Everybody has their own tastes in pop culture. Regardless of what medium it is, we all have our tastes which make us unique in our own way. One such taste happens to be liking some things that generally get a lot of criticism. Some people may enjoy shows targeted toward a different demographic or something that is considered to be bad that get some enjoyment out of it regardless of what others say. Here online, that makes a pretty common idea to share. Pretty much everybody out on the internet has done a variation of this list regardless of what genre of film it would be and wants to share some of their opinions on the films that often get a lot of flack from many others. Considering the time of the year, I decided to make a similar list centered around Horror movies that generally get less favorable reputations from viewers or critics.
The Blair Witch Project
I’ll admit that while the found-footage genre has pretty much been burned out, I’m in a small percentage that will give them a chance. Blair Witch seems to be the one that everybody loves to dump on these days and I don’t think it really deserves it. I think most of the hate comes from the fact that the Blair Witch isn’t seen and they considered it to be boring. Not to mention the camera shaking a lot of the time could be irritating to people (even though there are some films that do this much worse). I guess people these days aren’t use to having the idea of fear of the unknown or trying to guess what it looks like which is pretty disappointing.
Cloverfield
Now this movie is easily the king of the shaky cam. The fact that they put out warnings that people will get motion sickness from this (which I’ve seen happen) is an easy way to get put off by the movie entirely. If you can look past that fact, it’s a pretty enjoyable modern monster movie that was made as an inspiration from people who enjoy the Kaiju movies of the past and took influence from it (especially the original “Godzilla” movie).
Rob Zombie’s Firefly Trilogy
So how many time shave you heard people talk shit on Rob Zombie’s movies? I heard it all the time. In all honesty, they really aren’t that bad. The movies were made by a man who clearly loves the B-movies and exploitation films of the past and took a lot of inspiration from them to create a graphic and engaging trilogy with a lot of horror legends from those days and they’re definitely a labor of love for those types of films as well.
Friday the 13th Sequels (specifically Part 2, 3D, The Final Chapter and Jason Lives)
While I don’t think everybody hates the sequels, I know they got trashed by critics back when they first came out in the 1980’s and were seen as nothing more than pointless slasher films. I have to say though, the early sequels of the franchise did their best to follow up the original movie by adding in Jason as the central villain, having some likable characters, Part 4 being pretty meta on enjoying mindless horror films for fun and having Jason be more human that the later films after Part 6 (which does have him come back from the dead) and they really aren’t that bad as the critics say.
Plus, how can you not resist Crispin Glover dancing?
Howling II
Okay, this movie is actually pretty bad but there’s honestly one reason why I would watch this movie: Reb Brown.
Watching Reb go around screaming and shooting werewolves with Christopher Lee is one of the most entertaining things that you’ll find in a B-grade horror film and is easily a guilty pleasure of mine that I love revisiting. Not to mention that the alternate title for this was “Stirba: Werewolf Bitch” which is honestly enough for anyone to at least take a look at it.
The Wicker Man (2006)
I think the main reason everyone watches this movie is solely because of Nick Cage. He simply doesn’t give a shit and is going completely off the wall with his performance to the point that it’s an absolute blast to watch. The rest of the movie does fall flat in comparison to the original Christopher Lee driven film but it’s still a pretty fun time regardless of that.
Halloween III: Season of the Witch
This one was unfairly trashed when it came out. John Carpenter wanted the series to become an anthology after the first two films and apparently people didn’t know that or didn’t like it so they completely dumped on it to the point they brought back Michael Myers in the next movie. I think it’s a pretty solid movie that didn’t deserve the hate that it got when it was released and I can’t help but wonder what it would have been like if they kept it an anthology series.
It Comes At Night
Once again, this movie presents the fear of the unknown and people REALLY didn’t like it. Considering that and the fact that it was advertised as a monster movie, it goes some unfair treatment from audiences when it came out. Regardless of that, it’s a pretty solid post-apocalyptic film that relies on fear and distrust being one of the key factors of the movie instead of a traditional monster.
mother!
While I absolutely loved this movie, I get why people wouldn’t like this movie very much. This starts off pretty slow until it becomes very in-your-face with the themes Aronofsky presents and then becomes incredibly off the wall insanity that turns into a “What the Fuck Did I Just Watch?” movie. It’s one hell of a ride to go one and I do recommend giving it a chance.
Dead Silence
…I know that this film is not one of the best out there from James Wan and is pretty hated by a lot of people, but for some reason I got some enjoyment out of it. I think the concept of the ghost of a ventriloquist getting revenge is a cool idea and some of the sets are impressive but it’s far from perfect so I consider it to be a guilty pleasure for me.
The Strangers
I honestly don’t get why this got dumped on when it came out. It’s a pretty solid home invasion film that has some genuinely good scares throughout it and the villains are pretty creepy even when you know nothing about them. Plus, the film has frequently been analyzed as a contemporary take on safety in rural cities as oppose to the urban city as well as being akin to Haneke’s “Funny Games”. Maybe it’s because the main characters aren’t too interesting or not liking the idea of the story. Regardless, it’s still a pretty good movie.
Saw
From the series that pretty much coined the term “torture porn”, the first few movies aren’t that bad. The directors tried to make them stand out amongst each other until they just became the same movie after the third one was released with slightly different plot elements added in. My personal favorite out of them is the first one since it plays itself more as a mystery/thriller and you see the results of most of the traps rather than the sequels which dive into the blood and guts with the traps. Plus, you actually get to have some characterization and see why Dr. Gordon and Adam were locked up in the bathroom in the first place.
Paranormal Activity 1-3
Oh look, another found footage movie. Not very surprising to see here, huh? For these movies, it’s pretty obvious why they get flack: they can be really boring. Most of the time, you will be spending watching every part of the frame trying to see what will change or if something will happen and that can get pretty tiresome and can become really old fast. Not to mention that the sequels after this get really stupid and quickly disconnect themselves from the first three films.
I think people are starting to come around on Saw
I’ve seen a few people coming around to it lately