Horror Stories In Scary Movies, Behind The Scenes Set-Up Can Be More Frightening Than The Film Itself

Oh, the gloom, doom and terror of classic horror films - not the films themselves, but the making of them.

Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars can be found behind the blood and guts of cult horror films that - by either being tremendously bad or incredibly good - have withstood the test of time. And these stars have horror stories that are almost as eerie as the films themselves. Here are a few:

Kiefer Sutherland - “The Vanishing” (1993)

For Sutherland, a scene in which he is buried alive by a psychotic Jeff Bridges was not fun and games.

“I was trying to be very brave about the coffin scene,” he begins, “but nothing prepares you for the day when they wheel in a coffin and ask you to step inside.

“The deal was that I was to take a power screwdriver and seal the coffin shut with me inside. Let me tell you, I was freaking out! I heard that lid shut and the screws start to seal this thing, and I nearly had a panic attack.

“Meanwhile, they’re pumping in oxygen, but I swear I couldn’t breathe. Then Jeff had to put some dirt over me and I was practically begging them to let me out of there. I was hyperventilating. It was awful.”

Sissy Spacek - “Carrie” (1976)

Spacek laughs when recalling her turn as the most angst-ridden teenager of the ‘70s, particularly the film’s most famous scene at the prom.

“My most vivid memories are of that horrible bloody prom dress which I had to wear for days on end,” she says.

“It was covered in some sort of red, sugary syrup which was so gross. By the end of the day that dress was all dried out, hard and itchy.

“The worst was the final scene where the blood comes pouring down over my head. Wouldn’t you know that we needed to do several takes, and each time I had to take a few showers to get the red stuff off of me.”

Sigourney Weaver - “Alien” (1979), “Aliens” (1986) and “Alien 3” (1992)

Fighting killer martians was not the hard part for Weaver.

“The worst part of doing all those films were the scenes when someone would get caught by the aliens,” she recalls. “They bring you to their lair, where you’re covered in slime.

“The set had vats of this slime stuff around, which was like a thick, clear paste goo. I remember people complaining, because it was murder to get out of your hair. It’s under your nails. I swear the stuff was in your food. It was everywhere.”

Anthony Hopkins - “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)

As Hannibal Lechter, the cannibalistic psychiatrist who spent most of his time in a prison cell, Hopkins remembers being a bit restless on the set.

“It would get boring playing a man in prison all day long,” he says, “so I would have to do little things to amuse myself.

“In my best low Hannibal voice, I would ask one of the young grips to please come into my cell and bring me a glass of water. Realize, these were kids who were a little afraid. Once they were in the cell, as a joke, I’d pretend to lock the door and then watch the worried look float across their faces as I made that little sucking noise.”

Tony Todd - “Candyman” (1992) and “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (1995)

Todd didn’t mind that his character could make bees fly out of his mouth in a lethal greeting, but the thought of repeating the film’s title terrified him.

“The gimmick with the ‘Candyman’ movies,” Todd explains, “is that when you look into the mirror and say his name five times, the demon will appear.

“While we were making the movie, my co-workers were looking into mirrors daily, testing it out. I’m very superstitious and to this day I’ve never tried it. I mean, why push your luck?”

Christina Ricci - “The Addams Family” (1991), “Addams Family Values” (1993), “Casper” (1995)

Ricci, who played the sullen, pale Wednesday in the “Addams Family” films, says there’s a disadvantage of playing a dark role.

“It was a pain to go back to school because all the other kids kept saying, ‘Why aren’t you wearing black?’

“I would reply, ‘You know, I do like pastels.”’

As for her role as the lonely object of a friendly ghost’s affections: “We got to fly in ‘Casper,’ which was spooky. It was really high up, and although you’re attached to wires, it’s still pretty creepy.”

Gary Oldman - “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992)

“I must say that I really enjoyed all the bats and wolves, not to mention all that blood,” confesses Oldman, who played the title character.

But the star also recalls some cosmetic downsides.

“I remember all the pounds of ornate costumes and prosthetic makeup, including those long, flowing curls, latex masks and kabuki wigs,” Olman says.

“I also had to wear specially designed hard contact lenses which turned my grey eyes into pools of demonic light. Those lenses were the worst. You could only wear them for 20 minutes at a time. Then you had to rest for 45 minutes so your eyes wouldn’t get dehydrated.”

Kenneth Branagh - “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” (1994)

The film’s director and co-star remembers a monster of a scene.

“The worst scene to do was when Frankenstein was born,” Branagh recalls.

“The scene had (Robert) DeNiro in this womblike sarcophagus which supposedly was being fertilized by electric eels. There was the little matter of those 1,000 acupuncture needles sticking out of DeNiro’s head as fake volts of lightning gave him his powers.

“The worst thing happened when DeNiro stood up: He split his plastic pants. They were covered in goo, which was about a million gallons of K-Y Jelly, and it kept pouring into his nude-colored bodysuit until the pants split.

“Then one of the rubber eels suddenly snapped and hit Bob in the face. At which point I finally yelled, ‘Cut!’ Thankfully, Bob was laughing pretty hard.”

Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) - “Mistress of the Dark” (1988)

The host of many a late-night horror fest who has starred in her own film, the vamp with the low-cut dresses and long black wigs, confesses the strains of being Mistress of the Dark on her love life.

“I guess the strangest part of being Elvira,” Peterson says, “is the letters. I get mail from men who say, ‘This is really strange because I never write celebrities, but my parole date is right around the corner.’

“I would say most of my mail comes from people in institutions. I even got a marriage proposal once from a guy in prison for killing his wife!”

Robert Englund - “Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984-1989)

Englund, who played killer Freddy Krueger in the 1984 classic and its four sequels, says that sometimes playing a killer could be a real nightmare.

“You get sick of spending six hours in a makeup chair to become Freddy,” Englund says. “Frankly, I’m also so tired of that red-striped sweater. It’s pretty smelly right now.”

And what about that Ginsu manicure? The famous knife-clawed glove that Krueger wears while stalking his victims?

“The claws are dangerous,” Englund says. “Once I had to take them through the airport during a promotional tour, and I was detained by airport security for trying to bring a weapon on a plane.”

Heather Locklear - “The Return of Swamp Thing” (1988)

Before she started scaring men on “Melrose Place,” Locklear played a young lovely who was attracted to plants.

“The actor who played the monster was very nice,” Locklear recalls, “but it was a difficult shoot. He looked very disgusting, and the plant-man was always picking me up and running me through swamps filled with real chiggers. I guess it was his idea of a hot date.

“Anyway, the Swamp Thing had K-Y Jelly all over him to make him glisten and that was covered with green paint which would get stuck in my hair and stuff.

“Basically, it was a tough movie because it’s hard to relate to someone who is a plant, but I did it. I managed.”