Name a horror movie that you disliked but everyone else seemed to enjoy.

Sean T. Collins - Attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat

I know it’s blasphemy, but John Carpenter’s Halloween. It’s not so much that I disliked it as that I simply didn’t see what the fuss was about. It’s certainly possible that seeing it relatively late in my horror-watching career diluted its impact given its legion of imitators, but for whatever reason it just didn’t click with me–or scare me, which is the most important thing. (I mean, wearing the glasses on the outside of the sheet?)

Jeff O’Brien

HIGH TENSION - which got raves despite a stupid twist that made no sense and sunk the movie.

Don May, Jr. - Synapse

Well, while it certainly has a few detractors (but more rabid fans than not), I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how ANYONE on God’s green Earth can find anything scary, unsettling or entertaining with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.

Bill Cunningham - DisContent

Maybe not so much a particular movie as a genre. I am not a huge fan of zombie movies. After Romero’s original trilogy, or Fulci’s twisted exercises in excess, I’ve found that the genre has little new to say or do. People try to escape the infection, they get eaten, they come back and eat…

End of story.

It would be nice if someone came along and really deconstructed the genre and reassembled it. I have hopes for CELL, but also have my fears that Eli Roth will eliminate some of the more genre-bending elements of the Stephen King’s story for the sake of a cleaner narrative. That, in my mind, would be a mistake. If the zombie movie is to survive it has to be re-thought.

Rony

There is one movie that comes to mind and that is The Devils Rejects. Why people think this movie is good is beyond me. I thought it was a little bit better than the other flop, House of a 1000 Corpses, but it still stank pretty bad. I don’t get why this movie is good in anyone’s eyes. Oh, well. If it wasn’t for people liking crappy movies, what would all the crappy writers/director do with themselves.

Dave - Rue Morgue’s The Abbatoir

Around Rue Morgue there’s a lot of love for Haute Tension, but I think the dumb-ass, logic-raping ending ruins the entire film. Sure, there’s a lot of good, gory stuff in there, but that’s no excuse to treat your audience like a bunch of morons with a cheesy it-was-all-in-your-mind ending.

Stacie - Final Girl

Freddy vs Jason. Most everyone I know really liked it, but man…I hated it. I thought it was mindless, which isn’t exactly shocking, I know, but more than that it felt like a really MEAN film. The premise was ok- by that, I mean I don’t know a more logical way to get Freddy and Jason to fight, anyway- and it had a moment or two that were ok. Is it because it was the last film I watched in my mega-Friday the 13th marathon? Is it because I don’t pop boners over questions like “Who would win- Jason or ASH?” and so the idea simply doesn’t appeal to me? I have no idea. I think I’m in the minority on that film, however, and it’s so lonely here.

T. Van - Tolerated Vandalism

The one horror movie that I disliked is The Exorcist. I’m probably going to get thrown out of the Horror Roundtable for admitting this. I had heard that it was the scariest film ever made but I didn’t see it until I was 18. It was completely uninteresting and not frightening at all.

JA - My New Plaid Pants

Can I say Saw? I know there are loads of other people who thought it sucked, but the thing made loads of money and has turned into a seemingly unstoppable sequel-machine and it has its defenders out there and I just thought it was the biggest heap of garbage and want to take the opportunity once more to say so. Saw is garbage. Thank you.

David Z. - Tomb It May Concern

I’m still befuddled by any positive reaction to Masters Of Horror: Jenifer directed by Dario Argento. I’d rather watch Phantom Of The Opera!!

Casey - Cinema Fromage

While I didn’t necessarily dislike the movie, I still fail to see what makes the US remake of The Ring so scary to everyone. Time and again I hear ‘wow! That was the scariest movie I’ve seen in ages!’ While it did have some creepiness, I don’t think I managed to even flinch once throughout the entire flick. But, maybe I’m jaded.

Kimberly - Cinebeats

The Descent - I was really excited to see it because I thought a horror movie featuring an all-female cast would probably be really interesting and the reviews were really positive. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I thought the movie dragged and not in a good way. When the cave creatures finally showed up I didn’t find them all that scary. But what I really hated about the movie was the the whole stupid Sarah vs. Juno thing. I couldn’t sympathize with Sarah at all and when she killed Juno (the only interesting person in The Descent), I just thought it was ridiculously handled. I could go on and on about why I don’t like this film, but I’ll end this by simply saying that The Descent is terribly overrated.

Louis - Damaged 2.0

THE DESCENT. I know this is going to ruffle a few feathers, but to me, because it was a film about women, who weren’t of the dumb “scream queen” variety, it was like saying you’re going to vote for Obama: it’s the politically correct thing to do. The movie is boring for the most part, with creatures that are pretty needless–you’ve seen this shit before, but slap some sort of political brand on it and all of a sudden it’s the second coming. Give me THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2 anyday of the week–at least that flick has the guts to know exactly what it is.

Warren - 150 Days of Sodom

Funny, I was just writing about this. Great question, there are so many. Most recently Pan’s Labyrinth and 28 Weeks Later. Before that… the Dawn of the Dead remake and the Texas Chainsaw remake, though I am not completely alone on those.

I did not like 28 Days Later either. Again, I found that a few people would agree with me on that one. When House of 1000 Corpses dropped and everyone loved it I was really scratching my head, but as time passed quite a few people popped out of the woodwork to express their dislike for that film.

Not too crazy about Haute Tension/High Tension. Good moments, but a lousy ending.

I absolutely hate the Toolbox Murders remake by Tobe Hooper.

I was really unimpressed by Wolf Creek despite all its accolades. Looking back at my blog I’m finding more examples. Hmmm, the Machinist and Jim Van Bebber’s The Manson Family, both of those are well liked, but not be me. Good directors, but oh well.

As for the classics, I seem to like most of them, so no controversial opinions there. There are some that I have grown to dislike due to over exposure, but those were probably films that I enjoyed at some time in my life.

Please let next weeks question be “Name a horror movie that you enjoyed but everyone else seemed to dislike.”

We’ll see, Warren. We’ll see. Thanks to all the participants of this week’s Horror Roundtable for putting their necks on the line. If you have a movie you’d like to add to the list, or you disagree with one of this week’s choices, let us know in the comments below. Fight!

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