All 10 Kevin Bacon Horror Movies, Ranked

Kevin Bacon

is 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 in Footloose, one of the most 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 in Friday the 13th has 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 show as well. The trailer reveals that the Prime Video show The Bondsman features 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 to Brimstone, a sci-fi TV show that should be remade. Another exciting horror project featuring him is also around the corner, as he stars in the Toxic Avenger remake, releasing later this year — and making now the best time to revisit his horror career.

10

They/Them (2022)

Directed By John Logan

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They/Them

r

Horror

Thriller

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5/10

Release Date

August 5, 2022

Runtime

90 minutes

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    Monique Kim

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    Carrie Preston

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John Logan is one of the great screenwriters of Hollywood and has earned three Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay; for Gladiator, The Aviator, and Hugo, the last of which is one of Martin Scorsese’s best movies that don’t get enough love. While he had written horror movies before, including the Sweeney Todd remake starring Johnny Depp, They/Them is Logan’s first slasher film.

For the first-time director, the topic of conversion therapy is personal (via Moviemaker), and so, he directed the film himself, after writing it. They/Them follows 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, the satirical 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.

9

The Darkness (2016)

Directed By Greg McLean

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The Darkness

PG-13

Horror

Release Date

May 13, 2016

Runtime

92 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kevin Bacon In The 2024 Tribeca Festival - 'Footloose'

    Kevin Bacon

    Gustavo

  • Headshot Of Radha Mitchell In The 31st Annual Race To Erase MS Gala 2024

    Radha Mitchell

    Marcos

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    Lucy Fry

    Argel

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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 for The 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 Darkness stereotypes the autistic younger son and even uses him as a jumpscare at one point. Moreover, it also reinforces harmful racist tropes common in horror.

8

You Should Have Left (2020)

Directed By David Koepp

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You Should Have Left

R

Horror

Thriller

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6/10

Release Date

June 18, 2020

Runtime

93 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kevin Bacon In The 2024 Tribeca Festival - 'Footloose'

    Kevin Bacon

    Theo Conroy

  • Headshot Of Amanda Seyfried In The 'Seven Veils' premiere during 74th Berlin International Film Festival

    Amanda Seyfried

    Susanna

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David Koepp is a rather hit-and-miss screenwriter. He has written some of the best thrillers of the 21st century, like Panic Room and Carlito’s Way. Jurassic Park and Spider-Man, both of which are great non-animated action movies perfect for watching with kids, were also written by him. However, he’s also written the two worst Indiana Jones movies and the remake of The Mummy. Only the latter is perhaps worse than his second horror film starring Kevin Bacon.

Directed by Koepp as well, You Should Have Left is 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 drag and is one of the more forgettable horror movies under Blumhouse’s banner.

7

The Demon Murder Case (1983)

Directed By William Hale

Kevin Bacon in The Demon Murder Case

1982 was a big year for Kevin Bacon. With a major role in Diner, he made a significant impression on many directors and producers, which would eventually lead to his breakout role in Footloose. However, before that, he won an Obie Award for his off-Broadway performance in Forty Deuce, a role he reprised in the movie version. Soon after, he appeared in his second horror movie, William Hale’s The Demon Murder Case, Bacon’s last film before Footloose.

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, but the 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.

6

Hollow Man (2000)

Directed By Paul Verhoeven

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Hollow Man

Sci-Fi

Release Date

August 2, 2000

Runtime

112 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kevin Bacon In The 2024 Tribeca Festival - 'Footloose'

    Kevin Bacon

  • Headshot Of Elisabeth Shue In The 18th Annual Children's Defense Fund

    Elisabeth Shue

  • Headshot Of Josh Brolin In The 'Dune:Part 2' premiere

    Josh Brolin

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Paul Verhoeven is known for making sleazy, violent, and cheesy films like Basic Instinct and RoboCop, one of the R-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 — and Hollow Man was the first of them, a loose adaptation of H. G. Wells’ famous novel The 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.

5

MaXXXine (2024)

Directed By Ti West

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MaXXXine

R

Horror

Crime

ScreenRant logo

8/10

6.3/10

Release Date

July 5, 2024

Runtime

103 Minutes

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  • Headshot Of Mia Goth In The 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards

    Mia Goth

  • Headshot Of Elizabeth Debicki In The 2024 BAFTA Television Awards

    Elizabeth Debicki

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Ti West is most famous for his recent slasher movie trilogy, comprising X, Pearl, and MaXXXine. The second of them is undoubtedly the best in the trilogy and features Mia Goth giving one of the best A24 movie performances of all time. Goth plays the protagonist in each film, and while MaXXXine is a letdown in comparison to the first two installments, especially Pearl, she is still phenomenal in the conclusion.

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As a sequel to Pearl, it doesn’t live up to the standards set by the movie. MaXXXine uses 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 like Scream play around with the concept of referring to other classic horror movies on a meta-level, the allusions to iconic films in MaXXXine feel 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.

4

Friday The 13th (1980)

Directed By Sean S. Cunningham

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Friday the 13th

R

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

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7/10

7.5/10

Release Date

May 9, 1980

Runtime

95 minutes

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Peter Brouwer

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    Adrienne King

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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 the Friday the 13th series, 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 the most 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.

3

Flatliners (1990)

Directed By Joel Schumacher

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Flatliners

R

Horror

Sci-Fi

Drama

Release Date

August 10, 1990

Runtime

115 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kiefer Sutherland

    Kiefer Sutherland

    Nelson Wright

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    Julia Roberts

    Rachel Mannus

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    Kevin Bacon

    David Labraccio

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    William Baldwin

    Joe Hurley

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He is most famous for his Batman movies, Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, the latter of which features Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, one of the most unintentionally hilarious movie characters of all time. However, Joel Schumacher has made a good number of remarkable crime thriller movies as well, from Falling Down and Veronica Guerin to 8MM and A Time to Kill.

Flatliners was 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 with St. Elmo’s Fire and then The Lost Boys, which was his first horror movie. His next horror, Flatliners, is based on an intriguing premise and follows medical students who try 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 to Tremors, and it’s one of his best horror movie performances ever.

2

Stir Of Echoes (1999)

Directed By David Koepp

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Stir of Echoes

R

Horror

Mystery

Thriller

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9/10

6/10

Release Date

September 10, 1999

Runtime

99 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kathryn Erbe

    Kathryn Erbe

    Maggie Witzky

  • Headshot Of Kevin Bacon In The 2024 Tribeca Festival - 'Footloose'

    Kevin Bacon

    Tom Witzky

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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 in Stir of Echoes as 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 girl in 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.

1

Tremors (1990)

Directed By Ron Underwood

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Tremors

PG-13

Comedy

Action

Horror

Sci-Fi

Release Date

January 19, 1990

Runtime

96 minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Kevin Bacon In The 2024 Tribeca Festival - 'Footloose'

    Kevin Bacon

  • Headshot Of Fred Ward

    Fred Ward

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Finn Carter

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    Michael Gross

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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, Tremors marked 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 the Tremors franchise might be getting a reboot soon.

A composite image of scenes from various Tremors movies

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The first Tremors movie arguably features Bacon’s greatest horror movie performance to date. It follows two men, played by Kevin Bacon and 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 – Tremors is 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.

Headshot Of Kevin Bacon In The 2024 Tribeca Festival - 'Footloose'

Kevin Bacon

Birthdate

July 8, 1958

Birthplace

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA