The 25 Best Weird Horror Movies

Waitress, more butter! One of the many deliciously campy and ridiculous lines in the hit 80s cult film Chopping Mall that horror fans just can't seem to stop saying. A film that showcases killer robots in a local shopping mall that run amok and begin a massive killing spree, the film uses its absurd nature and manages to keep elements of realism and fun in between. With some of the most over-the-top kills and some of the wackiest and unintentionally funniest dialog sprinkled throughout, Chopping Mall is as fun as it is terrifying.

A beloved cult classic, a timeless tale of fright, and a shockingly nightmarish venture into an almost slumber-like trance, Phantasm is a fascinating film that every horror fan needs to see. With a strangely calm and almost euphoric atmosphere throughout, it is difficult to determine if what is on screen is actually transpiring or simply a dream. Showcasing one of the most beloved horror villains in the history of the genre and one of the most shockingly violent weapons, the film is a campy science fiction story brought to life through the eyes of a deranged and brilliant madman. 

From the opening credits, fans know that Sleepaway Camp is going to provide film lovers with the ride of their lives, and somehow the film manages to surpass even the wildest expectation for the strange and unusual. A film that rarely plays anything straight, the acting is over the top, the outfits are ridiculous, the kills are bonkers, and the story in and of itself is shocking and appalling. The big reveal of the movie, to go along with Felissa Rose's excellent performances consistently have the film in the minds and hearts of cult horror fans, but the ending is just the beginning of the wild ride for this astonishingly eccentric film.

One of the most beloved horror comedies of all time, Nobuhiko Obayashi's 1997 masterpiece House manages to become stranger and stranger with each passing moment until absurdity and insanity are all that remain. In a film where things happen, it is almost impossible to differentiate one scene from the next as the overarching tones of madness and lunacy start to blend until only a fever dream of reality remains. With numerous ways to interpret this haunted house  film, all more bizarre than the last, House is a film hardcore horror fans will want to dive into again and again.

After the mega success of the original and sequel to John Carpenter's horror classic Halloween franchise, many expected to see the beloved return of The Shape in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, but instead what they got was a vastly different, much stranger venture into a science fiction horror story. Omitting every character from the original films, and even playing the original Halloween in the film itself,  Season of the Witch is a truly bizarre, almost fever-dream-like experience that sinks its robotic teeth in and never let's go.

With his directorial debut, David Lynch let the moviegoing world know that he didn't come to mess around, he came to instill nightmares in the minds and hearts of horror fans for generations. With a melancholic black and white color scale, a horrifying feeling of dread and unease, and some of the most surreally disturbing images ever conjured on screen, the film is a fever dream of reality warped into a bombastic metaphorical experience. With no real story to be told, Lynch instead opts to make the viewer feel, as opposed to understanding, and the abstract and often nightmarish viewpoints are enough to terrify even the most veteran horror fans.

Beloved and acclaimed director John Carpenter created one of the most beloved, underrated, and intensely bizarre films of all time with his cult classic In The Mouth of Madness. Sam Neil, hot off of Jurassic Park ventured back into the realm of horror as he and Carpenter told the story of a Stephen King-esque author who wrote and foretold the coming apocalypse. With psychedelic twists and turns around ever corner, In the Mouth of Madness relishes in its weirdness all the way to its mind-blowing finale with some of the most terrifying creatures ever put to screen.

A film that somehow feels far more exploitative than it actually is, Basket Case is one of a few films that manages to surpass its strange reputation and elevate itself into a class of superb storytelling of the freakiest kind. A film many consider to be a genuine masterpiece, Basket Case shows the haunting and devastating effects of trying to take care of a loved one, only in this case the loved one is a benign tumor that has come to life and wants to destroy anything and everything in its path. While the following two films are vastly stranger, the original is genuinely a work of outlandish art that feels more relevant today than ever.

One of the most beloved cult classic absurd horror films of all time, Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 is a fever dream of an experience that is the ultimate Christmas movie for horror fans big and small. While the film begins relatively normally, recounting the events of the previous film, it is only when audiences are 40 minutes in and realize nothing new has happened that things become strange. Throw on top of this the main character watching the first movie in a movie theater, some of the wackiest kills of all time, a generational performance in campiness from Eric Freeman, the beloved “Garbage Day” line, and a wacky cult classic to stand the test of time has arrived.

