ByMike Rampton|Nov 1, 2022, 12:33 AM EDT
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The year 1997 seems both impossibly long ago and strangely recent, and bears odd similarities to 2022 in that it was a big year for Nicolas Cage, Will Smith, and Batman. Costumed heroes battled in computer-generated landscapes and a lot of things blew up.
Yet there are household name actors in 2022 who were still in diapers then, and 1997 megastars who wouldn’t draw a second glance now. Marvel was a comic company, and the internet made loud noises when you connected to it.
Looking back at the summer of 1997, how much of an impact did it have on the Hollywood of 2022? Turns out, quite a lot …
1. It brought in the Age of Cage.
Before 1997, Nicolas Cage was an actor. A good one, too—he won an Oscar in 1996 for Leaving Las Vegas. After following that up with Michael Bay’s The Rock, he surprised everyone by delivering a one-two punch of wildly enjoyable, incredibly violent movies that dominated the summer of 1997: Con Air and Face/Off. These came out a mere two weeks apart and propelled Cage into the realm of sh*t-blowing-up movies. His filmography since then has been strikingly uneven—equal parts prestige and bargain-bin—but in 1997 there was nobody better at explosive kookiness.
2. It codified our new millennium paranoia.
Perhaps partly due to existential anxiety stemming from the imminent new millennium, a lot of filmmaking eyes were cast skyward in 1997. Men In Black, Contact, and Event Horizon provided different takes on what could be out there. Contact—which, apart from that one beloved mirror shot, hasn’t really stood the test of time—offered a more cerebral approach, while Event Horizon combined psychological trauma with body horror; Men In Black, on the other hand, offered a cheerful, crowd-pleasing take on conspiracy theories. (Also released that summer: Richard Donner’s paranoia-is-correct thriller Conspiracy Theory.) One summer later, this existential dread would be made even clearer with the death-from-above double-whammy of Armageddon and Deep Impact, as the world collectively decided it was all probably over for us.
3. It solidified Will Smith’s ownership of July.
One year earlier, Independence Day had introduced the world to Will Smith, Movie Star. While that movie was arguably an ensemble piece, it transformed Smith from beloved sitcom star to major box-office draw. Men In Black gave him his second Fourth of July opening in a row, and it turned out to be a colossal hit both critically and commercially (and came accompanied by a hit single). This would be the Will Smith model for a few years, recreated for both Wild Wild West and Men In Black II, both of which sort of sucked but still made a fortune.
4. The 21st century’s biggest genre came calling—but nobody answered.
In 1997, Hollywood didn’t know that comic book movies were set to become the cultural behemoth they are now or who the audience for them might be. (Men In Black was technically based on a comic, but it was a pretty obscure one and the movie bore minimal resemblance to it.)
The Batman franchise breathed its last breath—for a while at least—with the DayGlo codpiece-fest that was Batman & Robin, while two potentially great comic book movies, Spawn and Steel, failed to hit. Spawn didn’t seem quite certain about what it was trying to be, flip-flopping between a brutally dark revenge movie and a farting-clown slapstick-a-thon; Steel, on the other, shed most of the details of its origin story, making Shaquille O’Neal’s helmet look all the goofier. Both films set things up for 1998’s Blade, which essentially established the beginning of the modern era of comic book movies.
5. A bunch of ‘that-guy’ actors got upgraded.
The year 1997 was a great one for taking familiar-looking character actors—the Danny Trejos of the world—and solidifying them in moviegoers’ minds as more than just “that guy.” In 1997 alone, Trejo was featured in Anaconda, Champions, Con Air, Trojan War, Los Locos, and Dilemma, as well as a Sepultura music video and a documentary. Steve Buscemi was a known name to the arthouse crowd, but his unforgettably odd performance in Con Air—a standout even in a movie filled with deeply odd performances—made him legitimately well-known. Viggo Mortensen and Jennifer Lopez, each of whom had been startlingly attractive sixth-names-down in a few movies, had their first major roles (in G.I. Jane and Selena, respectively).
6. It brought an end to subtle performances.
The indie film explosion of the early 1990s brought with it a more naturalistic, understated, subtle approach to acting, but in 1997 everyone decided to throw that out the window. Sometimes through plot contrivances, other times through very specific decisions, and other times still in a bid to out-act goofy costumes, it was a big year for chewing the hell out of all available scenery. Con Air is wall-to-wall showing off. Face/Off is a feature-length who-can-act-the-maddest contest. Vincent D’Onofrio spends all of Men In Black making increasingly silly faces. Batman & Robin features Arnold Schwarzenegger bellowing ice-themed puns while laminated in glitter and Uma Thurman vamping about like she’s in a 1930s silent movie. John Leguizamo’s Spawn character shouts pretty much every line, while Jon Voight’s Anaconda villain is essentially a cartoon character.
