10 Popular Horror Movies That Really Weren't Scary At All

9. Scream

Wes Craven's classic horror-satire carved out a fine niche for itself by adopting the slasher film formula, turning it inside out and creating an entirely new type of horror movie.

Scream boasts all the hallmarks of a conventional horror flick - the iconic villain, the plucky heroes and the suspenseful set-pieces - but rather by design it sacrifices visceral scares for genre-lampooning, darkly comic thrills and kills.

The original film in particular doesn't want for tension - who can forget that Drew Barrymore-starring opening sequence? - though it's punctuated with enough gallows humour throughout that it ends up more a fun romp than something that genuinely gets under the skin.

And that's precisely the way Craven wanted it, even if the marketing heavily downplayed the satire in favour of a more typical slasher offering.

The film's popularity then prompted Craven and writer Kevin Williamson to dial back the scare potential more with each passing sequel while playing-up the meta-comedy aspect.

Hilariously, though, Williamson's original script for Scream was called - wait for it - Scary Movie.