The horror genre is designed to terrify audiences with gore and scares, and push them to the edge of the seats with seats and unexpected twists. The R rating allows filmmakers to take their horror movies to the extreme and make the scariest movies they can. However, not all R-rated horror movies are scary.
Some R-rated horror movies lean more into humor, or focus on character development. Other R-rated horror movies try their best to be as scary as possible. However, they end up not being scary. For audiences who love the themes and aesthetics of the horror genre but get scared easily, these movies are a perfect fit. Here are 10 R-rated horror movies that aren’t very scary.
10 ‘The Cabin in the Woods’ (2012)
Directed by Drew Goddard
The Cabin in the Woods follows five friends on a getaway to a remote cabin in the woods. However, when various monsters start attacking the group, they discover there’s more to the cabin than it seems. The Cabin in the Woods starts just like any horror B-movie, with all horror movie cliché tropes happening. However, it is revealed that all the danger the group is subject to is manufactured by a group of technicians.
The Cabin in the Woods is not as scary as other R-rated movies on purpose. The movie leans more into dark humor and sarcasm as it makes fun of all horror movie clichés, especially the ones in slasher movies. The movie also provides criticism of torture porn, prevalent in slasher movies. The Cabin in the Woods subverts the slasher movie genre and provides important commentary. However, it is worth noting that while the movie is not so scary, some of the deaths in The Cabin in the Woods are graphic.
Directed by Mark Mylod
The Menu is a black comedy horror movie that follows a young couple, Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), who are invited to an exclusive restaurant on a remote island alongside other diners. The restaurant is run by celebrity chef Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) who serves a lavish multi-course menu. However, as the night progresses, the guests realize that the chef has something sinister planned for them. The movie belongs to the “eat the rich” niche that has been gaining popularity recently.
The Menu leans into more of a satirical psychological aspect to explore high-end dining, class dynamics, and the nature of art and obsession. The movie is stylish with the stunning locations of the island and the restaurant, which provide an unusually elegant background to the horror movie. The movie provides a critique of consumer culture and how consumerism ruins artistic integrity. The restaurant in The Menu is definitely not a restaurant audiences would want to dine in.
8 ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ (2014)
Directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi
Before What We Do in the Shadows was a TV show, it was a mockumentary horror comedy movie. The movie follows four vampires; Vago (Taika Waititi), Vladislav (Jemaine Clement), Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), and Petyr (Ben Fransham) who share an apartment in a suburb in New Zealand. The movie explores the vampires’ struggles with mundane everyday activities such as paying rent and keeping up with chores, while also dealing with their rivalry with other supernatural creatures.
The movie leans more into being a mockumentary comedy about vampires trying to blend in with humans. The movie presents vampires as flawed relatable creatures rather than the invincible monsters all other movies depict them as. Furthermore, the movie tackles themes of friendship, loneliness, and the passage of time, and how immortality impacts all of them. The scary horror elements in What We Do in the Shadows are sparse, which makes it perfect for those who want to watch a horror movie without the scares.
7 ‘You’re Next’ (2011)
Directed by Adam Wingard
You’re Next is a home invasion horror movie that follows the dysfunctional Davison family. Hoping to mend their family, Aubrey (Barbara Crampton) and Paul (Rob Moran) invite their children and their significant others to dinner in celebration of their wedding anniversary. However, when the family is attacked by a group of masked assailants, they must come together to survive. When the assailants start targeting the family, they are surprised to learn Erin (Sharni Vinson), the girlfriend of one of the Davison sons, possesses unexpected survival skills.
You’re Next is more of an action thriller than a horror movie. It presents one of the best and most unique final girls, Erin, who is very resourceful due to her upbringing. Erin sets up traps and uses improvised weapons, which makes her more of an action heroine rather than another victim. Violence is very rampant during the movie, but it resembles violence in action movies rather than horror movies. All of these factors decrease the scary factor of the movie while making it a very fun movie to watch.
6 ‘Carrie’ (2013)
Directed by Kimberly Peirce
The 2013 version of Carrie was supposed to be a modern retelling of the Stephen King novel. The movie follows Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz), an outsider who is severely bullied in school. Carrie lives with her religiously fanatic mother (Julianne Moore), who believes menstruation and sex to be sins. When a bully pulls a harsh prank on Carrie during prom, she unleashes her telekinetic powers to show them hell.
Carrie tries its best to be a scary movie. However, it fails as it provides nothing new from the original 1976 Carrie. This might have been due to the rumored 40 minutes of footage cut from the movie. Before its release, Carrie was criticized for its depiction of extreme violence against high school teenagers in the wake of school shootings. The criticism caused delays and changes that rendered the movie not scary.
