Horror movies are often at their best when they’re simple popcorn films that can be thrown on without too much prior thought, robust and easy to enjoy as top-notch “brain-off” entertainment. A good “popcorn movie” refers to a film that doesn’t ask much of its viewer while being wildly entertaining. This is a stride that many horror films are able to hit effortlessly, with so many of the genre’s greatest hits relying on fantastical premises, bombastic performances, and audacious special effects.
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That’s not to say all horror films are shallow, as plenty of philosophical scary movies can call into question societal values or ponder themes with deep implications in ways no other genre can. But for every genuinely groundbreakingly profound horror movie, there are a litany of delightfully gory and over-the-top popcorn flicks that simply deliver on a good time. Casting aside required knowledge of previous films, complex symbolism to dissect, or realism that’s taken a touch too far, horror movies can be wickedly fun.
You are watching: 10 Popcorn Horror Movies That Don’t Require Your Full Brainpower
10
Jaws
The first blockbuster
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Jaws
PG-13
Adventure
Horror
Thriller
10/10
32
9.3/10
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Release Date
June 18, 1975
Runtime
124 minutes
Director
Steven Spielberg
Writers
Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb, John Milius, Howard Sackler, Robert Shaw
Cast
See All
-
Roy Scheider
-
Robert Shaw
Steven Spielberg’s legendary tale of one man’s desperate battle with a killer Great White shark on his small seaside community. Faced with a mounting list of victims and a local authority dead-set against causing panic or destroying the tourist economy, he assembles a team to tackle the shark head-on.
Main Genre
Adventure
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Arguably the first popcorn movie to strike it big at the box office, Jaws is the archetype that completely changed how the film industry worked from the ground up. A young, hungry Spielberg helms the story of a simple tourist town which has its busy season interrupted by a string of gruesome attacks by a man-eating great white shark. With the economic pressures of the town on the line, the police chief, a marine biologist, and a grizzled veteran sailor team up to hunt the bloodthirsty aquatic beast.
It’s no wonder that the film inspired a whole litany of sequels and a smattering of Jaws rip-off movies.
Because of its historical significance, Jaws has been dissected for all sorts of deeper themes and double meanings, from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick to the Watergate scandal. But in essence, Jaws is simply a rip-roaring good time, from the iconic theme song to the classic lines to the thrashing splendor of Bruce the shark himself. It’s no wonder that the film inspired a whole litany of sequels and a smattering of Jaws rip-off movies.
9
The Cabin In The Woods
A celebration of horror in general
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The Cabin in the Woods
R
Horror
Comedy
7/10
7.8/10
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Release Date
April 13, 2012
Runtime
95 minutes
Director
Drew Goddard
Writers
Drew Goddard, Joss Whedon
Prequel(s)
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, The Evil Dead, Cabin Fever, Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, Cabin Fever 3
Cast
See All
-
Richard Jenkins
-
Fran Kranz
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.
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For those that are dedicated fans of horror as a whole, The Cabin in the Woods is a brilliant distillation of all there is to love about the genre. The story begins as many horror films do, with a quintet of college kids eager to release their pent-up energy on a vacation to a creepy cabin isolated in a spooky forest. They’re soon attacked by a family of redneck torture zombies, but the carnage is all being meticulously directed by a white-collar organization dedicated to orchestrating horror movie tropes to appease ancient eldritch gods.
The Cabin in the Woods is genuinely funny, lined with a sparkling cast of character actors including a pre-MCU fame Chris Hemsworth. The film lovingly pokes fun at common horror movie clichés like dumb characters and creepy figures that warn the protagonists to turn back while effectively incorporating every film in the genre ever made into a singular universe of terror. Culminating in one of the most spectacular final acts in any movie ever, The Cabin in the Woods is a finely-tuned homage to an entire art style.
8
The Blob (1988)
An underrated horror remake
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The Blob
Horror
Sci-Fi
Thriller
8/10
See more : Emile Smith Rowe Ethnicity, What is Emile Smith Rowe’s Ethnicity?
Release Date
August 5, 1988
Runtime
95 Minutes
Director
Chuck Russell
Writers
Theodore Simonson, Kay Linaker, Irvine H. Millgate
Cast
See All
-
Shawnee Smith
Meg Penny
-
Kevin Dillon
Brian Flagg
The Blob is a 1988 science fiction horror film directed by Chuck Russell. The plot revolves around a malevolent, gelatinous entity that emerges from a meteorite and begins consuming everything in its path in a small American town. As the creature grows larger with each victim, a group of citizens races against time to find a way to stop the unstoppable menace. The film stars Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith.
