ALI LARTER
THEN: It’s a rare thing when a genre actress finds herself in two very different horror franchises. You don’t see the same actors crossing over from HALLOWEEN to FRIDAY THE 13th, or SAW to PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, but it does happen. This weeks Where in the Horror are they Now examines one of my personal favorites who does have that honor. Yet her career didn’t begin in horror at all. In fact, you could find this intensely gorgeous gal making guest appearances on such TV shows as Suddenly Susan (1997), Chicago Hope (1998), Just Shoot Me (1998) and Dawson’s Creek (1998). Then in 1999, she made a huge impact in the comedy DRIVE ME CRAZY and the goofy football flick also starring Dawson himself, James Van Der Beek, VARSITY BLUES.
Now let’s get into genre favorite Ali Larter. This stunningly hot blonde (although her hair color changes) proved she could handle comedy and drama, now how about a scare or two. In 1999, the actress was the female lead in the underrated William Malone remake of HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL. This is one hell of a great cast. You had Ali, along with Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Peter Gallagher and Jeffrey Combs. That’s a hell of an impressive line-up for a cheesy horror feature. And best of all, there is a wild sense of fun in this survive the night in a haunted mansion tale, and it's wonderfully entertaining. Okay, the final sequence is a bit dodgy with that CGI ghost, but the rest is so damn watchable that I didn’t mind that at all. Either way, it was a great introduction to a lovely new scream queen.
A year later, she continued to be a part of projects meant for scaring audiences with yet another cool thriller. FINAL DESTINATION (2000) was a rare treat for horror fans. Horror audiences embraced this tale of “death itself” as an invisible and murderous monster who had gory plans for the survivors of a horrendous plane crash. And since Ali survived death’s wrath, she thankfully returned for FINAL DESTINATION 2 in 2003. With these two films, as well as HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, Ali certainly earned serious spook cred. In fact, much of the reason I enjoyed the FINAL DESTINATION the first time around was because of the charms of Larter and the film’s male star Devon Sawa – one of the coolest dudes around. If only they had gone on to do all the sequels.
After a one-two punch of scares, the actress veered into comedy with JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK – man I love that flick – and LEGALLY BLONDE, both in 2001. That same year she starred alongside Colin Farrell, Scott Caan and Gabriel Macht in the western AMERICAN OUTLAW. After FINAL DESTINATION 2, Larter appeared in a couple of small budget flicks including the sexy little thriller THREE WAY in 2004, CONFESS in 2005, and the silly National Lampoon flick originally titled STONED AGE, renamed HOMO ERECTUS in 2007. Well, they can’t all be winners. Thankfully, Ali wasn’t finished with the scary.
In 2007, Ms. Larter joined the cast of RESIDENT EVIL: EXTINCTION as Claire. For many fans, this franchise had already worn out its welcome, but frankly I find it to be terribly entertaining when you catch it on Netflix or whatever. Perhaps this is just a “guilty pleasure” but I’ve been mostly on-board when it comes to Ali and Milla Jovovich trying to fight against flesh eating monsters. She once again joined in for more bloody action with RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE and she has continued to keep me intrigued in this stylish zombie madness. Enough about RESIDENT EVIL for now… Let’s move on.
It’s sometimes cool to watch a pretty actress play crazy, but the 2009 thriller OBSESSED wasn’t the best example of that. The PG-13 flick also starred the great Idris Elba way before he became one of the best actors working today. Hell, it even had Beyoncé Knowles as the woman that Ali crosses. As much as I love Ali, this was not a good flick in any way shape or form. And if you don’t mind, I’ve got to take a minute to just repeat that Idris Elba was in this!! Seriously!? They all have to start somewhere. All that said, Ali was still pretty great in this so at least it had that to offer.
You know how I mentioned that she was in two franchises? Being a part of both RESIDENT EVIL and FINAL DESTINATION is cool, yet she also appeared in a little show called Heroes from 2006 to 2010. Truthfully, I never watched the series, but I do remember it having a ton of buzz. It also featured a great cast so maybe it might be worth a binge watch later on. What do you think? Was it worth watching? Since the rise and fall of Heroes, Ali has moved around from TV to independents. She was featured on the series The League in 2013, and she starred in the 2014 series Legends with Sean Bean and Morris Chestnut. The movies include LOVESICK and YOU’RE NOT YOU in 2014.
NOW: Ali Larter is a stunning beauty, and thankfully she is still taking on big screen terrors. In 2015 she starred in THE DIABOLICAL; a horror flick about a single mother and her children facing off against an evil presence. She also will be returning as Claire Redfield in RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER. We all are very aware how truthful the term “final chapter” is in horror so perhaps this isn’t really the last time we see Alice and Claire in Raccoon City. And in true form to her already cool career, we will be seeing Ali in a little something called Pitch, along with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Michael Beach and Dan Lauria. This is a show I may take a swing at, as I tend to love shows about baseball.
Thankfully, this lovely gal from Jersey works consistently. And she sure seems to be pretty cool – I’ve yet to interview her unfortunately. However, if you’d like to keep up with her impressive career, you can catch her official Twitter page, or you can find her on Facebook. The best way to keep up may very well be AliLarter.com where you can find “Recipes, Revelry, Living & Loving.” Man I dig her more and more! Thank you Ali Larter for continuing to give us genre fans a little love. And yes, she makes me want to continue watching RESIDENT EVIL so I’ll be there for the FINAL chapter.