10 Best Horror Movies That Subverted Classic Cliches

Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than a film which follows exactly the formula you expect from its plot and characters. Yea, we know, you’re not supposed to enjoy predictability, but when you’re looking for a solid action film and see a poster promising bone-crunching fights and pulse-pounding chases, it’s understandable to want the flick to live up to these explosive expectations and not offer, say, a slow and dark meditation on loss and violence in contemporary society.

That said, some genres, great as they are, are deluged with subpar flicks which just exist to fulfil a handful of clichés, hit their expected beats, and finish in under ninety minutes. Yes, we’re talking about horror, where a handful of ghosts, a masked murderer, and a last minute twist where—gasp—the final girl doesn’t actually make it out alive this time are what passes for an interesting or inventive plot.

It’s a shame that so much so-so horror gets good press, too, when there are plenty of examples of filmmakers subverting the genre’s tired clichés and injecting new life into the formula of hauntings, slasher stories, vampires, and demonic possessions alike. So we’ve endeavoured to throw together a list of the best flicks which make a point of twisting your expectations and throwing the expected clichés through a grinder in order to leaves audiences blown away by their inventive take on the genre’s elements.

Easily the oddest flick on this list, this British cult curio from the late eighties is a strange spoof of the then-uber popular Friday the 13th series and its mute monster Jason Voorhees—the title refers to a fictitious slasher franchise of which this is the twenty fifth instalment, and the exasperated masked murderer is soon revealed to be a soft spoken Cary Elwes soundalike who wants nothing more than to move away from serial killing and transition to a more fulfilling passion.

He even falls for a young woman he planned on murdering, pursuing her romantically in a series of surreal vignettes which mine their laughs from the sight of this hulking Jason-stand-in traversing London with his sweet new beau.

A genuine oddity, this one is worth a watch for its ability not only to mine charming meta humour from the premise, but also its surprising sincere approach to the goofy premise and the thoughtful character comedy which comes therefrom, despite a misjudged and tonally wobbly ending (though the last shot is good for a dark, chilling last laugh that can stand toe-to-toe with the closing moments of John Landis' An American Werewolf in London for tragic horror endings).