Main Genre
Horror
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One of the greatest science fiction horror movies of all time is the original The Blob made in 1958, which chronicles the tale of an alien organism that comes to Earth and feeds on humans. The 1988 remake, piloted by Chuck Russell, is one of the greatest but also one of the most critically underappreciated horror remakes ever. This time around, the Blob itself is actually the result of a military experiment, grown inside a satellite before crashing down to the planet to reign terror on a small town.
The special effects of 1988’s The Blob are a true marvel, as the acidic amorphous fiend oozes its way through a chunk of the population, leaving only skeletons in its wake.
The film has a great sense of increasing spectacle as the Blob grows bigger and bigger in size, culminating in an absurd action setpiece that includes one of the greatest movie flamethrower scenes conceived. Equal parts creature feature and disaster flick, The Blob is positively dripping in unabashed horror fun.
7
Braindead (a.k.a. Dead Alive)
Sickeningly fun brain-off entertainment
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Dead Alive
R
Comedy
Horror
Fantasy
See more : Emile Smith Rowe Ethnicity, What is Emile Smith Rowe’s Ethnicity?
Release Date
August 13, 1992
Runtime
104 Minutes
Director
Peter Jackson
Writers
Stephen Sinclair, Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson
Cast
See All
-
Timothy Balme
-
Diana Peñalver
-
Elizabeth Moody
-
Ian Watkin
Dead Alive follows the story of a young man, Lionel Cosgrove, as he contends with his overbearing mother who becomes a zombie after being bitten by a rare Sumatran rat-monkey. Set in a suburban neighborhood, Dead Alive offers a unique take on the traditional zombie narrative.
Main Genre
Comedy
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Most people know Peter Jackson from his wonderfully iconic adaptations of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books, earning him international fame. But before he was lavishly constructing fully-realized fantasy worlds, he was flaying the flesh from his victims’ bones in delightfully horrific movies like Braindead, also known as Dead Alive in North America. The film takes viewers through a mutant zombie outbreak in New Zealand, which is desperately attempted to be curbed by a nebbish mama’s boy.
Fittingly enough considering its title, the film is a reckless indulgence of wanton blood and guts. Known as one of the goriest mainstream movies ever made, Braindead is a no-holds-barred display of Peter Jackson’s talent with practical effects. With absurd ideas like zombie monkey-rat hybrids and zombies that can sexually reproduce to make zombie babies, Braindead is a cult classic that works better the more one’s own brain is turned off while watching it.
6
An American Werewolf In London
Funny, scary, sexy and hairy
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An American Werewolf In London
R
Horror
Comedy
9/10
9/10
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Release Date
August 21, 1981
Runtime
97 minutes
Director
John Landis
Writers
John Landis
Cast
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-
David Naughton
-
Jenny Agutter
An American Werewolf in London centers on two American college students who are attacked by a werewolf while traveling in London, England. David Kessler survives the attack but is haunted by visions of his friend Jack, who explains how dangerous David has become after the violent attack. The John Landis-directed film stars David Naughton and Jenny Agutter.
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Bringing the concept of a wolf man back to the pop culture zeitgeist in full swing for the first time since Universal’s The Wolf Man, An American Werewolf in London is the definition of a great popcorn horror movie. The film centers on a pair of American backpackers in England, one of whom is bitten by a ravenous werewolf, thereby passing the curse on to him. Sure enough, on the next full moon, the hapless David becomes a bloodthirsty beast that wreaks havoc on the most populated centers of London.
With such a simple and well-worn idea, An American Werewolf in London does a great job digging up every conceivable corner of its premise as its titular fanged creature of folklore carves a bloody path through a modern metropolis. The film was among the first to introduce genuine comedy into a typical horror formula, achieving great success in doing so despite contemporaneous doubts. Easily one of the greatest werewolf movies ever made, if not the singular best, An American Werewolf in London is sure to get the blood pumping.
5
Re-Animator
A unique take on H.P. Lovecraft
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Re-Animator
Unrated
Horror
Sci-Fi
Comedy
9/10
See more : Emile Smith Rowe Ethnicity, What is Emile Smith Rowe’s Ethnicity?
