10 ‘Rotten’ Blumhouse Horror Movies That Are Actually Great

Blumhouse has become a staple in the horror movie genre, creating classics for movie audiences on a regular basis. Fan-favorite films like Get Out, M3gan, Hush, The Invisible Man, and even a recent reboot of Speak No Evil are all massive critical successes for the company. But with every future Blumhouse horror hit comes a few misses.

The ‘misses’ are not bad films, per se, but simply didn’t get the critical attention they deserved. There’s always going to be a few big swings that don’t end up hitting with fans, but even some of the less-positively reviewed films can still make an impact. Even when Rotten Tomatoes declares a film ‘rotten,’ fans often still show support for these guilty pleasures.

10 The Hunt Proclaims It’s the Most Controversial Movie of 2020

The Hunt is a mix of other genre pieces like The Hunger Games and The Purge, as well as political satires. It’s all wrapped up as a high-concept horror thriller starring huge names. The Hunt faced controversy and mixed reviews due to its political messaging being heavy-handed and divisive. The marketing for the film seemed to revel in the news, referring to itself as, “the most talked about movie of the year is one that no one’s actually seen.”

However, the film still succeeds in delivering sharp, dark humor and intense action. Betty Gilpin’s standout performance as the enigmatic and resourceful Crystal gives the film its edge, anchoring the chaotic narrative with her dry wit and brutal efficiency. While the social commentary may not land for everyone, the film’s fast pace, clever twists, and satirical approach to modern political polarization make it an entertaining and thought-provoking watch for fans of dark, subversive horror.

9 Ma Knows How Silly Its Premise Is

Ma would most likely be forgotten in time if it weren’t for its excellent marketing campaign and a legendary silly, threatening, endearing performance from Academy Award winner Octavia Spencer. She plays Sue Ann, a woman that befriends a group of local rowdy teenagers and lets them party in her basement. Things go surprisingly well at first until Sue, who asks to be called the titular Ma, begins to become more and more attached to the teens, elevating to dangerous and stalker-like levels. The creators of Ma and the fans are in agreement that this film is a satirical horror b-movie masterpiece, perfect for watch parties with friends.

The content of the movie and the kills are all tried and true horror tropes that any audience member can see coming from a mile away, and yet because of Octavia Spencer and the outlandish story, the scares all land. Fans are fully aware of how wild this premise is, but its simplistic style paired with a story that isn’t too far-fetched makes this film more accessible. Ma is fondly remembered as a silly horror movie the whole friend group can enjoy. And perhaps Melissa McCarthy’s joked-about sequel starring herself and Spencer could delight audiences in the future.

8 The Purge: Election Year Makes Politics Even Scarier

The Purge: Election Year expands upon the interesting world of the Purge series and delves into the root of the issues. Set in a dystopian world where murder, and all other crimes are legal for twenty-four hours, Frank Grillo returns as a bodyguard to the presidential candidate trying to stop the Purge. Of course, the antagonists who love power and murder try to hunt them down throughout the night. This leads to some excellent performances and even more excellent scares.

While The Purge: Election Year received mixed reviews, with some critics finding its social commentary heavy-handed and its violence gratuitous, it still delivers an engaging narrative. Its exploration of political corruption and class inequality resonates, especially in light of modern social issues. The film successfully expands the franchise’s themes of societal breakdown and class warfare, with suspenseful action sequences and well-paced tension. Despite its criticisms, the movie offers a gripping mix of horror and political allegory that makes it a standout entry in the series.

7 The Belko Experiment Is a Borderline Workplace Horror-Comedy

The Belko Experiment is a recent addition to the subgenre that involves a group of people locked in a life-or-death horror scenario. American workers are trapped in an office. An unknown voice over the intercom orders workers to kill each other, threatening that more will die if they do not comply. As the situation escalates, alliances form and crumble, and chaos ensues as the employees are pushed to their moral and psychological limits.

Directed by Greg McLean and written by James Gunn, the film explores how far people will go when trapped in a ruthless fight for survival. The creative force behind the film excellently established the world. The themes and metaphors are not lost on audiences, and give the film a grand sense of story with a concept that horror fans know all too well. The cliché aspects of the film are easy to get past, and they complement the new ideas. It provides a great story about a twisted game of murder. The Belko Experiment is a high concept film that was met low critical ratings, but it is still remembered fondly today.

6 The Purge Started a Franchise That Perfectly Blended Action and Horror

At the opposite end of the Purge franchise sits an oddly simplistic version of the concept. In The Purge, a family battles scary home invaders on a night where murder is legal. There are no wide-open city escape plans or elaborate murderous villains hunting down average citizens. It’s a simple home invasion plot taking place in this alternative world. Ethan Hawke and Lena Heady lead a story that jumps between 2010s jump-scare horror and familial drama that’s entertaining to watch. Even though this film didn’t make a critical splash, it obviously hit with fans as this film spawned four sequels and a television series.