7. Willing suspension of disbelief took a holiday.
Larger-than-life stars who normally played supersoldiers (or genies) spent 1997 presenting themselves as ordinary people, a glimpse of the future where we are occasionally expected to buy The Rock as a suburban dad. Sylvester Stallone gained 40 pounds to play a beaten-down sheriff in Cop Land, but still looked like he could benchpress a truck. Flashback scenes in Batman & Robin have Arnold Schwarzenegger portraying a cryogenics scientist the size of a house. Shaquille O’Neal spends the entirety of Steel towering a foot and a half above everyone else as an engineer whose very enormousness in a work environment must be an OSHA violation. At the other end of the spectrum, the late-summer entry The Edge asked us to side with the sexagenarian Anthony Hopkins as he fought a full-size bear (accompanied by the very un-Anthony Hopkins line, “I’m going to kill that motherf***er”).
8. It has non-obvious echoes a quarter-century later.
Twenty-five years later, it’s some of the more unlikely movies of 1997 that still create ripples. A G.I. Jane joke at the Oscars this year led to international headlines. Two of the stars of Anaconda (Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson) reunited for a rom-com, Marry Me. While it’s always 1999’s The Mummy that gets mentioned, the internet’s ongoing love affair with Brendan Fraser owes a lot to 1997’s George Of The Jungle, in which he looks about as good as any human being has ever looked. Arguably, the movie from that summer that cast the longest cultural shadow wasn’t a hit until it was released on video—Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which is still being poorly impersonated (and making people horny, baby) after two and a half decades.
Looking for a new movie to watch, or at least a movie that’s new to you? Mental Floss’s new book, The Curious Movie Buff: A Miscellany of Fantastic Films from the Past 50 Years, offers behind-the-scenes details and amazing facts about some of the greatest movies of the past half-century. And it’s available now at your favorite place to buy books, or online right here.
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Quiz: Can You Name the ’90s Horror Movie From Its Final Girl?
Put that ‘90s movie knowledge to the test this Halloween.
ByAlexandria Ingham|Oct 27, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT
You know the villains, but can you remember the last survivors? The Final Girl is one of the most iconic tropes from horror movies, and the ‘90s had some of the best. Let’s see if you can match the Final Girl to the horror movie.
How did you do? If you got all eight right, we’re impressed, and you’re definitely a horror movie buff. If you didn’t, well, it’s the perfect excuse to have a horror movie binge-watch for Halloween!
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Most Iconic Final Girls of the ‘90s
The 1990s was a transformative decade when it came to horror. After decades of watching the women scream and make silly choices, the women of the ‘90s became more self-aware. In fact, they were able to poke fun at their earlier counterparts, even when they were forced into making the same mistakes. The evolution of the Final Girl delivered fierce and proactive heroines we could root for.
Sidney Prescott is one of the most memorable. Neve Campbell brought this teenager to life in Scream, kicking off a new style of slasher movies. It wasn’t afraid to poke fun at its own genre, while bringing a leading woman who was layered with trauma and heartache. Even when Sidney was forced to run up the stairs instead of out the front door, she continued to make quick decisions and made it clear she deserved to survive.
While Gale Weathers was technically a co-Final Girl, it was Sidney we rooted for the most.
Just a year later, Jennifer Love Hewitt became the Final Girl, Julie James, in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Her character had one of the most iconic pop-culture moments, as she looked at the sky and screamed, “What are you waiting for?” and she didn’t let us down when she returned for the sequels. It would have been great to see her survive with Helen Shivers, but unlike Scream, there can usually only be one Final Girl.https://www.youtube.com/embed/IE1ZeXC4vtg?feature=oembed
Before the teens, there was one Final Girl of the ‘90s who will always stand out as the queen. It’s all about Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. The FBI trainee proved that women could remain grounded and quick-thinking, even when faced with the horror of a killer coming after her. It’s rare that a horror movie lands any Academy Award nominations, let alone wins, but Foster proved it’s possible.
If you love to test your movie knowledge, check out the Mental Floss quiz page daily for more trivia challenges.
The countdown to Halloween is on, and we’re challenging our readers here at Mental Floss with our Trick or Trivia quiz giveaway. For 13 nights between October 19-31, we’re putting your knowledge of all things spooky to the test. Think you know Halloween? Take at least one quiz and enter to be in the running to win a $200 Barnes & Noble gift card.
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The Spookiest Star Signs, Ranked By Horror Movie Villains
It turns out some zodiac signs are far deadlier than others—at least on screen.
