10 bad horror movies you might just love anyway
Despite award-winning horror films like The Exorcist, horror still has a bad reputation. Often considered vile, gorey, and exploitative, the genre is frequently cast aside. And man, those adjectives do sound bad. However, for some of us schlocky B-movie lovers, there’s exactly what we’re looking for.
We want the horror movies desperately clinging to the stars in their ratings. We crave the stupidly silly gore and cheesy dialogue. When the critics scream “No,” we yell back, “Yes.” Without further ado, here are ten of the worst horror movies of all time. (For the sake of uniqueness, this list does not include any sequels or movies from major franchises, like Halloween.)
10. Night of the Demons (1988)
Night of the Demons might not be a slasher, but it follows a similar premise. When a group of teenagers decide to host a party in an abandoned funeral parlor, evil spirits invade and pick them off one by one.
Not without faults, Night of the Demons is very much a “product of the times.” It’s gross. It’s raunchy, but it very much embodies that wild rock & roll spirit the ’80s is known for.
9. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers (1988)
Can you think of a more ’80s-sounding horror movie than Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers? Well, this film depicts exactly what the title teases. When a teenage runaway goes missing, private detective Jack Chandler (John Henry Richardson) tracks her to a cult of chainsaw-worshipping sex workers.
Don’t be mistaken. Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers is sleazy and chock full of gratuitous nudity, but it doesn’t descend into creepy sexualized violence the same way other low-budget ’80s movies frequently do. Director Fred Olen Ray billed it as a horror comedy, and that’s pretty much what you get.
8. Frogs (1972)
Frogs sees a concerned wildlife photographer (played by a young Sam Elliott) go up against the prestigious Crockett family, whose chemical empire is causing the local animals to behave strangely. However, the Crocketts’ sterotypical “rich people ignorance” makes them reluctant to believe it.
In some ways, Frogs was ahead of its time. Its ecological themes delve into the nasty realities of humans destroying the environment. Frogs doesn’t quite land its “when nature strikes back” element, but it does deliver on cheesy kills, absurdity, and lots of background croaking from the titular anti-heroes.
7. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978)
Sci-fi? Horror? Comedy? Attack of the Killer Tomatoes has all three. It details the aftermath of an uprising of mutated killer tomatoes while spoofing the cheesy monster movies that dominated ’50s cinema.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is horror at its zaniest. If you want a strong plot, look elsewhere. But if you want absolute turn-your-brian-off silliness, there’s plenty of it. Many agree that Attack of the Killer Tomatoes would’ve been even stronger had it leaned into full-blown satire.
6. The Pit (1980)
Twelve-year-old Jamie (Sam Snyders) not only has a stalker thing going on, but he also has a teddy bear that talks to him. However, it’s not until he discovers a mysterious pit containing four monsters that things truly unravel.
The Pit was the 1980s version of We Need to Talk About Kevin. It’s serving creepy kid, and it’s serving it relatively well. If anything, the movie struggles when veering too far from that trope. There was a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes drama that resulted in script rewrites. Whether it hurt or helped the movie is up for debate, but it did lend to its unusual tone and sillier moments.
5. Rubber (2010)
A good chunk of horror’s cheesier outings are creature features, and Rubber is no exception. Like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, director Quentin Dupieux delves into the absurdity of inanimate objections going rogue with a bloodthirsty psychokinetic tire.
Rubber never quite reaches the heights of other horror comedies, but it’s undoubtedly clever. Mainstream audiences might roll their eyes, but Dupieux designed Rubber with cult status in mind. It’s not for the normies; it’s for the weirdos.
4. Motel Hell (1980)
In horror, deranged motel owners are a tale as old as time. Motel Hell adds its own campy spin on the trope with Vincent (Rory Calhoun) and Ida Smith (Nancy Parsons), a brother-sister duo who specialize in turning their unassuming motel guests into sausages.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre might have inspired the film, but Motel Hell delves much deeper into black comedy and cheese. It ends with a hand-to-hand chainsaw fight, after all. If you can get past the low budget, there’s a lot to love.
3. Pumpkinhead (1988)
In its simplest form, Pumpkinhead is a revenge story with a moral lesson. After a group of teenagers accidentally kill Ed Harley’s (Lance Henriksen) son, Ed summons the spirit of Pumpkinhead to enact vengeance before thinking better of it and turning on the monster he created.
While the movie failed to impress (most) critics at launch, horror fans prop up the lesser-known creature feature as a cult favorite. Stan Winston’s special effects are worth the watch alone.
2. Frankenhooker (1990)
In one of the strangest retellings of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to date, medical dropout Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) rebuilds and reanimates his late girlfriend using body parts from various sex workers.
Critics primarily wrote the movie off as an exploitative gorefest with “soft porn” elements. With a name like Frankenhooker, it’s easy to see why. However, delving beneath the surface reveals a surprisingly fun story with feminist undertones.
1. Zombeavers (2014)
What happens when chemically mutated beavers cross paths with a group of twenty-somethings during their weekend getaway? Some decent gore and laughs, apparently. To paraphrase critic Brent McKnight’s review, if you giggled reading the tile, then Zombeavers is for you. If you didn’t, then consider sitting this one out.
Zombeavers was made for B-movie fans. It’s ridiculous, weird, and perfectly stupid. At just under an hour and a half, it also knows not to overstay it’s welcome. Thank you, Zombeavers.
Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com
