For the longest time, I didn’t really get fan films. While I can understand loving a franchise so much that you want to be an official part of it, the idea of investing blood, sweat, and tears into a project that doesn’t even belong to you never made any sense to me.
That was until I did a deep dive into the strange world of fan films and discovered a treasure trove of movies made by folks who only care about story and characters, not the financial bottom line. In fact, there are some beloved franchises that were kept alive for decades through fan-made projects alone, and in honor of unofficial sequels like the upcoming animated film Never Hike Alone: Ghosts in the Fog, I’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six of the best horror fan films that are worth your time!
While this list is purely based on personal opinion, I’ll be making an effort to highlight movies that actually feel like an official part of the cinematic universes that inspired them. Of course, don’t forget to comment below with your own fan-made favorites if you think I missed a particularly entertaining example.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Krueger: Tales From Elm Street (2017)
This 40-minute compilation of Chris R. Notarile’s Krueger webseries may not boast the same production value as some of the other fan-made movies on this list, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining! In fact, I think Notarile’s lo-fi creation is some of the best media to come out of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise since Freddy vs Jason.
A prequel of sorts where we follow Freddy’s exploits before he became a dream demon, this uncomfortably dark anthology explores the child-killer’s vicious M.O. in ways we’ve never seen before. This collection also serves as proof that the Elm Street films can continue without input from the legendary Robert Englund, though it’d be even better if the original Freddy were also involved!
5. Halloween Inferno (2019)
While I enjoy 2018’s Halloween, I feel like it should never have spawned a trilogy. Slashers work best as intimate thrillers with low stakes and relatable characters, so the idea of having Michael’s final killing spree turn into an epic three-part battle against the Strode family never sat right with me. That’s why I really appreciate James and Vincent Coleman’s fan-made sequel to the 2018 movie, with this 45-minute indie project serving as a low-budget coda to David Gordon Green’s film.
The acting and cinematography may not be comparable to Green’s Halloween, but Inferno more than makes up for this with sheer passion for the franchise as well as a moodier take on Michael that I think really works within the confines of a smaller story. This flick is also notable for intimidating Blumhouse while they were working on the official sequels (leading to the full cut of the film disappearing from the internet for a while), which is another reason why I’d recommend it to hardcore Halloween fans.
4. Spawn: The Recall (2014)
I don’t think the 1997 Spawn adaptation is as bad as most people say; it just has the rotten luck of existing in the same world as HBO’s near-perfect animated series that even managed to improve on the source material. However, if we ever get to see Todd McFarlane’s hellish hero in live action again, I hope the project will look something like Michael Paris’ 2014 short.
A passion project with impressive production value for an independent Fan Film, Spawn: The Recall is more of a dark mood piece than anything else, with the story of a mother looking for her lost child serving as more of an excuse to reintroduce us to a different kind of caped crusader lurking in the shadows.
3. Bloody Carnaval 2 (2026)
Out of all the major slasher franchises, Scream is the one best suited for fan projects. After all, Ghostface is more of an idea than a character, and anyone, anywhere can don the mask and voice changer in order to murder a fresh group of unsuspecting teenagers. That’s why there are countless Scream-inspired Fan Films from all over the world, though today I’d like to recommend one that’s a little more familiar to me, personally.
Shot in my hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, Bloody Carnaval 2 (Carnaval Sangrento 2 in the original Portuguese) improves on nearly every aspect of its predecessor. In fact, I’d recommend skipping the first one entirely and diving straight into Renan Cordeiro’s standalone sequel, where a new Ghostface killer uses the costume parties of Carnaval to blend in as they target a fresh batch of victims.
2. Hellraiser: No More Souls (2004)
Some ideas are simply too risky for Hollywood, and that’s why I appreciate it when Fan Films take an established IP and build on it in ways that we know we’ll never get to see on the big screen. A great example of this is Gary J. Tunnicliffe’s Hellraiser: No More Souls, an unofficial short film where the special effects maestro asks a single unnerving question: what happens to the cenobites after the world ends and there are no souls left to torment?
This simple yet eerie yarn is made even better by the fact that Tunnicliffe would one day get to helm his own official Hellraiser movie, with 2018’s Judgement actually being one of the better straight-to-video releases of the franchise despite clearly needing a bigger budget to tell its large-scale story.
1. Never Hike Alone 2 (2023)
The first Never Hike Alone movie was already a kick-ass love-letter to Jason Voorhees, featuring the return of Tommy Jarvis himself, Thom Mathews, as well as a snowy rendition of Crystal Lake that made the setting feel even bleaker. However, a larger budget and a better overarching narrative make the film’s sequel a superior experience, with Never Hike Alone 2 maintaining everything that made the first one work while also feeling a lot more like a proper Hollywood movie.
Hell, the only thing keeping this ambitious project from being an official Friday the 13th movie is approval from Paramount, as I’d argue that it’s actually more fun than several of its “real” inspirations. That’s why Never Hike Alone 2 remains the gold standard for Fan Films, as it’s hard to find this precise combination of filmmaking prowess and love for the source material among fan projects.