With the release of movies like Scream 5 and Studio 666, it seems like many horror flicks are walking the line between creepy and cringe these days. Horror movies can be scary, silly, and even have a happy ending to take the edge off. However, there are still those entries in the genre that lose their age, not because of any purposeful action, but simply because they’re just so cheesy.
Some movies are “so bad they’re good,” but a horror movie can be “so corny it’s cringe-worthy.” In many cases, sometimes an overzealous attempt to be scary can come off as goofy or simply trying too hard. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it finds itself lacking.
Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988)
To be fair, Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a comedy first in a horror movie second. However, those with coulrophobia should probably stay far away. That all being said, the movie has simply gotten goofier with age, but that’s kind of a good thing.
Most of the movie plays out like a giant, semi-realistic cartoon. A race of alien clowns who turn people into cotton candy doesn’t exactly sound like the goriest horror plot. It’s the sheer ludicrous nature of it all that makes it a killer clown movie that’s not so scary.
The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)
Simply put, The Babysitter was one of those movies that didn’t need a sequel. The first movie was a solid enough horror film on its own, with just the right amount of shock, style, and splatter, it didn’t need to be anything more. Unfortunately, 2020 had to tack on a forced sequel.
Jumping through the same hoops as the first with gratuitous gore, over-the-top satanic rituals, and a plot so scattered that viewers eventually stop caring, it was a movie that overplayed its hand. There is such a thing as overkill.
House On Haunted Hill (1959)
When it comes to cheesy horror films, William Castle made some of the best in the business. All of Castle’s films had some form of a gimmick, and that’s why audiences went to see them. Of course, any time Vincent Price was involved as well, viewers were in for more than a few tricks and treats.
House on Haunted Hill is scary in the sense that rubber Halloween decorations are scary. Its murder-mystery plot is so over-the-top and Price chews every bite of scenery he’s in so much that it practically becomes a dark comedy. And that’s not even mentioning the skeleton puppet.
Jason X (2002)
There was a time in horror history when it felt like everyone went to space at some point, and that was certainly the case for Camp Crystal Lake’s resident zombified slasher. Sometime after Jason Lives, the series fully embraced its cheesy nature. Where the third movie had its laughable 3D effects, it didn’t have Uber Jason.
The idea of Jason getting a cybernetic upgrade thanks to nanobot technologies is completely ridiculous on paper, but seeing all six-foot-five inches of Jason looking like something out of Doom 64 is something else. While some fans of the genre love it, it was definitely the series’ jumping-the-shark moment.
A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010)
Sometimes too cheesy is a bad thing in horror, but sometimes not enough cheese is even worse. While it might have worked with a character like Leatherface, Samuel Bayer’s adaptation of A Nightmare on Elm Street was so grimdark in its plot and delivery that it took all the goofy, gory fun out of Freddy.
It wasn’t scary, it was just uncomfortable. While some horror movies are made to do that, some of the worst CGI, a too realistically burned Freddy, and a plot involving child abuse took away far too much of what made the original series enjoyable.
The Ice Cream Man (1995)
Sometimes a horror movie is designed to scare viewers, other times it’s just meant to gross them out. When it comes to kitschy VHS horror movies, few represent such a genre better than The Ice Cream Man. In this sticky slasher, Clint Howard plays a disturbed ice cream man who turns human victims into his frozen delights.
It’s not anything overly artistic, but it’s a movie that flip-flops between cheesy and cringe-worthy with its one-dimensional characters, gross effects, and cliche writing. That being said, it’s still a silly slasher that has a certain maddening charm.
From Hell It Came (1957)
There’s just something special about monster movies and B-movies from the ’50s, and From Hell It Came is one of the most cringe-worthy entries in the genre. Its most notable cinematic sin is its absolutely laughable tree monster that served as the titular beast.
With a title like From Hell It Came, an average viewer might think they’re in for some sort of demonic horrorshow. Not the case with this black-and-white monstrosity. In a crossbreed between Groot and one of the evil trees from The Wizard of Oz, the monster’s appearance takes every ounce of horror away from the production.
Spookies (1986)
In no uncertain terms, Spookies is incredibly weird. Essentially, the production is two movies cut and spliced together to create one horrifically cliched film. However, it’s the cliches and ridiculous effects that make the movie both memorable and enjoyable.
With one plotline involving an evil wizard resurrecting his dead lover and another involving a group of standard-issue horror victims exploring a haunted house and encountering various monsters. It’s a mess in terms of story and coherency, but that’s not to say it isn’t a fun time, especially with that giant grim reaper.
Anything By Charles Band/Full Moon Features
Charles Band could very easily be considered the king of B-movies. Known for the Puppet Master series, everything Band and his studio, Full Moon, produces is delectably spooky shlock. With such films with titles like Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity, Evil Bong, and The Gingerdead Man, Band is practically a modern William Castle.
Most of Full Moon’s work features stop-motion or puppeteered monsters, ridiculous plots, over-the-top acting, and even occasional celebrity appearances from performers like Christopher Lee and Tommy Chong. An acquired taste to be sure, but one that features some of the best of the B-movie genre.
Thankskilling (2007)
There are few productions out there that are so gratuitous, so profane, so ultimately cringe-worthy as Thankskilling and its sequel. It’s a hard movie to watch, and not in a standard horror movie sense. Although it’s hard to make a grotesque turkey puppet scary, there’s just far too much cringe in this disaster.
It’s a movie that’s made purposefully bad with its needless nudity, horrible writing, and ghastly effects, but it’s so cheap and sleazy that it stops being so-bad-it’s-good around the second or third post-mortem one-liner. Yet it somehow managed to make enough money for a sequel.