Release Date
October 18, 1985
Runtime
84 minutes
Director
Stuart Gordon
Writers
Stuart Gordon, William Norris, Dennis Paoli
Sequel(s)
Re-Animator: Evolution
Cast
See All
-
Jeffrey Combs
-
Bruce Abbott
1985’s Re-Animator is a feature-length film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West–Reanimator. The Horror and Comedy release follows a man that spends time attempting to create a reagent that will reanimate the dead.
Main Genre
Horror
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When it comes to Lovecraftian horror, images of incomprehensible cosmic horrors or fish-themed monstrosities might be the first thing to come to mind. But Re-Animator provides a starkly unique and surprisingly easy-to-enjoy adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s work. Loosely based on the short story Herbert West-Reanimator, the film tells the macabre tale of an up-and-coming doctor whose life is thrown into chaos when he becomes roommates with Herbert West, a mad scientist obsessed with reviving the dead via a special glowing green serum.
From the aggressively green glow of the serum to the unique setting of a medical institution of learning.
Re-Animator is chilling and gruesome in ways that only a low-budget mid 80s horror movie can be, making some of the best use of a severed head ever seen in cinema. Jeffrey Combs is phenomenal as the deranged Herbert West, whose relentless fixation of playing god and earnest belief in his own superiority is simply the perfect archetypal modern necromancer. From the aggressively green glow of the serum to the unique setting of a medical institution of learning, Re-Animator presents gore utilized in almost slapstick levels of physical humor.
4
Evil Dead II
Blood-coated popcorn splendor
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Evil Dead II
R
Horror
Comedy
Fantasy
9/10
10/10
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Release Date
March 13, 1987
Runtime
84 minutes
Director
Sam Raimi
Writers
Scott Spiegel
Producers
Alex De Benedetti, Irvin Shapiro
Cast
See All
-
Bruce Campbell
Ashley ‘Ash’ J. Williams
-
Sarah Berry
Annie
Evil Dead II is a horror-comedy film directed by Sam Raimi, continuing the story of Ash Williams. After arriving at a secluded cabin with his girlfriend, Ash faces malevolent forces unleashed by an archaeologist’s recording of chants from the Book of the Dead, leading to chaotic and supernatural events.
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For the most part, picking the middle of a franchise for a fun movie to simply throw on and have a good time with isn’t the best idea, with convoluted, serialized plotlines getting in the way of the amusement. That isn’t the case for Evil Dead II, which reboots the Evil Dead series by retelling the first film’s events despite the numbered title. In an attempt to spend some time with his girlfriend Linda, Michigan hardhead Ash Williams is thrown into a fight for survival when the couple accidentally resurrect the sinister Deadites via the Necronomicon.
Evil Dead II is Sam Raimi at his goriest, funniest, and scariest best. Bruce Campbell’s square-jawed and dim-witted Ash is the perfect goofball protagonist to stick into such a sick and twisted world, succumbing to madness as he endures the carnival of horrors unfolding all around him. From the creative camera angles from the roaring Deadite’s point of view to the bonkers finale with a gnarled creature battle, Evil Dead II might be the zenith of popcorn horror movie making.
3
Trick ‘R Treat
The perfect holiday horror movie
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Trick ‘r Treat
R
Horror
Comedy
9.5/10
See more : Emile Smith Rowe Ethnicity, What is Emile Smith Rowe’s Ethnicity?
Release Date
November 27, 2015
Runtime
1hr 22
Director
Michael Dougherty
Writers
Michael Dougherty
Cast
See All
-
Brian Cox
Mr. Kreeg
-
Quinn Lord
Sam / Peeping Tommy
Trick ‘r Treat, directed by Michael Dougherty, is a horror anthology film featuring four interwoven stories set on Halloween night. The narratives explore a high school principal’s hidden life as a serial killer, a college student’s romantic encounter, a teenagers’ prank, and a reclusive old man’s unexpected visitor.
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Horror anthology movies have an almost unfair advantage when it comes to excelling as popcorn fare. Enter Trick ‘R Treat, directed by Michael Dougherty of Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Krampus fame. The film weaves through five tales all set on Halloween night in a small Ohio town in which the holiday is taken deathly seriously. Serving as connective tissue is the big-headed Sam Hain, named after Halloween’s original name as a pagan holiday, Samhain, a murderous toddler who punishes those eschewing Halloween traditions.
