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[Readers’ Choice] 13 Acclaimed Horror Films That Many Horror Fans Hate!

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Cabin in the Woods Hate

The beauty of film as an art form is that everyone has different opinions on different films. Sometimes there are movies we are told we should like, but when we don’t like those movies we feel ashamed to admit it. It doesn’t help that months of hype and buildup can completely tarnish a viewing experience. Films like The Babadook and It Follows have shown that just because a film is praised by critics does not mean horror fans (or general audiences) are guaranteed to like them. I touched on this subject a while back, but wanted to get more input from all of you. I decided to take to Twitter* to ask the following question:

Horror Movies You Hate

Many of you** have strong opinions on this matter, and there were a handful of films that you seem to hate more than others. I’ve put this list together in order of least amount of mentions to most, with a sampling of some of the responses (this includes Twitter replies and comments from the previous article). I confess, this was a tough post for me to write because I love about 90% of these films, but I figure if I can tell you that I hate Suspiria and Candyman then I can suck it up and read your confessions sans judgment.

*This is the second in a recurring series of posts where I ask a question on Twitter and post the responses in a post here, so if you would like a chance to be included in a future post start following me on Twitter at @TracedThurman.

**I should point out that I do not know the demographic information of any of the people selected for inclusion on this post. It’s just a random sample!

The Blair Witch Project

This entry isn’t too surprising. The Blair Witch Project was one of those movies whose slow place was never going to please everyone. As was the case with this year’s The Witch, some people just need a lot of jump scares in order to like a film and are unable to interpret dread as scary.  Here are some of the most scathing comments of The Blair Witch Project:

Readers' Choice

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

I confess, I was in the Texas Chain Saw Massacre hate camp when I first saw the film at age 15 (I saw the remake first and had wildly different expectations for the original), but have since come to appreciate it. It’s understandable that modern audiences may look back at the original and find it boring. 

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

The Evil Dead Series

Some people just don’t get horror comedy…..

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

The Conjuring

One of the more recent examples on this list is James Wan’s The Conjuring. It looks like not everyone found it as terrifying as the MPAA did.

Readers' Choice

Friday the 13th

It’s hard to believe that one of horror’s most prolific mascots gets so much hate, but you’d be surprised at how many people brought up the Friday the 13th franchise when asked which horror movies they hated. The responses below are just a small sample! Surprisingly, I’ve met a lot of people who loathe this franchise. Who knew?

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice Hate

The Shining

Once again, some people find a film that is filled with dread to be just plain boring. It’s no secret that Stephen King has negative feelings toward’s Kubrick’s film, but it looks like he’s not alone!

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice Hate

The Exorcist

Can you believe that the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy awards can instill so much hatred, but here we are with stone cold evidence that there are some horror fans that just can’t stand William Friedkin’s The Exorcist!

Readers' Choice Hate

Halloween

Some of you feel like nothing happens in what is arguably the definitive slasher film (some may argue Black Christmas started the trend in 1974). With this film (and many horror films to come out of the 70s), it really comes down to the fact that today’s audiences are desensitized and conditioned to non-stop action/killings in their horror films. A slow build film like Halloween may not be everyone’s cup o’ tea.

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Drag Me To Hell

You all know my thoughts on Sam Raimi’s masterful horror comedy, but a lot of you don’t agree. There were tons of negative comments and Tweets about Drag Me To Hell. I guess the comedic elements in the film just aren’t to everyone’s taste. Also, a lot of you feel that Christine deserved her fate because of her sacrificing her cat and because of how she treated Mrs. Ganush. That’s a topic for another post but for now I’ll just say: no.

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Scream

This one stung the most for me because Scream is my favorite slasher franchise, but I’ve seen so much hate for it lately. It’s mostly because of all of the copycats it inspired (if that is the reason you hate it then all of you should also hate Friday the 13th, since it was a copycat/ripoff of Halloween). How anyone could think Scream (and its arguably superior sequel) is terrible is beyond me, yet here we are. 

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice Hate

The Babadook

You knew this one was going to be on here. After all of the hype surrounding the film’s release in 2014, it was practically guaranteed to disappoint. Audiences had some incredibly high expectations for it, and unfortunately the film didn’t meet them. I’m sad to say that while I don’t fall in the hate camp, I am lukewarm on the film. 

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

It Follows

Man, a lot of you hate It Follows. As soon as I Tweeted this question out I got about 10 responses about the film. Maybe it’s because it is so fresh in all of your minds as the most recent example of an over-hyped film (The Witch only featured in two responses). It may not deserve all of the vitriol it receives, but it makes one wonder why audiences even reference critic aggregate websites like Rotten Tomatoes in the first place (It Follows sits at a mighty comfortable 97% positive based on 207 reviews). 

The Cabin in the Woods

Drew Goddard’s The Cabin in the Woods really takes the cake in terms of number of responses. I don’t understand how someone can’t have fun with the film, but many of you feel differently. As with Scream, some of you think it fails at being meta. Others don’t find the film to be particularly funny. Others hate the final act (how?!). Is this the majority opinion? Or just a vocal minority? You tell me.

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

Readers' Choice

So there you have it. I’m a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but some of these really made me gasp. Do you agree with any of your fellow readers? Or do you have a few choice words to say about their opinions? Let us know in the comments below!

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Austin, TX with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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