10 Terrible Horror Movies With Amazing Concepts
4. Abattoir
Darren Lynn Bousman's 2018 film Abattoir boasts nothing if not a neat premise, in which a reporter (Jessica Lowndes) investigates a man (Dayton Callie) who buys homes where murders have taken place and reconstructs the crime scenes in a gigantic abattoir, as he builds a huge haunted house for his own nefarious ends.
The logline alone suggests a killer homage to classic B-movies of yore with a striking contemporary twist, yet despite an intriguing setup and fun performances from the likes of Callie and genre royalty Lin Shaye, Abattoir is a staggeringly airless, dull rendition of a fantastic idea.
Outside of the heightened concept, this feels depressingly generic and ordinary for the most part - less a unique entry into the genre than a deathly pedestrian, even procedural one. The particulars of its plot and character work weigh down what could've been a lean riff on cult faves such as House on Haunted Hill and Thirteen Ghosts.