10 Awful Horror Movies With One Brilliant Kill

The shiny gold nuggets surrounded by mountains of sh*t.

by Andrew Pollard
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers John Strode
Dimension Films

Given the sheer volume of horror movies produced year after year, this chilling corner of cinema is one that often houses a lot of dross.

Not every horror picture can be the same quality as the likes of Halloween, The Exorcist, Jaws and Psycho, and y'know what, that's okay. Just because a film isn't a masterpiece, doesn't mean it's instantly bad.

Still, there are plenty of horrors offerings that are absolutely, unequivocally bad films. Whether that's down to a dour plot, horrendous performances, erratic direction or shoddy SFX work, there are some movies that can be a true chore to sit through.

In amongst those ropey horrors, though, there are at times moments of brilliance; the shiny gold nugget surrounded by a mountain of sh*t. And it's on those instances that the focus is on here. Specifically, that focus is on the brilliant death scenes hidden in some extremely awful films.

With all of that in mind, then, here are ten genuinely great death sequences from some otherwise atrocious horror pictures.

10. Lost Boys: The Tribe - David Van Etten

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers John Strode
Warner Premiere

To many, Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys is a perfect, perfect picture.

A great time capsule of late-'80s cinema - the film being released in 1987 - this is a movie overflowing with fun performances, insta-quotable dialogue, and a soundtrack that holds up to this day as a true all-time classic.

So, when The Lost Boys was finally given a sequel in 2008, fans of the original weren't exactly sure what to expect from The Tribe.

For those who've seen Lost Boys: The Tribe - and its follow-up Lost Boys: The Thirst, for that matter - the end result is sadly a hollow shell of that beloved 1987 original. To the credit of The Tribe, though, it does start off on the right foot; it's just that it's all down hill from there on out.

With genre legend Tom Savini playing David Van Etten, a wealthy vampiric sort who has his own private beach, we find David soon butting heads with some surfers dabbling in a spot of water he owns. Of course, these surfers are a bunch of vampires led by Angus Sutherland's Shane, and Savini's character is soon torn to bloody shreds and decapitated after getting a little too cocksure with these younger bloodsuckers.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.