15 Best So-Bad-They’re-Good Slasher Movies, Ranked

The slasher subgenre is one of the purest and most straightforward within the broader category of horror movies. Essentially, a slasher movie will involve a group of people being targeted by one or more foes throughout a story’s duration. Typically, people will be picked off one by one (the results often being gruesome), oftentimes leading to a final girl (or sometimes a boy) being left to fight for their survival on their own.

There’s an inherent formula to slasher movies, but it’s not a sub-genre without its appeal, ensuring that even a less-than-great slasher film can still satisfy. To look at the ones that aren’t particularly great, here are some slasher movies that could be considered so bad they’re good, starting with the particularly trashy and ending with the ones that are genuinely kind of good, at least by slasher movie standards. When judged by any other metric, however, yeah… they’re still a bit trashy. But what delicious trash (raccoons have it all figured out).

15

‘April Fool’s Day’ (2008)

Directed by Phil Flores and Mitchell Altieri

Fitting, considering its title, you can consider April Fool’s Day to be a bit of a joke, as far as slasher movies go, and potentially get some enjoyment out of it. It seems like a kind of desperate attempt to mine a generic horror movie out of one of the few noteworthy days of the year that hasn’t been explored much, because April 1 is no Christmas, Halloween, or even Thanksgiving, as far as cinematic potential goes.

The plot of April Fool’s Day involves a prank going wrong, and then a bunch of young people get targeted by a murderous person, and they die, and it’s a slasher movie. It contains some absolutely baffling dialogue, appropriately flat acting from most involved, and an overall amateurish production value that does little to dissuade from the idea that this was thrown together pretty hastily.

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14

‘Leprechaun 4: In Space’ (1997)

Directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith

If you were to tell someone who’s not particularly into horror, as a genre, that there are eight Leprechaun movies in total, they might have a hard time believing you. They’re not exactly high-class, even by horror/slasher movie standards, but still, few are quite as bad as Leprechaun 4: In Space, which tells you everything you need to know from the title alone.

The Fast and Furious series took nine movies (or 10, if you count Hobbs & Shaw) to go to space, and Friday the 13th took 10 movies as well (with 2001’s Jason X). To Leprechaun 4: In Space’s credit, it sped up that seeming inevitability for a long-running series, and it’s also a horror/comedy hybrid, so some – but not all – of the shoddiness here can potentially be defended as camp or what have you.

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13

‘Prom Night’ (2008)

Directed by Nelson McCormick

Standing alongside April Fool’s Day as another stinker from the 21st century, Prom Night is a kind of remake/reboot of the 1980 film of the same name. Simple in the way so many slasher movie premises seem to be, Prom Night is all about a killer making a prom night go very poorly for a group of high school seniors who don’t quite have the fun and pleasantly memorable event they were expecting.

Now that 2008 feels pretty long ago, some might have a degree of nostalgia for certain stylistic quirks and dated elements found in Prom Night. To get those sorts of bittersweet feelings, though, does require a good deal of slogging through the stuff that unequivocally doesn’t work, like the dialogue, line deliveries, the flatness of the visuals, the lack of pacing… all that (un)fun stuff, but you get some 2000s-era kitsch in return, at least.

12

‘The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (1995)

Directed by Kim Henkel

No one will deny the impact that the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre had on horror as a whole, and especially what it did for the slasher subgenre. Sequels were always going to be a difficult affair, in terms of upping the terror and tension, so The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 had the right idea of wading into comedy territory, upping the bloodshed and throwing a typically gonzo Dennis Hopper into the mix for good measure.

After that, though? Well, something like The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre is kind of trying to be a bit of a comedy alongside a horror film, but it’s not as funny, and it’s certainly not as creative. It is somewhat fun to watch nowadays as a novelty, though, owing to the fact that it starred two future Oscar winners a little while before they found mainstream success: Renée Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey (the latter of whom is definitely going for… something, here).

