Throughout history in the horror genre, there have been some all-time amazing acting performances. Portrayals like Kathy Bates’ take on Annie Wilkes in Misery, and Duane Jones’s performance as Ben in Night of the Living Dead rightfully take the top spots when discussing horror performances. However, there have been just as many impressive performances in the TV world of horror too, specifically in the horror miniseries sub-genre. Miniseries performances (and as a whole) are typically outshone by film releases, but having several episodes can often lead to better development and exploration of a character by an actor. The ability to have many hours of story to build from, gives the actors a chance to really hit home with their performances, whether they’re trying to break our hearts or scare us. From phenomenal limited series like Midnight Mass, to one-time adaptations, like Storm of the Century, here are the best acting performances in horror miniseries.
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8 Ben Mendelsohn - The Outsider (2020)
HBO
A miniseries that seemed to fly under the radar, and is often overlooked, is HBO’s The Outsider, based on the novel by Stephen King. The story follows detective Ralph Anderson (Ben Mendelsohn), who is still grieving the loss of his son, and takes it upon himself to be the lead investigator on a grizzly child murder case in his hometown. The evidence doesn’t quite match up with the facts, and we find that something more sinister may be going on. Typically, in stories like this, the detective is usually seen as a hardcore case cracker that stops at nothing to find his man. Mendelsohn portrays the grieving father brilliantly, using his depression and sadness to fuel his intent on solving the murder. Mendelsohn has popped up in supporting roles lately in films like Captain Marvel and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but in this miniseries, he really had the opportunity to thrive as the main character.
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7 Colm Feore - Storm of the Century (1999)
ABC
Colm Feore is one of those actors that appears in a ton of TV shows and movies, and the viewer says, “Where have I seen him before?” Well, one of his best and most memorable performances was as Andre Linoge in the 1999 miniseries Storm of the Century. In this miniseries written by Stephen King, Feore plays a demonic stranger that wreaks havoc and death upon a small, coastal town during a hurricane, with the intent of only stopping once they’ve given him one of their children to raise as his own. Some of the effects in the show are a bit dated, but Feore’s performance is iconic and chilling, as he sports coal-black eyes and mutters his signature saying, “Born in lust, turn to dust. Born in sin, come on in!”
6 Carla Gugino - The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
Netflix Streaming Services
Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House is chock-full of amazing performances, and while the show does deep dives into different members of its ensemble cast throughout the episodes, the one constant focus is the haunting mental decline of Carla Gugino’s character, Olivia Craine. The miniseries tells the story of a family that moves into an old mansion, with the hopes of renovation and re-selling. As the family starts to have paranormal experiences, they realize the old house is having an unusual effect on the matriarch of the family. Gugino’s ability to go from loving and caring mother to twisted and insane conduit is incredible, empathetic, intense, and sad. Her performance bagged her a Saturn Award nomination for Best Actress in a Streaming Presentation. She would go on to have a role in both Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, and his upcoming adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe, The Fall of the House of Usher.
5 Victoria Pedretti - The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)
Netflix
After giving a great performance as a supporting character in Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, Mike Flanagan cast Victoria Pedretti as the main role in his second Netflix collaboration, The Haunting of Bly Manor. In this miniseries, Pedretti plays Dani Clayton, and young American woman who is hired to take care of two orphaned children after the death of their au pair. Pedretti plays the role as intelligent, fearful, and caring, as she deals with the supernatural events that continue at the old manor she moves into. There’s an investigative, yet naive feel to Pedretti’s performance, which makes the Emmy-nominated series’ ending that much more intense.
4 Kate Siegel & Zach Gilford - Midnight Mass (2021)
Intrepid Pictures, Netflix
Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass had an ensemble cast in which any of them could have (and should have) been nominated for Emmy Awards. However, two of the performances go hand-in-hand with one another, with Zach Gilford as Riley Flynn and Kate Siegel as Erin Greene. Gilford plays Riley, a lost soul, fresh out of prison from accidentally killing a young woman while driving drunk. Siegel plays Erin, a pregnant teacher who escapes a physically abusive relationship. The two reunite on Crockett Island to start fresh, rekindling an old spark that began when they were teens, as they try and help one another move past the events that haunt them. The two are absolute acting powerhouses in their scenes together, and their dual monologue about what happens after death is one of the all-time great monologues on screen.
3 Steven Weber - The Shining (1997)
ABC
Obviously, Jack Nicholson’s performance in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is a lot to live up to, but Steven Weber does so brilliantly in the 1997 ABC miniseries adaptation of The Shining. Unlike the film adaptation, the screenplay for this miniseries was written by Stephen King, and Steven Weber’s performance as Jack Torrance is much closer to the original story’s character. Weber does a phenomenal job showing the slow transition from loving father to possessed maniac as the series goes on. You can actually feel the actor battling the two pulling sides of sanity, while continuing to fight the unpredictable disease of alcoholism. The series won two Primetime Emmys, for Best Makeup and Sound Editing, and even brought in 19.7 million viewers during its premiere, 500,000 more than the Game of Thrones finale. The miniseries and Steven Weber’s performance definitely deserve more love.
2 Tim Curry - IT (1990)
Warner Bros. Television Distribution
An all-time terrifying performance in horror, Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown in Stephen King’s IT is as iconic as it gets. Curry steals every single scene he’s in, using his natural facial expressions to bring a heightened level of terror to the killer clown. Curry’s portrayal is responsible for intensifying the fears of coulrophobiacs all over the world, and he’s definitely the most memorable part of the 1990 miniseries. In the 2021 documentary Pennywise: The Story of IT, Curry discussed how he turned down the use of multiple layers of prosthetics on face, in favor of using his own mannerisms to create both the silly and terrifying visual aspects of the entity.
1 Hamish Linklater - Midnight Mass (2021)
Topping the list is Hamish Linklater as Father Paul from Midnight Mass. Not only does Linklater give an all-time horror performance as the strange priest, but he’s able to carry entire episodes with his flowing and hypnotic words, while simultaneously offering both a cautious and comforting presence to the characters and audience alike. It’s an absolute shame that Linklater wasn’t nominated for an Emmy for this role. Linklater is essentially playing two roles, one as a consoling face to the other inhabitants of Crockett’s island, and one with ulterior motives, that only the audience and a few other characters are skeptical about. His monologue moments are intense, deep, and thoughtful, and the internal battle between right and wrong that he portrays, couldn’t have been done better. Linklater does an absolute masterful job in this role.
