Justin Long Doesn't Mind Being The Guy Who Always Dies
In the world of fiction, every character serves a purpose. For some unlucky characters, their only purpose in the narrative is to die.
These characters are sometimes known as "Redshirts," a term coined by "Star Trek" fans used to refer to the unfortunate ensigns who'd be sent along on a mission with the main cast members, their inevitable death just a plot device to raise the stakes of the episode. Death is a commonly used trope in film and television because it's a common experience in real life. A character's death can serve many purposes, whether it be illustrating the danger and severity of a situation or forcing another character to undergo change and growth. It works as a narrative tool, and so writers use it often.
It makes sense, then, that in Hollywood, you start to see some actors pushed into the Redshirt role more often than others. Actors like Sean Bean have gained a reputation for always dying in any movie or TV show they star in (possible spoilers for anything from Sean Bean's filmography). In the realm of horror movies, a Sean Bean-level career Redshirt seems to be emerging in Justin Long, who finds himself dying brutally in those movies more often than not. And according to a recent Vulture interview, Long doesn't exactly mind biting the dust over and over.
Caught in a deathloop
In the horror genre, you'll find much of the time that almost everybody's a Redshirt, and not just because of all the blood. In stories where grisly deaths are often the main events driving the plot, you'll often see most, if not all, of the cast meeting brutal ends in service of the main story.
While many may remember Justin Long from fun comedies like "Dodgeball," or even Apple's famous Mac vs. PC series of advertisements, he's also been a horror movie staple since his prominent role in "Jeepers Creepers," a film unfortunately made by an actual real-life monster. Ever since that fateful role, a pattern of Long failing to survive the films' runtimes seems to have emerged.
In the Vulture interview, Long addressed his tendency to buy the farm in most of his horror appearances:
"There was a thing going around, a meme during the pandemic, where it was a bunch of characters I played, and it said, 'Which version of Justin Long are you?' — It was 'Jeepers Creepers,' 'Tusk.' That was the first time I realized that I have met a lot of unfortunate endings."
While I could imagine some people would tire of never being the lone survivor of these kinds of movies, it doesn't seem to bother Long very much. Not only has it allowed him to develop the perfect horror movie scream, but he expects there'll be some karmic rewards for his on-screen suffering.
Dying his way into the hearts of millions
Justin Long has also appeared in a handful of other horror and horror-adjacent films without dying, most prominently in the Sam Raimi film "Drag Me To Hell." Then again, being left alone with a cursed button after watching your fiance get sucked into the depths of Hell before your very eyes isn't exactly an ideal survival situation. Nevertheless, while Long died in countless horrific fashions in films, the tragic ends Long comes to in films are something he enjoys, as he said in the Vulture interview:
"Yeah, I guess my characters have had bad luck, which is fun for me. I'm a horror fan. To be in an audience of equally excited and passionate horror fans at Comic-Con and to hear them applaud my death — I know this sounds strange, but it was oddly thrilling for me. It meant that they were invested and I did my job. That his character was truly deplorable and deserving of a pretty rough ending."
With the critically acclaimed "Barbarian" as the latest horror flick under his belt, Long seems to be well on his way to a royal place in the pantheon of horror movie casualties. He may not always survive to the end credits, but thanks to his numerous appearances in the genre, he's become an undeniable scream king.