For quite a long time now, horror has been a genre that tends to excite either effusive praise or scathing dismissal from critics. After all, it’s considered one of the lower genres of Hollywood film, appealing to the baser instincts of its audience.
Every so often, however, a horror film comes along that manages to hit the critics somewhere in the middle, being seen by many as nothing more than average. The true irony about these films, however, is that, even though the critics might have thought they were just okay, they are in many ways actually pretty great.
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
This film from the very early years of the new millennium is something of a forgotten gem. Anyone who has seen it, however, knows that it’s actually kind of terrifying, with its tale of a mysterious creature that feeds on humans to replenish its own body part.
What really sets it apart from a lot of other horror films, though, is its ending, which actually sees the gruesome death of one of its two protagonists. That’s not something that one sees every day in a horror film, even today.
The Ruins (2008)
When a group of American tourists stumble upon an ancient temple in the heart of the jungle, they have no idea that they are about to be plunged into a struggle for survival. As it turns out, the temple is host to a terrible form of life, a species of plant that feeds on human flesh and, even more horrifyingly, seems to have some ability to think and reason.
It probably sounds a little silly, but the film is actually quite terrifying and disturbing, even if the critics didn’t always think so.
Pet Sematary (2019)
There are few authors working today who have the sort of reputation in horror as Stephen King. The man is an unrivaled master of the genre, and his books have been enormously successful.
It’s not surprising, therefore, that his work has been adapted into numerous films. The 2010s have seen an uptick in those adaptations and, while the critics were rather lukewarm about this offering, it nevertheless manages to capture the strangeness and terror of the original novel, and the ending is actually pretty darn terrifying.
Anaconda (1997)
The tragedy of this particular horror film is that this one, the first in a series, was actually pretty good, particularly for a film that’s all about a giant anaconda that decides to start hunting and devouring a group of documentarians trying to discover an aboriginal tribe.
It’s easy to make fun of it now, but for its day the special effects were actually pretty good, and the snake is a truly terrifying sort of creature, expressing the fear that many people have for this legless creature.
Saw (2004)
There’s something more than a little ironic about the fact that Saw, which would go on to spawn several sequels, was actually not that warmly received by critics at the time of its release.
Nevertheless, one has to admit that this is one of the most chilling and unsettling of horror films to be released in recent years, particularly since it puts its characters through so much pain, torment, and suffering. It’s a reminder that, even after so many years, horror still has the power to shock the audience.
Funny Games (1997)
Sometimes, someone makes a horror film that manages to somehow be both quite bloody and also deeply and viscerally upsetting. That’s certainly what one gets with the film Funny Games, which is actually the first of two films of this name and plot.
It focuses on a pair of young men who end up basically kidnapping and terrifying a family. There’s quite a lot to enjoy here for fans of the horror genre, though it certainly isn’t a film for the squeamish or faint of heart. It's a film with so much impact it helped inspire Jordan Peele's horror career.
The Shining (1980)
The Shining is one of those films that has gone down in the history of the genre as being one of the finest horror films ever made. How could it not be, when it was based on a novel written by Stephen King and directed by none other than the great Stanley Kubrick?
However, what some may not know is that it actually wasn’t that well-received by critics at the time, which just goes to show that the present critical reception of a film doesn’t always predict how it will be viewed historically.
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Tim Burton is well-known for producing films that are always just a bit left-of-center, with strange characters and a production design that is all his own.
Every so often, however, he produces a film that really goes into the horror, and that’s the case with Sleepy Hollow, which is a retelling of the classic story about Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman. It’s actually a rather beautiful film in its own way, and it’s just a shame that critics of the time didn’t realize its full accomplishment.
30 Days of Night (2007)
The vampire film is one of the easiest sorts of horror films to do badly, in part because there are just so many of them out there. Every so often, however, one comes along that tries to do something new and, let’s be real, having vampires in Alaska of all places is definitely something that one wouldn’t really expect.
The funny thing about this film is that it actually is better than it really has a right to be, which is something that critics ended up noticing as well.
Cabin Fever (2002)
Just as there are certain types of characters that always appear in horror films, there are certain locations that crop up again and again, and one of those is the cabin in the woods (including in the film of that title).
In this case, the location is the setting for an unfortunate group of friends who find themselves assailed by a particularly pernicious flesh-eating virus. It’s a profoundly unsettling type of film, particularly since the ending is anything but happy.