15 Horror Movies With Awful Reviews That Are Actually Worth Watching

Hammer Film Studios had steadily pumped out Dracula movies ever since the international success of "Dracula" in 1958, cementing Christopher Lee in the role. Lee's final turn as the legendary vampire was in 1973's "The Satanic Rites of Dracula," a direct sequel to the preceding year's "Dracula A.D. 1972." A cult headed by Dracula plots to unleash a genetically engineered strain of the bubonic plague on humanity, placing them in conflict with the British Secret Service. Leading the team to stop the cult and destroy Dracula for good is Professor Van Helsing, whose family has been battling the vampire for over a century.

There is always a unique thrill watching Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing square up on-screen as Dracula and Van Helsing. Though Hammer's vampire formula had grown thin by "The Satanic Rites of Dracula," Lee and Cushing continue to be the best parts of the movie. With reductions to the production budget becoming more apparent, the actors do the best they can with the material they're given. Compared to "Dracula A.D. 1972," "The Satanic Rites of Dracula" offers a better balance in tone, while retaining its subtly self-aware campy elements.

Before Irvin Kershner directed "The Empire Strikes Back" and John Carpenter released "Halloween," they made the 1978 supernatural horror movie "Eyes of Laura Mars." New York fashion photographer Laura Mars begins to witness murders around the city through the eyes of the killer. With the victims close to Laura's personal life and mirroring her photoshoots, Laura teams up with a police officer to stop the murderer. However, Laura quickly learns that the killer is closer to her than she previously thought.

"Eyes of Laura Mars" combines giallo influences with some serious acting clout, with Faye Dunaway starring as Laura, as well as an early role for Tommy Lee Jones. Contemporary critics were less impressed with the execution of the movie, dismissing it as a bigger budget slasher movie. However, the first-person premise makes for an interesting twist on the genre, and Jones leaves a strong impression. While the broader story might come off as formulaic to those with a passing familiarity of slasher movies, "Eyes of Laura Mars" establishes Carpenter's horror chops.

While the original "Halloween" is a perfect standalone slasher movie, its enormous success at the box office and open ending virtually guaranteed a sequel. After completing "The Fog," the creative team of John Carpenter and Debra Hill turned their attention to "Halloween II," released in 1981. Taking place minutes after the original 1978 "Halloween," Michael Myers learns Laurie Strode, the survivor of his rampage earlier that night, has been admitted to a nearby hospital. With only a skeleton crew working the late night shift, Michael resumes his killing spree as he moves to finish off Laurie.

Of the numerous sequels and reboots to follow, the original "Halloween II" is the only one that feels borne of the DNA as the first movie. Director Rick Rosenthal maintains much of the cinematography and tone from the 1978 classic, while the amount of on-screen violence is heightened considerably. By the time "Halloween II" hit the screen, countless imitators of the original had followed, making the true sequel feel derivative at the time. However, compared to what subsequently became of the franchise, "Halloween II" is definitely among the series' stronger efforts.

Though filmmaker Michael Mann may be better known for his slick and stylish crime movies, like "Heat" and "Collateral," he did branch into horror in the '80s. 1983's "The Keep" blends World War II action with supernatural horror, adapting the 1981 novel of the same name by F. Paul Wilson. As the Nazis invade Romania in the early days of the war, they accidentally unleash an ancient entity that kills or drives mad those unfortunate enough to encounter it. The Nazi troops race to find a way to contain the entity as it threatens to engulf a nearby village and slaughter everyone in its path.

The studio, uncomfortable with the movie's initial length, significantly trimmed the runtime, affecting the overall coherence of the story. Despite the issues with the final cut, Mann's sharp visual style still comes through, even as "The Keep" struggles with its own creative ambition. The movie is also led by a stellar cast, including a moody Scott Glenn and prominent roles for a young Ian McKellen and Gabriel Byrne. One of the most offbeat projects in Mann's filmography, "The Keep" is definitely worth a look at what could've been something truly special.

After helming the groundbreaking "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" in 1974, filmmaker Tobe Hooper released a sequel, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," over a decade later in 1986. The cannibalistic Sawyer family, including the chainsaw-wielding maniac Leatherface, targets local radio DJ Stretch Brock after she overhears Leatherface kill two victims on the air. This coincides with former Texas Ranger Lefty Enright tracking down the Sawyer family to avenge his nephew, who was murdered by Leatherface in the first movie. As Lefty rescues Stretch, he and the Sawyers have a bloody showdown at an amusement park to settle this family feud once and for all.

In contrast to "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre," which played its darkly comic undertones more subtly, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" is an overtly subversive comedy. Dennis Hopper chews the scenery every time he appears and many of the Sawyers' antics are clearly played for laughs. This abrupt shift in tone definitely caught audiences off-guard upon the movie's initial release, especially in comparison with its predecessor. Hooper still brings the scares and even more gruesome kills, though, with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" containing one of the best jump scares in the genre.

Blending hard science fiction with the supernatural can be a tricky feat, with this juxtaposition at the heart of 1997's "Event Horizon." Set in the year 2047, the titular spaceship resurfaces around Neptune seven years' after its disappearance, prior to the start of the film. A rescue team sent to investigate what happened to the ship learns that its experimental drive opened a portal to Hell. With the Event Horizon itself possessed by a demonic entity, the team moves to destroy the evil ship and seal the dimensional rift before they become its latest victims.

Concerned at the graphic content and the movie's overall length, the studio heavily edited "Event Horizon" ahead of its theatrical release, tampering with director Paul W.S. Anderson's intended cut. The resulting film was critically lambasted upon release, but became a sleeper hit when it was released on home video. What "Event Horizon" lacks in substance it makes up for with an unabashed '90s atmosphere, combining its sci-fi premise with supernatural undertones and industrial aesthetics. An effective haunted house movie in space, "Event Horizon" is a '90s flick that is far better than the critical reception it got.

Of all the Japanese horror movies to get American remakes, "Dark Water" is one of the more surprising choices to get the Hollywood treatment. The 2005 remake stars Jennifer Connelly as Dahlia, a recently divorced mother, who relocates to a cheap apartment building on Roosevelt Island with her young daughter. As a strange leak of dark water forms on the ceiling, Dahlia begins experiencing ghostly visions. Dahlia learns that these spectral sights are linked to the apartment's previous residents and are now targeting her daughter.

The American "Dark Water" plays out like a less effective riff on 2001's "The Others," which also featured a young mother and her children haunted at home. Joining Connelly are John C. Reilly, Tim Roth, and Pete Postelwaithe, with the impressive cast taking the material very seriously. Though "Dark Water" captures the melancholy atmosphere of its Japanese source material, it just isn't a particularly scary movie. However, as far as Hollywood remakes of Japanese horror movies, one can do much worse than "Dark Water," which is an overlooked chiller.

The biggest horror movie of 2023 also received wide critical backlash, though nowhere near as bad as the reception to that year's "The Exorcist: The Believer." The long-gestating adaptation of "Five Nights at Freddy's," the popular horror game series, came out just in time for Halloween. A young man named Mike, haunted by the childhood disappearance of his brother, is hired as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, an abandoned family entertainment center. As Mike unravels what happened to his brother, he learns that the animatronics come to life each night at the pizzeria and try to kill him.

With the franchise's creator Scott Cawthon serving as a co-writer and producer on the film, "Five Nights at Freddy's" contains plenty of nods to the fan-favorite games. The animatronics look just like they do in the games, but with its PG-13 rating, the scares are perhaps tamer than what fans may hope. Though the movie's surreal dream sequences throw off the overall pacing, "Five Nights at Freddy's" is riveting whenever its iconic animatronics are at play. Despite the poor critical reception, the movie got the last laugh, with an impressive box office haul and sequel in development.