The Horror Film That Jamie Lee Curtis Regrets Ever Starring In: ‘It’s an Unbelievably Bad Movie’
Jamie Lee Curtis has led one of the longest and most notable careers in the entertainment industry. Known as Hollywood’s ultimate scream queen, the actor has especially made an indelible impression on the horror genre. However, the scream queen isn’t a fan of all of her horror films. In fact, there was one movie she starred in Curtis once wished she could take back.
Jamie Lee Curtis is afraid of horror movies
Curtis may be the ultimate scream queen, but she’s admitted that she’s actually afraid of scary movies. The icon who once took out Michael Myers herself finds it difficult to stomach movies that exploit the audience’s fears.
“I’m brave, but I am afraid of scary things. When I was 15, my parents (legendary actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis) screened The Exorcist and my friends teased me the next day because I was so freaked out,” Curtis told Entertainment Weekly. “I loathe being scared by scary movies. I scare so easily. It’s the reason that I’m so good at [being in them]. It’s a natural response for me.”
Curtis channeled her fear in horror series like the Halloween franchise, which she’s spoken highly of on occasion. However, there’s one horror film she starred in that Curtis wished she wasn’t a part of.
Jamie Lee Curtis really regretted starring in ‘Virus’
In 1999, Curtis starred in the sci-fi horror film Virus. Directed by John Bruno, IMDb reports that the movie was about an alien being that took control of a Russian ship for world domination. Virus didn’t fair too well at the box office and was heavily panned by critics. To date, it sits at 12% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Perhaps one of the film’s most vocal critics was the star itself. In a resurfaced interview with IGN, Curtis doesn’t hold back on her feelings toward the film.
“Rob Reiner for his 40th birthday had a bad show business party where everybody brought show business clips… Rob’s was playing a hippie on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. singing ‘Blowin’ in the Wind…’ Virus is so bad that it’s shocking,” Lee said.
In a separate interview with WENN, Curtis went into a bit more detail about her experiences in Virus.
“That’s a piece of s*** movie. It’s an unbelievably bad movie; just bad from the bottom,” Lee told WENN (Via Express).
“There’s a scene where I’m running away from this alien and I actually hide under the stairs. I come down some stairs and then duck up underneath them and I’m quivering and this big thing comes down the stairs and I’m freaking hiding under the stairs! This is something that can open walls of steel and I’m hiding under stairs!”
But the Freaky Friday star also asserted that there was an upside to starring in a film she thought was horrible.
“That’s the only good reason to be in bad movies. Then when your friends have [bad] movies you can say ‘Ahhhh, I’ve got the best one. I’m bringing Virus,’” she said.
Why Jamie Lee Curtis Regrets ‘Halloween H20’
Halloween H20 was Curts’ return to the franchise after 20 years away from Michael Myers. Although Entertainment Weekly reported that H2O was a hit commercially and critically, Curtis wasn’t all the way pleased with the film. One of the reasons was because director John Carpenter, and Halloween’s original producer Debra Hill, weren’t on board.
“When Halloween was, like, 19 years old, I remember calling John and Debra and we had lunch,” Curtis said. “I said to them, ‘Guys, the movie’s going to be 20 years old next year, and we’re all still doing the job 20 years later.’ I said to them, ‘Why don’t we revisit it?’ And there was a conversation, but then everybody was busy, and it turned out not to be what I wanted it to be.”
Without Hill or Carpenter, Curtis was the only one who was a part of the original film involved in H20. But if given the chance, Curtis would’ve done things differently.
“Now, to this day, I regret that I didn’t say to everyone, ‘If Debra Hill’s not the one producing this movie, I’m not doing it.’ But what ended up happening was, she wasn’t part of it, John wasn’t part of it, and I was still part of it, and it was a machine going down the road,” she shared.
