Compared to other genres,horrormovies are able to get away with being quite cheesy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their stories are bad.Ever since their rise to popularity, horror movies have never shied away from campy fun, withthe best horror comediesin particular relying heavily on a healthy dosage of shlock to sustain themselves. That being said, tongue-in-cheek fun doesn’t exclude a satisfying narrative, and a given horror film can be at once relentlessly cheesy and genuinely intriguing.
It’s difficult to identify what exactly makes a horror movie cheesy, butsilly situations and a reliance on time-honored tropesis a good place to start. Few other genres fall prey to the same set of similar conventions as horror movies do, and when playing with these tropes and directly acknowledging them, some films can actually enhance their stories. Even if they might not be consideredgenuinely terrifying dramatic films, cheesy horror movies can still offer plenty of riveting drama.
Barbarian
Cast
Barbarian follows a young woman who discovers her Airbnb has been double-booked with a stranger already present. Despite initial hesitation, she decides to stay, only to uncover disturbing secrets within the unsettling rental. The film, released in 2022, explores themes of trust and unease in unexpected encounters.
Stunning audiences with its streaming release,Barbarianpulled off one of themost deceitful movie ad campaigns of all time. With trailers that gave very little away,Barbarianpresents itself as a thrillerthat follows a hopeful job hunter who is forced to share her Detroit Air BnB with a mysterious stranger after they are accidentally double booked.
The horror from within the house that eventually catches up to both parties is quite out-of-left field, making for a terrifying shock. WhereBarbariangets cheesy is its sudden cut to a new character after the first act ends, taking its time telling a meandering story about a Hollywood hot-shot who is brought down by serious sexual assault allegations that eventually makes its way back to the cliffhanger from earlier.
Barbariantackles topics like cancel culture, trauma, and poverty with surprising deft, and keeps its narrative thread engaging no matter how bizarre of a path it may take.
The comedy of it’s hilariously unlikable new protagonist and the absurdity of its overarching monster make for a decidedly campy time. That being said,Barbariantackles topics like cancel culture, trauma, and poverty with surprising deft, and keeps its narrative thread engaging no matter how bizarre of a path it may take.
The Lost Boys
The Lost Boys follows Michael Emerson (Jason Patric) and his younger brother Sam (Corey Haim) after they move to the small California beach town of Santa Carla only to discover that it is overrun with teenage vampires. When Michael falls victim to the titular gang and joins their ranks, Sam enlists the help of young vampire hunters the Frog brothers (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander) to save his brother from head vampire David (Kiefer Sutherland).
Far from the typical cape-wearing vampires that haunt gothic castles,The Lost Boysupdated the vampire mythos in some clever ways that have endured far into the modern era. The plot fixates on a duo of teen siblings who find themselves in a remote California town after their parents get divorced, only to realize that the area is a hotbed of vampire activity.
It isn’t long before the two are sucked into the orbit of a ferocious motorcycle gang of vampire youths, reveling eternally as teen troublemakers. As audacious as the action beats and jagged 80s haircuts ofThe Lost Boysare, there’s a clear beating heart to the story beneath the flashy set dressing that sets it apart.
Evoking the name of Peter Pan’s group of forever-immature merry men,the story examines the dangers of never growing up, via vampire-inflicted curse or otherwise. Relentlessly cheesy as its one-liners and wardrobe choices may be,The Lost Boysis a story that’s well worth telling.
Fright Night
When teenage Charley Brewster discovers that the newcomer in his neighborhood is a vampire, he turns to actor Peter Vincent, who played a vampire hunter in a television horror show, for help dealing with his undead neighbor Jerry’s thirst for blood.
Another vampire adventure of the mid 80s,Fright Nightis a cult classic that has since spawned its own modestly successful media franchise. The movie centers ona teen boy who becomes aware that his next-door neighbor is a bloodthirsty vampire, though he isn’t able to prove his outlandish claim without any hard evidence.
Seeking the expertise of a TV actor known for playing a vampire hunter, the plucky protagonist takes it upon himself to stop the incursion of undead bloodsuckers on his slice of suburbia before it’s too late. Even ifFright Nightmay have one of thescariest movie depictions of vampiresaround, there’s no denying that the setup of a teen protagonist with his idolized vampire hunting mentor is oozing with cheese.
