"horrendous performance" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it to describe something that was extremely terrible or terrible beyond a regular level. For example, you could say, "The actor's horrendous performance earned him many boos from the audience."
On any other day, that would be a horrendous performance.
There was a nasty touch of deja vu as Alastair Cook sought to explain a horrendous performance by his England team.
(In truth, after her horrendous performance with Katie Couric, anything short of her head spinning around and spewing vomit would have been considered an improvement).
He had such a strong regular season last year, but then faltered in the post-season and ultimately cost the team a chance at the Super Bowl with his horrendous performance against the Panthers.
2: Wyatt Allen rebounded from a horrendous performance in Tennessee's opener by pitching eight solid innings last night as the Volunteers beat Southern California in a College World Series elimination game.
Never mind the fabled weakness of this touring party, they conspired to spend 30 minutes of the game with 14 men (three of them were shown the yellow card in the first half), they were given a torrid time at the scrum, and young hooker Andrew Hore buried his promising display against England the week before with an horrendous performance at the line-out.
Through the Internet, Mac Duff's former coach learned of the pressure Mac Duff was under for his unit's horrendous performances in the first half of the season.
It was a startling — though not altogether stunning — turn for the Giants, who have appeared to be a serious Super Bowl contender for most of the season but have been undercut by some horrendous performances.
But his horrendous performance--not unlike a frustrated six-year old attempting Shakespeare--only adds another layer of surrealism.
The big questions is whether the defense can improve on its horrendous statistical performance from last fall.
The hectic traveling schedule may have had an effect on the Aztecs' horrendous shooting performance in a shocking loss to Colorado State a few days later, though.
