Are actors/actresses important in Horror movies?

[walk]

Hey all,

I had a thought - the famous-ness of the actor/actress in horror movies rarely have an impact to the success of the movie. Look at movies like paranormal activity, the exorcist, blair witch project, all the actors are unknown yet the movies were hugely successful. Of course Christian Bale in American Psycho was amazing, but I would say that generally, that it is the story/originality of a horror film that is most important for success. Compared to Action or Comedy movies where the cast is much more important, everyone will watch a action movie with Schwarzneggar, but the same cant be said of horrors.

In fact, I may go so far as saying that having A-listers in horror movies may diminish the effect because there comes an expectation for the role that the A-lister to be played.

What does everyone else think?

Max von Sydow wasn't the most well known actor of all time back then but he already had played in many Bergman movies and so was known as being a solid actor. He wasn't a beginner at all.

[Solo]

Max von Sydow wasn't the most well known actor of all time back then but he already had played in many Bergman movies and so was known as being a solid actor. He wasn't a beginner at all.

Absolute agreement on that

The Sydow has since continued to amaze as one of the top versatile genre hopping actors in the biz, and to this day I think he would've made a perfect Gandalf

[Frey]

Dumbledore > Gandalf

I think that actors and actresses are the life blood of a film.

[BurnetRhoades]

I still can't get over how not-old Max von Sydow was for The Exorcist. He was 43, and in make-up of course. It's like he's looked like the same guy for 50 years.

Brewmeister Smith

[Solo]

I still can't get over how not-old Max von Sydow was for The Exorcist. He was 43, and in make-up of course. It's like he's looked like the same guy for 50 years.

Brewmeister Smith

Agreed

Partial to his role as Joubert