10 ‘Bad’ Horror Movies Everyone Gets Wrong

Forever a genre that has been savaged by critics, horror has always had a tough time being taken seriously. Considered by some to be irredeemably low-brow, or lacking in any real merit, the genre is more often than not subject to intense scrutiny just for simply existing.

And in some instances, it's easy to understand why.

Some films go out of their way to push the boundaries of taste a little too far, whilst many others are merely sequels that are devoid of any real creativity - and neither of those qualities is going to win over both critics and audiences. That said though, devotees of the genre will always champion their favourite fright flicks and make a case for their artistic quality, even in spite of their sometimes gaping flaws.

Which coincidentally, is exactly what we're here to do today.

The films listed here are ones that have either been panned by critics or utterly loathed by fans. So much so that they're often near-universally considered bad films and tales of their actual quality tend to consist mostly of hyperbole or a misunderstanding of the filmmaker's intentions.

They might not all be the most shining examples of cinema as an art-form, but they're certainly nowhere near as bad as everyone would have you believe.

Much like how Halloween brought the genre to life before it, Scream successfully reanimated the bloated corpse of the slasher genre, and seemingly overnight, moviegoers were bombarded with all manner of stalk-and-slice films that were keen to get in on the box office cash cow.

Most of which were somewhat warmly received by fans and critics alike, with films like Cherry Falls and I Know What You Did Last Summer still being praised to this day.

But sadly Valentine has never been so lucky.

Panned by critics on release due to it bearing too many similarities to older slasher films, and lacking the wit and reflexive humour of Scream, the film sits at a woeful 12% on Rotten Tomatoes. Which if you've seen the movie, you'll know that's a grotesque over-exaggeration of its supposed badness.

Sure, it's not exactly going to win over those at the Academy, but taken for what it is, Valentine is a competently made slasher that's full of nasty little surprises along the way. Taking us back to a time when slasher films weren't so reliant on meta humour and snarky dialogue to capture an audience's imagination.

And to our minds, it's the best eighties slasher film, that wasn't made in the eighties.