10 Worst Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked

Though horror movies seem to get snubbed by awards shows like the Oscars more often than other genres, it’s not a controversial opinion to say that some of the best horror movies ever made are also some of the best movies ever made. Hell, even the Academy Awards couldn’t resist The Silence of the Lambs, with other films – like The Exorcist and Get Out – being well-represented as far as nominations go.

Going through all the other all-time great horror movies would take all day, but going through all the bad ones? That might take a few days, because – in all honesty – despite the great horror films, there are also plenty of cheap, rough, or otherwise haphazardly thrown-together ones. In the interest of being here for a few minutes rather than a few days, here are some of the worst ever made, including some endearingly bad older films alongside some tremendously stale and confusingly shoddy more recent releases.

10 ‘The Bye Bye Man’ (2017)

Director: Stacy Title

With a title as goofy as The Bye Bye Man, this 2017 horror film might never really have stood a chance at being taken seriously, even if it had been halfway decent. You’d have to be very charitable to call it halfway decent, though, thanks to a nonsensical plot that involves a supernatural being targeting anyone who knows its name, leading several young people to try and keep it a secret all the while battling it.

The Bye Bye Man is also sluggishly paced and not particularly well-acted, to say the least, only having a few moments here and there that are kind of (unintentionally) funny. It’s gained a certain amount of infamy since its release for that title and its overall quality, all around being a movie that’s worth avoiding in just about every way.

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9 ‘Jaws: The Revenge’ (1987)

Director: Joseph Sargent

The idea of a Jaws sequel not living up to the classic original directed by Steven Spielberg isn’t too shocking, but just how far down this fourth one – titled Jaws: The Revenge – sinks does have to be seen to be believed. It effectively killed what had, for the past 12 or so years, been a series, being about a particularly persistent shark that follows Ellen Brody (who was in the first two movies) because it wants revenge for her husband being a shark killer.

The film really goes for it with that loopy premise, but fails to have much fun without it outside the casting of Michael Caine, who gives the faintest amount of energy to the film whenever he shows up. Jaws: The Revenge is otherwise an underwhelming and somewhat laughably bad watch, albeit a very hard-to-recommend one.

8 ‘Dracula 3D’ (2012)

Director: Dario Argento

Dario Argento has made some of the best horror movies of all time, and has a distinctive style as a filmmaker that frequently proves dazzling, oftentimes even when the stories found in his movies make little sense. The idea of his sensibilities as a filmmaker being combined with the story of Dracula should’ve been a match made in heaven (or hell, in a good way), but Dracula 3D proved such an idea very wrong.

This is quite easily the worst thing Argento’s directed, with Dracula 3D lacking much by way of visual creativity or atmosphere. The whole thing retells a well-worn tale in a notably plodding manner while consistently looking garish and oddly flat, even if you manage to watch it in 3D. It’s such a lifeless movie, and not in an intentional/undead sort of way.

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7 ‘The Wicker Man’ (2006)

Director: Neil LaBute

One does not simply rank bad horror movies without covering at least one remake, and 2006’s The Wicker Man stands tall (but not proud) within the pantheon of bad horror movie remakes. It is a film only worth it for the sometimes hammy Nicolas Cage moments, and he proves himself to be a treasure of the silver screen, as usual, for making something this boring kind of fun every now and then.

Otherwise, you’re much better off watching 1973’s The Wicker Man, which is a definitive folk horror movie that, for the most part, still holds up exceedingly well. Comparing two movies that take the same premise – a man searching for a missing child on a mysterious island – can be interesting, but only if you’re ready for something of a slog when it comes to watching the second film of the pair.

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6 ‘The Happening’ (2008)

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

It’s not exactly clear what M. Night Shyamalan was going for when he made The Happening. If the goal was to create something that has viewers asking “What is happening?” every couple of minutes, or if it was meant to be a parody of B-grade horror movies, then maybe The Happening could be called a success. If it was supposed to be scary, it was an outright failure, though.

