We love a good horror movie, but sadly, not all horror movies are done well. It's an expansive genre with a lot of offerings, and for every Poltergeist, there's a Disappointments Room that, well, disappoints. There's space for bad horror movies if they know that they're bad and they're leaning into the realm of camp intentionally. (Those kinds of movies can be so bad, they're good.) But that's not what these 20 films did. They tried to be great, and they were just not.
Rotten Tomatoes gathered a list of the 49 worst horror movies of all time, according to critics score for each movie. We've highlighted the 20 worst of the worst, where not a single one got a score higher than 4%. It's surprising, too, because some of these films have great story line concepts and Oscar-winning casts. (Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore are in some of these films!) But sadly, sometimes, even great actors aren't enough to save a movie.
We've ranked them here from bad to worst. Who else agrees with what made it to number one?
20. 'Mary' (2019)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
This film may have Academy Award winner Gary Oldman in it, but that wasn't enough to save the story line. It's about a family who sets out on a sailing trip in desolate waters only to find that their ship is harboring some scary secrets. Many reviewers called it mediocre and said it failed to live up to what could have been an interesting plot.
19. '6 Souls'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
Julianne Moore is usually a stellar actress — which is why it's so wild that this movie flopped so hard. As Rotten Tomatoes put it, "The most mind-bending aspect of 6 Souls is Julianne Moore's participation, the overqualified star wasted on a goofy horror premise that generates more guffaws than scares."
She played a forensic psychiatrist who learns that several of her patient's multiple personalities are also victims of murder. Compelling idea but bad execution.
18. 'Soul Survivors'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
This movie stars a young Wes Bentley, who is now known for his skills in the horror genre, having been a frequent participant in the American Horror Story franchise. But he didn't get off to a great start with this movie about a student trapped between the worlds of the dead and living. Critics were displeased with its lack of horror, calling it silly and "spookless."
17. 'Darkness'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
This film is a classic haunted house tale, and because it's a popular trope, there's a lot to live up to. Critics don't think Darkness did. "There's the draw … of potential scares and the good cast, but there's nothing ever delivered to us," one reviewer wrote. Even True Blood's Anna Paquin couldn't save it.
16. 'The Fog' (2005)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
The villain in this movie is the fog itself, which has evil powers. It's a remake of the much more popular 1980 movie from director John Carpenter that scored 74% with critics. Remakes always have an uphill battle to be successful, and this one couldn't climb very far. "In a world where John Carpenter's The Fog still exists, I cannot think of a single valid reason to watch this," stated one reviewer.
15. 'Flatliners' (2017)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
Another remake, the 2017 Flatliners attempted to improve upon the 1990 film to no avail. (Not even having Ellen Page star helped much.) The story follows five medical students who conduct an experiment to see beyond death. "A fabulous idea for a movie, but unfortunately, Flatliners represents the second failed attempt to do it justice," noted one critic.
14. 'Godsend'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 4%
Academy Award winner Robert De Niro plays a doctor who clones a couple's young son after he dies in an accident. Everything is fine until the boy turns 8, which is when the movie takes a turn for the creepy. Despite a promising plot and cast, many critics found it to be predictable.
13. 'The Darkness'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 3%
Not to be confused with Darkness, the movie The Darkness performed even worse amongst critics. Kevin Bacon stars as the father of a family who returns home from the Grand Canyon and realizes that the rocks the son brought home have an evil air to them. Reviewers thought the film borrowed too many horror ideas from better films and used them poorly.
12. 'House of the Dead'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 3%
House of the Dead is what the title suggests — a zombie movie. College students go to an island for a big party only to find that it's inhabited by the dead. "It's so bad it could well go down in history as one of the worst zombie movies ever made," one BBC reviewer wrote.
11. 'The Apparition' (2012)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 3%
A couple's home becomes haunted after the local college's parapsychology team conducts an experiment that creates a spirit. The biggest offenses in this film for critics were the scares that weren't actually that scary and an unlikable main couple that left audiences not really caring what happened to them.
10. 'FearDotCom'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 3%
A series of mysterious deaths take place after people logged onto a website called feardotcom. The idea of making the internet creepy isn't new, but this movie failed to convince audiences with its scares. "FearDotCom takes itself way too seriously, ultimately adding to the film's dreadfulness," one critic shared.
9. 'Bless the Child'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 3%
When a little girl with supernatural abilities gets kidnapped by a satanic cult, her aunt must do whatever she can to get her niece back. Critics lambasted the film for not delivering on the scary front, with multiple reviewers calling it "silly", the ultimate insult to a horror film.
8. 'The Haunting of Molly Hartley'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 2%
As the title suggests, this is a movie about a girl who's haunted by some unseen force. Even though it starred Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford, nothing could save this film. Reviewers were put off by its lack of authentic horror moments and its ultimately forgettable plot.
7. 'Alone in the Dark'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 1%
Christian Slater plays a supernatural detective in this movie with Tara Reid that bombed with viewers and critics alike. It earned just half of its budget, making it a certifiable flop. One of the biggest issues reviewers had with it was that the plot was incredibly hard to follow.
6. 'Return of the Living Dead II'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Sequels rarely live up to the originals, but there was almost nothing redeeming about the Return of the Living Dead follow-up film. The first zombie film got a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and the second one got a whopping 0. Critics were most annoyed with how the plot seemed like a regurgitated version of the original story line.
5. 'Homecoming'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
A few years after her turn on *The O.C.*, Mischa Barton appeared in this lackluster horror film. She played a jealous ex who wants revenge on her former boyfriend and his new girlfriend. Reviewers thought the movie was too predictable. "Everything, including the ending, plays out exactly as you'd expect," complained one critic.
4. 'The Disappointments Room'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Well, with a title like that it's almost not surprising that this movie flopped. Kate Beckinsale stars as a mother to a young son who accidentally stumbles on a world of horrors in their attic. Critics felt that Kate did the best she could, but ultimately, the movie didn't have the scary material to back up its horror plotline.
3. 'Cabin Fever' (2016)
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Five friends think they're gonna have a fun cabin getaway, but then they stumble across a deadly, flesh-eating virus. Viewers also might have thought they were going to have a fun time watching a horror movie, but it turned out to be not so great. "Who benefits from the existence of this film?" asked a New York Times reporter.
2. 'Jaws: The Revenge'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Jaws: The Revenge is the fourth movie in the Jaws franchise, and it's also the one that was so bad it ended the franchise for good in the '80s. One Los Angeles Times critic called the film "Dumb beyond belief, hollow, bloody, and nonsensical." That's one way to say it. Another way is how Rotten Tomatoes described it: "Illogical, tension-free, and filled with cut-rate special effects, Jaws 4: The Revenge is a sorry chapter in a once-proud franchise."
1. 'One Missed Call'
Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
Coming in at number one worst horror movie is the 2008 film One Missed Call. The story line follows a group of people who get mysterious phone calls about the day they'll die. (Spooky idea, sure, but bad execution.) Among the critiques is that it was "boring," not scary enough, the acting was bad, the script was bad, and, overall, it was "one big miss of a horror movie."
