Horror doesn’t always have to horrify. Somehorror movies are as funnyas they are scary, while others are just deliriously entertaining. Either way, there are plenty of horror films from every decade of the genre that offer plenty of enjoyable thrills, chills and kills. Indeed, the genre is remarkably versatile, meaning there are plenty of movies to choose from.
From horror comedies to action horror extravaganzas, there isn’t a genre that can’t be mashed up with horror to make for a scary good evening of entertainment. Get ready to get gross, weird, and wild withthese horror films that are guaranteed to entertain from beginning to end. There won’t be any ranking here; instead, the list will aim to discuss horror movies that fulfill as an enjoyable experience beyond their ability to scare or disturb.
15’Freaks' (1932)
Directed by Tod Browning
Tod Browning’sfollow-up to his horror classicDraculawasthe controversialFreaks. The film was heavily censored by the studio, who cut thirty minutes out of the film before releasing it to highly negative reviews and public backlash. Decades later, it would receive a reappraisal as a classic of its genre and Browning’s masterpiece. Even in its truncated form,Freaksstill holds the power to shock and entertainover ninety years since its release.
Much of the controversy around the film surrounded Browning’s decision to use real sideshow performers with disabilities to fill out his cast, though the movie does not cast them as villains. The plot concerns a female trapeze artist who conspires with the circus strongman to manipulate a dwarf performer into marrying her so she will inherit his wealth. In the climax, the sideshow performers take their vengeance on the trapeze artist, and the results are still unsettling even after years of far more explicit horror content.
14’Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein' (1948)
Directed by Charles Barton
Bud AbbottandLou Costellowere one of thegreatest comedy duos of all time. Their classic routines like “Who’s on First?” could twist words and logic into comedic pretzels that were the perfect comfort food for movie-goers of the ’40s and ’50s. Together, they starred in over a dozen films, several of which were crossovers with the horror genre, the absolute funniest of which wasAbbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
The boys play unlucky baggage clerks who take in a delivery of several crates that just so happen to contain not only the titular monster but Dracula as well. If that wasn’t enough, they’ve also got a werewolf to deal with.The duo is in fine form, and the monsters make for perfect foils to scare Costello into a wordless stupor.Abbott and Costello Meet Frankensteinis also the only other film other than the originalDraculato starBela Lugosias the Count, whileLon Chaney Jr.returns as the Wolf Man, andGlenn Strangefills out the flat-top as Frankenstein’s monster.Vincent Priceeven shows up for a cameo as the Invisible Man in this star-studded horror-comedy classic.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
13’The Thing From Another World' (1951)
Directed by Christian Nyby
The ’50s brought horror into the atomic age, and along with it, monsters that were all sorts of giant, mutated, and all around outlandish. Monsters also came from the skies as aliens made landfall in tons of great sci-fi horror films. TheHoward Hawks-produced adaptation of the novellaWho Goes There?, retitledThe Thing From Another World, may or may not bescarier than the John Carpenter remake, but it’s absolutely a classic monster movie that’s worth its weight in popcorn.
Trading the novella’s shapeshifting monster for a walking, stalking monster made out of vegetable material makes this less of a paranoid thriller and more of an Artic haunted house. It even comes with heavy door sound effects and Hawksian rapid-fire dialogue between the multitude of scientists and military officers that fill out the cast.Hollywood does not make movies like this one anymore, and that’s a damn shame.
The Thing from Another World
12’Blood and Black Lace' (1964)
Directed by Mario Bava
Mario Bava’s classic Giallo,Blood and Black Lace, is both beautiful to look at, with its vibrant use of colors and stark cinematography, and wickedly entertaining, thanks to its proto-slasher mystery plot involving a masked killer slaughtering a house full of Italian models one by one.
Bava is a master of the horror genre, andBlood and Black Laceis his absolute masterpiece.It’s a saucy mix of B-movie kills and erotic thrills, and its notorious bathtub murder has been referenced by major filmmakers likeMartin ScorseseandPedro Almodóvar.Blood and Black Laceis a horror classic that knows how to kill with style and is the blueprint for many similar movies that followed without ever coming close to matching it.
Blood and Black Lace
11’Jaws' (1975)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classicJawsis iconic from the opening momentswhen a woman goes for an ill-fated skinny-dip. From the perfectly crafted suspense sequences toJohn William’s incredible melodies,the only thing in the movie that doesn’t work is the shark,which infamously malfunctioned and resultedin the aforementioned scenes of suspense being designed to hide it as much as possible.
