To say horror films are more popular now than they've ever been is an understatement. From Ari Aster's Midsommar to Leigh Whannell's The Invisible Man, we're never short on horror content. There's a lot of good horror content, but a lot of bad as well.
Sure there's some horror movies that don't work on premise alone, but it's interesting to think about the ones that actually had good premises but failed anyway. Whether that's because the writers or directors tried too hard or didn't try hard enough is often the case. Here we'll be looking at 10 horror movies that didn't deliver on the concepts they promised, and how they rank on IMDb.
10 Horns (2013) - 6.5
Based on the book by Joe Hill, Horns stars Daniel Radcliffe as Ig Perrish, who wakes up one day to find he’s the main suspect in his girlfriend’s rape and murder. Well, that and the fact that he’s now got two horns coming out of his head, which allow him to make people reveal their darkest desires. Ig decides to use these powers to solve his girlfriend’s murder, uncovering much more about himself and other townspeople along the way.
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Hill’s book is a fan favorite, and that synopsis alone promises not only a suspenseful, gothic mystery but also a lot of fun dark comedy from hearing people reveal or act out their desires. The film however, doesn't deliver on either promise: while the cast is solid, the mystery is predictable from the get-go, and the dark humor is cheap and witless.
9 The Babysitter (2017) - 6.3
Whether you love him or hate him, director McG has carved out a resume of box office hits (including the original Charlie’s Angels films and Terminator: Salvation) that’s made him one of Hollywood’s go-to directors. His 2017 horror comedy The Babysitter could have made for a smart subversion of slashers with its main plot, where the hot teenagers here aren’t victims, but the villains. But this one falls flat on its face by not being funny, scary, or clever in the slightest, not to mention obnoxiously telling us what it’s characters are thinking or about to do in a scene (a character’s shock in one moment has the words “What the fuck?!” show up onscreen). And yet a sequel is set to hit Netflix in the near future.
8 Brightburn (2019) - 6.1
A horror take on Superman's origin story, where a childless couple raise a super-powered child that grows up to be evil: how could this not be great? While Brightburn isn't without some cool scenes, its faults lie in the pacing and characterization. The film moves too quickly, not allowing for scenes to breathe or characters to develop past cliched archetypes. But the film's biggest sin might be making Brandon's turn to evil caused by messages from his spaceship, when it would have been far more interesting to see him go evil on his own.
7 Thinner (1996) - 5.8
Stephen King's 1984 novel Thinner follows a morbidly obese lawyer named Billy Halleck, who accidentally kills an old gypsy woman. He's let off the hook thanks to his connections with the town's judge, but is then cursed by the gypsy woman's father to continually lose weight (no matter how much he eats) as punishment for the crime. As Billy continues losing dangerous amounts of weight, he must figure out how to reverse the gypsy's curse before he's a literal goner.
King's story could have explored themes of white privilege and the unfair justice system, but the otherwise messy, overacted film rarely delivers in those areas. But now's the right time for a Thinner remake: with people like Brett Kavanaugh being let off the hook for their crimes while more innocent people are punished, it's clear that white privilege is still going strong. A new version of Thinner could really mirror those events with Billy's crime and serve as a takedown of Trump-era corruption altogether.
6 Alien vs. Predator (2004) - 5.6
Two of the most fearsome creatures in film going up against each other; you can practically smell the money being made and imaginations running wild with excitement. Heck, they wouldn't even have to: the line of Alien vs. Predator comics at the time offered unlimited possibilities for where a film could go. And yet the film we got was a disposable, poorly-lit mess focusing mostly on bland characters instead of the characters in the freaking title. And even worse? It was rated PG-13, so we could forget about any insane, bloody fights between the Yautja and the xenomorphs.
5 Bride of Chucky (1998) - 5.4
The Child's Play franchise definitely started going downhill with Bride of Chucky. The idea of two serial killer dolls hitching a ride with some unaware passengers and going on a Natural Born Killers-esque killing spree has excellent potential. But it fails due to bad pacing and an issue that's held back the franchise: Chucky's search for a human body. His goal here is to get an amulet that lets him and his bride transfer their souls into human bodies (even though Chucky could do this without the amulet in previous films). It would have been more interesting if Chucky accepted his fate (or gimmick) as a killer doll and simply wanted to use this road trip as an excuse for more killing.
4 Burying the Ex (2014) - 5.4
It sucks when great directors go bad, and Gremlins auteur Joe Dante showed his decline with this measly flick. The late Anton Yelchin plays a nice guy who’s struggling to breakup with his controlling girlfriend (Ashley Greene), before she’s run over by a truck. As Yelchin’s enjoying his romance with a better girl (Alexandra Daddario), Greene comes back to life thanks to a magical artifact and Yelchin must figure out a way to get rid of her once and for all.
There’s unlimited potential with that plot, and it's right up Dante's alley. Sadly there's barely an ounce of the director's trademark creativity and irreverence here. Every attempt at humor, scares, or character growth fails disastrously; you can practically see the actors trying to rise above what they're given to work with. We wish we could have seen what Edgar Wright would have done with this concept.
3 Tusk (2014) - 5.3
As weird as it sounds, Tusk might have worked. Kevin Smith's indescribable horror comedy that sees Justin Long get turned into a walrus is perhaps too weird for its own good, but what stands in the way of it being more entertaining and complex is the fact that it's a nearly 2 hour movie. The film suffers from building other characters (including one in particular who seems like he's from a completely different movie) around its main hook. But as the saying goes, less is more: a 20-30 min. short film would have kept the tone more consistent and allowed for more creativity and depth.
2 Blumhouse's Truth or Dare (2018) - 5.2
Lucy Hale starred in this flop, in which a group of friends are cursed by an evil spirit to play sadistic games of truth or dare. Both choices force the characters to say or do things they never would in a million years, and refusing to play results in death. With a plot like that, you’d expect this one to be pretty unpredictable, right?
Sadly, this film never reaches the insanity that set-up promises—with the lone exception of an alcoholic girl forced to walk on a roof without falling. The rest of the time we’re stuck with flat characters and a messy story structure, all leading up to an unintentionally laughable ending. Writer/director Jeff Wadlow continued to fail upwards though, with his horror take on Fantasy Island coming out earlier this year.
1 Seed of Chucky (2004) - 4.8
Trust us, we haven't lost our minds. So how could a film involving a gender-confused doll, Jennifer Tilly getting impregnated with a turkey baster, and Redman directing a Virgin Mary film actually be good? Simple: do none of those things. While we're sure writer Don Mancini had good intentions with Glen/Glenda's sexuality storyline, the film had an easy plot staring it right in the face: have Glen resurrect his parents and--over the course of a country-wide killing spree with his parents--comes to question whether he's truly a killer like them or not.
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