Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com EW.com
    • All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Winter TV
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
    • All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
    • All Music
    • Music Reviews
    • All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
    • All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
    • All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
    • All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
    • All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
    • All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com EW.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • The 10 best songs of 2022

      The 10 best songs of 2022

      From disco-trap to deconstructed techno to Dolly-style country, we rank our favorite tracks this year. Read More
    • The 10 best movies of 2022 (and 5 worst)

      The 10 best movies of 2022 (and 5 worst)

      Let there be Mavericks, Bollywood magic, and a Cate Blanchett maestro on the loose. Read More
    • The true story of the g-strings and murders behind Welcome to Chippendales

      The true story of the g-strings and murders behind Welcome to Chippendales

      A look back at the crazy true story of Chippendales founder Somen "Steve" Banerjee and the murder and murder-for-hire plots at the center of the Hulu series. Read More
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Winter TV
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • What to Watch

    What to Watch

    See All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
  • BINGE

    BINGE

    See All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
  • The Awardist

    The Awardist

    See All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Gallery
  3. Joss Whedon: 7 Horror Movie Characters I Love

Joss Whedon: 7 Horror Movie Characters I Love

''Avengers'' director names faves ''in no particular order'' from ''Alien,'' ''The Blob,'' ''The Thing,'' and more
By Adam B. Vary Updated October 30, 2012 at 04:00 PM EDT
Skip gallery slides
FB

1 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Ash the Android (Ian Holm), Alien

''He's so unexpected, he's so genteel,'' says Whedon. ''When he says [of the alien], 'I admire its purity,' I saw a piece of humanity that…

''He's so unexpected, he's so genteel,'' says Whedon. ''When he says [of the alien], 'I admire its purity,' I saw a piece of humanity that I'd never seen before. All of a sudden, everything he did made perfect, logical sense.'' But why not choose Sigourney Weaver's Ripley? ''In Alien, you don't necessarily look to Ripley and go, 'Well, she's going to make it, because she's got something nobody else has,''' he says. ''You're pretty sure Tom Skerritt's going to make it out of there, because he's a strapping, handsome man. Ripley in Aliens became [the main hero]. But in Alien Ian was the one who really stayed with me.''

1 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith), The Blob

''She's a cheerleader, she's intelligent, she's motivated, she's trying to kill the thing, she has a machine gun, and I love her. I had a…

''She's a cheerleader, she's intelligent, she's motivated, she's trying to kill the thing, she has a machine gun, and I love her. I had a picture of her toting a machine gun which took me months to find — when you actually went into stores to find pictures. I had it framed on my desk the entire time I was running Buffy. She's just tough as nails and sympathetic and lovely, and definitely a seminal character for me.''

2 of 7

3 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Priest (Donald Pleasance), Prince of Darkness

''I know that there was a lot more to him as an actor than being portentous in John Carpenter films. But I never loved him…

''I know that there was a lot more to him as an actor than being portentous in John Carpenter films. But I never loved him being portentous in John Carpenter films more than in Prince of Darkness. The way he describes evil is just so exciting. I think ultimately there was probably a camp element to the idea of him in these movies. But he was really, really good, really solid. Prince of Darkness doesn't totally hold together, but it still has some amazing thrills. Just the idea behind it is so genuinely creepy, the idea that we told humankind that evil was within us, because we didn't want to reveal that it was actually in the basement of this church, as a living thing. That really works for me. Donald was brilliant.''

3 of 7

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Taryn White (Jennifer Rubin), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

''She was just so bad-ass. It changed the dynamic of the horror movie in a way that I very much appreciate — the idea that…

''She was just so bad-ass. It changed the dynamic of the horror movie in a way that I very much appreciate — the idea that the people facing horror could be empowered by it and confront what they were fighting, and at least temporarily stronger than it. It's very ur-Buffy as well.''

4 of 7

Advertisement

5 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell), The Thing

''There's no way I'm not going to go with Kurt Russell in The Thing . It is one of the most important, beautiful, elegant, and…

''There's no way I'm not going to go with Kurt Russell in The Thing. It is one of the most important, beautiful, elegant, and disturbing movies. And I think Kurt Russell is among the most underrated actors out there. He's so fierce. It took what is essentially a science-fiction premise and made essentially a thriller with it. Even though it's got horror and science fiction in it, it's really a thriller. It's really almost a whodunit. I think everybody's expecting jump-out-at-you chills, and instead you get much more intrigue.''

5 of 7

6 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Marty (Fran Kranz), The Cabin in the Woods

''It's probably cheating to include Fran Kranz,'' says Whedon, who co-wrote and produced the meta-horror-movie. ''But I might have to. I think that's a landmark…
Credit: Diyah Pera/Lionsgate

''It's probably cheating to include Fran Kranz,'' says Whedon, who co-wrote and produced the meta-horror-movie. ''But I might have to. I think that's a landmark performance. He's just hilarious and soulful. If you spend your life being comic relief, of course you're going to write a movie where [the comic relief becomes the hero]. He has a clarity of perspective. What he's talking about at the beginning of the movie is what the movie's about. He doesn't go [in stoner-speak], 'I'm going to make stupid pot jokes and then, totally, I'm going to turn around and change.' He is the same guy throughout the whole movie.''

6 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 7

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Monkey With a Razor Blade, Phenomena

''That movie is just so ridiculously chock-full of horror — there are terrible murders, Jennifer Connelly just happens to have control over insects, there's a…

''That movie is just so ridiculously chock-full of horror — there are terrible murders, Jennifer Connelly just happens to have control over insects, there's a crazy person living nearby. By the time you get to monkey with a razor blade [which saves Connelly's life], you're just like, 'Oh my god!' If you look at Cabin in the Woods, you can see the influence of, Oh, you mean you we can just never stop coming up with stuff? Now, there's a monkey with a razor blade in [the 1988 horror film] Monkey Shines, too. But the one in Phenomena is more sympathetic.''

7 of 7

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Adam B. Vary

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 7 Ash the Android (Ian Holm), Alien
    2 of 7 Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith), The Blob
    3 of 7 Priest (Donald Pleasance), Prince of Darkness
    4 of 7 Taryn White (Jennifer Rubin), A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
    5 of 7 R.J. MacReady (Kurt Russell), The Thing
    6 of 7 Marty (Fran Kranz), The Cabin in the Woods
    7 of 7 Monkey With a Razor Blade, Phenomena

    Share & More

    Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message
    EW.com

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Meredith© Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright EW.com. All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

    View image

    Joss Whedon: 7 Horror Movie Characters I Love
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.