20 TERRIBLE Horror Movies That Were Huge Hits
These woeful horror flicks made INSANE amounts of money.
Two things are indisputably true about the box office: quality has never been a reliable indicator of a film's commercial performance, and horror remains perhaps the single most reliable of all genres where grosses are concerned.
Horror fans are a curious, enthusiastic bunch who will keenly throw down their cash for a movie that looks fun, regardless of how the reviews shake out. And that's thoroughly evidenced by the following 20 horror films, which, despite being mostly panned by critics and receiving wildly mixed notices from general audiences, still danced their way to massive box office success.
Sometimes, a film is simply able to coast on brand recognition or survive on the virtue of a few entertaining kills, no matter that the bones of its script and wider filmmaking are, well, actually terrible. This is all a further testament to horror's enduring popularity with audiences, that as the decades pass, there's still something elemental about the genre that strikes a chord with viewers of all persuasions.
So, no matter how bad a new horror movie might look, don't discount its potential to absolutely clean up at the box office...
20. Scream 7
In the wake of hefty pre-release controversy after original star Melissa Barrera was fired from this slasher sequel, Scream 7 went on to receive the worst reviews of the series to date.
Ultimately, many felt that the end product obviously reflected the fact that the filmmakers were forced into a creative pivot following Barrera's dismissal, and what writer-director Kevin Williamson cooked up felt more like a Stab movie than another reliably solid Scream film.
But Scream 7 also proved the series to be totally critic-proof, given that it recently crossed the $190 million mark worldwide, leaving it the highest-grossing entry in the franchise.
The sequel's success proved beyond any doubt that Scream can survive without Barrera or previous co-star Jenna Ortega, that audiences would still turn up for Neve Campbell, and bad reviews don't even matter.
One can only hope that the already-in-the-works Scream 8 benefits from a less-messy development, and that this sloppy, tedious sequel was a mere unfortunate blip.