While it may be revered as a classic today, back in 1987, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II was one of the most shocking, disgusting, and disturbing horror films many mainstream audiences had ever seen. Forgetting the complete and utter tonal shift between the first and second film, Evil Dead II gives fans a deep and comprehensive look into utter chaos and madness, as Bruce Campbell gives the performance of a lifetime in one of the wackiest horror comedies of all time. Starting out in a cabin in the woods and somehow ending during medieval times, the film is a sight to see and somehow manages to execute all its bizarre ideas brilliantly.

Vile beyond comprehension, disturbing beyond belief, and grotesque in the most hauntingly beautiful ways imaginable, Society is a film that is needed to be seen to be believed. In a world where the uber-rich feed off the poor in both a literal and hyperbolic way, the film is one of the most bizarre works of fiction imaginable with characters never acting quite human and dialog that will have heads spinning. This of course leads to the film's most iconic and flabbergasting scene, The Shunting, where all manner of normalcy is lost for a freak show collaboration of slime, bodies, shapeshifting, and lust. 

A living, breathing fairy tale nightmare infused with the most vibrant and lovely colors ever seen by the human eye, Suspiria is a fascinating work of art and one of the best and strangest films from acclaimed Giallo director Dario Argento. With an otherworldly feel and atmosphere permeating the film, viewers would be remiss to think they were in some sort of dream-like trance while witnessing the deadly, dangerous, and disastrous events that unfold throughout the course of the film.

A film so weird, controversial, outlandish, and horrifying it was banned in numerous countries just for the sheer amount of terror it unleashed onto audiences, Possession is a devastatingly terrifying horror film that will wrap its tentacle around you and won't ever let you go. With two utterly brilliant performances by Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neil, Possession showcases some of the gnarliest, scariest, and most bizarre scenes in horror history, including a scene where the main character has sex with a demonic monster, which is only the tip of the iceberg for this confounding and exhilarating masterpiece.

The legendary team behind the hit horror film Re-Animator teamed up to create yet another Lovecraftian adaptation, and somehow, From Beyond managed to surpass any and all notions of normal within the first few minutes. An 80s horrorcore exploitation B movie that has some of the gnarliest practical effects on this side of Society, much like the source material wanted, watching From Beyond feels as though one is slowly delving into complete and utter madness. With bizarre mutated masochistic zombies, sex-crazed doctors and horrifying creatures behind every corner, From Beyond is a masterful entry into the weird and horrifying.

Leprechaun In the Hood is absolutely as ridiculous as it sounds, but it also manages to be arguably the best entry in the long-running franchise. For fans of slashers and over-the-top absurdity, this film has it all, including some of the most absurd lines of dialog, Warwick Davis and Ice-T going head-to-head in some of the strangest but most compelling scenes in the entire franchise. While it may take some strength to simply get over the brashness of its premise, Leprechaun in the Hood is a good time for those who are willing to let the crazy wash over them.

A tire goes on a murderous rampage. That is the plot of Rubber. The absurdity essentially writes itself from that point on, as Quentin Dupieux created one of the most bizarre, nonsensical, and amazing horror films of the 2010s. Does it make sense, of course not, it's a killer tire, but the film is completely in on the joke and that helps make Rubber such a devilishly good time. With satirical undertones and the madness just elevating with each passing second, audiences will be shocked as they find themselves completely engrossed in the story of a killer tire, and a town trying to hunt it down.

Tammy and the T-Rex, if the title alone doesn't scream insanity, don't worry, the rest of the film somehow manages to surpass the absurdity. When her boyfriend's brain inexplicably gets transferred into the body of a T-Rex, Tammy must help him take down the nefarious scientists who are trying to keep him captive. From the log line alone fans know this is going to be like nothing they have ever seen, and the shocking and genuinely appalling amounts of violence on display are enough to make even an exploitation fan squirm. From start to finish Tammy and the T-Rex offers viewers exactly what they want, it turns the dial up to 11 and holds nothing back.