11

‘Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2’ (1987)

Directed by Lee Harry

Christmas and Halloween are two holidays that seem to go together well when it comes to movies, especially those within the horror genre. Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2, while not perhaps a Christmas classic in the traditional sense, does have a certain amount of goofy fun by colliding the purported cheer of Christmas with the sorts of “scares” associated with Halloween.

It’s a movie about a dangerous man going on a revenge rampage following the events of 1984’s slightly less silly Silent Night, Deadly Night. It ramps everything up in some noteworthy scenes, with the most infamous of those giving Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 a deserved reputation for being a beloved kind of bad movie. So, not good in the traditional sense, but it is still a generally fun watch, and that enables it to fit quite snugly into so-bad-it’s-good territory.

10

‘Halloween: Resurrection’ (2002)

Directed by Rick Rosenthal

Halloween is one of those seminal slasher/horror movies that ended up kicking off a long-running series, with none of this 1978 film’s sequels quite living up to the original. That being said, most are at least a good deal better than Halloween: Resurrection, which is commonly seen as a low point for the iconic horror series, even though it features the original film’s lead actress, Jamie Lee Curtis.

She’s wasted here, alongside everyone else, with the story of Halloween: Resurrection trying to bring then-modern technology into the series with something of a faux-found footage spin on the whole thing that never really works. But it’s possible to treat this one entirely non-seriously and have a laugh at a few moments here and there, including the iconic scene where Busta Rhymes kicks Michael Myers out a window.

9

‘I Still Know What You Did Last Summer’ (1998)

Directed by Danny Cannon

No one’s going to call I Know What You Did Last Summer a perfect horror movie by any means, but it was popular enough upon its release in 1997 to get a sequel the following year. Said sequel was kind of hilariously titled I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which feels like it could well be a parody of I Know What You Did Last Summer, done before Scary Movie could lampoon the film.

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is pretty lazy, even by the standards of slasher movie sequels, following the survivors of the first movie once again finding their lives threatened by a dangerous killer. Honestly, the Scream series was already underway by the time I Still Know What You Did Last Summer came out, so anyone interested in genuinely good (not so bad it’s good) slasher stuff was probably – and understandably – invested in that gradually expanding franchise instead.

8

‘Jason X’ (2001)

Directed by James Isaac

There was an attempt to take the Friday the 13th series in a novel direction with its 10th film, Jason X. The attempt was not successful, and it resulted in one of the worst movies of 2001, but at the very least, the wild swing should be acknowledged, even if it was ultimately a swing and a miss.

Far from the only Friday the 13th sequel to have a certain so bad it’s good flavor, Jason X stands out because it saw the slasher series take on science fiction concepts explicitly for the first time, taking place hundreds of years in the future, and in outer space. There are small moments of very dumb fun to be had here, ensuring Jason X isn’t quite the worst the series has to offer, but you definitely have to be in a certain kind of mood to get anything more than a few chuckles out of it.

7

‘The Burning’ (1981)

Directed by Tony Maylam

From Jason X to Jason Alexander, the legendary Seinfeld actor has a supporting role in The Burning, which is noteworthy for also providing early roles to a couple of other up-and-comers. It’s a barebones slasher movie, outside its novel (in hindsight) cast, featuring a series of gory kills and a summer camp setting, which provides an isolated location and plenty of young people for a murderous individual to terrorize.

It also shouldn’t be mixed up with a 2018 film called Burning, which is classier and much better… and also not a horror movie. Still, if you want a good movie, watch Burning, or just about anything else. But if you want a painfully of its time, crass, and mind-numbingly simple slasher flick, The Burning is admittedly one you can watch with your brain pretty much turned off.

6

‘Psycho Cop’ (1989)

Directed by Wallace Potts

For better or worse, Psycho Cop is exactly what you’d expect a violent and low-budget horror movie called Psycho Cop to be. The central character is a police officer named Joe Vickers, and alongside ostensibly serving the law, he also indulges in satanism and serial killing, with the events of Psycho Cop following his stalking of several young people who are trying to enjoy their vacation in an isolated cabin.

