Skeletons in the Closet

Kathy Griffin in The Unborn (1991)

I have to say that, in my humble opinion, this is the hottest entry in this entire list. Not only because this white-hot Roger Corman movie features Kathy Griffin with her old face, but because it features the foul-mouthed (and beloved) gay-fave ... as a lesbian!

Yes, in this hilariously bad horror misstep about killer fetuses (no, really...), Griffin plays an Earth Mother lesbian whose partner is artificially inseminated with one of the killer tots, and forces the mother to kill Griffin. With a hammer.

It's really too fabulous for words. And to make it better, Lisa Kudrow has a small role as a fertility clinic receptionist.

Katherine Heigl in Valentine (2001) and Bride of Chucky (1998)

If you've been a fan of recently-Emmy'd BFF of T.R. Knight for long, you'll know she's no stranger to genre projects.

Heigl appeared in an extended medical morgue chase scene at the beginning of the low-rent holiday slasher Valentine (it's pretty sad that she doesn't even live as long as Denise Richards) in which she at one point hides in a body bag. I'm sure she brought this experience to her character work on Grey's Anatomy.

Years earlier, though, Heigl played the romantic lead in the gay-rific killer doll sequel Bride of Chucky, opposite the mouth-watering Nick Stabile. What's best about Bride is that her character and her star-crossed lover are aided by their gay best friend, which is a real rarity for the genre.

Heigl also starred in the horror/sci-fi comedy Bug Buster (1998) with George Takei.

Tuc Watkins in The Mummy (1999)

Half of the new gay couple on Desperate Housewives played an ill-fated explorer in the big-budget reimagining of the classic Universal horror tale. In The Mummy, Watkins played the near-sighted Burns, who is actually the reanimated Egyptian baddie's first victim (he loses both his bunk eyeballs and his tongue to the mummy). The movie's a campy blast that doesn't take itself seriously in the least, and if you haven't seen it it's a fun and fairly innocuous horror picture that the presence of Watkins only makes more enjoyable.

Matt Dallas and Jon Fleming in Camp Daze (2005)

Here's an inspiring story for you aspiring actors out there: Kyle XY star and all-around cutie pie Matt Dallas got his start playing a gay teenager in a shot-on-video no-budget slasher movie called Camp Daze, which was released directly to DVD last year. The movie's actually got a really fun premise (a carload of modern teens get stuck at a haunted summer camp perpetually reliving the same day in the 80's when all the campers were slaughtered) and if you can get past the low production values and some pretty abysmal acting, it's not at all bad. It's also full of shirtless guys, including Dante's Cove's Jon Fleming as a bully counselor.

Dallas's tender flirtations with a young man at the camp are the highlight of the film, even though they don't end very well for him. For a movie that boasts 37 deaths, this shouldn't be a surprise!

Taye Diggs and James Marsters in House on Haunted Hill (1999)

That's right, both of these handsome fellas appeared in the campy, effects-laden remake of the Vincent Price classic, which puts a group of strangers in a haunted house to see who can survive the night and win a fortune. Diggs makes out pretty well — he's paired with Ali Larter (Heroes) early on and is one of the few heroic characters in the film.

Marsters (Spike from Buffy and soon to appear on Torchwood) appears, I believe, without a word of dialogue in the opening fake-scare amusement park scene with folk singer Lisa Loeb (of all people!).