Matthew Lillard: 14 Movies & TV Shows That Made Him a Cult Star, In Order
Most famous for playing Stu Macher in Scream and Shaggy in Scooby-Doo, Matthew Lillard has a legion of devoted fans. Whilst he might not be at the top of the A-list acting pile, and Quentin Tarantino has spoken against him, there is no denying that Lillard is a cult hero.
A regular fixture on the convention circuit, the announcement of the actor’s presence triggers chaos as fans desperately try to book a photograph or autograph with him. Lillard’s sway does not simply apply to convention appearances; his fans rally around everything that he does, most recently making his range of Ghostface Vodka sell out in mere minutes. But what is it about the star that has fans so enraptured?
A key aspect of Lillard’s cult appeal is that the actor seemingly favours roles in projects that are slightly more niche. Even his bigger hits of Scream, Scooby-Doo, and Five Nights at Freddy’s don’t have too broad an appeal, and it seems that Lillard is never going to be the blockbuster star, but it is his work with this cult world that has rightfully earned him the adoration of the masses. For those not indoctrinated into the Lillard cult and curious as to how the actor has come into such prominence, here is a round-up of his journey so far, in chronological order.
Right from his first IMDb credit, Ghoulies Go to College, Matthew Lillard was embracing the cult movie. The third entry in the comedy-horror Ghoulies series, Ghoulies Go to College, does not have a reputation for quality, but it is worth seeking out to see Lillard in his first on-screen role.
He plays Stork, a member of the fraternity that gets mixed up with the chaotic ghoulies, and although he has no lines, his screen presence is undeniable, Lillard drawing the eye each time he pops up on screen.
Lillard’s second movie credit came four years later, and once again is a movie that has long-standing cult appeal. Directed by cult cinema king John Waters, Serial Mom provided Lillard with his first speaking role.
The film itself is a delightful dark satirical comedy in which Kathleen Turner’s suburban mother begins hacking her way through the community whenever mildly inconvenienced. Lillard is present as her horror-loving, video store clerk son, Chip, who must come to terms with his mother’s homicidal tendencies.
Is there a film that screams ‘90s technology more than Hackers? The film follows Jonny Lee Miller’s child prodigy hacker, Dade Murphy, who, along with a group of like-minded teens, sets out to cause all kinds of chaos on the internet. Very much a film of its time, Hackers is a wonderful time capsule looking into the early days of the internet, its nostalgia appeal making it a worthy movie to still seek out today.
Also present alongside Jonny Lee Miller are Angelina Jolie and Matthew Lillard, who plays one of Dade’s hacking team members, Cereal Killer. Lillard has rarely played a character as stylistically ‘90s with Cereal Killer’s alt-punk aesthetic, a far cry from Stu Macher’s white jumper.
Already having built up a strong list of credits, it was Scream that pushed Lillard into the zeitgeist. One of the two original Ghostface killers, fans immediately fell hard for Stu Macher, and by extension, Matthew Lillard. What makes Stu such a fascinating character is that the unmasking of him as Ghostface was a genuine surprise at the time. Billy Loomis had been pretty obvious all the way through, but when Sidney is confronted with Stu and the voice-changing machine, everyone’s collective jaw dropped.
A witty and ever so slightly highly strung individual, Stu Macher is one of the reasons that Scream works as well as it does, and without Lillard, we wouldn’t have the iconic delivery of the line: “My mum and dad are going to be so mad at me.”
The Curve, also known as Dead Man’s Curve, is an underseen cult thriller that features an intriguing premise. A pair of struggling college students discover that there is a clause that states that anyone whose roommate dies by suicide will be granted an automatic passing grade. Inspired by the news, the two friends plot and kill their roommate, staging his murder as suicide. However, once the police begin their investigation, the pair find themselves in over their heads.
Matthew Lillard is in fine form in The Curve as the more maniacal of the friends, Tim. Whilst protagonist Chris feels immense guilt and fear over their actions, Tim is less sympathetic, and as the two turn on each other, The Curve gets really fun.
She’s All That is a ‘90s teen movie institution. The teen comedy reworking of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion made stars out of its leads, Freddie Prinze Jr and Rachael Leigh Cook, but a closer look at the ensemble proves She’s All That was packed full of stars. Also on the cast are Paul Walker, Jodie Lyn O’Keefe, Kieran Culkin, Anna Paquin, Milo Ventimiglia, an uncredited appearance from Sarah Michelle Gellar, and, of course, Matthew Lillard.
Although only playing a small role, Lillard shines as reality star Brock Hudson, who starts dating O’Keefe’s Taylor Vaughan, which in turn causes Prinze Jr.’s Zack to take a bet that he can transform anyone and make them Prom Queen. Lillard clearly had fun on the project as he was one of the cast members who returned for the belated sequel, He’s All That, in which he played school principal Bosch.
Having made a career playing high-school or college students, Finder’s Fee marked one of Matthew Lillard’s first ventures into playing a character close to his own age. Upon initial release, Finder’s Fee flew under the radar, but due to an early career appearance from Ryan Reynolds, the film has found itself on several prominent streaming sites over the last few years. The premise of Finder’s Fee revolves around a game of poker between friends.
What starts as a fun evening of guys catching up with one another takes a dark turn when a stranger (played by James Earl Jones) arrives to claim his lost wallet, which contains the winning lottery ticket. It then becomes every man for himself. A great ensemble piece that also features ER’s Erik Palladino, Romeo + Juliet’s Dash Mihok and Robert Forster, Finder’s Fee is well worth your time.
Whereas Scream was worthy of garnering attention, 2001’s Thir13en Ghosts is a truly terrible horror that really should be forgotten. Had it not featured Matthew Lillard in the cast, it likely would have been. Thir13en Ghosts screams early ‘00s horror and has somehow become one of those films that is so bad, it’s good.
In it, Lillard plays psychic Dennis Rafkin, who, along with several others, finds himself trapped inside a strange mansion, tormented by a series of depraved ghosts. Proof that not every cult movie is a winner, Thir13en Ghosts nonetheless has a strange charm to it.
In 2002, the live-action Scooby-Doo movie arrived in the world, and Matthew Lillard was present as the real-life variant of Shaggy. Those who grew up on the cartoon could not deny that Lillard had been perfectly cast as the scaredy cat BFF of canine detective Scooby-Doo. Much like Stu Macher, the role of Shaggy has become synonymous with Lillard.
It is also a role that the actor obviously adores, as in addition to returning for the sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, he has voiced the character in a plethora of video games, cartoon series, and even provided his Shaggy vocals for the Scooby-Doo episode of Supernatural ‘Scoobynatural.’
After getting somewhat lost on screen due to his career in voice work, in 2017, Matthew Lillard returned to prominence when he starred in Twin Peaks. The third season of David Lynch’s magnum opus, for the Twin Peaks outing, Matthew Lillard portrayed William Hastings, a character featured in the South Dakota storyline who becomes entangled with Cooper’s doppelganger.
The decision to join the cast was almost certainly inspired by the opportunity to work with cult directing legend David Lynch, and once more demonstrated Lillard’s love of the more niche properties.