ByNitya Rao|Oct 27, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT
Have you ever watched a horror movie and realized its antagonist was suspiciously similar to the villain in your own story? Whether it’s the strategic Scorpio mind games or the infamous Gemini two-faced tendencies, some red flags feel like they were written in the stars. But can your birth chart actually predict your evil twin on the silver screen?
Doing the Monster Math
There are 12 zodiac signs: Aries (March 21 – April 19), Taurus (April 20 – May 20), Gemini (May 21 – June 20), Cancer (June 21 – July 22), Leo (July 23 – August 22), Virgo (August 23 – September 22), Libra (September 23 – October 22), Scorpio (October 23 – November 21), Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21), Capricorn (December 22 – January 19), Aquarius (January 20 – February 18), and Pisces (February 19 – March 20).
There are also countless horror characters who wear their signs on their sleeves—from the charmingly polite Libra facade of Norman Bates to the spotlight-stealing, Leo spectacles of Jack Torrance at the Overlook Hotel.
To find out which star signs shine brightest in the horror hall of fame, researchers at California Psychics analyzed 85 famous movie monsters to pinpoint their astrological alignments. Sourcing 23 canonical birthdays from official lore and 62 from fan wikis and Wikidata, the study also factored in character totals and movie appearances to produce a final spookiness score out of 100.
See the full list of the spookiest zodiac signs—from Gemini to Sagittarius—based on their overall score, villain count, and standout slasher icons below:
| Rank | Zodiac Sign | Spookiness Score | Villain Count | Notable Villains |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gemini | 100.0 | 11 | Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th), Damien Thorn (The Omen) |
| 2 | Scorpio | 91.4 | 11 | Count Dracula (Dracula), Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) |
| 3 | Leo | 89.1 | 10 | Jack Torrance (The Shining), Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) |
| 4 | Aries | 79.6 | 9 | Kayako Saeki (The Grudge), Regan MacNeil (The Exorcist) |
| 5 | Libra | 71.5 | 8 | Michael Myers (Halloween), Norman Bates (Psycho) |
| 6 | Virgo | 61.7 | 7 | Carrie White (Carrie), Frankenstein’s Monster (Frankenstein) |
| 7 | Taurus | 54.5 | 6 | Chucky (Child’s Play), Pennywise (It), M3GAN (M3GAN) |
| 8 | Aquarius | 51.9 | 6 | Hannibal Lecter (The Silence of the Lambs), Samara Morgan (The Ring) |
| 9 | Cancer | 48.6 | 5 | Billy Lenz (Black Christmas) |
| 10 | Sagittarius | 42.1 | 5 | Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Jigsaw (Saw) |
| 11 | Pisces | 39.5 | 4 | Angela Baker (Sleepaway Camp) |
| 12 | Capricorn | 25.9 | 3 | Candyman (Candyman); Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs) |
The Horror Horoscope
The stereotype of twin sign Geminis being two-faced might be an actual archetype, with the hockey-masked Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th confirmed to be one. From The Omen‘s sinister antichrist Damien Thorn, born June 6, to Saw’s cold, calculating detective Mark Hoffman, Gemini tops the list with 11 horror villains, 35 movie appearances, and an eerily perfect spookiness score of 100.0.
Also making up one in eight characters analyzed is the second-spookiest zodiac sign, Scorpio, with a 91.4 score. Scorpio’s ranks include American Psycho‘s Patrick Bateman and Halloween-born slashers Victor Crowley (Hatchet) and Ethan Landry (Scream VI). Fire signs Leo and Aries have 10 and nine characters respectively, with the latter including The Exorcist‘s Regan MacNeil, whose embodiment of an Aries sun shines through from her playful, energetic pre-possession self to her explosive emotionality when pushed to the brink.
On the less sinister side of the spectrum is Capricorn as the least spooky zodiac sign with a spookiness score of 25.9 out of 100, known for its logical, no-nonsense attitude. Capricorns, like the sharp, determined Clarice Starling of The Silence of the Lambs, prioritize practicality over paranormal activity, cementing the sign’s spot far from the superstitiousness of it all. Watery Pisces also lands near the bottom overall with just four characters, followed by Sagittarius, which Freddy Krueger and Jigsaw share as a sun sign.
Grounded earth signs like Virgo and Taurus sit near the middle of the rankings with around 7% to 8% of horror characters each. While they can produce tragic monsters like Carrie White as well as chaotic characters like Chucky and Pennywise, they leave the highest body counts to air and fire signs.
Who’s Your Spooky Star Sign Soulmate?
Do you share a birth chart with an iconic horror villain, or does your zodiac sign land among the least deadly?
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