Thefilm’s practical effects, as impressive as they are, remain an endearing keepsake of a time gone by. That being said, Jerry Dandridge works as a genuinely horrifying creature of the night that blends eerily well into simple suburban society, acting as a reflection of the very real human monsters hiding in such idyllic worlds in real life.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
Based on the anthology series by Alvin Schwartz, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark adapts several of Schwartz’s stories into one cohesive narrative, telling the story of a group of teens in rural Pennslyvania who are tormented by a series of increasingly terrifying supernatural monsters that seems to be coming from a book the teens stumble across. The film stars, Zoe Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush, and Austin Abrams.
Based on the horror children’s books of the same name that traumatized a generationwith their terrifying illustrations,Scary Stories to Tell in the Darkis a pseudo-anthology film that brings the chilling tales of the anthology series to life. Set in the late 60s, the movie plunges a group of teenagers into a nightmare when they incur the wrath of a witch’s ghost by disturbing her family’s haunted house, stealing her beloved storybook.
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When the tome’s stories begin coming to life, the group has limited time to figure out a way to break the curse before vanishing. Some of the scares and individual stories shown off inScary Stories to Tell in the Darkmight be pretty by-the-numbers horror fare, but that doesn’t stop them from being spine-tinglingly unsettling thanks tothe incredible art design that lovingly brings the original books' illustrations to life.
The actual lore the film creates explaining the stories' author is quite clever, and the time-traveling method the plucky teen protagonists are ultimately able to uncover the mystery is creative genius. Even if it might not be the most thrilling horror movie, the anthology adaptation is worth watching for the plot alone.
Army of Darkness
The third film in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy, Army of Darkness, is a horror comedy film that sees Bruce Campbell return to the role of Ash Williams. Sucked out of his timeline and tossed to 1300 A.D., Ash is found and thrown in a pit after he is believed to be a spy against King Arthur. After proving himself and slaying a supernatural Deadite creature, Ash is freed and told to return home; he must find the Necronomicon and dance with the dead again.
The last film in Sam Raimi’s original trilogy ofEvil Deadmovies,Army of Darknesswasthe natural conclusion to the series' gradual shift from straight-laced slasher horror to hilariously gory slapstick comedy. After being flung through a portal at the end ofEvil Dead 2, Ash Williams is trapped in the Middle Ages, only to discover that the insidious Deadites have infested this time period, as well.
Using his modern-day knowledge of science, Ash helps his new medieval comrades fend off the titular army of the dead.Army of Darknessis almost more like an especially bloody episode ofTom & Jerrythan a traditional horror movie, squeezing screams and laughs out of its absurd supernatural encounters.
But the story of a time-displaced man doing what he can to save a population that fears and initially rejects him is quite gripping, not to mention the addition of a new love interest after the demise of Ash’s girlfriend in the previous film. Still an iconic horror entry for good reason,Army of Darkness' narrative remains gripping despite how nonsensical it gets.
Freaky
Freaky is a film directed by Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day 2U) and centers around a young girl in high school that swaps bodies with a deranged serial killer. When four teenagers are found dead, the Blissfield Butcher’s re-emergence has made the town somewhat on alert. While waiting for her ride home at the end of a football game, Millie Kessler is attacked by the butcher with a mysterious dagger called La Dola, which then swaps the two into one another’s bodies in a Freaky Friday-like fashion. Millie discovers that to get back to her original body, she needs to get her friends and family to believe that their bodies have swapped - and she needs to reverse the ritual in twenty-four hours, or the switch will remain permanent.
At this point in the modern day and age, nearly every fantastical premise to a non-horror movie has been recreated with a scary slant to it. Enter 2020’sFreaky,whose title plays on its clear inspiration from the comedy classicFreaky Friday.Rather than swapping bodies with her troubled mother, this film seesits teen girl protagonist trade places with a legendary serial killerthat has stalked her town for ages thanks to the efforts of a mysterious magical dagger.
Freakyis carried by theincredible performances of Vincent Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, who both pull double-duty roles as the terrifying Butcher and the timid Millie. The horror comedy knowingly plays with slasher movie conventions to great effect, being at once cheesy and heartwarming as Millie learns to overcome her anxious nature. Even if it’s light on actual scares,Freakyis novel enough to be well-worth a watch.
Happy Death Day
Happy Death Day is a horror-comedy film directed by Christopher Landon. Released in 2017, it follows college student Tree Gelbman, played by Jessica Rothe, who is forced to relive the day of her murder repeatedly until she can identify her killer and stop her death. The film blends elements of slasher horror with dark humor, creating a unique entry in the genre.
