Drew Barrymore has found her way into a wide variety of horror movies and TV shows, ranging from abysmally bad to hall-of-fame pictures. The latest in a long line of famous Barrymore actors, ever since Drew Barrymore’s film debut at the tender age of 5 years old in Altered States, she’s been a staple cast in a variety of horror movies. While her filmography expanded to include family-friendly adventures like E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and romantic comedies like 50 First Dates, she’d continuously come back to horror films and shows throughout her career.
While many of Drew Barrymore’s best films in general are horror pictures, not every scary movie she’s starred in has been a success. A few duds have followed her early career, in particular, typically obscure, low-budget horror movies that were able to get away with casting Barrymore before she truly became a household name. With such a gulf in quality between her best and worst projects, it’s fascinating to look back on the spine-chilling entries in Drew Barrymore’s expansive roster of films and TV shows.
Related Drew Barrymore Reveals 50 First Dates’ Original Ending
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10 No Place To Hide
1993
Far and away the most detested horror movie of Drew Barrymore’s mostly lauded career, No Place to Hide has little love from even the actress’ most die-hard fans. The early 90s were altogether a rough year for Drew Barrymore’s career, and No Place to Hide simply piled on to her issues in getting cast in memorable movies. Another mystery thriller, the film posits Kris Kristofferson as a hard-boiled detective tracking down the frenzied cult that killed his wife, only for his younger sister, played by Barrymore, to be the next woman in their sights.
The antagonist cult isn’t even interesting enough to register a drop of excitement from the few who have seen it.
No Place to Hide is so bad that it barely registers as a Drew Barrymore film at all. Here, Barrymore is stuck posturing as a petulant teen girl who reads her diary aloud for no other reason than to exposit to the audience information the filmmakers weren’t skilled enough to otherwise dispense. The antagonist cult isn’t even interesting enough to register a drop of excitement from the few who have seen it. Topped off with an actual cameo appearance by O.J. Simpson, it’s safe to say that Nowhere to Hide should remain hidden in Barrymore’s horror filmography.
9 Doppelgänger
1993
Long before the Tethered from Jordan Peele’s Us repopularized the concept of vicious body doubles, Doppelgänger gave an honest attempt. The 90s thriller follows George Newburn’s Patrick, a writer who moves in with his partner, Holly, played by Barrymore, only to discover that she’s on the run from a murderous evil clone. While Doppelgänger‘s actual status as a horror movie is somewhat debatable, the corny mystery has the absolute bare minimum of gore and suspense to technically qualify.
Doppelgänger was reviled at the time of its release by both critics and audiences alike, and little of this opinion has changed in the following decades. The writing in particular makes for a shaky foundation for the film to build on, setting up a trajectory for a disappointing ending. Coated with a healthy layer of cheesy over-acting and terrible special effects, and Doppelgänger‘s only legacy is having a promising premise and being good for an occasional ironic laugh.
8 Waxwork II: Lost In Time
1992
The original Waxwork was a modestly successful horror comedy that mostly relied on the cheap thrills of its gore to drum up an audience, presenting a paper-thin plot regarding a mystical wax figure museum to string alone a series of horrific setpieces. This didn’t leave the best set-up for a sequel, but Waxwork II: Lost in Time tried anyway, having only a direct-to-video release in the United States. Picking up straight where the first film left off, the sequel sees the surviving characters flung through dimensions that imitate better horror films, including The Haunting or the Alien movies.
A largely unnecessary sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time over-relies on the parody of stronger franchises, lame humor, and dizzying additions to the first film’s already confusing lore. Drew Barrymore only technically appears in the film, interestingly enough, having a brief role as the victim of a vampire. Despite strong spooky movie icons like Barrymore, Bruce Campbell, and Alexander Godunov attached, Waxwork II: Lost in Time utterly squanders its potential. Still, it at least has a few visually interesting scenes and an ambitious concept.
