18 of Your Favorite Horror Movies That Actually Got Terrible Reviews
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Of all the good movies with bad reviews out there, no genre is as divisive as horror. While you might adore the tense, drawn-out terror of The Strangers or scream in delight at House of Wax, Rotten Tomatoes feels otherwise. There have certainly been quite a few incredible scary movies out this year, but we want to take a minute to give it up for all the thrills, gore, and big twists that keep us leaping out of our seats time after terrifying time, even if critics would've preferred to give them the ax.
The Strangers
Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman can't catch a break in this sadistic home invasion thriller that will have you obsessively checking the locks in your house at night. Sadly, Simon Miraudo at Quickflix disagreed, saying, "I guess it's just hard for a movie about characters with bags on their heads to have any real teeth." That almost hurts worse than being stabbed in the gut by a bunch of masked weirdos. Almost.
Swimfan
Swimfan is your classic tale of "swim star cheats on girlfriend with psycho girl, psycho girl murders everyone he loves," but many critics saw it as a "Fatal Attraction rip-off." We, on the other hand, find it hard to hate anything starring Bring It On's Jesse Bradford.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Reviews weren't kind to this 2003 remake of the 1974 original, but Jessica Biel is one kickass Final Girl and does a hell of a job introducing Leatherface to a whole new generation.
Ghost Ship
With the tagline of "Sea Evil," it's no wonder Ghost Ship brought in critiques like "lame" and "senseless." Still, the opening scene with the wire slicing through partygoers like a knife through warm butter is one of the grossest (and underrated) visual moments in horror cinema.
Pet Sematary
It's safe to say that reviews didn't find this Stephen King adaptation about a haunted burial ground for family pets to be the cat's meow (ha, ha, ha) (sorry).
The Village
Ever since delivering one of the most original movie twists ever in The Sixth Sense, M. Night Shyamalan hasn't stopped trying to produce a horror flick that brings the same kind of unexpected punch. The Village's fake-out ending might not be as masterfully done as the Bruce Willis ghost affair, but this atmospheric thriller is pretty solid when you're not busy comparing it to its predecessor. We still can't believe that Shyamalan got Adrian Brody to play the village idiot, though.
The Fog
This 2005 remake has all the trappings of a critical success: Smallville hottie Tom Welling, Lost's Maggie Grace, and a scared-out-of-her-mind Selma Blair. Unfortunately our soft spot for the movie about vengeful ghosts who murderously march out of the fog and into an unsuspecting coastal town wasn't enough to keep reviewers from calling it only "mildly scary."
Dead Silence
If you hate dolls, then you'll never recover from watching this creepy tale that's filled to the brim with nightmarish ventriloquist dummies and written by The Conjuring's James Wan.
Scream 4
It's hard to measure up to the greatness of Wes Craven's original Scream franchise, but the latest installment (starring Emma Roberts) does a decent job of blending gore and comedy, despite one critic's opinion that it's "as fresh as the whiff of something stale and rank from a crypt." He better hope Ghostface doesn't read Rotten Tomatoes.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
As one of our most beloved teen slasher flicks of the '90s, we're still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact I Know What You Did Last Summer didn't go over well with critics. Didn't they see Freddie Prinze Jr.'s perfect face? Maybe they were blind?
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Say what you will about Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (critics sure did), but we stand by the fact that it's entertaining as hell.
The Forest
Natalie Dormer's first silver-screen outing since hitting it big on Game of Thrones earned a measly 10 percent on the Tomatometer, but the mere thought of its bleak, twist ending still makes us shiver.
Dark Skies
Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton's Dark Skies might be seen as "a bore" by some, but we think this alien abduction movie deserves better.
Final Destination
Final Destination's later sequels are trash. We aren't afraid to admit that. The chilling original, however, will have you guessing until the very last second, and stars Devon Sawa in his prime. What's not to love?
Saw
It's hard to stand by Saw now after seeing all of the tired, clichéd torture porn that it spawned, but how can we not give it up for the original? The plot's deceptively simple premise (how far would you go to save your own life?) piled on more and more fear with each devastating twist and turn.
Halloween: Resurrection
It's Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks vs. Michael Myers in the eighth Halloween movie, which should be all you need to know about why we love this movie so much.
Dreamcatcher
It's not every day that you see a character poop out a bloody monster into a toilet and die, and we understand that it might not be for everyone. Will Dreamcatcher haunt us forever, though? 100 percent.
House of Wax
Felix Vasquez Jr. of Cinema Crazed called this House of Wax remake a "stupid, brainless, and pointless horror installment with all the usual characters, and pretty bad acting all around." You know what we call it? Paris Hilton's Meryl Streep moment.