5 ‘The Blackcoat’s Daughter’ (2015)
Directed by Oz Perkins
The Blackcoat’s Daughter follows two timelines. In the first timeline, Kat (Kiernan Shipka) and Rose (Lucy Boynton) are students at a prestigious Catholic boarding school. When everybody else is picked up by their parents for a week-long break, Kat and Rose are left behind with the nuns and a mysterious evil force. In the second timeline, Joan (Emma Roberts) escapes the mental institution and heads to the boarding school for unknown reasons. Joan is revealed to have connections with Kat and Rose. The movie is often considered the spiritual sister of Oz Perkins‘ other film, Longlegs.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter has some scary scenes. However, it doesn’t lean totally into being scary. A mysterious evil force is haunting the boarding school, yet we never see the force in full appearance, we only see its shadow. Perkins uses the elements of supernatural and psychological horror to examine isolation, identity, religion and faith. The Blackcoat’s Daughter is not a very scary movie, but it has a huge emotional impact on its watchers.
4 ‘Gothika’ (2003)
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
Gothika follows psychiatrist Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) who works at a mental institution with her husband Doug (Charles S. Dutton), and friend Pete Graham (Robert Downey, Jr.). One day, Miranda wakes up and finds herself admitted to the same mental institution she works at and accused of murdering her husband, but she remembers nothing of the crime. Miranda slowly begins to remember what happened. However, not many people believe her.
Gothika is more of a mystery movie with horror elements rather than a horror movie. The horror elements are the existence of the ghost of a dead girl Miranda sees, as well as psychological horror elements, as Miranda cannot distinguish between reality and hallucinations. However, most of the story revolves around whether Miranda will remember the details of her crimes or not, and the mystery of what actually happened.
3 ‘Jennifer’s Body’ (2009)
Directed by Karyn Kusama
Jennifer’s Body centers around Jennifer (Megan Fox) and Needy (Amanda Seyfried), who have been best friends since childhood. One night, Jennifer takes Needy to a local bar to attend a concert by an indie rock band. After the concert, Jennifer leaves with the band despite Needy’s protests. The band thinks Jennifer is a virgin, and they try to sacrifice her to Satan for success. However, because Jennifer isn’t a virgin, she turns into a succubus. The movie is one of the most iconic movies of the 2000s. However, it bombed when it was first released.
Jennifer’s Body is a horror comedy which leans more into comedy while containing mild horror. The movie is often praised for its feminist undertones and its criticism of how society treats women’s bodies and sexuality. Jennifer is a character who subverts how female characters are portrayed, especially in horror. Jennifer’s Body is an entertaining watch with the atmosphere of horror movies but with minimal scares.
2 ‘Let Me In’ (2010)
Directed by Matt Reeves
Let Me In follows the growing friendship between 12 years old bullied Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and his neighbor Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz) in the early 1980s. As the friendship develops, Owen discovers that Abby is a centuries-old vampire trapped in a child’s body. In the background of the friendship, there is an investigation into an ongoing murder spree. The movie is an American remake of the 2007 Swedish movie Let the Right One In.
The horror in Let Me In is more subtle as it doesn’t rely on only gore or violence. Instead, the horror comes from the combination of an eerie atmosphere, disturbing imagery, and the unsettling relationship between the innocence of the characters and the horror of their actions. Let Me In lingers in your mind, making it scary in a thought-provoking way rather than traditionally scary as expected from a movie with its horror elements.
1 ‘House of Wax’ (2005)
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
House of Wax follows a group of friends, Carly (Elisha Cuthbert), her boyfriend Wade (Jared Padalecki), her twin brother Nick (Chad Michael Murray), and their friends Dalton (Jon Abrahams), Blake (Robert Ri’chard), and Paige (Paris Hilton) who decide to camp on their way to a football match. However, when one of their cars gets vandalized, they visit a nearby town to get help. While they are waiting in the town, they visit a wax museum where they meet the murderous twin brothers, Bo and Vincent Sinclair (Brian Van Holt).
The plot of House of Wax is very predictable, which eliminates any suspense that might scare the audience. Most characters are not developed, which leads to a lack of emotional investment from the audience in the characters. Even the villains are portrayed in a caricature-like manner with exaggerated behaviors. House of Wax was received poorly by critics and the audience. However, in recent years, it has gained a cult following. Additionally, it is considered the start of a new era in horror.
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