The Horror Movie That Left Kevin Costner Shaken: “I Started Screaming”
While it’s led to some high-profile flops, Kevin Costner deserves credit for staying true to his creative instincts. Throughout his Hollywood career, he’s remained committed to one guiding principle: making movies he would want to watch.
When it works, it really works — just look at Dances with Wolves, a multi-Academy Award winner and a defining moment in his career. But when it doesn’t? The fallout can be massive. Waterworld and The Postman are infamous examples — ambitious passion projects that bombed, taking a serious toll on Costner’s once-golden reputation.
Now, with Horizon — his sprawling, four-part Western saga — the jury’s still out. Only the first installment has seen release, the second is in limbo, and parts three and four aren’t even close to completion. Once again, it seems like Costner may be flying too close to the sun.
In his prime, Costner was one of the biggest and highest-paid stars in the industry, which remains something of a curiosity. He was wildly popular through the ’80s and ’90s, despite being a somewhat understated presence. He’s a solid actor, but not a magnetic one — the kind who draws every eye in the room. What he did have, however, was a clear sense of identity. He knew what worked for him, and what audiences wanted from him: rugged, old-school Americana repackaged for modern times.
That’s why horror has never really been part of his story.
Across four decades, Costner has only made one straightforward horror film — and almost nobody remembers it. Luis Berdejo’s The New Daughter (2009) went straight to video and was widely panned. His only supernatural effort, Dragonfly, directed by Tom Shadyac, also flopped both critically and commercially.
Costner and horror just don’t mix — but despite his limited (and forgettable) contributions to the genre, one scary movie did leave a lasting impact on him.
At just nine years old, Costner saw Robert Aldrich’s Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and it traumatized him. Speaking to Cowboys & Indians, he recalled the moment that shook him: “As soon as that head started bouncing down the stairs… I started screaming.”
He didn’t stick around to see the ending. The young Costner bolted from the theater, terrified, and likely never found out what happened in the film’s final act. (Spoiler: Bette Davis’s character ends up arrested for blackmail and murder.)
It’s a rare glimpse of Costner as a wide-eyed moviegoer — before the fame, before the flops, and before he tried to shape Hollywood in his own image.
