10 Horror Movies That Punish You For Getting Wasted

Just say no.

Shrooms 2007
Vertigo Films

In the setting of a horror movie, one of the worst things that anyone can do is to get wasted.

Whether it's booze or drugs that's on the table, it's been proven time and time again what an utterly stupid idea it is to get your buzz on while something or someone sinister is lurking in the shadows. Still, that's not stopped this becoming somewhat of a trusted (or tired?) trope of the horror genre over the decades.

Getting intoxicated or altering your mind may give its own rewards to some, but the negatives of doing so clearly outweigh the positives in the world of horror.

Of course, on the other side of the fence, it's worth giving a special mention to The Faculty. That 1998 Robert Rodriguez movie actually rewards its protagonists for getting wasted, as one way to find out who is or isn't an alien or being controlled by an alien is to take an ecstasy-like drug created by Josh Hartnett's Zeke.

Back to those films that opt to punish their characters for getting wasted, though, and here are ten prime examples where it would've been far, far wiser to just say no.

10. Zorro's Ladies - Frankenhooker

Shrooms 2007
Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment

If crack isn't bad enough for your health, Frankenhooker went one better than that and served up supercrack™.

Putting it totally out there, your scribe here will forever take the chance to discuss Frankenhooker at any and all opportunities. And fortunately, given the topic of the day here is horror films that punish people for getting wasted, Frank Henelotter's 1990 picture perfectly fits the bill.

In Frankenhooker, the bulk of the movie finds would-be science whizz Jeffrey Franken (James Lorinz) looking to create the perfect body for the decapitated head of his fiancée. You see, poor Elizabeth (Patty Mullen) has her head cut off in a tragic lawnmower accident during the film's opening scene.

Deciding that the wisest plan of attack is to get friendly with the ladies working under local pimp Zorro, Jeffrey schemes to collect the best body parts of these ladies and create his perfect woman. To do that, he lures in his targets with his own supercrack drug that's designed to knock them out.

Unfortunately for these ladies, their wish to get high backfires spectacularly when this supercrack is a tad too strong - to the point it causes Zorro's women to literally explode.

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.