Photo credit: Buddy Corona
I have been a fan of Kyle Gallner forever. His acting career actually goes way back.
I recently watched Veronica Mars for the first time, and he has a supporting role in that for a season or two. Of course, he winds up playing a psycho.
He actually had a small but credited role in Wet Hot American Summer. And not the television show—the movie from 2001!
He also had a lot of one-episode appearances on television shows early in his career.
One of my favorite roles of his is in The Outsiders, a severely underrated TV show where he co-starred alongside David Morse and Ryan Hurst. The show is about an off-the-grid family in Appalachia that preys on the town down the hill because everyone is too scared of them. It’s super tense and plays out like a mix of Deliverance and the Wrong Turn remake.
But now, let’s talk about his horror movies.
Over the past few years, Gallner has starred in Strange Darlings and Smile 2. Strange Darlings isn’t your typical horror movie, but I’d still put it in that realm. It’s a great cat-and-mouse story with a big twist. The Smile films, on the other hand, are an impressive new addition to the horror world. They focus on a creepy presence that haunts people, giving them a week to figure out how to escape before meeting their end.
In 2023, he also starred in The Passenger. It took me a while to sit down and watch this one. I knew I wanted to see it because Gallner is one of my favorite actors, but I also knew it was going to be heavy. The movie follows a complacent townie who gets dragged into a violent rampage by his co-worker. It’s incredibly tense and disturbing, and Gallner gives an amazing performance.
I also recently watched The Cleansing Hour. I watched it for him and Ryan Guzman, who I know from 9-1-1. The film follows a fraudulent streamer who claims to perform exorcisms. And then, of course, one winds up being real.
I haven’t seen Red State since it came out, but it was a wild ride. It marked Kevin Smith’s start in the horror realm and is his answer to the Westboro Baptist Church. The film follows a few high school boys who meet a woman online—only to find out she wants to make them pay for their sins.
Ghosts of War has been on my list for a while. The film follows five American soldiers assigned to hold a French chateau near the end of World War II who encounter a supernatural enemy. The cast is what sold me on this movie, with Alan Ritchson, Theo Rossi, Skylar Astin, and Billy Zane.
His whole horror career includes the following. I might be leaving out a few that are more thriller than horror, but here’s the list:
1. Red Eye (2005)
2. The Haunting in Connecticut (2009)
3. Jennifer’s Body (2009)
4. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
5. Red State (2011)
6. The Walking Dead (2013, episode: “Live Bait”)
7. Sublime (2007)
8. The Cleanse (2016)
9. The Cleansing Hour (2019)
10. Scream (2022)
11. Smile (2022)
12. Ghosts of War (2020)
13. Mother, May I? (2023)
14. The Passenger (2023)
15. Strange Darling (2023)
16. Smile 2 (2024)
Kyle Gallner has done a ton of horror and absolutely deserves to be called a scream king. If you’re not already a fan, you’re missing out on one of the best actors in the genre right now.