7 Far From Home
1989
One of the earliest horror movies in Drew Barrymore’s post-child acting career, Far From Home is about as standard of a slasher film plot as they come. Barrymroe stars alongside Matt Frewer as a father-daughter duo, attempting an ambitious cross-country roadtrip through the American Southwest. When they run out of gas in a creepy small town in rural Nevada, they have to find a new way to escape as a depraved serial killer plaguing the town begins to stalk them.
The 14-year-old Drew Barrymore gives quite a commendable performance in Far From Home, hinting at the shining star she’d become as her career continued to blossom. Admittedly, the plot can be as dry and predictable as the deserts of Nevada themselves, but Far From Home is at least a tale competently told, even if it doesn’t re-invent the wheel like Waxwork II: Lost in Time attempted to. A solid, if not immensely memorable entry in Barrymore’s horror career, Far From Home is the first droplet of quality in the gradient of her scary movie filmography.
6 Cat’s Eye
1985
Cat’s Eye 0
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PG-13 Director Lewis Teague Release Date April 12, 1985 Cast Drew Barrymore , James Woods , Alan King , Kenneth McMillan , Robert Hays , Candy Clark , James Naughton , Tony Munafo Runtime 94 Minutes
As a child, Drew Barrymore had already been able to quickly make a name for herself as a scream queen, as evidenced by films like Cat’s Eye. One of the great horror anthology films, Cat’s Eye is loosely based on two Stephen King short stories, as well as an entirely original script, woven together with the presence of the titular feline. A ten-year old Barrymore shines here as the star of the third story, which features the cat the most prominently.
Even if the three separate stories don’t connect in the most organic way, they’re all worth watching in their own right, with Barrymore’s performance immediately identifying her natural talent as an actress from such a young age.
Hot off the back of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Barrymore’s next major outing is only subtly spooky, being more of a loose collection of Twilight Zone-style episodes than a true thriller. Even if the three separate stories don’t connect in the most organic way, they’re all worth watching in their own right, with Barrymore’s performance immediately identifying her natural talent as an actress from such a young age. Not the best Stephen King adaptation or the best Drew Barrymore horror movie, Cat’s Eye is far from the worst entry in either category.
5 Altered States
1980
Altered States 0
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Director Ken Russell Release Date December 25, 1980 Writers Paddy Chayefsky Cast William Hurt , Blair Brown , Bob Balaban , Charles Haid , Thaao Penghlis , Miguel Godreau , Dori Brenner , Peter Brandon , Charles White-Eagle , Drew Barrymore , Megan Jeffers , Jack Murdock , Francis X. McCarthy , Deborah Baltzell , Evan Richards Expand
Even younger than her appearance in Cat’s Eye, Barrymore was still able to impress at the tender age of five years old. Altered States sees a five-year-old Barrymore play the daughter of a psychologist, portrayed by William Hurt. Caught up in a series of experiments combining hallucinogenic drugs with sensory deprivation experiences, Barrymore’s in-movie father attempts to reach a higher plane of existence, using himself as a test subject.
Such a premise might imply a strong use of psychedelic visuals, and Altered States certainly doesn’t disappoint in this regard. Drew Barrymore’s pleading saucer-plate eyes make for the perfect anchor in reality to contrast with Hurt’s voyages to the outer limits of human experience, his grip on reality crumbling through his fingers much to the protests of his horrified family. A unique brand of emotional and hallucinogenic horror,Altered States truly catapulted Barrymore’s early career forwards for a good reason.
4 Firestarter
1984
Firestarter (1984) 0
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Director Mark L. Lester Release Date May 11, 1984 Cast Drew Barrymore , David Keith , Freddie Jones , Heather Locklear , Martin Sheen Runtime 115 Minutes
By far the superior Stephen King adaptation of Drew Barrymore’s Hollywood career, Firestarter allowed the prepubescent Barrymore to truly build upon one of her past performances for the first time, to brilliant results. Here, Barrymore plays a pyrokinetic girl named Charlie whose latent ability to start fires with her mind sees her come into the crosshairs of the mysterious government organization known as “The Shop”. Firestarter, like Cat’s Eye, might not be the fondest-remembered King adaptation of the 80s, but was undeniably important for Barrymore’s career.
