised for its writing.
Bacon’s character is a working-class man who gets hypnotized once at a party by his sister-in-law. He later discovers that this has given him the ability to communicate with the dead.An excellent mystery drives the horror movie forward, as Bacon tries to figure out why he’s seeing the ghost of a particular girlin his attempt to stop seeing the dead. The horrifying visions are quite compelling, and Bacon’s committed performance makes his character’s ordeal even more believable.
Based on a story by Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson, and Ron Underwood, of whom the former two wrote it, and the latter directed it,Tremorsmarked the beginning of one of the most underrated horror franchises.Since its conception in 1990, the franchise has grown to have seven movies and one TV show in three decades. Recently, Wilson said that theTremorsfranchise might be getting a rebootsoon.
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The firstTremorsmovie arguably features Bacon’s greatest horror movie performance to date. It follows two men, played byKevin Baconand Fred Ward, who learn that there are giant man-eating creatures that live underground. While the franchise remains underrated, and some of it is perhaps even justified – few of the latter movies live up to the original –Tremorsis one of the most iconic ’90s horror movies. The unforgettable design of the creatures, the unique survival tactics, and the remarkable leading performances – there are plenty of things to love about it.
