The Most Underrated Horror Movies of the ’90s

Horror lovers are always down for a good scare. However, what to watch on any given evening is almost always debated.

In my horror circle, some die-hard vintage fans love to check out the slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s, whereas others prefer the elevated films coming out of the horror renaissance in the 2010s. However, they all seem less inclined to revisit anything in between. Why? Simply put, many don’t associate the 1990s with good horror.

Sorry, but friends (love ya!), you are dead wrong. The ’90s horror movement tapped into postmodernism, addressing the fears and anxieties of the era in a productive way. Don’t believe it? Check out this list of 12 underrated ’90s horror movies that will have you re-examining your beliefs about the era.

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Tom Savini’s directorial debut was the 1990 remake of George A. Romero’s groundbreaking 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Although there are many unofficial remakes of Night (the film is in the public domain because the distributor didn’t put the required copyright notice on the theatrical prints), Savini’s version is the only official one, and it holds up quite well. Like the original, the 1990 film explores issues of racial and political strife while following a group of strangers who hole up in a farmhouse to avoid being besieged by ghouls for their nightly buffet. Unlike Romero’s version, where Barbara Todd (Judith O’Dea) is so overtaken by fear it breaks her, the remake sees Barbara (Patricia Tallman) as a badarse heroine like Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien or Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor in Terminator.

Hardware (1990)

Richard Stanley’s feature directorial debut is the bizarre British cyberpunk sci-fi thriller Hardware, starring Dylan McDermott and Stacey Travis. Set in an America ravaged by atomic warfare, it’s about ex-soldier and desert scavenger Moses Baxter (McDermott), who comes into possession of a self-repairing robot programmed to kill that he gives to his girlfriend. Much like a golem story, the plot centers around the artificial intelligence who eventually runs amok, although he doesn’t know what he’s doing is evil. Of note, the filmmakers were successfully sued over the screenplay because it plagiarized the Judge Dredd Annual 1991 story “SHOK! Walter’s Robo Tale” (later releases credit the strip’s publisher, Fleetway Publications, and creators Steve MacManus and Kevin O’Neill).

The People Under the Stairs (1991)

“The greedier they got, the crazier they got.” Starring Twin Peaks actors Everett McGill and Wendy Robie as the film’s child-abusing villains, Wes Craven’s postmodern classic The People Under the Stairs is partially inspired by a 1970s news story about two burglars who broke into a Los Angeles home and inadvertently helped the LAPD to discover two kids whose parents locked them away. While the film’s central antagonists are clearly evil, they aren’t its true villains; racism and capitalism are.

Cannibal! The Musical (1993)

Cannibal! The Musical is based on the true story of the real-life “Colorado Cannibal” Alfred Packer, a prospector and self-proclaimed wilderness guide who confessed to cannibalism during the winter of 1874 after he emerged as the sole survivor of a six-man party attempting to travel through the San Juan Mountains. Directed, written, produced, and co-scored by South Park‘s Trey Parker, the film is a black comedy musical loosely based on his life. But I gotta be honest: this is on the list mostly because it plays on a continuous loop (or at least it used to) at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Alfred Packer Grill.

The Frighteners (1996)

Directed by Peter Jackson, The Frighteners stars Michael J. Fox as former architect Frank Bannister, a man who can see ghosts after a terrible trauma and uses the ability to pass himself off as an exorcist of evil spirits. With the help of his ghost pals, Bannister can use fake exorcisms to con people out of money. The movie is wacky and funny, and Fox plays everything to perfection, as one would expect. As a bonus for fans of Star Trek and/or Stuart Gordon films, Jeffrey Combs also stars in the movie as an FBI agent.