And wouldn’t you know it, it’s a cabin in the woods, so it’s almost too perfect a location for a slasher movie. Psycho Cop has nothing much new or interesting to bring to the table, and certainly isn’t the kind of film that’s good enough to stick with you long-term. But in the moment, it’s stupid fun, being so low-budget and blunt in so many ways that it kind of has to be experienced to be believed.

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5

‘Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare’ (1991)

Director: Rachel Talalay

Honestly, the Nightmare on Elm Street series fares a little better than the Halloween and Friday the 13th series overall, largely thanks to having an absolutely dynamite first film and sequels that were generally creative. Those subsequent movies definitely fluctuated in quality and scariness, though, with one of the weaker efforts – at least when judged in a traditional way – being the sixth film in the series, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Funnily enough, it wasn’t the final nightmare either… at least not technically, with 1994’s New Nightmare being something kind of different and more meta, and then the 21st century seeing A Nightmare on Elm Street get a crossover movie with Friday the 13th and then a remake/reboot. As an intended finale, it’s laughable at best, but the increasingly cartoonish Freddy Krueger is a source of energy, and Robert Englund’s fun as always, playing the character.

4

‘Candyman: Day of the Dead’ (1999)

Directed by Turi Meyer

Just as there were many great films released during the final year of the 20th century, so too were there a fair number of stinkers (you have to take the good with the bad). Among the less-than-great movies of 1999 is Candyman: Day of the Dead, which was the third film in the Candyman series and essentially halted things for more than 20 years, with it taking until 2021 for a fourth movie to come out.

Candyman: Day of the Dead takes place around the titular Day of the Dead, with the Candyman once again having a new target and doing his thing, only it all feels less clever/spooky this time around. Candyman: Day of the Dead has a reputation for being pretty bad, and deservedly so, but that also means it could well take on new life as a so bad it’s good film… you just have to believe.

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3

‘A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge’ (1985)

Directed by Jack Sholder

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge has a reputation for being rather divisive, but its oddness in comparison to other sequels in the Nightmare on Elm Street series is arguably more of a strength than a weakness. This second film in the series stands out for having a male lead, and also – perhaps more awkwardly – featuring some differing rules surrounding how Freddy Krueger targets his victims.

It’s a movie that shows how the series was still finding its footing… well, that’s the charitable reason. You could also say that the people behind A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge didn’t really know what they were doing, leading to series creator Wes Craven returning in a writer’s capacity to guide the superior A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). But Freddy’s Revenge is an undeniable curiosity. You might deem it somewhat bad or awkward, but it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling entirely disinterested in what it has to offer.

2

‘Freddy vs. Jason’ (2003)

Directed by Ronny Yu

Freddy Krueger might’ve targeted real-life actors in 1994, and Jason Voorhees might’ve gone on his own space odyssey in 2001, but the wildest film either character has appeared in to date would have to be 2003’s Freddy vs. Jason. It’s also remarkable that these two icons of the horror genre appeared in the same movie at all, with the titular fight promised in the title genuinely delivering.

When Freddy vs. Jason embraces action and ridiculous spectacle, it’s a surprising amount of fun, with the seemingly mandated slasher movie requirements feeling limp and uninspired in comparison. If you can get through the not-so-great stuff, there are moments of Freddy vs. Jason that prove to be stupid amounts of fun, and it might well be one of the better non-kaiju versus movies out there.

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1

‘Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter’ (1984)

Directed by Joseph Zito

Horror movies seem to love putting the word “Final” in their titles, what with there being a series of Final Destination movies, the aforementioned Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, and the Resident Evil series even getting in on the action with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. But the best of these “Final” horror movies is arguably Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which is schlocky, silly, and also not the actual final Friday the 13th, but it’s also a blast of a film.

There were seemingly no damns given when it came to making Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and it goes all-out on featuring memorably ridiculous characters, plenty of inventive kills, and almost non-stop chaos that’s always some level of funny, exciting, or shocking. It does transcend the so bad it’s good label, to some extent, but it’s the kind of horror movie where you feel like you fluctuate between laughing at and with it, so maybe it just counts. Either way, it’s extremely entertaining, and an overall high point for the Friday the 13th series as a whole.

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