[
Judging a movie for how fun it is can be very subjective, and the same goes for singling out particularly great horror movies. With horror, different people find different things scary, a little like how comedies aren’t likely to work for everyone in the same way, owing to different senses of humor. That means there’s an extra level of subjectivity here.
Hell, maybe two extra levels. Lots of the movies below work as comedies as well as horror films, so there’s the subjectiveness of humor, the subjectiveness of horror, and the subjectiveness of what’s “fun” all adding up to make for a rather personal ranking. Still, the attempt is going to be made, regardless, to rank some of the most purely fun horror movies of all time (very different from singling out the “scariest,” though a few here definitely have some genuinely unnerving moments alongside all the broadly appealing entertainment).
10
‘Godzilla vs. Hedorah’ (1971)
There are plenty of fun Godzilla movies, but honestly not a ton in the long-running series that can be counted as full-on horror movies. The ones that are horror-focused tend to be a little more serious, so even if Godzilla (1954) and Shin Godzilla (2016) are incredibly compelling, labeling them as “fun” might not feel entirely appropriate. There is, however, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, which rides the line between horror and camp extremely well.
The antagonist, Hedorah, is intimidating because of how powerful he is, and for what he does at a few different points throughout, yet other times, he looks goofy.
It’s a creepy Godzilla film at times, and then at other points, it also feels like one of the silliest Godzilla movies. The antagonist, Hedorah, is intimidating because of how powerful he is, and for what he does at a few different points throughout, yet other times, he looks goofy, and he is basically pollution made into a monster, which is a fairly strange idea (then again, Godzilla was a giant monster that stood in for nuclear weapons and nuclear-related fears, so maybe not too wild, by the standards of this whole series).
9
‘Aliens’ (1986)
1979’s Alien was a pretty subdued horror movie, and a deliberately paced one, with just a few infamous moments of grisly on-screen violence that contrast with the whole less-is-more approach most of the rest of the film has. Aliens, therefore, was instrumental in keeping the series interesting and being a bit more than just a horror/sci-fi sort of thing, since Aliens has a good deal more action and excitement of an in-your-face variety.
That makes it a blast, which is added to because of how much blasting there is going on throughout (lots of shooting, lots of chaos). It’s not quite a mindless action movie, and there are certain sequences here intense enough to make Aliens something of a horror film, but it’s probably more of an action/thriller kind of thing, in the end.
8
‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (2011)
It would probably be more subversive if The Cabin in the Woods did play out like a straightforward “people go to a weird cabin in the woods and bad things happen” movie. That’s decidedly not just what it is, even if that’s how the movie starts. There is a very early twist that still feels like the sort of thing that shouldn’t be given away, even if the movie is more than 15 years old, and then further unexpected plot twists on top of that later on.
There are just lots of different ways that this functions as a horror movie, all the while also succeeding as a satirical look at the horror genre and trends within horror films more broadly. The Cabin in the Woods is sometimes scary, but the focus isn’t on full-on horror in the ways that most horror movies are, with the whole thing probably being better – and more striking – as a gleefully unpredictable dark comedy.
7
‘Little Shop of Horrors’ (1986)
Little Shop of Horrors is a great blend of genres, being a fairly mild sci-fi/horror movie that’s incredibly funny at times, and then all the while, it’s also a truly amazing musical. The plot involves an alien plant that craves human flesh, and it gets bigger at a rapid rate, demanding more blood and, eventually, whole dead bodies. That is silly, sure, but Little Shop of Horrors takes some things seriously.
The characters are going through stressful and relatable things, and there’s a love story here that’s also genuinely sweet. Further, on a technical front, those behind the special effects here took their job very seriously, since Little Shop of Horrors is hard to fault on that front. It’s extremely creative and cleverly done throughout, and the sort of truly (and singularly) great movie that aspires to feel like a fair few different sorts of films all at once, and inevitably nails each and every genre you can slot it into.
6
‘Gremlins’ (1984)
Likely the best Christmas horror movie of all time, Gremlins is… okay, sure, not much of a horror movie. It’s horror-heavy for a Christmas film, and for something that might kinda/sorta be aimed at younger audiences, which is part of why it’s funny, since it starts out very cute and syrupy all before exploding into chaos and violence. But it’s the kind of chaos and violence that’s only likely to frighten the youngest of viewers.
