The horror genre is known for having a wide range of sub-genres and tones. From slasher to supernatural to campy comedy, the horror umbrella has some of the most unique movie offerings in the entertainment world. Great scary movies can be serious, terrifying, or just downright ridiculous. The genre gives filmmakers the wiggle room to make something completely absurd and over-the-top, but still turn out a creative, fun, and disturbing final result.

Movies like 2024's newest horror offering, Abigail, are the bread and butter of the genre. Horror fans love to be scared, disgusted, and hiding behind their hands, but there's so much more to being a horror fan than that. Sometimes, the best scares come from the most hilarious sources and no one can suspend their disbelief quite like a horror movie buff. Movies like Abigail, Lisa Frankenstein (2024), and Ready or Not (2019) shine because of their odd premises, not despite them.

10 Abigail Creates A Modern Vampire Infestation

• Abigail came out on April 19th, 2024, and it is currently in theaters
• The film is rated R and has a run time of 1 hour and 49 minutes
• Melissa Barrera plays the main protagonist, Joey

Abigail tells the story of a group of talented criminals who kidnap a young ballerina and hold her captive. The girl, Abigail, is the daughter of a rich and powerful man. The group's job is simple: kidnap Abigail and keep her hidden while their boss negotiates a ransom for her release. At first, the film feels more like a heist movie than a horror. Abigail plays the part of a scared and innocent girl well, tricking all of her kidnappers into believing she is a helpless victim.

Things go sideways when Sammy, the group's hacker, finds their driver, Dean, decapitated in the kitchen. The decapitation wasn't clean either, looking more like Dean's head was ripped off than sliced or chopped. Soon enough, the kidnappers discover that Abigail is a vampire, and she is the one hunting them. Abigail succeeds in turning them against one another and picking them off one by one. When questioned why she's doing this, she claims she likes playing with her food.

9 Happy Death Day Provides A Fun Twist On The Slasher Sub-Genre

• Happy Death Day came out on October 13, 2017
• The film is rated PG-13 and has a run time of 1 hour and 36 minutes
• Jessica Rothe plays the main protagonist, Tree Gelbman

The only thing better than a slasher movie is a slasher movie that sets out to turn the sub-genre on its head. Scream (1996) helped kick off the trend by introducing the world to the Ghostface killer, a masked, horror movie-obsessed, killer with surprising stickler slasher rules. Since Scream managed to make a meta-slasher movie that was witty, hilarious, and still 100% terrifying, plenty of other films have tried to follow suit. Happy Death Day is one such slasher.

Happy Death Day follows Tree Celbman, an average college student living in her own little world. The film takes place on her birthday, where she goes through the motions of a typical birthday, only to end up dead. After being violently murdered, Tree wakes up at the beginning of her birthday and is forced to relive the day again. Each rotation of her birthday ends with her murder and she can't break the time loop until she discovers the true identity of her resilient attacker.

8 Renfield Delivers A Hilarious & Modern Dracula

• Renfield came out on April 14, 2023
• The film is rated R and has a run time of 1 hour and 33 minutes
• Nicholas Hoult plays the main protagonist, R.M. Renfield

Renfield is a modern story based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. The film takes place in a modern-day setting and depicts how a still-living Dracula has survived for centuries with the help of his servant, Renfield. Most Dracula media is told from the point of view of Dracula himself or Dracula's prey, but Renfield decided to tell the story through Renfield's perspective. After hundreds of years of servitude and committing unspeakable atrocities for Dracula, Renfield has grown tired of aiding the true embodiment of evil.

Renfield desperately tries to pull away from Dracula without the vampire noticing. He gets himself an apartment, which he decorates with bright, obnoxious colors that Dracula would never approve of. He starts dressing like a "normal" human, and he even uses the power Dracula gave him to save lives, turning himself into some sort of superhero. Renfield even joins a support group for people with abusive bosses and jobs they feel trapped in. The film also cast Nicolas Cage as Dracula, and that pretty much tells potential viewers everything they need to know about Renfield.

7 Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil Tackles Some Serious Topics With Humor

• Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil came out on September 30, 2011
• The film is rated R and has a run time of 1 hour and 29 minutes
• Tyler Labine plays Dale and Alan Tudyk plays Tucker, the film's two protagonists

One of the funniest horror films to come out of the last 15 years is Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil. Tucker and Dale are best friends who take a cheap vacation to a cabin in the woods. They plan to relax, fish, enjoy the great outdoors, and fix the cabin up while they're there. Unfortunately, they come across a group of college students who immediately assume they're up to no good. The basis of this movie is actually horrific because the way the college students turn on the duo is rooted in classism and prejudice.

Tucker and Dale save Allison, one of the college students, from drowning and they take her back to their cabin to make sure she's okay. Her friends, however, make the awful mistake of believing that Tucker and Dale are kidnapping her. Allison's friends follow the duo, watching from a distance to figure out the best way to save Allison. Meanwhile, Allison has befriended Tucker and Dale. Unfortunately, in her friends' desperate attempts to save her, they each die in tragic yet hilarious accidents.

6 M3GAN Is The Terminator In Sheep's Clothing

• M3GAN came out on January 6, 2023
• The film is rated PG-13 and has a run time of 1 hour and 42 minutes
• M3GAN was portrayed by two actors, Amie Donald, and Jenna Davis

By now, most horror fans know all about M3GAN. Before the film's release, everyone's favorite Good Guy doll, Chucky, decided to start a Twitter war with M3GAN over who was the best killer doll. This only helped garner more attention for the upcoming film. M3GAN went viral before her movie ever hit theaters, but the film lived up to the hype. M3GAN is about Gemma, a high-tech toy designer, who creates a life-like android that can act as a child's friend, companion, and caregiver.

Gemma's niece, Cady, loses her parents in a horrible car accident. Cady goes to live with her aunt, but despite being a toy maker, Gemma has no idea how to handle children. To help them both adjust, Gemma gives M3GAN to Cady to test how well the doll works. The doll stops at nothing to protect Cady, even going as far as murder. What makes M3GAN unbelievable, though, is how she seems to be unstoppable. M3GAN has all the power of the Terminator wrapped up in a tiny, child-sized body.

5 Lisa Frankenstein Gives This Classic Monster An '80s Flare

• Lisa Frankenstein came out on February 9, 2024
• The film is rated PG-13 and has a run time of 1 hour and 41 minutes
• Kathryn Newton plays the main character, Lisa

Lisa Frankenstein is a 1980s re-imagining of the classic universal monster, Frankenstein. Most horror fans are familiar with the story of Frankenstein. Dr. Victor Frankenstein is a scientist who uses his research to create a new life form. The monster he creates is commonly referred to as Frankenstein's Monster, but the heart of the story is that Victor was the true monster all along. Lisa Frankenstein changes the formula to make it a rom-com instead.

Lisa is a teenage girl still dealing with the aftermath of her mother's murder. Lisa is strange, doesn't have any friends, and hates her new step-mother. Her step-sister does everything to make Lisa feel like part of her family, but it's never enough. Lisa spends a lot of time in an abandoned graveyard, cleaning the old graves. It helps her cope because she believes no one should be forgotten like people seem to have forgotten her mother. One night, a bizarre storm reanimates one of the bodies in the graveyard, and he follows Lisa home. The Creature will do anything for Lisa, including murder. At first, Lisa is mortified, but she soon finds herself on a power trip in the wake of the people they killed together.

4 Thanksgiving Finally Gets The Horror Treatment