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In a genre where it's arguably easier to earn a bad review, horror movies face a different level of criticism, especially from respected critic Roger Ebert. A fan of the genre, Ebert appreciated good horror movies, saying, "They can exorcise our demons." However, Ebert was a vocal opponent of horror movies that inflicted violence and gore without reason, often writing about the reactions of fellow audience members and what it said about their relationship to the acts carried out onscreen. In his lengthy list "Ebert's Most Hated," many of those films include horror movies that earned higher than a one-star rating.
Many of Ebert's low-rated or worst horror picks like Hellraiser, Resident Evil, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Lake Placid have become cult classics and beloved among the genre's fanbase. Even spooky season picks like Hocus Pocus earned a one-star rating but are now staples in the Halloween streaming season. The worst horror movies according to Roger Ebert are a combination of remakes, sequels, and originals that lack creative originality, execution, and just plain purpose to deserve a rating higher than Ebert awarded, with one film getting no stars or even the dismal thumbs down.
18 'Halloween III: Season of the Witch' (1982)
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
Image Via Universal
For earning a spot on Ebert's most hated movie lists, Halloween III: Season of the Witch earned a 1.5-star review from Ebert; however, it still landed as one of the worst horror movies. The "low-rent thriller from the first frame" picks up right where the second movie ended as Dr. Dan Challis (Tom Atkins) and a young daughter or a murder victim, Ellie (Stacey Nelkin) uncover the murderous scheme of a mask maker who seeks to invoke a Celtic ritual to mass murder millions of children by convincing them to buy and wear a Halloween mask.
"There are a lot of problems with 'Halloween III,' but the most basic one is that I could never figure out what the villain wanted to accomplish if he got his way."
Halloween III continues the fall from the greatness of the original John Carpenter film, this time an even further departure, forgetting the movie monster that made it so iconic. Ebert decides the film is "assembled out of familiar parts from other, better movies" that include obligatory shots and scenes standard and expected with bad horror movies. The seemingly only silver lining of the third franchise installment for Ebert was Nelkin, "She has one of those rich voices that makes you wish she had more to say and in a better role."
Release Date October 22, 1982
Director Tommy Lee Wallace
Cast Tom Atkins , Stacey Nelkin , Dan O'Herlihy , Michael Currie , Ralph Strait , Jadeen Barbor
Runtime 98 minutes
17 'Constantine' (2005)
Directed by Francis Lawrence
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures
Ebert never shied away from outwardly disliking a movie audiences loved. Constantine earned a one-and-a-half-star review from the critic while also winding up on his most hated list. Keanu Reeves stars as the titular character, John Constantine, a demon hunter destined for hell who is trying to better his chances of getting into heaven by helping a policewoman investigate her sister's alleged suicide. The pair are sucked into the world of the supernatural and a war between heaven and hell. Constantine co-stars Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Peter Stormare, Djimon Hounsou, Shia LaBeouf, and Max Baker.
"You wonder what kind of an L.A. cop would allow herself to be experimentally drowned in a bathtub by a guy who lives over a bowling alley."
Unwilling to give the film a pass for its technical struggles like the depiction of hell he called a "post-nuclear Los Angeles created by animators with a hangover," Ebert was skeptical of the rough-around-the-edges premise based on the popular DC Comics character. His divisive, sarcastic review made it clear this R-rated horror movie was only a winner with the genre fans able to accept the strange logic of the smattering of fantastical elements produced onscreen.
Constantine
Release Date February 18, 2005
Runtime 121 Minutes
16 'Jeepers Creepers 2' (2003)
Directed by Victor Salva
Image via United Artists
A sequel that doesn't stand up to the scare factor of the original, Jeepers Creepers 2 effectively earned a one-star rating from Ebert. The movie takes place one day after the first film, as the titular creature terrorizes a school bus full of high-school athletes, feeding on the last day of its 23-day frenzy before returning to hibernation. It's a movie where, for Ebert, he expected not to be scared and spent more time evaluating the craftsmanship of the production instead.
"Victor Salva’s 'Jeepers Creepers 2' supplies us with a first-class creature, a fourth-rate story, and dialogue possibly created by feeding the screenplay into a pasta maker."
Jeepers Creepers 2 is a movie that "is futile to bring logic to," like why the winged creature is called Creeper or why the acclaimed Francis Ford Coppola invested money to produce it. For horror fans, it's love it for the camp or hate it for its questionable execution. It was no secret which side Ebert fell onto.
Jeepers Creepers 2
Release Date August 29, 2003
Director Victor Salva
Runtime 104 Minutes
15 'The Hills Have Eyes' (2006)
Directed by Alexandre Aja
Image via Fox Searchlight Pictures
A formulaic horror movie for all the wrong reasons, The Hills Have Eyes remake is unreachable to standard horror audiences, like Ebert, who seek a terrifying plot, not a geek-show. The movie depicts a family road trip that takes a terrible turn into a desert of cannibalistic, incestuous mutants. Ebert gave the remake one-and-a-half stars for its obnoxiously predictable do-the-opposite-of-logic.
"It is not faulty logic that derails “The Hills Have Eyes,” however, but faulty drama. The movie is a one-trick pony. We have the eaters and the eatees, and they will follow their destinies until some kind of desperate denouement, possibly followed by a final shot showing that It’s Not Really Over..."
Ebert compared The Hills Have Eyes with 2005's The Devil's Rejects, which followed similar narratives of desolate government-built towns with violent killers. He praised the success of The Devil's Rejects for its determination to entertain instead of nauseate, and give its villains motives and backstories. None of which this remake does, making it one of the worst horror movies and remakes.
The Hills Have Eyes
Release Date March 10, 2006
Director Alexandre Aja
14 'The Grudge' (2004)
Directed by Takashi Shimizu
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing
In director Takashi Shimizu's attempt to remake his acclaimed Japanese film into a full-fledged American version, Ebert "lost all patience." The movie stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as she battles a supernatural curse stemming from a malevolent home in Tokoyo that terrorizes anyone who comes in contact with it. The Grudge is a formulaic haunted house horror film that managed to secure a one-star rating from Ebert.
"The movie may have some subterranean level on which the story strands connect and make sense, but it eluded me. The fragmented time structure is a nuisance, not a style."
Its dependency on standard horror applications, like investigating eerie sounds that lead to jump scares revealing it's only a cat, didn't do much to elevate the film or indulge audiences in something they hadn't seen before. Adding to his disappointment, Ebert points out a missed opportunity by making the film entirely English-speaking instead of emphasizing dynamic cultural differences set against a horror movie. Despite being one of the worst horror movies according to Ebert, The Grudge became a franchise that keeps getting attention from horror fans.
The Grudge
Release Date October 22, 2004
Director Takashi Shimizu
Runtime 91 Minutes
13 'Thir13en Ghosts' (2001)
Directed by Steve Beck
Image via Warner Bros.
A film that earned a spot on Ebert's most hated movies list, Thir13en Ghosts was "literally painful" for him to watch. It's a remake of a classic horror film that follows the supernatural experiences of a family as they inherit their wealthy uncle's old house haunted by vengeful spirits. It stars Tony Shalhoub, Shannon Elizabeth, Embeth Davidtz, scream king Matthew Lillard, and F. Murray Abraham. In the small moments of praise, Ebert acknowledges the film's well-constructed set, special effects, costumes and makeup, and the film's overall art direction, earning the film a one-star rating.
"The physical look of the picture is splendid. The screenplay is dead on arrival. The noise level is torture."
For Ebert, the screenplay and post-production are where theThir13een Ghosts failed. The inescapable sound design was an attack on the ears while the fumbling dialogue and poor editing targeted weary eyes. Compared to some of Ebert's other worst-rated horror flicks, this remake lacks the violence and scare tactics of its counterparts, earning it a higher rating than most.
Thirteen Ghosts
Release Date October 26, 2001
Director Steve Beck
Runtime 91
12 'Phantoms' (1998)
Directed by Joe Chapelle
Image via Dimension Films
Crossing two genres worth of Ebert's worst movie selections, Phantoms is additionally a one-star sci-fi movie written by the source material's author, Dean R. Koontz. The story takes place in a Colorado resort town where a demonic presence devours its human victims and learns everything the person knows. A group of locals band together to eliminate the creatures and restore their home. Led by Ben Affleck and Rose McGowan, Phantoms co-stars Peter O'Toole, Liev Schreiber, Nicky Katt, and Joanna Going.
"Peter O’Toole is a professional and plays his character well. It takes years of training and practice to be able to utter lines like, 'It comes from the deep and secret realms of our Earth' without giggling."
Tapping into the horror of worm-like creatures slaughtering townsfolk believing they are the devil, Ebert's review called the movie "another one of those Gotcha! thillers" where the supporting characters are helpless, and the leads shoot relentlessly. His only explanation for why and how bad Phantoms is is because all the filmmakers did was "[grind] up other films and feeding them to this one."
Phantoms
Release Date January 23, 1998
Director Joe Chappelle
Runtime 96 Minutes
11 'The Guardian' (1990)
Directed by William Friedkin
The Guardian is what Ebert called "a frankly commercial exploitation film" from the same director that brought viewers the Oscar-winning The Exorcist. Earning only a one-star rating from Ebert, the movie is about a couple seeking help with their newborn who unknowingly hires a druid nanny who sacrifices babies to an evil tree.
"Of the many threats to modern man documented in horror films – the slashers, the haunters, the body snatchers – the most innocent would seem to be the druids. What, after all, can a druid really do to you...That’s what I would have said, anyway, until I saw 'The Guardian...'"
The roughly 92-minute runtime is packed with one horror cliche after another, lacking any sort of genre originality until the end where a chainsaw is used on its intended target, a tree, instead of maiming a human victim. Viewers, including Ebert, bought a ticket for the film's potential under William Friedkin's direction, endured for the decent visual effects, and left disappointed having witnessed one of the genre's worst features.
The Guardian
Release Date April 27, 1990
Runtime 92 minutes
10 'Friday the 13th Part 2' (1981)
Directed by Steve Miner
Image via Paramount Pictures
For Ebert, this dismal sequel felt personal as he screened it in his hometown theater on a Friday night surrounded by teens and college students. His half-star review details how the first two minutes of the experience made him nostalgic of his youth and the onscreen memories of "teenagers who fell in love, made out with each other, customized their cars, listened to rock and roll, and were rebels without causes." The short-lived sentimentality was crushed by the violent slasher deaths of a new set of terrorized camp counselors and the inevitable final girl in Friday the 13th Part 2.
"This movie is a cross between the Mad Slasher and Dead teenager genres; about two dozen movies a year feature a mad killer going berserk, and they're all about as bad as this one."
His interest in the sequel stopped as soon as the surviving heroine from the first film was killed within the first few minutes. While his fellow moviegoers were rather vocal and found enjoyment in the slasher flick, Ebert took issue with the deeper meaning movies like this unconsciously portrayed, "the primary function of teenagers is to be hacked to death." It was a sentiment he declared was applicable and could be interchanged with any of the franchise films, making Friday the 13th Part 2 one of the worst horror movies in Ebert's opinion.
Friday the 13th Part 2
Release Date May 1, 1981
Director Steve Miner
Cast Amy Steel , John Furey , Adrienne King , Stu Charno , Warrington Gillette , Steve Daskewisz , Walt Gorney
Runtime 87minutes
9 'Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter' (1984)
Directed by Joseph Zito
Image via Paramount Pictures
In a heated review session with the iconic Gene Siskel, Ebert tears this franchise installment to shreds, calling it "mindless bloody violence." Miraculously revived, the masked maniac Jason Voorhees escapes the morgue and returns to Crystal Lake to terrorize a group of teens renting a house. Making his disappointment with Paramount Pictures known, Ebert calls out that Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter would not be the final movie, given that Paramount had "taken the bucket to the cesspool four times" and knew the title was a marketing ploy.
"'Friday the 13th The Final Chapter' is 90 minutes of teenagers being strangled, stabbed, impaled, chopped up, and mutilated. That's all this movie is."
Ebert departed from Siskel in his opinion that the fourth Friday the 13th installment sent a bleak message to teenagers that the world is hopeless and will kill you no matter what your hopes, dreams, or aspirations may be. Siskel disagreed, telling Ebert he was sounding "a little soap boxy," arguing that the generation's youth wouldn't see the film as a worldview. The pair were in final agreement on a sickening realization that with this franchise, audiences seek out and are entertained by young women being stabbed over and over again.
Runtime 91 Minutes
Budget $2.2 Million
8 'Hellraiser' (1987)
Directed by Clive Barker
Image via New World Pictures
A hot take then and certainly one that still irritates fans of the franchise, Ebert awarded Hellraiser a half-star rating as one of the worst horror movies, in his opinion, of all time. With a premise seemingly fitting for a what-did-I-just-watch type of movie, the movie follows Frank (Sean Chapman) after he meets a violent end at the hands of supernatural creatures called Cenobites. When Frank's brother and wife, Julia (Clare Higgins), move into his former home, they unintentionally resurrect what's left of Frank. He convinces Julia to kill for him so he can consume the victim's flesh to revitalize his body and escape the underworld.
"Who goes to see movies like this? What do they get out of them? I like good horror movies because I enjoy being surprised (and sometimes even moved), but there are no surprises in 'Hellraiser,' only a dreary series of scenes that repeat each other. What fun is it watching the movie mark time until the characters discover the obvious?"
Calling it "a movie without wit, style or reason," Ebert chastised Stephen King for praising writer and director Clive Barker. He expressed deep disappointment when he realized it was a full-length feature film, saying it was a movie "you sit through with mounting dread." While Ebert couldn't wrap his mind around the appeal of Barker's body horror film, viewers and critics are staunch defenders of Hellraiser for its unique and imaginative entry into the genre that evolved into a full-fledged franchise.
Hellraiser
Release Date September 18, 1987
Director Clive Barker
Cast Ashley Laurence , Sean Chapman , Doug Bradley , Andrew Robinson , Claire Higgins , Nicholas Vince , Simon Bamford , Grace Kirby , Oliver Smith
Runtime 94 minutes
7 'The Hitcher' (1986)
Directed by Robert Harmon
Image via HBO Films
While it's a zero-star horror movie for Ebert, The Hitcher earned a positive consensus from critics and audiences. The movie stars C. Thomas Howell as a young driver named Jim Halsey who unknowingly picks up a serial killer hitchhiker John Ryder (Rutger Hauer). After Jim makes a harrowing escape, he enlists the help of a waitress, Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh), to hunt down John after he frames Jim for a string of murders. To Ebert, The Hitcher touts a showdown of good and evil, but with deeper inspection, it is anything but as it depicts an unhealthy bond.
"What is particularly sick about 'The Hitcher' is that the killer is not given a viewpoint, a grudge, or indeed even a motive."
Ebert spends a lot of time assessing the cyclical fashion of the film from its opening and closing sequences to the character arc and the questionable shared bond between the heroic antihero and the villain. In his divisive review, he calls The Hitcher "diseased and corrupt," saying "It prefers to disguise itself as a violent thriller, and on that level it is reprehensible." While Ebert hated the horror flick, it earned middle-of-the-road reviews from his critical counterparts who praised the menacing performance of Rutger Hauer.
Release Date February 21, 1986
Director Robert Harmon
Runtime 98 Minutes
6 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (2003)
Directed by Marcus Nispel
Image via New Line Cinema
A remake sticking to the formulaic principles of picking off victims one by one, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is "vile, ugly, and brutal" according to Ebert's zero-star review. The 2003 version follows a group of friends as they travel across the rural roads of Texas, happening upon a seemingly abandoned home. They soon become the target of a chainsaw-wielding deformed brute and his deranged family of killers. One of its many faults, as Ebert points out, is its lack of exposition and set-up, making it almost necessary to have seen or heard of the 1974 original to understand what is playing out onscreen.
"It is not a commentary on anything, except the marriage of slick technology with the materials of a geek show."
While formulaic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre blandly reintroduces the same horror tropes without originality or skillful execution, many of which Ebert dutifully examples in his review. It's a grim, gore-fueled 98 minutes that the acclaimed critic believed "was made by and for those with no attention span."
Release Date October 17, 2003
Runtime 98 Minutes
5 'Wolf Creek' (2005)
Directed by Greg McLean
Image via Roadshow Entertainment
A horror movie that almost drove Ebert from the theater, Wolf Creek is a violent, misogynistic display of torture and mutilation of its women characters. The slasher flick follows a trio of stranded tourists in the Australian outback who misplace their trust in a local man offering to fix their car. Their overnight outback stay turns into a nightmare when he kidnaps and brutalizes the group. The film's sadistic antagonist, Mick Taylor (John Jarratt), and his gruesome acts are based on those of real-life Australian serial killers.
"If anyone you know says this is the one they want to see, my advice is: Don't know that person no more."
In his review (and many others pertaining to horror movies), Ebert prefaces with his appreciation for horror films while acknowledging that when done skillfully, they are driven by purposeful violence and scare tactics. With Wolf Creek, Ebert writes, "There is a line and this movie crosses it...There is a role for violence in film, but what the hell is the purpose of this sadistic celebration of pain and cruelty?" Securing a zero-star review and a thumbs down, Wolf Creek is one of the worst horror movies according to Ebert.
Wolf Creek
Release Date September 16, 2005
Director Greg Mclean
Cast John Jarratt , Cassandra Magrath , Kestie Morassi , Nathan Phillips , Gordon Poole , Guy O'Donnell
Runtime 99
4 'Mother's Day' (1980)
Directed by Charles Kaufman
Image via United Film Distribution Company
This brutal horror movie is one Ebert couldn't understand why anyone wanted to see after enduring the runtime despite wanting to leave after the opening scene. A thumbs-down, zero-star movie, Mother's Day is about a demented old woman and her sons who live in the woods, kidnapping campers and brutalizing them for the mother's entertainment.
"So far there seems to be no end to the vogue for geek films. And there seems to be no limit to the inhuman imagery their makers are prepared to portray in them. "
Dissimilar to other horror films depicting the same nature of violence, the moviegoers at Ebert's screening of Mother's Day stayed quiet, with a few forced laughs. He observed that, like him, they remained largely uncomfortable and sickened by the unrated depravity paraded onscreen taped to "the flimsiest of stories."
Mother's Day
Release Date September 19, 1980
Cast Deborah Luce , Nancy Hendrickson , Tiana Pierce , Frederick Coffin , Michael McCleery , Beatrice Pons , Peter Fox , Robert Collins
Runtime 90 minutes
3 'Jaws: The Revenge' (1987)
Directed by Joseph Sargent
Image via Universal Pictures
Calling the film "a rip-off," Jaws: The Revenge is one of Ebert's most notoriously hated movies. The fourth installment in the iconic shark franchise features Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), the widow of Chief Brody, as she flees to the Bahamas to plead with her now-only son, marine biologist Michael (Lance Guest), to stay out of the water. Once there, she begins a relationship with the charming Hoagie (Michael Caine), but the shark who killed her son appears in the waters, causing a reign of terror. Jaws: The Revenge earned a zero-star rating from the acclaimed reviewer and an overall 2% rotten critic consensus.
"Since we see so much of the shark in the movie, you’d think they would have built some good ones."
Changing gears from the franchise direction of a creature feature where the characters are lulled into a false sense of security until the shark strikes, Jaws: The Revenge turns itself into a slasher flick, stalking the continuity character until there's no place to hide. With multiple unbelievable (and confusing) sequences and filming fumbles, Ebert doesn't mince words when describing it as "not simply a bad movie, but also a stupid and incompetent one."
Release Date July 17, 1987
Director Joseph Sargent
Runtime 89 minutes
2 'I Spit on Your Grave' (1978)
Directed by Meir Zarchai
Image via The Jerry Gross Organization
After a surprisingly filled showing on a Monday morning in Chicago, Ebert "walked out of the theater quickly, feeling unclean, ashamed and depressed," giving the disturbing film and its audience zero stars. The original I Spit on Your Grave features a young woman, Jennifer (Camille Keaton), who while on a remote solo getaway, is repeatedly brutalized by a group of local men. Weeks later, a somewhat recovered Jennifer returns to exact her violent revenge. The 2010 remake that spawned multiple sequels also earned a zero-star review from Ebert.
"There is no reason to see this movie except to be entertained by the sight of sadism and suffering."
I Spit on Your Grave is among Ebert's worst-rated horror movies of all time. The depiction of demented acts of violence toward women was done so without "a shred of artistic direction" or "simple craftsmanship," for which Ebert condemned the film for its lack of purpose for portrayal. For him, this movie is largely defined by the movie-goers who identified with and seemingly enjoyed the sadistic acts onscreen.
I Spit On Your Grave
Release Date November 22, 1979
Director Meir Zarchi
Cast Camille Keaton , Eron Tabor , Richard Pace , Anthony Nichols
Runtime 102 Minutes
1 'The Human Centipede' (2010)
Directed by Tom Six
Image via IFC Films
A movie Ebert acknowledges only caters to the most specific horror audiences who intentionally choose to direct their viewership toward such a graphic premise, The Human Centipede is a movie that Ebert refused to rate. In this body horror film, a mad scientist by the name of Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser) kidnaps and mutilates three tourists by conjoining them into a creature with a single digestive tract. In his no-star (not zero-star, mind you) review, Ebert insinuates that both the viewing experience and the onscreen experience in The Human Centipede are worse than death.
"No horror film I've seen inflicts more terrible things on its victims than 'The Human Centipede.' You would have to be very brave to choose this ordeal..."
The movie is a nauseating 92-minute ordeal that Ebert points out director, Tom Six carefully crafted, Ebert acknowledging Six's treatment of the "material with utter seriousness." It's worth noting Ebert wrote that he considered his review of the infamous movie a "public service announcement," but it notably did not end up on his most hated movies list.
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Release Date April 26, 2009
Director Tom Six
Cast Dieter Laser , Ashley C. Williams , Ashlynn Yennie , Akihiro Kitamura , Andreas Leupold , Peter Blankenstein
Runtime 88
Main Genre Horror
English (US) ·