10 Underrated Horror Movie Parodies

Most film fans love a good horror, despite what some more pretentious critics may have you believe. The genre, like comedy, is well-loved for its deeply cinematic ability to garner primal audience reactions through an effective shot, a clever piece of filmmaking, or a perfectly timed sequence.

This is why horror comedy, with its marriage of scares and laughs, is so successful as a sub genre. Which makes it weird that there are almost no good horror spoofs.

For the purposes of this list, the term "spoof" doesn’t refer to meta-horror comedies like Cabin in the Woods, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, or even the light-hearted likes of The Final Girls. No, this article is talking about full-blown parody movies in the vein of The Naked Gun, Hot Shots, and Airplane.

And other than Scary Movie and Young Frankenstein, there are almost no good horror ones.

It’s difficult to see why a genre so open to parody seems so hard to successfully spoof, but a string of flops prove it is nigh-on impossible. As such, many movies on this list are corny, outdated, and outright cheesy, but they are nonetheless the most unheralded horror spoofs ever despite (and let’s be real, because of) these flaws.

The most recent release on this list, Slice is the directorial debut of acclaimed music video director Austin Vesely.

An A24 release, this scrappy indie is stylish and slick, and there are plenty of laughs to be had during its agreeably goofy shaggy dog story. The convoluted tale of a misunderstood werewolf played by Chance the Rapper in his film debut, the movie also bounces between dark social satire and more over-the-top, goofy humour befitting a sketch show.

In the course of its knotty, ultimately pointless plot, this underrated film managed to satirize gentrification whilst parodying ghost movies, werewolf films, and cop flicks—an impressive feat by any measure. It's filled with silly moments that make the occasional satirical barbs all the more surprisingly sharp, and a stellar supporting cast including Zazie Beetz, Paul Scheer, and Stranger Things standout Joe Keery ensures that this oddball spoof is a winner. It's one not to be missed by fans of horror, comedy, and... er, satires of gentrification?