At 9 years old, Barrymore does a fantastic job as the film’s emotional core, making Charlie a memorable addition to the long line of creepy kids in Stephen King stories. Though the special effects and adult performances of Firestarter may be more constrained, the overlooked film deserves more credit as a tragic tale of a child’s trust gone taken for granted. At the very least, 1984’s Firestarter is leagues ahead of the terrible 2022 remake starring Zac Efron.
3 Santa Clarita Diet
2017
Santa Clarita Diet 0
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Release Date February 3, 2017 Cast Timothy Olyphant , Drew Barrymore Writers Victor Fresco Directors Victor Fresco
It’s not just great horror movies that Drew Barrymore has managed to be a part of, with the streaming series Santa Clarita Diet easily being one of the highlights of her blood-soaked accolades. The Netflix series starred Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as a real-estate power couple whose lives are turned upside-down when Barrymore’s Sheila becomes an undead zombie with a ferocious appetite for human flesh. In order to curb her cravings, the family is forced to find people no one would miss while unraveling the mysteries of Shiela’s condition.
Hilariously gruesome and cuttingly funny, Santa Clarita Diet is one of the highest highs of Barrymore’s horror career. The series is slick, fast-paced, and amazingly well-cast, with every staple and guest performer taking the macabre world of the show as seriously as needed. The only downside to the series is the fact that it was cruelly canceled far too soon, never getting a chance to properly pay off the questions, jokes, and murders it was setting up for the future.
2 Donnie Darko
2001
Donnie Darko 
3.5 2
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Release Date October 26, 2001 Cast Jake Gyllenhaal , Holmes Osborne , Maggie Gyllenhaal , Daveigh Chase , Mary McDonnell , James Duval Director Richard Kelly Studio(s) Newmarket Films Runtime 113 minutes
One of the strangest and most thought-provoking horror-adjacent films of all time, Donnie Darko is one of the crowning achievements of Barrymore’s career. The film popularized Jake Gyllenhaal as a troubled teen boy trapped in a witless suburb who, after surviving a near-death experience, begins seeing visions of a mysterious entity in a monstrous rabbit suit named Frank. Frank tells Gyllenhaal’s Donnie that the world will end in less than a month, and the meandering, philosophically-dense narrative expands from there, eventually arriving at a puzzling vision of time travel.
While it’s not for everyone,
Donnie Darko
has become a cult classic for those that can appreciate the vision of doom, dread, and human nature the film is uniquely able to conjure.
Barrymore holds up her end as Donnie’s English teacher, Mrs. Pomeroy, who calmly reflects on the themes of the film through her lessons, as movie English teachers are wont to do. More notably, Barrymore helped produce Donnie Darko through her production company Flower Films, which helped fund the ambitious dark comedy-thriller. While it’s not for everyone, Donnie Darko has become a cult classic for those that can appreciate the vision of doom, dread, and human nature the film is uniquely able to conjure.
1 Scream
1996
Scream 4
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CrimeHorrorMystery
Release Date December 20, 1996 Cast Drew Barrymore , Kevin Patrick Walls , David Booth , Carla Hatley , Neve Campbell , Skeet Ulrich Director Wes Craven Writers Kevin Williamson Runtime 111 minutes
A revolutionary horror film for so many reasons, Drew Barrymore is still iconic in Scream despite appearing in it so briefly. The film follows teen girl Sidney Prescott, the latest target of a mysterious knife-wielding killer dressed in the intimidating “Ghostface” Halloween costume. As the Ghostface killer picks off Sidney’s friends one by one, she has to gear up for a final showdown against him, unmasking the slasher villain once and for all.
Famously, Barrymore stars in the film’s intro as the Ghostface Killer’s first victim, who playfully flirts with him on the phone before realizing his sinister intentions. Having a well-known star like Barrymore appear early in the film only to be unceremoniously killed was a stroke of genius on director Wes Craven’s part, and Scream continues to similarly subvert horror movie expectations throughout the rest of its runtime, with smart, genre-savy characters doing their best to survive. Easily the best horror project of Drew Barrymore’s filmography, Scream‘s popularity needs little explanation.