12 Perfect Horror Movies With One Glaring Flaw
Even the meticulous Stanley Kubrick sometimes makes mistakes...
No movie is without sin.
Apologies for quoting Cinema Sins, that absolutely appalling YouTube channel made by people who know as much about film quality as Michael Bay knows about subtlety, but they did get one thing, just one thing, absolutely right: no film is without flaws. Not even the greats.
In Citizen Kane, no-one actually heard him say "Rosebud". In The Godfather, it's often very difficult to tell what Marlon Brando is saying. Seven Samurai and Goodfellas have their slow moments. 12 Angry Men is a bit dated in certain ways. The Dark Knight has some terrible one-liners. Every film has flaws and that's unavoidable.
These following 12 horror movies are also great examples. They're all completely and utterly fantastic, yet all of them have huge, glaring flaws that really do stick out like a sore thumb, especially on repeat viewings.
Do we love any of these horror classics any less? Most certainly not, but nonetheless, it's sure as hell jarring to see such huge mistakes in what are otherwise such awesome horror flicks...
12. Final Destination - Much Of The Acting Is Terrible
Final Destination is one of the best teen horror films ever made; a brilliantly inventive and fiendishly entertaining tour-de-force in wacky gore and Hitchcockian suspense that still holds up today, not least because it revolves around a group of victims who you actually care about.
The single biggest issue with it, however, is definitely the acting. Although Devon Sawa gives a genuinely excellent performance as protagonist Alex and the film also boasts a terrific cameo from horror legend Tony Todd, many of the actors playing the other survivors being hunted by death itself are pretty weak.
Ali Larter's flat performance as Clear Rivers is the most jarring one, as she is the co-lead, but in general the acting from most of the younger cast does leave a lot to be desired and this is the main blot upon what is otherwise a tremendously fun viewing.
Unfortunately, even though most of the sequels were also pretty darn good they've all been plagued by bad acting as well - even the surprisingly kick-ass fifth movie - so this is a problem the franchise hasn't managed to shake. Still, with the sixth film (finally!) coming to HBO Max in the next few years, hopefully they'll be able to buck this trend.