Kevin Costner’s Scariest Movie Experience: “I Couldn’t Stop Screaming”
Kevin Costner’s career has had its ups and downs, but one thing’s clear: he’s always stayed true to himself, making films he genuinely wants to see. That determination has defined his path through Hollywood, sometimes with brilliant results—just ask anyone about Dances with Wolves, his multi-time Academy Award-winning masterpiece.
But when things don’t click, they really fall apart. Waterworld and The Postman are prime examples. Costner believed in those projects fiercely, but when both flopped, he took much of the blame—and it cost him his spot as one of Hollywood’s top leading men.
His latest project, Horizon, is still up in the air. Only the first film of his planned four-part saga has been released, the second remains uncertain, and the final two are nowhere near completion. It seems he may be flying a little too close to the sun again.
Back in his heyday, Costner was one of the biggest and highest-paid stars in the business, which is curious because, despite his popularity in the ’80s and ’90s, charisma wasn’t exactly his strong suit. He’s a solid actor, but not a magnetic presence audiences can’t look away from.
Part of his success came from knowing exactly what kinds of movies he wanted to make—and what audiences wanted from him. He embodied a certain old-fashioned, stoic Americana, updated for modern times, which is why horror films have never been his thing.
In his four decades in the business, Costner has starred in just one straightforward horror movie—and it barely made a ripple. Luis Berdejo’s The New Daughter (2009) was forgettable and went straight to video. His only supernatural outing, Dragonfly directed by Tom Shadyac, bombed at the box office and was panned by critics.
Simply put, Costner and horror don’t mix. But despite his lackluster experiences in the genre, there’s one horror movie that left a lasting impression on him—Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte. He was just nine years old when Robert Aldrich’s 1964 thriller hit theaters, and the memory still sticks.
“As soon as that head started bouncing down the stairs,” Costner recalls, referring to the chilling scene where a disembodied head wreaks havoc amid a dark family feud between Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland’s characters, “I started screaming.”
The young Costner reportedly bolted from the theater before the credits rolled and probably never bothered to find out what happened next. Just to avoid spoilers for a 1964 movie—but Davis’ character ends up arrested for blackmail and murder.
