10 Horror Movies Probably Made Out Of Spite

Because spite can be a hell of a motivator.

by Andrew Pollard
Halloween Remake
Dimension Films

Usually, the driving factor behind making a movie comes down to wanting to produce something of genuine quality, possibly wanting to work with certain cast and crew, looking to capitalise on a previous picture that had been a hit, and of course the prospect of bringing home a nice payday.

While those reasons have drove many a film over the decades, one other driving force on certain silver screen outings is a good ol' dollop of spite.

Miffed at a studio? Channel that into making a movie. Wanting to distance yourself for a previous project? Channel that into making a movie. Frustrated at prior creative differences? Channel that into making a movie. Fed up of critics constantly lambasting your work? Channel that into making a movie.

A famous saying proclaims hate as being a hell of a motivator, and the same can likewise be said about spite - as clearly evidenced in the murky corner of cinema consumed by horror.

With all of this in mind, then, here are ten such horror movies that seemingly had spite as one of their key driving factors.

10. Friday The 13th

Halloween Remake
Paramount Pictures

While Sean S. Cunningham is a name forever synonymous with the Friday the 13th franchise - him having helmed the original 1980 movie - Cunningham had previously worked heavily on Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left.

Serving as producer on the picture and helping Craven put the story together, Cunningham was one of the true driving forces behind this 1972 offering. But once Last House had been released and received huge backlash due to its controversial content, Sean looked to distance himself for the project as the dust started to settle a few years later.

That distancing came in the shape of Friday the 13th, a film that Cunningham intended to be more of a high octane roller coaster ride than the grim, depressing, brutal, abusive tale that was The Last House on the Left.

Taking inspiration from what John Carpenter had done with Halloween in 1978, Cunningham began plotting a screenplay for what was then known as A Long Night at Camp Blood - which was subsequently rewritten by Victor Miller and became Friday the 13th.

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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.