Rather than parodyingFreaky Friday, Happy Death Dayis one of the latest in a long line ofmovies that copyGroundhog’s Day.A ditzy collegeparty girl is forced to re-live her death over and over againwhen an ominous baby-masked killer finds and murders her in increasingly creative ways, only for her to wake up and live the same day again. In order to stand any hope of escaping the loop, she must find her masked attacker’s secret identity.
Thought it might not be too scary,Happy Death Dayhad an engaging enough plot to summon a sequel,Happy Death Day 2U.
Happy Death Dayisquite fun and upbeat for a horror movie, made almost lighthearted by the fact that none of its deaths are immediately permanent. Still, the timewinding story within is quite smart, baiting the audience with who the mysterious masked slasher villain’s identity could be before revealing a shocking truth. Thought it might not be too scary,Happy Death Dayhad an engaging enough plot to summon a sequel,Happy Death Day 2U.
Cube
Directed by Vincenzo Natali, Cube is a 1997 Science Fiction and Horror film starring Nicky Guadagni, Nicole de Boer, David Hewlett, and Andrew Miller. The plot sees a group of people mysteriously waking up in a cube-shaped room, only to realize they are trapped in a labyrinth of cubes, some of which feature deadly traps.
An eerie artifact of early 2000s ingenuity,Cubeis a clever bottle movie that evokes the torture ofSawlong before James Wan’s famed slasher series began. True to its name, the film begins witha group of strangers waking up in a strange enclosed cubic room, surrounded by similar rooms that shift across one another.
Soon learning that many of the rooms contain deadly traps, the group has to survive infighting and external dangers to make it to the edge of the gargantuan facility in one piece.Cube’s legacy sequels may not have impressed with the new direction the story went in, but the original film remains an intriguing, if palpably cheesy, horror movie.
The creative traps of the titular torture chamber keep things freshwhile the gripping, if predictable, degradation of the group’s loyalties unfolds. The overarching mystery of the Cube’s construction is quite gripping before the disappointing answers of the sequels were revealed.
Willy’s Wonderland
Willy’s Wonderland is a 2021 horror film starring Nicolas Cage. Cage plays The Janitor, who is tasked with cleaning up Willy’s Wonderland. What seems like a relatively easy job becomes a nightmare when the animatronic animals become possessed and attack the Janitor. Kevin Lewis directed the film, which got mixed reviews upon release.
If there’s one actor that excels at marrying horror movies with unbridled cheesiness, it’s Nicolas Cage. Just before theFive Nights at Freddy’s movie could release,Willy’s Wonderlandtook the same concept and ran quite far with it, arguably being scarier than the more name-brand mascot horror movie.
The film posits Cage as a silent protagonist who wordlessly accepts a job cleaning up a run-down children’s entertainment restaurant, only to find himself face-to-face with the deadly animatronic monsters haunting the location. As far asNicolas Cage horror moviesgo,Willy’s Wonderlandis dripping with cheese, from the hacky performances of the supporting cast to the by-the-numbers horror tropes that kill them off one by one.
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Yet Cage is amazing as the film’s silent hero, wordlessly beating down the cuddly robotic creatures with no remorse.The idea of a horror threat holding an entire town hostage that the film presents is intriguingif nothing else, andWillie’s Wonderlandserves its purpose as a shlocky, but enjoyable splatter film.
The Cabin in the Woods
The Cabin in the Woods strictly follows the traditional slasher movie dynamic: a group of teens heads to a remote location for the weekend only to find themselves beset by monsters. However, what they don’t know is that the inevitable horrors they will face have all been arranged by a mysterious team watching from a facility deep underground.
If cheesiness in horror movies is a result of time-honored clichés,no film is more of a love letter to cheesy scares thanCabin in the Woods.The genre-dissecting movie starts off with a fairly simple setup, spinning a yarn of five college-age friends who abscond to the titular cabin in the woods only to be killed off one after another by a terrifying slew of undead slashers.
But the cabin soon proves to be more than it seems as the kids discover that their demises were carefully crafted from the beginning.Cabin in the Woodsis known for its explosive final act, in which a deluge of recognizable horror movie monsters rise from the calculated violence of the cabin to wreak havoc on their masters.
Creating a clever explanation for every horror movie trope it engages with, the film is a true triumph of fandom, exploring everything that makes scary movies work while breaking down what purpose they actually serve. Intelligently acknowledging every well-worn genre convention with a creative story,Cabin in the Woodsis like a cheesyhorrormovie thesis statement.
