Horror Crush: Jessica McNamee

Hey, it's that time again! Time to add another talented beauty into the hallowed walls of this site's Horror Crush section! This time that honor is going to Australian actress Jessica McNamee!

McNamee was born in Sydney, Australia on June 16, 1988. Her sister, Penny McNamee, is also an actress, and they have two more sisters, as well, as a brother. Her niece Teagan Croft plays Rachel Roth on the DC/ HBO Max series Titans. Over in Australia in 2007, she gained fame for playing Lisa Duffy on a soap opera named Home and Away. In 2019 she married a property developer named Patrick Caruso. On February 2010, McNamee became an ambassador for The Hart Follows Foundation. They are dedicated to treating and preventing vision problems, including blindness.

Before that, though, in 2009, she starred in the phenomenal Australian horror movie, The Loved Ones. Writer/ director Sean Byrne's movie is the tale of a cute but utterly psychotic girl named Lola (Robin McLeavy) who is rejected by handsome heabanger Brent (Xavier Samuel) for the prom. With the help of her even more insane Daddy (John Brumpton) she kidnaps and tortures him. There is oh so much more to this absolute masterpiece. It's darkly funny, intense, disturbing, and graphically gory. It's also got great directing and a wonderful script by Byrne, who went to make the amazing The Devil's Candy. This is one of the best movies to come from the Land Down Under in many years.

The acting is phenomenal from everyone involved including McNamee, who plays goth babe Mia, a girl who our hero's friend Jamie (Richard Wilson) asks out on a date. This is the movie that made me a fan of hers (as well as of the lovely McLeavy would go on to star on AMC's wonderful western series Hell on Wheels). She is excellent here, being both sexy and sympathetic. Her character is kind of a dream girl, headbanging, drinking, smoking pot, and being very easy to like. 

I had shared my review of this excellent movie back when it finally got released in the US in 2012. I made a silly tweet (I admit I was considerably more immature back then), that I wanted her to have my babies. She actually RTed that. And, then a day later she RTed my review, and said she liked it! Even if I gotta admit some of my words on said review are definitely on the more immature side. But, all of this proved to me, that she is awesome and has a cool sense of humor. She made a fan of me for life! 

She wouldn't return to horror till the till 2018's admit ably underwhelming Jason Statham vs. giant prehistoric shark film, The Meg. She played Statham's character's ex-wife. I honestly forgot she was even in it. Then again, it is a completely forgettable, missed opportunity. All I recall is how disappointed I was (especially the more I thought about it), and how cute the little yorkie in it is!

In 2019, she appeared in Hulu's anthology horror series, Into the Dark. It was in an episode called "I'm Just Fucking with You". I never seen this show, much less this episode. Any thoughts from you guys who did see it? Let me know in the comments section below.

In 2020, she returned to killer water animal terror with Black Water: Abyss, which has a killer crocodile. This is apparently a sequel to Black Water, and I have never seen either or. Any thoughts on this one?

In 2021, she appeared in what might be her biggest flick yet, the awesome Mortal Kombat. In it, she played my second favorite character in that video game franchise, Sonya Blade (my favorite character is Kitana, if you must know). She was perfectly cast in this role and really embodied that character. I gotta say this is my favorite role of hers (that I have seen), since The Loved Ones. Now, I know this ain't horror, but it's got a shit load of gore and is a fucking total blast to watch. To me, it is hands down, the best live action movie take on any video game. She will be returning for the sequel. Fuck yeah!

 

Jessica McNamee is a fucking awesome actress who really brings her characters to life. She is also drop dead gorgeous! And, seems to be cool as hell in person. With at least one legitimate modern, classic horror film and everything else mentioned here, it is an easy decision to add her to Horror Crushes!