‘Halloween’ Star Jamie Lee Curtis Isn’t the Only Scream Queen Who Hates Horror Movies
They may have starred in some of the biggest horror movies of all time, but that doesn’t mean that they like the genre. Jamie Lee Curtis, who will appear in the upcoming film Halloween Kills, has noted her dislike of horror in the past. She’s not the only horror actor who stays far away from the genre.
It doesn’t take much to scare Jamie Lee Curtis
Curtis’ career blew up after she starred as Laurie Strode in the 1978 classic Halloween. The actor had just been fired from a TV series and was willing to take whatever she could find. Though the film ended up as one of the biggest horror movies of all time, ultimately spawning 10 sequels, nobody thought they were making anything special.
“[It was] game changing, but nobody knew that. It was a little tiny pish of a horror movie shot in 20 days,” she told NME.
Since appearing in Halloween, Curtis has starred in a number of other horror movies, from Prom Night to The Fog. She’s a veritable horror icon. Still, she doesn’t like watching the genre.
“I do not like horror movies. I do not say this for a joke, although it gets a laugh, I really don’t. There’s nothing I like about being scared,” she said.
She added that it doesn’t take much to frighten her.
“I sing songs to myself when things are terrifying. I mean, f—ing Aladdin scared me. I’m not joking! You know when Jafar becomes a dragon? With his red eyes and stuff? That s— scared me.”
Emily Blunt wouldn’t watch horror movies with her husband
Emily Blunt is a recent lead in a horror series with her role in A Quiet Place and its sequel. Before these, though, she starred in The Wolfman and Wind Chill. Despite this, Blunt noted that she doesn’t particularly enjoy the genre.
“I don’t enjoy horror, it’s not something I want to watch,” she told the Associated Press. “I made it through most of Get Out before I quit in the last bit.”
Her aversion to horror made life difficult when her husband, John Krasinski, was researching for A Quiet Place.
“John did a ton of research for the film, so he would say to me like, ‘Do you want to watch It tonight, and I was like, ‘Definitely not. Like, never.’”
Still, she couldn’t turn down a role in the film. Though she initially encouraged Krasinski to cast a friend, she actively pursued the role once she read the script.
“He wrote it and I previously suggested a friend of mine for the film,” she said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “And then I read his script and I was like, ‘You need to fire her — now. You need to call her and fire her!’”
Toni Collette’s Oscar snub was for a movie in a genre she hates
Toni Collette’s work in Hereditary generated Oscar buzz and rightful consternation after she was snubbed. The role followed several other forays into the genre by the Australian actor. She first appeared in The Sixth Sense and had subsequent roles in Fright Night and Krampus. Though one of her most praised performances was in horror, the actor can’t watch the genre.
“I don’t like horror films,” she told The Guardian. “I’m just too petrified to watch horror films!”
She noted that she bought a DVD of The Shining years ago and hasn’t even taken it out of the packaging. She recognizes that Hereditary is a horror movie — and a deeply frightening one at that — but she was drawn to it because of its complexity.
“It isn’t just a horror film,” she explained. “It’s this kind of beautiful fragile story about people living with huge amounts of emotional pain.”
