13 Guilty-Pleasure Horror Movies We Can't Help but Love

If you have a secret, undying love for a scary movie that's technically . . . how should we put this . . . bad (by Rotten Tomatoes standards), you're definitely not alone. There are plenty of good horror flicks out there with bad reviews that all of us have soft spots for. No matter how much unrealistic gore goes flying or how many lines of cheesy dialogue come sputtering out of the butcher-knife-wielding villain, we still eat them up. With Halloween only a few days away, there's no better time to give it up for everyone's guilty-pleasure favorites.

Drag Me to Hell
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Drag Me to Hell

"This film is at certain parts so cheesy, it takes the word 'campy' and beats it into the ground with a baseball bat. But there's something delightful about the almost slapstick action, the jump scares, and the scarier moments. It definitely toes the line, and throws in a pretty unique twist, too." — Ryan Roschke, assistant editor

Jeepers Creepers
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Jeepers Creepers

"Now I can't get through the month of October without subjecting my fiancé to at least one viewing of Jeepers Creepers, which has a strong, scary start but eventually dissolves into something of a cheesy horror-comedy. What can I say? It's a Halloween tradition. Justin Long will always be funny to me, even when he's being snatched by a 'Creeper.'" — Brinton Parker, assistant editor

Ghost Ship
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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 most underrated) visual moments in horror cinema." — Quinn Keaney, assistant editor

The Craft
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The Craft

"Critics may not have loved this 1996 supernatural flick, but I'm borderline obsessed. There are so many great parts of this movie! The chilling 'Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board' game, Skeet Ulrich (who would go on to play the first baddie of the Scream series) as a sexy high school scoundrel, and don't even get me started on the final sequence with the snakes. It's all pure gold." — Maggie Pehanick, editor

Black Christmas
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Black Christmas

"The 1974 version is full of weird, gross '70s moments that make you cringe, and it's a scary movie that takes place around Christmastime, which adds a whole other sinister element. It is truly terrible, but very fun to watch with a group of people on Halloween." — Kate Emswiler, editor

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

"This 2003 remake of the 1974 original might get a bad rap, but I'm so here for Jessica Biel's kickass version of a Final Girl. Remember when she jumps out of a locker and brutally hacks off Leatherface's arm? Iconic." — Quinn Keaney, assistant editor

Swimfan
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Swimfan

"My love for Swimfan will live on long after I'm gone. It's the perfect obsession-gone-too-far movie, you know, if you haven't seen Fatal Attraction or Single White Female, which I hadn't at age 14." — Maggie Pehanick, editor

House of Wax
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House of Wax

"Listen, all I'm going to say is Chad Michael Murray takes his shirt off, and Paris Hilton literally takes a pole through the eye. If that's not enough to convince you to watch this one, I don't know what is." — Ryan Roschke, assistant editor

The Faculty
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The Faculty

"I have a fondness for The Faculty, which came down the pike during the '90s era of high school horror flicks but didn't quite get the recognition that Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer did. I don't know if it was Josh Hartnett at his peak hotness, Elijah Wood as the lovable nerd, or Jon Stewart as the teacher-turned-alien, but I will always watch this whenever it's on TV — and cringe when the mother alien gets squished in the bleachers." — Becky Kirsch, senior director

Children of the Corn
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Children of the Corn

"Oh man, my dad and I LOVE bad horror movies. We used to hit up Hollywood Video around Halloween to rent the cheesiest, oldest 'scary' movies that we could find — it meant a lot of laughing through Nosferatu's bad eyebrows and making fun of dorky-looking child cult leader Isaac Chroner in Children of the Corn. It was the best bonding experience with my dad!" — Brinton Parker, assistant editor

Final Destination
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Final Destination

"I'm talking about the original and MAYBE the first sequel, here. These movies are outrageously creative when it comes to death. Even if you're not a huge fan, don't act like you don't change lanes to avoid being behind a log-loaded truck on the highway now." — Maggie Pehanick, editor

Halloween: Resurrection
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Halloween: Resurrection

"It's Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks vs. Michael Myers, which should tell you all you need to know about why I love this movie so much." — Quinn Keaney, assistant editor

Scream
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Scream

"I'm actually too chicken for most horror movies, but the one I'll watch over and over again is Scream. The acting is so poor, the effects are ridiculous, and once you know the plot, it actually comes off more as a comedy (and I can't be alone in thinking this considering an entire parody franchise — Scary Movie — was born as a result). RIP Tatum Riley — that garage door death was SO unfortunate." — Alessia Santoro, assistant editor

"Scream is a total classic. I'm a HUGE horror movie fan (the good, the bad, and the completely campy), and I still watch it every year, because it's not Halloween for me until I hear Ghostface's scratchy voice ask Drew Barrymore, "What's your favorite scary movie?" It may not be a masterpiece (just kidding, it actually is), but it's everything a classic slasher should be: creepy, jumpy, goofily gory, cliche in the best ways, and full of one-liners we're still quoting 20 years (!!!) later." — Hilary White, editor