MIKO HUGHES
THEN: There are very few truly impressive child actors in horror. Aside from Linda Blair in THE EXORCIST, Corey Feldman in the FRIDAY THE 13th franchise and Danielle Harris in the HALLOWEEN franchise, you’d be hard pressed to find a ton of names that stole the show in the genre. One name that tends to come up is Miko Hughes. The young boy who took on Gage Creed in the eerie big screen version of Stephen King’s PET SEMATARY (1989) clearly had the ability to provoke some serious heebie jeebies. While he was an adorable little kid early on in the film, it is the moment when you realize he came back that truly made him memorable. The role quickly earned the young talent a career in Hollywood that led to so much more. TV movies, series work on such shows as Doogie Howser, M.D. and Beverly Hills, 90210, and big screen flicks including KINDERGARTEN COP in 1990 and JACK THE BEAR in 1993.
Miko was truly creepy as the child buried in the PET SEMATARY, and the young actor was right at home doing the scary stuff. In 1994, Miko starred as Dylan, the fictional son to the fictional version of Heather Langenkamp in Wes Craven’s NEW NIGHTMARE. Once again, he was able to give an incredibly solid performance and not simply annoy the audience. Personally, this is one of my favorite A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET sequels. It offered a fresh take on Freddy Krueger, and it was fun seeing Heather, Wes and Robert Englund playing themselves. It also helped that I was fully rooting for Dylan and Heather the entire way through this wonderfully wicked look into a cinematic nightmare that comes true for those involved.
While NEW NIGHTMARE wasn’t the hit that the studio may have been expecting, it didn’t stall Hughes career. He continued to work in television and even had a role in the acclaimed Ron Howard hit APOLLO 13 in 1995. A couple of years later, he was featured in yet another intriguing flick called SPAWN. While this comic book inspired action flick didn’t live up to its promise for some, it did feature an impressive cast including John Leguizamo and Martin Sheen and it gave Miko another chance to let young fans live vicariously through him with some awesome roles. It’s been a long while since I’ve witnessed SPAWN, and frankly it feels like a movie that may hold up better all these years later. Anybody watch this flick recently? Is it worth revisiting? Maybe the R-rated version?
Next up for the actor came the thriller MERCURY RISING opposite Bruce Willis in 1998. In the crime drama, Miko played a young boy with autism who was able to decipher a top secret code which put him in a bunch of trouble. The movie made a little money but failed to gain much in the way of critical acclaim. However, I dug Miko’s performance, and as someone who is familiar with autism, I am still blown away by how gosh darn good he was. Again, it is rare for an actor so young to give such impressive, dramatic performances. And it seemed for a few years he was the go-to actor for challenging kid roles.
Miko continued to work on television. From lending his voice to animated fare, to a three episode arc on the series Roswell in 2000, the actor remained pretty busy. He appeared in CLOCKSTOPPERS in 2002, SURF SCHOOL in 2006, and he was featured in the 2008 hit TROPIC THUNDER as the “Radio DJ.” It is slightly surprising that he didn’t get bigger offers considering the depth of some of his early performances. Of course we all know that making the leap from child actor to adult talent is a difficult one. But it can be done, and maybe there is still time in the future for the now 29-year-old to take on Hollywood. According to Wikipedia, Miko Hughes is a musician as well, releasing music way back in 1995. He was freaking nine when he did that. Is he still making music? Where in the horror is Miko Hughes anyway?
NOW: As recently as 2011, Miko Hughes appeared in the low budget horror film REMAINS. In 2013, he took to writing and directing with a segment in the anthology CHILLING VISIONS: 5 SENSES OF FEAR. And according to his IMDB page, the actor seems to be returning with a number of projects including AFTER OURS with an expected September 2015 release, as well as WILLIAM FROSTE and A CITY OF SHOULDERS AND NOSES with an expected release of November of this year as well. Hopefully we will continue to see the actor return to horror because let’s face it, he scared the crap out of most of us when he was a wee lad. And he was damn good at it.
Miko Hughes helped make scary kids cool. This talented young actor was able to give very memorable performances early on, it will be exciting to see a return to horror for him. If you check out his official Facebook page, you can keep tabs on the actor and find out what conventions he is attending and more. You should also check out his Twitter page which is a lot of fun, and will keep you posted on what he is up to. Glad to see you back Miko! Cheers, and keep on scaring!