Anthony Nicosia

Anthony Nicosia isn’t exactly a household name, but man, if you were digging through those gritty ‘90s thrillers, you might’ve stumbled across his work and not even realized. Beat the Bash (1996) is one of those cult-ish flicks that snuck under the radar, all rough edges and raw energy. It's not your typical polished blockbuster—more like the kind of movie you catch at 2am and then can’t stop thinking about for days. The story throws you right into this underground world, full of desperate characters and sketchy backroom deals, where you never really know who you can trust. Nicosia’s performance, while not exactly Oscar-bait, has this jagged authenticity that fits the mood perfectly. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, and you can tell he’s having a blast with the material. Then there’s If I Die Before I Wake (1998), a whole different beast. This one’s darker, way more intense, and honestly kind of haunting. The plot revolves around a home invasion that spirals violently out of control, and Nicosia’s role just ratchets up the tension. The film doesn’t pull punches—it’s relentless, claustrophobic, and, yeah, pretty damn unsettling. You can feel the fear and paranoia bleeding off the screen, and Nicosia leans into that chaos, making it all the more believable. He may not have a long list of credits, but with these two, he left a mark on the indie horror-thriller scene, for sure.