Despite being very much a frightening horror movie, Trick ‘R Treat is a cozy holiday classic worth returning to every year. Unlike many anthology films, there truly isn’t a weak link in any of the stories, from the coven of werewolf women to the unassuming dad moonlighting as a serial child murderer. Sam himself deserves a place in the Mount Rushmore of iconic masked slasher villains, rounding out a delightful candle-lit scary movie sweeter than Halloween candy.
2
V/H/S 2
Takes found footage to new limits
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V/H/S/2
R
Anthology
Horror
See more : Emile Smith Rowe Ethnicity, What is Emile Smith Rowe’s Ethnicity?
Release Date
June 6, 2013
Runtime
92 Minutes
Director
Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Eduardo Sánchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evans, Jason Eisener
Writers
Simon Barrett, Jamie Nash, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evans, John Davies, Jason Eisener
Prequel(s)
V/H/S
Cast
See All
-
Lawrence Michael Levine
-
Kelsy Abbott
-
L.C. Holt
-
Simon Barrett
V/H/S/2 is the sequel to the 2012 horror anthology film and brings together a new group of writers and directors to tell five tales of terror tied together by an overarching narrative. The core story follows two private investigators as they look into the disappearance of a missing college student. While on his trail, they discover a collection of VHS tapes in his dorm room that all play out in sequence as the main story unfolds between each viewing.
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Truthfully, the entire V/H/S series is a stellar pillar of popcorn horror movies as a whole, and it’s difficult to recommend only a single entry in the franchise for those eager to absorb cheap and entertaining scary stories. Each movie is a collection of vignettes presented as actual video tapes (or otherwise lost media) that have been dusted off and refurbished, knitting together a creative stream of frights, blood, and deviancy. If the series had to have a single winner to represent its popcorn movie tendencies, it has to be V/H/S 2.
Still one of the strongest entries in the V/H/S series, V/H/S 2 plays with all sorts of sources of footage, from zombies wearing GoPros to bionic eyes to dog-collar cams scampering through alien abductions. With series-standout titles like Safe Haven, V/H/S 2 knows where to hit hard and leave things off before shifting gears into a new genre of horror altogether. For as wide a net as the film is able to cast, it’s an impressive staple of horror movie mastery.
1
Killer Klowns From Outer Space
Nightmarish good fun
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Killer Klowns from Outer Space
PG-13
Horror
Sci-Fi
Comedy
5.5/10
See more : Emile Smith Rowe Ethnicity, What is Emile Smith Rowe’s Ethnicity?
Release Date
May 27, 1988
Runtime
88 minutes
Director
Stephen Chiodo
Writers
Stephen Chiodo, Charles Chiodo
Cast
See All
-
Suzanne Snyder
-
Michael S. Siegel
A 1980s satirical horror film, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, comes from the Chiodo Brothers; that takes place in a town being terrorized by alien “Klowns” that kill its residents by turning them into cotton candy and drinking their blood. When Mike Tobacco and Debbie Stone are enjoying a romantic evening at Lover’s Lane, they notice a strange object falling to earth, a peculiar circus tent. From that tent emerges “Klowns,” aliens with only one goal in mind – murder. Mike and his friends will band together to stop the menacing Killer Klowns before their town is wiped out and the “circus” stays forever.
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Any horror movie that has its own theme song is a guaranteed popcorn movie classic, and the band The Dickies can attest to the quality of Killer Klowns from Outer Space. True to its title, the film follows the alien invasion of a small town orchestrated by a circus full of monstrous clown-like creatures that weaponize a variety of carnival-themed gadgets. It’s up to an odd love triangle of kids to stop the carnage before the clowns can cocoon the entire town’s population in cotton candy for easy consumption.
The grotesque designs of the clowns themselves are the true star of the show here, sure to trigger coulrophobia in even the most cool-headed audiences. The film’s scrappy budget and late-80s sensibilities drown the entire thing in an eerie fever-dream tone that’s hard to find anywhere else, but the good fun of the creative kills and absurd circus creations is impossible to deny. Genuinely funny and surprisingly disturbing, Killer Klowns from Outer Space might not be the deepest horror movie, but it’s one of the few to have villains that literally wield popcorn as a weapon.
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Category: Entertainment