12 Unwatchable Horror Movies That Wasted Great Ideas

There are few things worse than a bad movie, but a bad horror movie may be up there. There’s nothing worse than popping a new genre effort on Netflix and expecting hours of tension and terror only to be rewarded with a flat and uninspired tale which is both un-scary and uninteresting enough to mean it can’t even qualify for “so bad it’s good” status worthy of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

As bad as a terrible horror movie is, even worse are those rare awful horrors which contain in their DNA the gem of an original and clever idea, only for its potential to be lost in an unoriginal and un-involving final product. Whether they’re ghost stories free from chills, slashers with no terrifying chases or inspired kills, or genre hybrids which failed to live up to their promise, these are the horrors which featured great conceits—only to waste them on substandard finished products.

This list is a testament to how wrong a great idea can go between concept and eventual messy execution—not to mention a run-down of great premises which still deserve another, better film of their own.

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-GB; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page WordSection1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} -->

2012’s The Woman in Black was a singularly thrilling, terrifying exercise in pared down tension from the helmer of earlier, more gruesome hoodie horror Eden Lake.

Following Daniel Radcliffe’s grieving, doomed widower as he attempted to stop the bloody vengeance of the titular ghoul, the film was tight, efficient, and undeniably scary, leaving any sequels with big shoes to fill. Which is why it helped that director Tom Watkin’s 2014 sequel The Woman in Black: Angel of Death featured an igneous premise, with the eponymous monster’s return coinciding with the Blitz.

Now neither the war torn city nor the haunted countryside were safe, leaving the protagonist and her young charges with nowhere to run—a horrifying quandary which this confused, shouty flick never makes any use of.