Arguably the most successful weird horror film to come out in decades, Malignant took the horror world by storm in 2021 and deliver a genuine masterpiece in the wacky and absurd. While the film may have purposely bad acting choices, hairstyles, and dialog, there is no doubt that the most absurd and beloved horror villain of the last decade revealed itself within this film, with Gabriel quickly becoming a horror icon. With a genuinely amazing plot twist that will continuously keep fans guessing, Malignant elevates the weird into pure, unhinged entertainment and glory.

Bill Murray said it best back in 1990, “If you only see one movie this year, it should be Frankenhooker.” An incredibly unique, strange, and wacky adaptation of the classic Mary Shelly novel Frankenstein, Frankenhooker tells the tale of a love lost, and the length to which a man will go to recover her. Of course, the love is a hooker, and the lengths he will go to chop up other women to slap together in order to reanimate his love's rotting corpse. A film that is very much in on the joke of its absurdity, Frankenhooker plays into the laughs, frights, and freakiness for a fiendishly good time.

John Travolta gives the performance of a lifetime in Fred Durst's (yes Limp Biscuits Fred Durst) The Fanatic. The story of an obsessed horror superfan with an undisclosed mental disorder who decides to pretend to be a serial killer slasher from a film after his favorite actor blows him off only for the killings to become all too real, The Fanatic is, to put it plainly, absolutely bonkers. Everyone is delivering performances dialed up to 11 while some of the cringiest, corniest, and most awful dialog is being spewed, but it remains compelling for one reason or another. A film that is so utterly atrocious that it circles back to brilliance, there is nothing in horror quite like The Fanatic.

In what can only be described as the worst trip in human existence while blasting heavy metal and looking at the most obscure art in the world, Mandy is a masterpiece of melancholic dread and the bizarre. Nicholas Cage delivers a tour de force performance in an action-packed horror melodrama where the pain is merely the beginning, and incredible visuals and blood-soaked violence reign supreme. With axes, swords, massive chainsaws, and crossbows all at the disposal and demonic cenobite creatures on the prowl, an acid-infused nightmare awaits any brave enough to stomach Mandy.

Clint Howard shines as one of the most interesting, wacky, and out-of-this-world horror killers of all time in the hit cult classic Ice Cream Man. With some otherworldly acting choices, set decoration, and the entire plot about a man who wants to murder children and serve them in ice cream to other children to kill them and consistently repeat this cycle, the film shines as clearly as its grenadine in its weirdness. In what was the beginning of Howard's obsession with being in phenomenal cult horror films, Ice Cream Man put him on the map with horror fans, and he has been an outstanding member of the community ever sense.

One of the most beloved and acclaimed “so bad it's good” horror films of all time, Pieces managest to mix elements of slasher, Giallo, and Spanish horror into a stew of one of the most gonzo and ludicrous horror films ever created. With horrific dubbing, worse acting, an almost incomprehensible narrative, and some of the nastiest kill ever seen, the film has managed to elevate itself to become one of the premier cult classics of all time. A truly strange and irrationally confident horror film, Pieces is the creme de la creme of b-movie making.

Whether it is intended to or not, Slumber Party Massacre II is one of the closest things the horror world had in the 80s to surrealist cinema. With a very loose structure and dozens of scenes of musical interludes, dreamlike side plots, off-beat storytelling, and irrational feats of terror, the film simply cannot be put into words. With an overwhelming sense of dreamlike manic energy combined with some of the most outlandish fits of rage and destruction, Slumber Party Massacre II is a one-of-a-kind experience that assaults the viewer's senses.

A maniacal and twisted fairy tale of what happens when little red riding hood and the big bad wolf turn out to be the same person, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a brutal, terrifying, unnerving, and confounding vampiric tale of love, pain, and power. With some of the most unique and interesting scenes in the horror of the last 10 years like the disco ball scene and the “death by white lies” scene, the film starts relatively normal, but the layers quickly become unraveled to reveal a devastatingly strange and haunting story. While other films play coy with their weirdness, this film plays it terrifyingly straight.