Jawsis amust-watch monster moviethat is such an absolute banger it makes it a necessity that Spielberg return to the horror genre before he inevitably hangs up his director’s hat. Despite the success of the original, none of the poorly conceived sequels, rip-offs, or wannabes have ever been able to come close to replicating the pure summer thrills of the original underwater killing machine.
10’Re-Animator' (1985)
Directed by Stuart Gordon
Looselybased on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft,Re-Animatoris a wild 80s take on a Frankenstein-esque doctor who has found a neon green method for bringing the dead back to life.Stuart Gordon’s directorial debut mixes sex and horror in one of the grossest movies of the decade for a zombie romp that is severed head and shoulders above the competition.
Jeffrey Combs, in his most iconic horror role, plays Herbert West, an ambitious med student who rooms with hot-shot classmate Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott), eventually bringing him in on his extracurricular resurrective activities. The script has a wicked sense of humor, and things only get weirder and bloodier as West’s experiments continue to go awry. By the time the movie gets to itsmost infamous scene involving a talking head attempting a certain sexual act,Re-Animatorhas truly breathed new life into the undead genre.
Re-Animator
Directed by Sam Raimi
Nobody does horror quite likeSam Raimi, and no horror film is quite likeEvil DeadII. Itcombines comedy, gore, and unhinged energy into a splatstick souffleso deliciously demented it could feed a family of deadites. Following up their low-budget original, Raimi, along with producerRob Tapertand starBruce Campbell, crafted one of the weirdest and wildest horror sequels that inspired an entire generation of genre filmmakers.
Returning to the cabin in the woods, Ash (Campbell) quickly turns on a tape recorder with a terrible playback that unleashes all hell. His girlfriend quickly loses her head, thoughthat doesn’t stop her from coming at Ash with a chainsaw. The most memorable sequence sees Campbell take on his possessed hand in what is the closest thing to an R-ratedLooney Tunessequence.Evil Dead IIis reason enough to be very excited about Raimi’s long-awaited return to horror.
Evil Dead II
8’Tremors' (1990)
Directed by Ron Underwood
Tremorswas a monster movie flopwhen it came out in 1990, but thanks to home video, this quirky Western creature feature found the audience it deserved. Set in a remote Nevada town, it follows two handymen, Val and Earl (Kevin BaconandFred Ward), who decide to get out of dodge but find themselves stuck when underground worm monsters start gobbling up townsfolk. It’s a wonderfulB-movie premise elevated by a talented cast and a clever script.
In addition to Bacon and Ward (who have all the chemistry), the film also has a tremendous supporting cast, includingMichael Gross, as the gun crazy Burt Gummer, who was the only cast member to return for all six of the direct-to-video sequels.Tremorsis fun, funny and filled with incredible practical effects that have aged incredibly well over the past three and a half decades.
7’Sleepy Hollow' (1999)
Directed by Tim Burton
Tim Burton’s visually stunningupdate onIrving Berlin’s classic tale of the Headless Horseman is not only one of the idiosyncratic filmmaker’s most underrated movies but also one of his few R-rated endeavors, allowing him to splash bright red blood across the screen.Sleepy HollowstarsJohnny Deppas inspector Ichabod Crane, who comes to the titular town to solve a rash of murders perpetrated by a head-impaired assassin.
The whole movie is a campy homage to Hammer Horror while also qualifying as one of Burton’s darkest movies this side ofSweeney Todd. Between the quirky performances,Emmanuel Lubezki’sgorgeous cinematography,Danny Elfman’s atmospheric score, and the numerous beheadings,Sleepy Hollow’s pace never lags and makes for perfect viewing during the spooky season.
Sleepy Hollow
6’Slither' (2006)
Directed by James Gunn
James Gunn’s gross directorial debutis worlds away from his superhero output, and that’s a good thing.Mixing ’50s monster sci-fi with ’80s gore,Slitheris layered with goop, guts, and over-the-top glee as mind-controlling slugs crash-land on Earth and begin to quickly infest a small town.
The cast is filled with Gunn regulars, withNathan Fillionas the affable police chief,Elizabeth Banksas his former high school crush, andMichael Rookeras her husband and unwitting host for the slugs. Rooker is fully dedicated to his role as he quicklygets caked in prosthetics and makeup to turn him into a slimy, slithering tentacle monster that would give Cthulu nightmares.
