Jamie Lee Curtis is best known as Laurie Strode in the Halloween movies - but here's a ranking of all her horror movie appearances, worst to best. Curtis certainly didn't stay confined to the horror genre, becoming a mainstream star, and appearing in hits like A Fish Called Wanda, My Girl, and True Lies. She's still going strong too, having played a memorable part in director Rian Johnson's star-studded murder mystery Knives Out. The thing about Curtis is that unlike lots of big stars who started in horror, she's never been ashamed to return to the genre here and there.
While Curtis has taken some flack from hardcore genre devotees for not personally liking horror movies - she doesn't enjoy being scared - that position is ridiculous. She's never shown disrespect to horror, and seems to fully appreciate that she owes her career to John Carpenter's original Halloween. She's since returned to the Halloween franchise five times, most recently top-lining the Blumhouse Halloween trilogy directed by David Gordon Green.
Even when not battling Michael Myers in Haddonfield, Illinois though, Curtis has starred in a handful of other horror projects. Presented below is a look at all of them, from slashers, to sci-fi/horrors, to serial killer thrillers, ranked from worst to best. As a whole, these movies illustrate Curtis' various contributions to horror, both big and small.
Halloween: Resurrection is in some respects a better overall movie than other less well regarded Curtis films, but how it treats Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode is unforgivable. Curtis appears in what amounts to an extended cameo, before being killed by Michael. Resurrection had no reason to exist other than money, as Michael's return ruined Laurie's perfect, triumphant ending from Halloween H20.
While not unwatchably bad by any means, Virus was a critical and commercial bomb upon release, and is far from being a good movie. Based on a Dark Horse comic series, Virus stars Curtis as Kelly Foster, navigator of the Sea Star salvage ship. The Sea Star attempts to salvage a Russian vessel, only to discover an alien intelligence has taken over the ship. Famously, Curtis herself considers Virus to be an awful film.
Following her breakout role in Halloween, Curtis earned her title of scream queen by starring in three different slashers in the same calendar year, 1980. The worst of these is Prom Night, which for whatever reason, has a cult of fans and spawned a franchise of five films. Unfortunately, while some of the sequels are cheesy fun, the first Prom Night is just plain boring to many viewers for much of its runtime - even the kill scenes.
Mother's Boys is more of a psychological thriller than straight horror, but is close enough to the genre for many to regard it as part of Jamie Lee Curtis' horror film roster. Curtis stars as Jude Madigan, a woman who abandons her family, only to suddenly return years later looking for forgiveness. She doesn't find it, but Jude isn't exactly sane, and goes to extreme lengths to get her kids back in her life. Mother's Boys is regarded by many as not being a particularly good movie, but less boring than Prom Night.
Terror Train was another in Curtis' 1980 slasher triple header, and thankfully, it's noticeably better than Prom Night. It transports the usual slasher tropes onto a moving train during a New Year's Eve costume party, allowing the killer to continually switch disguises. Terror Train isn't a top-tier slasher, but Curtis is good as usual, and the late-1970s atmosphere is enjoyable, as is a small role for magician David Copperfield.
Easily Curtis' most obscure horror outing, Roadgames is an Australian production directed by Richard Franklin, who would go on to direct the criminally underrated sequel Psycho 2. Roadgames stars Stacy Keach as a trucker who ends up on the trail of a serial killer preying on hitchhikers. Curtis plays Pamela, a hitchhiker picked up by Keach's character that ends up helping him pursue the killer. Roadgames is a minor gem, and is a precursor to later hits like The Hitcher and Joy Ride.
One of legendary director John Carpenter's many great horror efforts of the 1980s, The Fog reunited Carpenter with his Halloween leading lady Curtis. As Elizabeth Solley, Curtis is a long way from the demure Laurie Strode of 1978, readily hooking up with Tom Atkins' Nick Castle after Nick picks her up while hitchhiking. Nick and Elizabeth are among those forced to try and stay alive when vengeful ghosts invade the small coastal town of Antonio Bay.
Halloween H20 saw Curtis make her big return to the franchise that made her famous, after not appearing since 1981's Halloween 2. Halloween H20 marked the first big retcon of the series, with everything after Halloween 2 ignored, including Laurie's offscreen death in a car accident and her daughter Jamie Lloyd. A huge hit, Halloween H20 saw Curtis in top form as Laurie, and reignited the franchise. Sadly, that led to the awful Halloween: Resurrection.
Outside of Halloween 3 - which ditched Michael Myers - and Rob Zombie's Halloween movies, there's no more divisive Halloween entry than 2021's Halloween Kills. Many were turned off by the unlikable mob of Haddonfield townies led by Tommy Doyle, and their incessant "Evil Dies Tonight!" catchphrase, but Michael Myers himself is truly a blast to watch, doling out some of the most sadistic, gruesome kills in Halloween history. It's a bit disappointing how little Curtis' Laurie is given to do, but Halloween Kills isn't deserving of the hate it sometimes receives.
The original Halloween 2 long stood as the best sequel in the franchise, and it's still a close contender. That's despite it, like Halloween Kills, giving Curtis' Laurie little to do but hang around a hospital. Still, Halloween 2 features some great kills, a cool atmosphere, and really does feel like a direct continuation of Carpenter's original classic. The late Donald Pleasance also shines as Dr. Loomis, making it even more of a real shame that the Blumhouse movies retconned this installment.
Curtis made her second major return to Halloween for Blumhouse's 2018 "requel," and while it does hurt to lose Halloween 2 from canon, that change did at least undo the troublesome plot thread of Laurie and Michael being siblings. Halloween 2018 is a very, very good movie, and was exactly what the franchise needed after Zombie's woeful Halloween 2. Curtis' survivalist take on Laurie is interesting, and Michael is back to being genuinely scary.
No film other than Halloween could conceivably make the top spot on a ranking of Jamie Lee Curtis horror movies, and that's because John Carpenter's original Halloween is just that iconic of a movie. It was a slasher before slashers were ostensibly a thing, and has arguably never been topped in the sub-genre. Even now, over 40 years later, Halloween 1978 holds up flawlessly, from Carpenter's iconic synthesizer score, to Michael's point-of-view stalk scenes of Laurie and her friends, to the opening escape scene at a dark and foreboding Smith's Grove. Curtis' performance as horror's quintessential "final girl" made her career, and it's not hard to see why, given her performance in the role. Halloween 1978 is a true masterpiece, and the fact that it has any competition as Carpenter's greatest film really speaks to the strength of his filmography as a whole.
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