Top 10 Worst Horror Movies of the Last Decade

Hasbro served as one of the production companies behind this flick and...clearly it shows; “Ouija” feels just about as hollow as 2012’s “Battleship”. Ouija boards are inherently spooky; it’s not hard to imagine the game serving as the foundation for a haunting tale of demonic possession. But this is a paint-by-numbers horror film. It’s about as boring as playing a ouija board without a friend who's willing to fake the movements. Now, as a general rule, horror movie sequels are usually an exercise in diminishing returns, but this franchise is an exception. In 2016, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” was a massive improvement, delivering exactly the sort of spooky good time we had hoped to see in 2014. Better late than never!

One of the biggest gripes horror fans had over the last decade was the endless slew of remakes; remakes that, for the most part, were blatant cash grabs. Some of the worst offenders include the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” reboot, 2015’s “Poltergeist”, the ‘who even asked for this?” remake of “Cabin Fever” and the colossal misfire that was “Flatliners”. But easily the worst remake of the decade was “Martyrs”. Not familiar with the original? It was an extremely graphic french-language torture-porn horror film released in 2008. Though polarizing, the film had substance - something that was utterly lacking in the American remake. Hated by critics and moviegoers alike, “Martyrs” was dismissed as a bloody mess of a film.

For the record, had “The Gallows” not been given a sequel, we’d be talking about the original 2015 film, which was overwhelmingly disliked by critics and horror fans alike. The “found footage” subgenre is made up of far more misfires than hits, but even against such a low bar the first film falls short. Unfortunately, enough people saw it in theaters to warrant a sequel, and so the box office gods cursed us with “The Gallows Act II”. It follows an aspiring actress/vlogger who, after performing a portion of the cursed play from the first film, finds herself fighting off malevolent supernatural forces. The original might’ve been boring and uninspired, but the sequel is painfully hard to watch and borderline incoherent.

The first “Human Centipede” film is proof that with enough enthusiasm, you can make any horror premise work. It’s a gross and downright absurd concept, but since it was so outlandish and filmmaker Tom Six clearly had so much fun bringing it to life on the big screen, “The Human Centipede” was largely a success. We just wish this centipede hadn’t insisted on continuing to grow. The third and (we hope) final film in the trilogy is satire without a target, a once novel concept pushed way past the point of exhaustion. It’s body horror that continues to repulse, but one that has lost the ability to keep you hooked via morbid curiosity.

Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” never rose to the same heights of popularity as ''Friday the 13th” or “A Nightmare on Elm Street”, but it’s still a classic. Sadly, with 2011’s “Hellraiser: Revelations”, it also fell deeper into complete obscurity like never before - and that’s saying a lot. The plot feels like it was for a different generic supernatural horror film and Pinhead was just transposed onto it. The film was only released so that the Weinstein company could keep the franchise rights. It shows. The movie was universally panned, and when an ad copy was released with a promotional line reading "from the mind of Clive Barker”, the author tweeted “I have NOTHING to do with the (f-word, just beep it) thing." (censor remainder of tweet) Basically: dead on arrival.

This supernatural character, born in an online forum in 2009, has gone on to become arguably the single most successful and iconic creepypasta. It’s safe to say that by the time a film adaptation of the character and his mythology finally made it to the big screen in 2018, its heyday had long since come and gone. The Slender Man of 2018 feels more like a dated meme than a genuinely terrifying horror figure. And sure enough, the film was appropriately underwhelming. It’s sad to say, but the movie adaptation might be Slender Man’s least scary tale to date. We’d much rather spend the 93 minute running time reading some fanfic than sitting through these yawn-inducing attempted scares.

Ugh… when will filmmakers learn! Going the found footage route might save you money, but for the finished product to be a successful film, the approach arguably demands even better writing, directing, editing and acting to make it work. And sadly, “The Devil Inside” manages to disappoint in each regard. It’s about as interesting a viewing experience as watching home videos of someone’s wedding who you’ve never met. This tale of demonic possession and one young woman’s quest to save her mother from the clutches of evil is… shockingly more boring than the plot summary we just delivered. What earns “The Devil Inside” such a high ranking, however, is the ending, which has been called among the worst movie endings of all time.

The original 1978 film, “I Spit On Your Grave” is a tale of sexual assault and revenge, a film so graphic and controversial that people continue to debate its merits to this day. To some, it’s among the worst films ever made. To others, it’s a misunderstood and daring classic. What most can agree on however, is that the 2010 remake was in poor taste and that it’s only retroactively redeeming quality is that it’s not as bad as it’s mind-numbingly misguided sequel. “I Spit On Your Grave 2” follows an aspiring model whose photo session turns into kidnapping, rape and torture, followed by a revenge scheme. It’s grossly exploitative and shows zero sensitivity in its handling of such extremely painful subject matter.

Dear Halle Berry, we know that you’re better than this. You’re a freaking Academy Award winning actress! If you’ve grown disinterested with the Hollywood system, we get it, but a star of your caliber should demand better roles. “Dark Tide” has 0% on RottenTomatoes and earns it from start to finish. Against a budget of $25 million, it earned just $435,274 at the box office. It tells the story of a shark expert who has fallen on hard times and must lead a rich father-son pair on a cage-free dive in a shark feeding ground. The film is every bit as silly as it sounds but sadly zero fun. It is, in every way, the antithesis of “Jaws”.





Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few dishonorable mentions



“The Silence” (2019)





“Butcher Boys” (2013)



“Lost Boys: The Thirst” (2010)





“The Darkness” (2016)





“The Last Exorcism Part II” (2013)



“Smiley” (2012)

There’s really no such thing as a bad premise for a horror film - it’s all about execution. But if a legendary director has already tackled a concept and the resulting film is considered an absolute classic, you’re better off steering clear of that narrative territory. Alternatively, you can just say “screw it” and make “Birdemic: Shock and Terror”, which has been called one of the worst films ever made. It’s a love story that plays out against the backdrop of a killer bird epidemic. The filmmaker wears his love for Hitchock’s “The Birds” proudly, but sadly seems to have learned nothing from him. The film is technically bad in every regard, the acting is abysmal and the special effects are, well… judge for yourself (special fx)!