5 80s Horror Films So Bad They're Brilliant

Without a doubt, the Howling franchise must claim the (dis)honour of being the worst string of sequels to follow a horror classic. The whole series after Joe Dante’s original is shockingly awful; Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf and Howling IV: The Original Nightmare could’ve sat quite comfortably in the bottom spot. The series even beats the Amityville and Hellraiser franchises in its persistent sh**iness, which one hell of an achievement.

Howling III: The Marsupials is the best 'bad' horror movie of the decade. It's in no way a narrative continuation of the first two installments, and it's the anomaly of the franchise as the only horror-comedy entry. It's as if Philippe Mora reviewed Howling II, realised how terrible it was, and thought "screw it, if I make the next one a comedy they'll have to laugh with me, not at me". It's one of the very rare examples of a deliberately crap horror movie that succeeds in reaching 'so-bad-it's-good' status. Many have tried (Sharknado) and failed since. The general rule is that an awful film is only funny if it's played straight (Birdemic).

This film is very self-aware, making fun of the seemingly endless horror franchises that were so prominent in the late 80s, and that the Howling series itself eventually became. The piss-poor acting and dialogue are far too dreadful to have been unintentionally bad - if not, that would be very worrying indeed. If you've yet to experience this masterpiece, watch the brief bus scene at the nine-minute mark; it's truly something special.

If you're still unconvinced, this film has a werewolf ballerina, a pack of werewolf nuns, and Dame Edna.