Horror is never a genre for the risk-averse. Behind every Evil Dead or Rocky Horror Picture Show cult classic, there are dozens of movies attempting too hard to be “cult-worthy.” The result? Cliché scares, groan-inducing dialogue, or unnecessary sequels. Below are ten horror movies that set out to join the cult pantheon but wound up on the cutting-room floor of film history—counted down, naturally.
10. Malum (2023)
Anthony DiBlasi reworked his 2014 Movie, Last Shift, to increase the mythos and double the creepy cult vibe. The concept—rookie cop trapped in a haunted station house—is a doozy, but the glacial speed and stale jump scares prevent it from being memorable. The original is quicker and more frightening, so Malum is more of an afterthought rather than a legacy-opener.
9. The Gallows (2015)
By 2015, found-footage horror was on its deathbed. The Gallows attempted to restart the trend by introducing an avenging ghost terrorizing high school students. Alas, it’s tired cliches, one-dimensional characters, and inability to create suspense that dug its grave. Even the sequel wasn’t enough to save it, and not every ghost can become franchise material.
8. Valentine (2001)
Holiday slashers are guilty pleasures (My Bloody Valentine, anyone?), but this misfire of the early 2000s never found its footing. With the on-screen couple David Boreanaz and Denise Richards, it could have been a guilty pleasure. Instead, formulaic kills and a hackneyed slasher formula left it firmly in the very same kind of films that it was mimicking.
7. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
With Guillermo del Toro as producer, hopes were high. Unfortunately, this remake of the 1973 television film brought little more than predictable frights to the table. It had a good cast (Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce) and lacked the creativity and spark that could have turned it into a cult classic.
6. Diary of the Dead (2007)
George A. Romero is horror royalty, but legends can have off days, too. Filmed in found-footage style, Diary tried to marry zombie chaos with satire about the media. The concept was there, though the execution was clumsy and formulaic. Compared to Romero’s classics, it just wasn’t going to cut it—and never gained the cult following his earlier films have.
5. They/Them (2022)
A slasher in a queer conversion camp was poised to be something edgy and groundbreaking. Instead,theyy/they were a clumsy, nightmare-free failure. With an otherwise capable cast featuring Kevin Bacon, the film’s awkward pacing and unoriginality made it forgettable on first viewing. A lost chance that might have been historic.
4. Smiley (2012)
Horror on the internet ought to have been an innovation funhouse, but Smiley never made it there. Urban legend killer summoning from the chatrooms sounds creepy on paper, but the movie is imitative rather than innovative. With its mundane deployment and borrowed tropes, it frightened nobody into shutting down.
3. Halloween II (2009)
Rob Zombie’s dark remake of Halloween split fans in two, but his sequel just increased the gore. His follow-up, replete with psychic meandering and nightmare fantasies, alienated even fans of his original stint as Michael Myers. Rather than a daring cult classic, it became one of the series’ most polarizing entries.
2. The Human Centipede 3 (2015)
The first Human Centipede was gross enough to become infamous. By the third, writer-director Tom Six seemed to be going out of his way to outdo himself. The result was a gross-out stuffing picture that was more exhausting than it was outrageous. What might have been a campy guilty pleasure veered into almost unbearable to sit through.
1. One Missed Call (2008)
It’s never easy to reboot J-horror, but this attempt is infamous for doing everything wrong. One Missed Call stripped the original of its eerie restraint and replaced it with cheesy CGI, cheesy jump scares, and uncreative plotting. It’s now famously known as the way not to remake J-horror.
Cult classics don’t come easy—those are produced because of risk-taking, creative energy, and a dash of freakiness in filmmaking. These ten flicks attempted to punch their way into cult status but ended up being cautionary tales that horror geeks can smell desperation miles away.