It revolves around some unknown phenomenon that’s continually making people take their own lives, with a group of survivors banding together to outrun… something. Once that something is revealed, you might well have wished The Happening’s secrets had remained secret. At least most of the movie is entertaining, even if it’s uncertain whether you’re supposed to be laughing with or at the film. Either way, it’s not a successful horror movie, and is potentially one of the least scary ever made.

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5 ‘Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday’ (1993)

Director: Adam Marcus

The Friday the 13th series is a thoroughly uneven one, and even at the best of times, fans of the series appreciate that the films are kind of campy… perhaps oddly fitting, given they often take place around summer camps. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday ambitiously ventures out from the norm a little, though, as the title might suggest, but it doesn’t venture out enough.

Disappointingly, very little of Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday actually takes place in hell, and neither was this the final Friday the 13th movie. It’s a shark-jumpy sort of movie, putting more of an emphasis than ever before on supernatural elements and introducing a messy body-swapping element to the usual Jason Voorhees killing spree narrative. It doesn’t really work, it’s oddly dull, and it’s hard to find redeeming moments within.

4 ‘Birdemic: Shock and Terror’ (2010)

Director: James Nguyen

A definitive so-bad-it’s-good horror movie, Birdemic: Shock and Terror is the perfect movie to watch right after viewing Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. It’s not a remake of that film, but takes the same basic premise – vicious birds attacking people in a small town – and does whatever the opposite of spinning gold out of something is. Spinning s**t? But it’s s**t in a fun way.

While Birdemic: Shock and Terror might fail as a horror movie in every conceivable way, it ends up being a great deal of fun as an unintentional comedy. Everything is stilted and clunky that it almost becomes endearing, and it’s hard to imagine someone making killer birds any less frightening than they are here. The sequel, on the other hand, where they seemed to actually know what they were making? All the magic is gone.

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3 ‘Manos: The Hands of Fate’ (1966)

Director: Harold P. Warren

What Birdemic: Shock and Terror was to horror in the 2010s, Manos: The Hands of Fate was to horror in the 1960s (they even have kind of similar titles). The latter is also a notorious cult classic of sorts, though that’s in large part due to it having a reputation for being one of the worst movies of all time, horror-related or otherwise.

It’s only 70 minutes long, so maybe it’s worth slogging through just to say you’ve seen it, and on the off-chance that you find it bad in a fun way rather than bad in a, you know, bad way. Manos: The Hands of Fate is weird enough to almost work in small bursts here and there at worst, but it’s still an acquired taste. Potential viewers should beware, and not because of any actual/genuine scares.

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2 ‘The Exorcist: Believer’ (2023)

Director: David Gordon Green

It’s hard to fully comprehend just how good the original The Exorcist is, and similarly difficult to run through all the things it does right as a horror movie. It kicked off a very inconsistent series of sorts, comprised not of any direct remakes, but instead a handful of sequels and a couple of prequels, of which The Exorcist: Believer might well be the most disappointing, if not the outright worst.

It’s a movie that tries to recapture what worked about the original but wastes everything it does have, fails to escalate anything, and flounders lifelessly for what is apparently only 111 minutes, but feels so much longer when you’re actually sitting there. The Exorcist: Believer is devoid of scares and doesn’t even have the decency to be laughably bad. It’s just sad, really, and stands as a movie that feels like it came into existence without anyone really having any passion for its creation.

1 ‘Verotika’ (2019)

Director: Glenn Danzig

You could be generous and label Verotika as another so-bad-it’s-good horror movie, but does an anthology movie this consistently sloppy deserve generosity? Probably not. Most anthology films have the decency to have at least one genuinely decent segment in the pack, but Verotika brazenly plays out without any segment being good. Almost impressively, they’re all equally bad.

The emphasis should be placed on “almost” rather than “impressively” there, because this is lackluster from start to finish, with Verotika failing as entertainment, horror, or erotica (and it definitely wants to be the latter, what with its title and all). It trudges on for an interminable hour and a half before having the mercy to finally end. There is nothing to be gained from watching this, and your life will be measurably better if you can get to the end of it without bearing witness to this film.

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