There is a unique phenomenon that takes place as a person develops a love of film. Whatever triggers that love is usually a movie that pretty much everybody likes, but also happens to be particularly well constructed. Star Wars, maybe. Indiana Jones. Inception. Scream. After a person’s interest is piqued, they eventually expand their scope and begin appreciating more highbrow cinema. However, that scope is a circle. By raising the top to include the likes of Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch, the bottom gets lower, too, hoovering up bad movie auteurs like Tommy Wiseau and Ed Wood in the process.
Bad movies have a unique pull for film lovers. After all, as legendary filmmaker John Waters said in his 1981 memoir Shock Value, “To understand bad taste, one must have very good taste.” Therefore, something like Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the 60 Worst Horror Movies of All Time probably sounds like an enticing prospect rather than a dire warning. While it is true that not every movie on the list is a hidden gem, five in particular are absolutely worth watching.
5. Manos, The Hands of Fate (1966)
‘Manos: The Hands of Fate’ (1966)Credit: Emerson Film Enterprises
First of all, any movie that has earned the title of “the worst movie of all time” is worth watching. In order to achieve such a distinction, a movie usually has to fail to grasp film grammar in a unique and exciting way. The true worst movies ever are the ones that are too uninspired and boring to be worth noticing, so nobody ever thinks to dismiss them in such hyperbolic terms.
Sure, this independent horror movie has a flat-out 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes, is the No. 1 worst movie on their list, and is best known for being featured on the bad-movie-mocking television series Mystery Science Theater 3000, but that’s exactly why it’s so interesting. Manos: The Hands of Fate is a deeply unusual movie created by a writer-director (Harold P. Warren) who had never made a movie before and never would again. However, horror thrives on the unexpected, and Warren’s movie never ever makes the expected choice, keeping viewers on their toes even when the MST3K gang isn’t riffing over it.
4. Jaws: The Revenge (1987
Look, it’s hard to compete with 1975’s Jaws. Steven Spielberg’s aquatic horror masterpiece is a minted classic that more or less single-handedly invented the summer blockbuster. Those are some big water shoes to fill, and none of the three sequels to Jaws ever really managed it. However, the fourth and final installment in the franchise (which is at No. 8 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list with a 2% score) rejects those expectations outright and serves up a giant slice of cake instead.
When you’re not comparing it directly to Jaws, it’s actually quite fun. Its much derided premise (a vengeful Great White is specifically targeting the Brody family and follows them to the Bahamas) is over-the-top, yes, but to such a degree that it pushes the killer shark movie into the territory of pure camp. Throw in Michael Caine as a pilot named Hoagie, and you’re off to the races.
3. Urban Legends: Final Cut (2000)
Honestly, it doesn’t even make sense why this standalone sequel to the 1998 slasher movie Urban Legend is derided enough to earn a spot at No. 58 on the list with a 12% score. It most likely just came at a time when the post-Scream slasher boom of the late 1990s (which included I Know What You Did Last Summer, Bride of Chucky, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, Scream 2, and Cherry Falls) had reached peak saturation, so critics were too exhausted to give a fair shake to yet another entry in the genre.
The movie, which follows film students being bumped off by a masked killer amid a high-stakes competition, has a lot going for it. In addition to its fun meta premise, it looks quite nice, and it has a cast jam-packed with fun character actors and notable 2000s stars including Joey Lawrence, Anthony Anderson, Eva Mendes, House’s Jennifer Morrison, Legally Blonde’s Matthew Davis, Die Hard’s Hart Bochner, and Loretta Devine (reprising her iconic comic relief role as Urban Legend’s campus security guard Reese Wilson).
2. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998)
Critics really weren’t happy with the post-Scream slasher boom, were they? While the demonstrably inferior 2006 direct-to-video sequel I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer is nowhere to be found, the slickly produced second installment in the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise landed at No. 56 with a 10% score.
This movie is actually weirdly similar to Jaws: The Revenge, with the surviving characters traveling to the Bahamas and being followed by the killer from the original movie. In the same vein, most critics can’t see past how bone stupid the scenario is (it involves a radio contest that is so obviously rigged that the main characters don’t even answer the winning question correctly), rather than appreciating how bubbly and fun the sequel gets when it rejects even the slightest nod toward respectability. Instead of Michael Caine, the reliable veteran on hand here is cult horror favorite Jeffrey Combs. Come to think of it, is this the perfect double feature with the fourth Jaws movie? It very well might be.
1. Troll 2 (1990)
The 2009 documentary about Troll 2 is titled Best Worst Movie, and the 1990 B-movie truly earns that moniker. It is undeniable that many elements of the movie are bad, or at the very least, cheap. A lot of the acting is unconvincing. Ditto the production design, costuming, makeup, and props. However, the movie (which landed at No. 27 on the list with a 13% score) is a downright hypnotic and hilarious experience, drawing your attention like a tractor beam with an endless slew of offbeat moments and surprising zags in places where any mainstream horror movie would zig.
Additionally, director Claudio Fragasso is a veteran of the Italian horror scene of the 1970s and 1980s. He clearly learned a few lessons, because he does craft a few moments that are genuinely impactful. This includes a disturbing nightmare scene involving plants growing out of a young boy’s fingers while his family transforms into bloodthirsty goblins (Oh yeah, did I mention that there are no trolls in the movie? It’s all so charming.).
If you’ve seen any of these movies and either loved or hated them, please sound off in the comments and share your thoughts! Plus, is there anything else on the Rotten Tomatoes list that open-minded horror movie lovers should watch?
