EJ Moreno looks at the best of the worst horror films…
Mastering the perfect ‘bad movie’ is hard. Many believe that once a film is deemed trash, it’s instantly redeemable. This is the moment that will tell you otherwise; some bad movies are really good.
We’ve compiled a collection of “So Bad It’s Good’ horror movies spawning decades and subgenres. This list will spotlight some glorious trash for those who can appreciate it. Check it out below and be sure to share your favourites on our socials @FlickeringMyth…
Bloody Birthday
With only seven reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, you’d be shocked to see Bloody Birthday labeled a bad film, but its reception upon release was mixed to negative. Now, we all love its campy madness.
Filmmaker Ed Hunt helped kick off the greatest decade for horror with one of the strangest little films. It’s part slasher film, part The Bad Seed, basically giving us killer kids and a whole lot of WTF moments. You’d think it would stick to being a run-of-the-mill slasher, but that would’ve kept it in the so-bad category. The added camp elements and a gaggle of great kid actors elevate it to cult status.
As a bad movie fan, Bloody Birthday is a yearly date of birth watch.
Deep Blue Sea
Swimming onto this list is Deep Blue Sea, a shark movie with all the pieces to be good, but it turns out bad. Although, it’s so bad that the Renny Harlin 1999 release hits all the notes for a campy and wild watch.
Everything about the movie is just a mess, from the pisspoor characters to the wonky VFX. But there’s a charm to it all that only a director of that cult legacy could muster up. Maybe it’s LL Cool J harping “Deepest bluest, my hat is like a shark’s fin” on the soundtrack, but I can’t help but be lured into whatever is happening in this shark romp. Deep Blue Sea knows it could never hit the heights of Jaws and owns that.
Still, it ranks high just for its audacity in the shark movie world.
Detention
Visionary director Joseph Kahn came from the world of music videos and directed the outrageous Torque. Then he followed it up with this underrated gem from 2011 that pushed genre lines with its insanity.
Detention is one of those films that seemingly no one remembers, but the small and passionate fanbase will always remind you how good it was. Others wouldn’t agree, and many hate the painful ’10s kinetic editing and genre mashup. The quality sits somewhere between bold and trash, giving it the charm it needs to be on this list. Detention isn’t trying to be a bad movie but trying to be too much at once.
It’s a rare film with an honest look at youth and some horror-tinged thrills.
Eaten Alive
Tobe Hooper stormed into the 1970s and the horror genre with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. 2 years later, he followed that seminal work with a deliciously mad time called Eaten Alive.
Where the Leatherface-led slasher feels grounded in such a twisted reality, Hooper’s Eaten Alive is an elevated level of crazy. There’s a psychotic redneck killing people, there’s a giant crocodile, and there’s a dark sensibility to it all. For fans familiar with Hooper, the film lives somewhere in terms of Texas Chain Saw Massacre and its sequel in terms of tone. It’s a little twisted and a little fun to watch.
This is a must-see out of respect for the legend of Tobe Hooper alone.
My Super Psycho Sweet 16
We’ll spotlight an overlooked and often-forgotten made-for-TV horror film now, which sounds like the best fit for a ‘so bad it’s good’ list. My Super Psycho Sweet 16 is an MTV Original that slashed harder than expected.
Many will scoff at this entry, but if you give them a film an honest watch, it’s one of the only “original” slashers of the 00s-era that tried. It wants to pay homage to the slashers that came before it, even if it gets bogged down with some anti-bullying messaging and high school melodrama. All of that adds to its teen movie charm, and plenty of Gen Z folks would cite this as a gateway horror for them.
Cheesy teen thrills like this matter, especially when they can surprise us.
Jigoku
As the oldest film and the only Japanese entry, Jigoku stands out amongst the others here, but it’s the same recipe that makes for a gloriously lousy watch. Even a modern reevaluation can’t make this above-serviceable.
In 1960, we were already starting to see Japan push the boundaries of horror, and Jigoku is a perfect example of that. Studio Shintoho was known for its low-budget, gory films, yet they stretched themselves for this cult classic. It’s still gory, but the arthouse quality is where we see push what the filmmakers could. Everyone pushed themselves so hard that the studio went bankrupt after making this.
Maybe too artsy for its good, you can’t miss this bonafide classic.
Blood Diner
An easy to find yourself on a list like this is to make a film that attempts to pay tribute to the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis. Blood Diner goes the extra mile to pay respect to the B-Movie legend, almost to a fault.
What helps the film is how much it genuinely likes making a cheesy movie, but it doesn’t fall into the ‘purposefully bad’ trap. Many times, directors try too hard to pay homage to bad movies. The filmmakers behind this don’t have a pretentious bone in their bodies, though. It’s a bad movie, but that’s due to big swings and missing. But the swings include a naked chick performing karate on her attacker, so it’s splendid.
Blood Diner is one of those horror films for horror fans only.
Sleepwalkers
For as iconic as his work in the book world, Stephen King has a track record for some pretty bad movies. At least a handful of awful movies swing back around to good, case-in-point Sleepwalkers.
We could’ve easily included Maximum Overdrive, but that film suffers from being truly bad. Sleepwalkers hits the notes we need from a ‘so bad it’s good’ film, and that’s going for broke in terms of craziness. Director Mick Garris is an intelligent filmmaker who makes the most of what he has. However, it’s still a bit too much for most. Sleepwalkers encapsulate what we love about Stephen King, flaws and all.
If not for the love of King, watch for the wild VFX and cheesy acting.
SEE ALSO: The Best ‘So Bad It’s Good’ Superhero Movies
What are your favourite ‘So Bad It’s Good’ horrors? Be sure to let us know @FlickeringMyth…
EJ Moreno
Originally published August 1, 2024. Updated August 4, 2024.