Still, Gremlins is about a bunch of monsters going on a rampage through a small town, so it can technically count itself as a horror movie, even with all the comedy that’s baked into it. It’s great, too, which is the important thing. Great and extremely entertaining, with very little time wasted throughout, and a surprisingly strong script that has a great many effective set-ups and pay-offs. It’s a controlled sort of chaos, and it’s timelessly breezy to watch, even all these decades later.
5
‘One Cut of the Dead’ (2017)
If you think you need a plot synopsis for One Cut of the Dead, you’re wrong. If you’ve seen it, you know what happens, and you know why it’s so wonderfully surprising. If you’ve not seen it, it’s the kind of thing you should rush out and watch as soon as possible, because it’s easy to have a movie like this ruined for you, kind of like The Sixth Sense and Psycho.
Well, the shake-up to the plot isn’t as devastating as the twists in those movies (and most other infamously twisty movies) might be, but it’s extremely clever, and recontextualizes the somewhat strange first half of the movie in an amazing way. One Cut of the Dead starts as one kind of comedy, and then switches over to another even funnier sort of comedy, all the while playing around with horror conventions/tropes in some super creative ways. It’s a blast, basically. That’s the main takeaway here.
4
‘Shaun of the Dead’ (2004)
Another zombie movie, though one that is a bit more of a “true” zombie movie than the sort of zombie movie that was One Cut of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead (oh hey, they’re both “of the Dead” movies) starts as a parody of zombie movies, and then gradually becomes a proper zombie movie. Or maybe it’s more of a comedic homage to the zombie sub-genre with a final act that’s willing to get a little more serious with some high-stakes drama and tense action.
Either way, Shaun of the Dead works extremely well. It’s an always entertaining movie, and the balance here, in terms of getting the comedic stuff to work alongside the more tense moments, is undeniably skilled. The same approach was done three years later for cop movies, with Edgar Wright directing Hot Fuzz, and then once more, six years after that, for body snatcher/sci-fi movies with the less well-loved (but overall underrated) The World’s End.
3
‘Army of Darkness’ (1992)
Like Gremlins, Army of Darkness is pretty light on genuine horror, and that is a factor in it being as much fun as it ultimately is. It’s the sequel to Evil Dead II, which was a horror/comedy film, and Evil Dead II was (obviously) a sequel to The Evil Dead, which was straightforward horror. Army of Darkness is broad slapstick, and more of a fantasy/action movie on top of being a comedy, since it sends Ash (from the first two movies) back in time.
He has to fight the usual foes, but in the Dark Ages, and he’s become a full-on quip-heavy action hero at this point, too. The whole trilogy is remarkably entertaining for the progression it makes from horror to farce, and Army of Darkness – though easily the least scary in the series – could well count itself as the most outright enjoyable of the bunch.
2
‘Jaws’ (1975)
While it’s not nearly as comedic as some of the other movies that have already been mentioned, Jaws does manage to be incredibly entertaining while feeling tense and frightening, since it turns into a bit of an adventure film in its second half. The first half or so is largely about establishing all the characters, the setting, and the threat posed to the town the film’s set in (big shark chomping people, basically), and then the second half is about three men setting out to sea to hunt that shark down.
Jaws is a full-on blockbuster, and one of the best of all time, so it does go broad with all the emotional beats it wants to hit, and balances everything tonally surprisingly well. It was the first outright masterpiece Steven Spielberg ever directed, and even with all the great movies he’s made in the 50+ years since Jaws came out, this one really does remain one of his absolute best.
1
‘An American Werewolf in London’ (1981)
Calling An American Werewolf in London the greatest werewolf movie of all time might sound like a bold claim, but it’s not too wild a thing to say, both because there aren’t a huge number of genuinely great werewolf movies, and because it’s so incredibly good. There might not be a comedy/horror movie that so effortlessly feels hilarious when it wants to be, and then lurches into full-on horror that’s genuinely affecting when it wants to be frightening.
That it can also be surprising when the title explains almost the whole plot (you’re introduced to two Americans early on, and so it’s not really shocking that one’s going to become a werewolf and end up in London) is even better. It’s got some incredible music, jaw-dropping special effects, and a chaotic energy that’s infectious, with it being a shocking, darkly funny, and always entertaining roller-coaster ride of a movie.
https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/gremlins.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop
https://collider.com/most-fun-horror-movies-all-time-ranked/
Jeremy Urquhart
Almontather Rassoul
