[Rik]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

But the difference is the old stars actually made a living and specialised in these films, often turning in nuanced performances and raising a cheesy horror above it's worth and turning it into something classy.

Peter Cushing for example always gave a good performance even in a really shite film.



When a big film star turns up in a horror these days it often lessens the impact because the filmmakers are pandering to a big name, toning down the horror aspect and their performances are often restrained as to not ruin their star power.



Old stars made it their business, and business was good.



I agree it is good to have no name stars in horror generally as we are not expecting anything, it puts us on edge slightly and surprises us when a good performance appears especially in low budget horror like Texas chainsaw massacre etc. It makes a story seem more real when it works.

But a few competent new horror stars would be nice.



Too many horror films these days have sub par porn style actors that make the films unwatchable to me.

That was my initial point, we don't have any Horror stars like Price, Cushing, Lee, Karloff etc these days