Horror Movies That Fans Love to Hate (or Hate to Love)

Horror fans aren’t unfamiliar with the experience of watching something that makes time travel even more appealing. It’s one thing to watch an episode of a horror series and decide it’s not for you. But it’s another to watch a whole horror movie and know you truly wasted your time. None of us want to do that, but it happens.

Every decade has horror movies that have gotten metaphorical tomatoes thrown at them. It doesn’t matter what subgenre they belong to either. But sometimes, there are movies that are so memorably bad, that they become something people love to hate. Sometimes they even…enjoy watching them. Are these movies so bad that they’re borderline…good?

Let’s explore the horror movies that are still talked about. Even if it’s for the wrong reasons entirely. 

Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Whether you love the Friday the 13th franchise or not, there’s no denying this is one of the worst entries. The plot has a level of stupidity that far surpasses any of the other films. Not to mention certain casting choices were off base, an actress felt uncomfortable with a scene involving her character, and I could go on but there’s no point. Not shaming anyone who thinks fondly of this movie, but it certainly earns its place on this list. 

Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)

This movie certainly didn’t make the cut for my best of ranking. Doubt it makes anybody’s as it’s truly at the top of the worst in the Halloween franchise. Not only did this movie completely erase Danielle Harris (who played Jamie Lloyd in 4 + 5), but her character was forced to give birth to Michael’s baby. The implications of which are wildly upsetting. The Cult of Thorn trilogy simply isn’t well-loved. And for the explanation of Michael’s abilities to be due to a curse is…well it’s bad. Not even Paul Rudd or Donald Pleasence could save this movie.

Freddy vs. Jason (2003)

Two iconic horror villains, what could possibly go wrong? A lot. Though, since this list includes horror movies that people hate to love as well, I’m throwing it into that category. The writing, some of the dialogue, and how ridiculous moments throughout the film are—make it easy to hate. But it’s one of those horror movies that you can turn on to not think for a while. If you want to watch Freddy and Jason fight each other and kill some people, then it’ll work for you. Otherwise, put it in the shit pile and keep it moving. There are better films for both franchises to watch after all. 

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

As far as the 2000s-2010s remakes of horror classics go, this one is in the lower tier. The magic of the original is completely lost in this remake. In fact, there’s very little that’s decent about it as a whole. And part of what throws people is how Freddy is outright sexually assaulting victims in this. Which is not part of the original series (at least not explicitly). As much as the dark tone and gore may be appealing, the writing isn’t good. Making it quite deserving of the hate it gets.

Martyrs (2015)

Remaking a horror movie that people love is such a touchy thing. And when you do it wrong it’s just disrespectful to the movie that came before it. This is one of those examples of stripping everything that made the original good and giving your audience a pile of garbage. Harsh? Maybe, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who likes this remake. It’s empty and soulless when you put Martyrs (2008) right next to it. Rather than digging into what the original did, it barely touched the surface of why its predecessor was so impactful.

Black Christmas (2019)

The reason this movie is being included is because it’s certainly hated by others (not me though). What bugs me is the way this film is hated partially due to how “woke” it is. For whatever asinine reason “woke” has turned into this insult and a negative thing (we all know the types of people who do this). You’re only telling on yourself if you think a movie touching upon rape culture/toxic masculinity is dumb. Could the writing have been better? Yes. I’m not going to pretend this movie holds a candle to the 1974 original. Which was incredibly feminist and even talked about abortion. If only this film had properly captured the themes in the original. At the end of the day, this movie doesn’t deserve the aggressive hate it received. Though it’s not going to end up on a “best of” list anytime soon.

(featured image: Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures)