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We all know someone who can't "do horror." Even when we know that movies are all made up works of fiction and that nothing on the screen is real, it doesn't stop fully grown adults from being scared like children at a really good horror movie. Thankfully, not every horror movie is designed to elicit scares. There's actually some really amazing "horror" movies that aren't so scary at all.
Whether it's close to Halloween and you're jonesing for laughs, or it's just a dark and spooky night and you're in the mood for something different, there are hundreds, if not thousands of amazing "horror" movies that de-emphasize scares in favor of laughs, cheers, and sometimes, even tears. Horror-comedies, horror-romances, kung fu horror (yes really), there's more to the genre than masks and chainsaws.
For scaredy cats who can't stand horror, here are the 32 greatest horror movies that aren't so scary at all, and more than worth watching.
32. Army of Darkness (1992)
While all the movies in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy qualify as not-so-scary horror movies, the 1992 installment Army of Darkness stands tall and stands alone as a fine sequel that makes even scaredy cats say, "Hell yeah!" In this direct sequel to Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead II (1987), Bruce Campbell returns as wise-cracking Ash Williams who is flung back in time to the Dark Ages and is challenged to fight an army of the dead before he can return home. (Good thing he has his boomstick.) Army of Darkness is a dramatic left turn from its predecessors, trading in spooky frights for fist-pumping action and killer one-liners. Remember: Shop smart, shop S-Mart.
31. Ghostbusters (1984)
You can already hear the song in your head, can you? Conceived by Dan Aykroyd and directed by Ivan Reitman, Ghostbusters is a landmark 1980s comedy that combines horror and action in one slimy package. You know the story already: Three disgraced academics (played by Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis) and one Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) team up and start a business of catching spooks and specters in New York City - just in time for them to stand against the Sumerian (not Babylonian) deity Gozer. A revolutionary genre-bender that launched an enduring franchise, the original '84 Ghostbusters delights as much as it frights.
30. Encounters of the Spooky Kind (1980)
Ever watch a horror movie and think, "What if everyone knew kung fu?" In 1980, master director Sammo Hung unleashed Encounters of the Spooky Kind, a landmark release that kicked off a brief boom of action-oriented horror-comedies in Hong Kong. Hung plays a poor rickshaw driver who is marked for death by his unfaithful wife and rich client, who've recruited a sorcerer to assassinate him. This leaves Hung fighting for his life in an abandoned temple, trading blows with vampires from Chinese folklore called jiangshi. While the movie's jiangshi monsters are surely frightening, it's hard to scream when you're laughing and cheering so much from the movie's dazzling martial arts mastery.
29. The Dead Don't Die (2019)
In this mumblecore zombie comedy, an array of A-listers like Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, and so many more gather as the eccentric inhabitants of Centerville, USA. This small American town becomes our window into a worldwide zombie apocalypse, one caused by ruthless corporations engaging in polar fracking. Lethargic but never dull, The Dead Don't Die is a quietly angry picture, a political movie wrapped in the guise of a gooey zombie movie. There's more brains in its head than its maws, and The Dead Don't Die will have you thinking more than screaming.
28. The Monster Squad (1987)
Wolfman's got nards! In this delightful homage to the classic Universal Monsters, a group of kids come together to combat an unholy alliance of monsters led by Count Dracula. An underrated 1980s gem, The Monster Squad bombed at the box office but has gone on to be a beloved cult classic for its unique mixture of Amblin-style whimsy and affectionate nostalgia for horror movies of yore. Amid the surging popularity of slashers like Freddy and Jason, The Monster Squad put the limelight back on the OG monsters who built Hollywood.
27. Spontaneous (2020)
Perfectly if also awkwardly released during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Spontaneous is an explosive and hilarious coming-of-age romantic comedy all about living every moment like it's your last… Because it just might be. Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer star in Spontaneous as Mara and Dylan, two lovestruck teenagers whose high school goes into quarantine amid a bizarre pandemic where victims die from spontaneous combustion. A delirious mix of teenage romance and splatter B-horror, Spontaneous is proof you've got to live it up before you blow up.
26. What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
It's the movie that launched one of TV's most beloved favorites of the streaming era. In 2014, Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi collaborated as writers and directors of What We Do in the Shadows, a delicious mockumentary about centuries-old vampires who room together in modern day Wellington, New Zealand. Much of the movie's antics stem from the vampires trying their best to navigate the 21st century, to mixed results. (One incredible bit: For a costume party, Waititi's character dresses up as Marvel's Blade, which his vampire roommates deem in poor taste.) The success of the 2014 movie inspired the hit spin-off TV show of the same name on FX, with the cameras now following a different cast of vampires in Staten Island.
25. Jennifer's Body (2009)
In this feminist cult classic horror-comedy, Megan Fox stars as a drop-dead beautiful high school student who is secretly on a killing spree to satisfy the bloodthirsty demon that possesses her. Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama, Jennifer's Body devilishly toys with expectations of mainstream horror, a genre that frequently occupies itself with women's figures. Released at the height of Fox's sex symbol status via the Transformers franchise, Jennifer's Body is a knowing and clever movie that failed to excite critics during its release in 2009. However, the #MeToo era has seen the movie enjoy positive reassessment, with its story about a vengeful woman unleashing hell on the men who used her body as a vessel for their gain.
24. Ready or Not (2019)
Wedding bliss is anything but blissful in this genre-bending riot from 2019. Co-directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the movie follows a beautiful young bride, Grace (Samara Weaving in a breakout performance) who is violently hunted by the groom's uber-wealthy family as part of a secret Satanic ritual. Betrayed by her betrothed, she works to fight back and survive one hellish wedding night. Essentially Terence Fisher's The Devil Rides Out meets Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royale, Ready or Not is a truly diabolical action-thriller with as many laughs as it has pulse-pounding scares. It will make anyone say "I Do" like it's their last night alive.
23. Tremors (1990)
In this lively homage to classic Hollywood creature features, Kevin Bacon stars as a Nevada handyman trying to outrun ancient worm-like monsters who dwell in the desert sands. A masterful balance of horror and humor, Tremors quakes with pure entertainment value that takes its schlocky premise surprisingly seriously. (Mostly.) Screenwriters S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock were inspired while working for the U.S. Navy making safety videos in the desert, and wondering what would happen if a monster rose from the ground. The movie's grounded factor comes from the fact that the writers worked with National Geographic documentarian Ron Underwood to design the creature, with Underwood eventually helming production as director.
22. Warm Bodies (2013)
A zombie gets a shot at love in this early 2010s gem from director Jonathan Levine. Nicholas Hoult stars as a zombie, known as "R," who has just enough brain power to think for himself and fall in love with a human survivor, Julie (Teresa Palmer). As R and Julie become an unlikely pair, they race to inform Julie's father and military colonel (John Malkovich) that not all zombies are so far gone from being saved. With hard-to-ignore parallels to Romeo & Juliet and playful riffs of rom-com conventions, Warm Bodies shows signs of life in a decaying old genre.
21. Detention (2011)
It's a teen slasher, a black comedy, a time travel epic all wrapped up in one madcap package. From music video director Joseph Kahn, Detention follows a group of misfit high schoolers whose principal believes one of them is a serial killer preying on the student body. On the night of prom, the students are stuck in detention when they find out their stuffed bear mascot is a time machine they must use to stop the apocalypse. Yeah, there is a lot going on in Detention, but Kahn's chaotic filmmaking gives the movie a passing grade. Surely, a movie with Backstreet Boys needle drops can't be that scary.
20. Crimson Peak (2015)
A gothic romance that was mistakenly advertised as a hair-raising horror film, Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak deserves more than it got in its short life in theaters. Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, and Jessica Chastain star in this haunting drama set in Victorian England, in which an aspiring writer moves into a remote mansion with her sister and her husband and investigates the truth behind the spirits that dwell inside. Crimson Peak is spooky, sure, but its soul-stirring atmosphere is inviting and not at all hostile. It's a movie especially suited to chill out on dark and stormy nights.
19. ParaNorman (2012)
Shortly after the success of Coraline - another choice spooky movie for scaredy cats - studio Laika released ParaNorman, from directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler. An eye-pleasing stop-motion feature (notably the first to use a 3D printer to create the character models), ParaNorman tells of a 11-year-old boy Norman (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee) who can communicate with ghosts and must stop a witch's curse that plagues his Massachusetts hometown. ParaNorman is an all-ages delight that imagines the challenges of growing up through a haunted house filter.
18. Army of the Dead (2021)
Zack Snyder is no stranger to horror. In 2004, the director helmed his remake of George Romero's socially-conscious classic Dawn of the Dead. But in 2021, after the dust settled from his time in the DC Universe, Snyder fleshed out his own original zombie universe with the rousing action heist movie Army of the Dead for Netflix. Dave Bautista leads the movie as a Las Vegas mercenary who is hired to retrieve $200 million on behalf of a casino owner after the City of Sin is quarantined by a zombie outbreak. Through Snyder's lavish direction, Army of the Dead cashes out as a zombie horror to instead go all-in as a movie with guns blazing. Think Resident Evil meets The Expendables, with a healthy dash of Ocean's Eleven.
17. The Craft (1996)
Preluding hit TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed by just a few years, 1996's The Craft is a hellraiser of a good time that some critics call a rite of passage for all young women. At an elite parochial school, four teen outcasts practice witchcraft to level their school's social playing field, but they soon learn that playing with fire means you get burned. While The Craft didn't spellbind critics during its theatrical release, the movie enjoys positive reassessment as a freshly original teen movie and a progressive-leaning cult classic. Truly, dark magic has never looked so good.
16. Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Before AMC adapted Anne Rice's classic novel for television, director Neil Jordan teamed with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and a very young Kirsten Dunst for a handsome imagining for the big screen. Based on Rice's novel, the movie follows Louis de Pointe du Lac (Pitt), a strange man who tells his traumatic life story as a vampire to a San Francisco reporter (Christian Slater). A timeless goth classic, Interview with the Vampire avoids scares for sex appeal, with abundant insinuated homoeroticism between Pitt's Louis and Cruise's sinister Lestat.
15. Horns (2013)
Fresh from his decades-long run in the Harry Potter series, Daniel Radcliffe goes to the dark side in this underrated 2013 black comedy horror Horns. Based on Joe Hill's 2010 novel, the movie follows a young man (Radcliffe) who is falsely accused of murdering his girlfriend. He uses his newfound supernatural powers - which stem from psychic horns that protrude from his head - to root out the real killer. Arriving at a time when Radcliffe was still shaking off his Harry Potter image, Horns casts a spell to make you recognize the man is more than a boy wizard.
14. Green Room (2015)
In this white-knuckle dark thriller from Jeremy Saulnier, an underground punk rock band fight for their lives after they witness a murder at a rural neo-Nazi bar. One of the last movies released during star Anton Yelchin's lifetime (before his death in 2016), Green Room weaponizes horror movie tropes - rural settings, hostile primitives, ample death and gore - and fashions them into something totally unique. Just because Green Room isn't "scary" doesn't mean it isn't harrowing.
13. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)
There's no such thing as a Hollywood ending - but you can maybe sing your way to the end of the world. Originating from Vine creator Ryan McHenry's 2011 short Zombie Musical, 2017's Anna and the Apocalypse follows a high school girl (played by Ella Hunt) who is so ready to leave her sleepy Scottish town when the zombie apocalypse disrupts her exit plans. With a catchy musical soundtrack and a lively Christmas setting that set it apart from all your other seasonal staples, Anna and the Apocalypse brings holiday cheer to everyone's doomsday fears.
12. Thirst (2009)
Park Chan-wook is a sensual filmmaker whose work spans all different genres. At the height of Twilight's worldwide popularity in the late 2000s, the South Korean auteur delivered his counterprogramming masterpiece Thirst, an erotic vampire thriller in which a Catholic priest becomes a vampire and falls for his childhood best friend's wife. A forbidden romance that digs its teeth into new places in the genre's untainted flesh, Thirst makes the implicit eroticism of vampires more than explicit.
11. Little Evil (2017)
Imagine if the horror classic The Omen was actually hilarious. That's the basic conceit behind the horror comedy Little Evil, from writer/director Eli Craig and released by Netflix. Parks & Recreation's Adam Scott stars as a man who learns his mischievous new stepson is actually the Antichrist and works hard to stop him from carrying out his evil obligations. Suitable for anyone who may find The Omen too frightening, Little Evil brings a sense of chipper humor to a wildly dark story.
10. Relic (2020)
An overlooked psychological horror from 2020, Natalie Erika James' Relic plays out all our fears about dementia and the deep pain it inflicts on everyone, not only the victim. In Relic, two generations of women - played by Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote - tend to elderly Edna (Robyn Nevyn), where they find a malignant black mold growing both on her body and in her house. An elaborate metaphor for generational diseases, Relic is moving more than it is malicious, a must-see for anyone who knows what it's like to lose someone even when they're still alive.
9. Shadow in the Cloud (2020)
You've seen Gremlins. Now see Shadow in the Cloud. Roseanne Liang's fist-pumping horror thriller brings audiences into the darkened skies of World War II, following a female RAF Pilot Officer named Maude Garrett (Chloë Grace Moretz) who boards an American B–17 bomber for a top-secret mission to deliver sensitive cargo. While the truth of Maude's mission is eventually revealed, most of the movie is a pulse-pounder where there's something far more evil than enemy fire waiting above. A pulpy action feast with smart social commentary inside its bulletproof casing, Shadow in the Cloud soars high for anyone looking for thrills and chills.
8. Happy Death Day (2017) and Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
Imagine living your worst birthday over, and over, and over, and over… Welcome to 2017's Happy Death Day and its 2019 sequel Happy Death Day 2U. A time loop slasher thriller that combines Halloween with Groundhog Day, the Happy Death Day duology follows a college sorority girl named Tree (Jessica Rothe), who is murdered on her birthday yet wakes up that same morning, doomed to live the day over again. Tree races against time to unmask her killer as a means to end the time loop.
7. Versus (2000)
Deep in the forest of the dead, escaped prisoners and yakuza gangsters team up to survive. In Ryuhei Kitamura's midnight banger Versus, two runaway convicts - one played by action star Tak Sakaguchi - reluctantly team up with several deadly yakuza hitmen to escape a haunted forest that is overrun with zombies. Produced on a miniscule budget, Versus combines samurai cinema and martial arts mayhem with zombie horror to deliver a rare, one-of-a-kind treat that catapulted Kitamura's career in his native Japan.
6. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
When two generational slasher icons meet, all hell breaks loose. In Ronny Yu's non-canon sequel to both the Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th franchises, Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund) manipulates his return by seeking to control the machete-wielding Jason Voorhees (played by stuntman Ken Kerzinger). Inevitably the two monsters face off in a cinematic smackdown, with a new group of helpless teenagers caught in the crossfire. While Freddy vs. Jason dwells in the same darkness its monsters come from, it's hard to be scared when Freddy and Jason duke it out to a headbanging nu-metal soundtrack.
5. Zombieland (2009) and Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
Just before The Walking Dead became a primetime hit, Ruben Fleischer's star-studded Zombieland made surviving the undead look like a hell of a good time. Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin team up as living survivors in the zombie apocalypse who roam the country on a mission to find safe haven. 10 years later, the gang reunited for Zombieland: Double Tap, which sees them all on another road trip while dodging more evolved zombies. There are a lot of zombie comedies out there - one might say a horde of them - but you'll be hard-pressed to find ones better.
4. Shaun of the Dead (2003)
What is there to do but wait out zombies to "blow over" with a pint at your favorite pub? Edgar Wright's era-defining cult classic smashes up zombie horror with the get-her-back romantic comedy to create something that still feels so fresh after all these years. Simon Pegg stars as Shaun, an appliance store employee who is dumped by his girlfriend on the eve of a zombie outbreak. When the dead walk, Shaun teams with his best pal Ed (Nick Frost) to rescue not just his girlfriend, but his mum and her new boyfriend to survive the nightmare. Shaun of the Dead wasn't the first comedy-horror, but it's easily one of the greatest.
3. The Vast of Night (2019)
The Twilight Zone meets War of the Worlds in this delectable and engrossing micro-budget feature that drew modest buzz during widespread quarantine in 2020. Set in 1950s New Mexico, a radio deejay (Jake Horowitz) and a switchboard operator (Sierra McCormick) come across a strange audio frequency that may or may not be of alien origin. Director Andrew Patterson grounds his pulp retro sci-fi in a deeply authentic vision of bygone Americana, making The Vast of Night feel wholly original and mean far more than its memorable surface aesthetics.
2. The Invitation (2015)
Ever had to endure going to a party you never wanted to attend in the first place? That’s the idea that underscores this lean and mean horror-thriller from director Karyn Kusama, about a man (Logan-Marshall Green) still mourning his son's passing when he attends a party thrown by his ex-wife (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (played by Michiel Huisman). Meanwhile, a strange guest (John Carrol Lynch) has ulterior motives that, you might say, kills the vibe. Set over the course of one fateful night, The Invitation reveals how even those closest to us can drag us down. Now that's scary.
1. Let the Right One In (2008)
There are many vampire movies that do more than sic Dracula on beautiful victims. In 2004, Swedish director Tomas Alfredson unleashed his new millennium classic Let the Right One In, an adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's 2004 novel. While the movie has some atmospheric horror to honor Lindqvist's book, Alfredson’s movie is more focused on being a coming-of-age romance between two preteens in 1980s Stockholm. Emotional and lyrical, Let the Right One In is both menacing and tender in its portrait of the lengths we go in the name of love. For an American spin, an English-language remake titled Let Me In was directed by The Batman's Matt Reeves, with Chloë Grace Moretz and Kodi Smit-McPhee in the lead roles. Lindqvist gave his enthusiastic endorsement for both movies, believing that two "excellent versions" of his novel feels "unreal."