The film is not without its faults. Even with a uniquely creepy atmosphere, it’s hard to escape some of the overplayed tropes the film keeps. However, the easy-to-follow premise lends itself to a fun hour and a half feature, which explains how it could inspire a franchise that expanded on that idea in later additions. The Purge kickstarted a modern horror franchise, even with a rocky start.

5 The Forever Purge Exceeds Fan Expectations

Being the fifth entry of a franchise is always a difficult task. Not only does it have to live up to the expectations of the originals, but it also has to prove that this addition is a valid next chapter of the story. However, the Purge franchise lends itself to new and fresh storytelling that can evolve without the strings of the original. This is proven in The Forever Purge, as a new, excellent cast of characters battle horrific rioters and murderers as they make their way through and out of Texas into Mexico. And even though the Purge isn’t a fresh concept, the reviews from fans say that this is the best film in the series.

Led by Enoch Huerta, Ana de la Reguera, and Josh Lucas, The Forever Purge made a huge impact in theaters in 2021. The Purge series has never been known to be the scariest horror franchise, but this film manages to relate real world fears with its jump scares and classic terrifying masks. The development of social themes throughout these films finally feels balanced with the horror. While not a criticism, past films in the franchise would lean more into one area over the other. While The Forever Purge might be the final installment in the series, fans can be satisfied that the pentalogy of legal-murder-night movies goes out on a high note.

4 Michael Myers Goes on a Rampage in Halloween Kills

The 2018 Halloween reboot, the third Michael Myers film to be simply called Halloween, exceeded expectations and revitalized the character and the franchise. And fans couldn’t be more excited to see The Shape return in what was announced to be two sequels. While Halloween Ends bombed financially and critically, Halloween Kills gives audiences a new kind of Michael Myers story. It’s one that is extremely simple, like earlier installments in the franchise. Michael Myers goes on a bloody killing spree.

There are a few bumps with this sequel as its main character is confined to a hospital bed for the majority of the film and characters endlessly chant, “Evil dies tonight!” However, the only time audience members feel conflicted is during the out-of-nowhere ending, which brings Michael Myers back to life with the power of ‘evil’. But even those issues can’t compete with the excellent scares and kills this classic slasher delivers. Namely, the impressive opening sequence impressed fans.

3 Imaginary Begins to Unpack a Greater Story Audiences Enjoy

Imaginary is a psychological horror film released in 2024. It centers on a young woman who returns to her childhood home only to be haunted by a malevolent imaginary friend she left behind as a child. It’s a great, simplistic idea perfect for a Blumhouse horror movie. The film leans heavily on atmospheric tension and imaginative horror, drawing the audience into a world where reality and imagination blur and explode in frightening ways perfect for cinema. However, that excludes the critics’ reception of the film.

While Imaginary received generally poor reviews, citing uneven pacing and the reliance on familiar horror tropes, it still stands out as a unique horror flick in a year full of them. The performances, especially from the leads, effectively convey the mounting dread, and the film’s eerie atmosphere keeps viewers on edge. Moreover, its exploration of childhood trauma and its lingering effects offers emotional depth that resonates beyond the horror genre. Despite its flaws, Imaginary succeeds in creating a chilling and thought-provoking experience, appealing to most horror fans who appreciate the imaginative psychological scares.

2 Truth or Dare Is a Classic Guilty Pleasure

The best rotten film there can be is a guilty pleasure. Truth or Dare cemented itself as the next horror guilty pleasure the second it hit theaters. The movie follows a group of college friends who, during a night of partying in a haunted house, decide to play the titular game. And of course, because of horror movie logic, it becomes a life or death gamble that ends up being spread across the world in one of the most illogical movie character decisions of all time.

The film succeeds as a fun, campy horror experience rather than a truly terrifying one. Its kills are creative, and the tension escalates quickly, keeping the energy high throughout. While its abrupt ending and reliance on horror clichés may leave some viewers unsatisfied, others will enjoy it for its entertainment value and cringe-inducing moments. The film doesn’t give off the impression that it knows how silly it is, but even still, Truth or Dare becomes a guilty pleasure classic of this modern age of horror films.

1 Fan Service Trumps Everything When It Comes to Five Nights at Freddy’s

Apparently, only the fans were aware of how massive of a success this film would be. On a modest twenty million dollar budget by today’s standards, the film made almost three hundred million at the theaters. Five Nights at Freddy’s takes the popular video game about a security guard defending himself from haunted animatronics in an abandoned pizzeria and brings it to the big screen. The film takes the complex and intensely layered story and mashes it into its own version of events that die-hard fans adore. The general audience was a bit lost as the film prioritized making the animatronics more likable rather than scary, with the hints toward a bigger story falling short. However, those criticisms had no effect on the overall glowing reception.

Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Lail and horror legend Matthew Lillard lead this film alongside incredible animatronics and puppets designed by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Their expert attention to detail brings these killer robots to life. The film shows a lot of love for its source material, including cameos from the YouTubers who made the game famous from the start. According to critics, Five Nights at Freddy’s could’ve been another generic, disappointing PG-13 slasher. However, the fans loved it, and Blumhouse is fully aware. They’re in the process of creating the sequel, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.