What Were The Worst Horror Movies of 2024?

As good as 2024 has been for horror, there’s always a ying to any yang, and the other side of the coin was pretty rough. While we saw some major bombs in the way of The Crow and disappointing box office performances via Cuckoo, We’re talking about the truly bad. And wouldn’t you know it, this year most of them have been produced by one company. Blumhouse. I’m not sure why it is that they’ve seemingly become completely creatively bankrupt but I’ve experienced it in the theaters. The moment that Blumhouse logo comes up and an entire audience collectively sighs. And it wasn’t that way just a few years ago. But after killer Teddy Bears, an AI killer house, and a haunted Swimming Pool, they’ve definitely lost the plot. This may as well be called the “What the Hell Happened To Blumhouse” video, as we take a look at the Worst Horror Films of 2024.

Before we get into our list, we need to make sure it’s clear: SPOILER ALERT. The whole point of this is to bitch about what they got wrong, and that includes the endings. You’ve been warned. And it’s hard to make a movie and we can acknowledge that people can have good intentions and get a pretty shitty outcome. If you’re offended by this then I don’t know what to tell you. Art is something that’s meant to be critiqued and so we’re gonna critique the shit out of some objectively bad films. So let’s get started.

The Front Room

The Front Room made the mistake of being a dreadfully boring film with some okay visuals. Horror really excels in that space of discomfort but it just doesn’t really work outside of frustrating the viewer. Shocking, the old racist lady isn’t a good person. It’s not exactly a twist. And Brandy Norwood’s return to the horror genre feels like a missed opportunity, as she’s proven to at least be likeable on screen. What, am I the only one that liked her in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer? Regardless, it brings nothing new to the table and is easily A24‘s weakest film in years. Here’s hoping they don’t start a trend…

Tarot

Tarot cards can be scary, right? Well maybe if you take the exact opposite approach as what the filmmakers took here. Combine a group of teen characters with some of the worst dialogue you can imagine, and you’re in for some truly cringe moments. And you can’t even enjoy their deaths because of the PG-13 rating. If you enjoy poorly designed monsters killing teens with practically bloodless jump scares, then this is for you. Even Spider-Man‘s Jacob Batalon has difficulty making this one entertaining. When the entire film could have been prevented by not having your lead read creepy Tarot cards, then it’s a tough hill to climb in getting the audience to like her. Hell, she’s the reason for all of her friends’ deaths! Tarot also serves as a lesson to filmmakers to hide your villains and not show them so much. This. Is. Stupid!

Night Swim

Haunted Swimming Pool. I’m not sure how this one got greenlit because anyone with half a brain hears those three words and goes “Then don’t get in the pool.” But no, that would be too simple and Blumhouse has a terrible film to make out of it! Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon are way too good of actors to be putting up with this nonsense. And they’re easily the best parts of the film. Wyatt’s Ray has to deal with losing his old baseball life and Condon’s Izzy has to contend with not recognizing the person her husband is becoming. There’s an interesting dynamic but it’s all washed away by cheap horror. It’s all so reliant on jump scares. The one creepy moment in the film was shown nearly in its full duration in the first trailer. They even try to do an Amityville Horror ripoff in its third act but fail to push it into any uncomfortable territory. This stays firmly safe at all times and anytime it feels like they may do something unexpected, it instead remains dull and predictable. But hey, if you ever have to source creepy pool shots, this is your film.

AfrAId

Remember About a Boy? Chris Weitz’s wonderful film about responsibility feels like a century ago, especially when you look at his current work. AfrAId tries to capitalize on the social panic surrounding Artificial Intelligence. Yet everything is taken at such a surface level, with such over-the-top moments that it’s hard to watch this and do anything except cringe. Katherine Waterston and John Cho are usually great yet they’re sleepwalking through their roles here, clearly as unimpressed with the material as we are. An AI House is about as lame as you can imagine so they have to add these random human characters that are being manipulated by the AI and it’s all done in such a “ten steps ahead way” that it feels overwritten and underwritten at the same time. When the film finally ends, it feels like there should be a whole other act. Yet instead, it’s all: “Oh hey, the AI won and the family just has to deal with it.” I guess that’s ballsy? But certainly not satisfying.

Imaginary

While there were plenty of awful releases this year, there was only one that managed to shit the bed in nearly every conceivable way. Bad acting, a nonsensical script, and one of the lowest stakes stories possible, Imaginary will test your patience. The family consists of a children’s book author, a rocker, and two kids whose sole purpose seems to be saying dumb things. And can we talk about how the trailer sets up this interesting kill with the bear turning into this bear monstrosity and seemingly killing this kid? Well, he didn’t die and it was just a jumpscare. The only death we get is this old lady who totally deserves it. Just what I want to see with my teen horror movies: old people getting offed. Imagination is one thing this film is sorely lacking in.

And there we have it: One of the worst years in horror in quite some time. What do you think deserved a spot on this list? Were we too harsh on Blumhouse? Let us know in the comments!