The Tommyknockers (1993)

Based on Stephen King’s 1987 sci-fi novel of the same name, The Tommyknockers concerns the residents of a small town in Maine gradually falling under the influence of a mysterious object buried in the woods. ABC’s 1993 limited series is widely reviled by fans and critics alike. Indeed, out of everything I pitched for this list, my editor mentioned being most excited to read this defense, as it’s hated by King and traditionally considered indefensible. But to a Mary, Mary like me, that’s part of its charm. So sadly, my only defense is that sometimes, bad is better (also, Tommyknockers is a great word to say repeatedly).

The Good Son (1993)

Written by novelist Ian McEwan (Atonement, Amsterdam), The Good Son stars Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood. Because it’s about a psychopathic child, it was initially hard for McEwan to get this project to the screen. However, after Home Alone (also starring Culkin) and The Silence of the Lambs demonstrated the box-office appeal of movies about kids and extreme thrillers, respectively, Fox finally decided to make the film. Unfortunately, The Good Son didn’t replicate the success of either film since critics had trouble seeing an adorable child star as a psychopath—a criticism I never understood, as Culkin is 1,000-percent believable in the role.

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

I’m Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates’ number one fan. While I love, love, love her in Misery (1990), in which she plays the murderously obsessed Annie Wilkes, it’s not an underrated ‘90s horror movie. So, instead, I chose the 1995 film adaptation of another Stephen King novel: Dolores Claiborne, a sleeper hit that stars not only Bates but also fellow Academy Award-winners and nominees Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight), John C. Reilly (Chicago), and Christopher Plummer (Beginners). And while I don’t want to spoil anything, Dolores Claiborne plays an essential role in the Stephen King Universe.

Ice Cream Man (1995)

This entry is totally for Clint Howard, the younger brother of actor and director Ron Howard and uncle to actress and director Bryce Dallas Howard. Clint began his career at the age of two, appearing in five episodes of The Andy Griffith Show before he stole my heart with his first appearance on Star Trek where, at just seven years old, he was the face of Balok in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “The Corbomite Maneuver.” To quickly sum up the plot of The Ice Cream Man, it’s Sweeney Todd with ice cream.

Note: I learned while writing this entry that Clint is a Republican, unlike his Democrat brother Ron, and he endorsed Ted Cruz for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Since I can’t find information about Clint’s political beliefs after 2018, I’ll comment with a “sad face” for now.

Alien Resurrection (1997)

Directed by French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet (yes, the director of Amelie), Alien Resurrection may not be the best film in the franchise, but it’s the most underrated. Like much of Joss Whedon’s penned and directorial work, I hesitate to recommend the fourth entry in the Alien franchise. However, it is also one of the most terminally underrated horror works, and let’s be real, in 1997, we were all still fooled by Whedon’s well-thought-out but fake feminist perspective onscreen (now, post-Vulture exposé, I’m convinced he was the basis of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. character Agent Grant Ward). And that fake feminist perspective shines in this film, with the two lead women having one of the sexiest relationships in pop culture.

Disturbing Behavior (1998)

As I rewatched this movie recently, it hit me how much I miss the high school movie trope of having a social outcast introduce the different cliques at school. It’s even better when one of those groups is a murderous bunch of jock arses mind-controlled by what’s best described as being like Elon Musk’s Neuralink implants. In Disturbing Behavior, the brain implants even impact the teenagers’ sex drives: every time one of them gets horny, they get violent.

Lake Placid (1999)

Are you into 2023’s Slotherhouse? I AM! Recently, I’ve been rewatching as many giant animal horror movies as possible, such as 1999’s Lake Placid, featuring a 30-foot-plus crocodile (for the animal death-weary, the croc lives). Rewatching the movie, I was reminded of why the cult classic revitalized Betty White’s film career. Who isn’t charmed by hearing White’s anti-law enforcement rants? Who doesn’t want to hear an adorable older woman call a cop “officer fuckmeat”? Or listen as she ponders whether it’s okay to want the crocodile to eat a cop? But more importantly, Lake Placid will leave you with one burning question: Are crocodiles really more revered than Jesus?

(feature image: Universal Pictures / MGM / 20th Century Studios)