What horror movie did you venture to watch with expectations of it being completely lame, but then it turned out to be really awesome?

Silent Hill.

I know its not truly horror, but I thought Shaun of the Dead was going to be the lamest zombie flick. Fortunately, I was proved wrong.

@Neizvestnaya I love that movie, and it’s surprisingly a great adaptation of its source, considering. Pyramid Head had no place in it though…but then, you don’t make a SH movie and not include that dude, since fans would revolt haha.

Years ago, as I started to watch the classic FREAKS for the first time in a cinema class, I thought—What could be scary about an early ‘30s movie about deformed circus people? Turned out to be one of the scariest films I’d ever since, or seen since.

The 90’s remake of “Night of the Living Dead”. I just thought, “Meh, it’s probably going to suck like all 90% of remakes”. Man, was I wrong.
I also had low expectations for the original “Day of the Dead” and “Land of the Dead”, and I ended up enjoying them.

Man were you ever wrong about Night. :) It’s a fucking wicked movie, I’m glad you liked it.

30 Days of Night surprised me by not totally sucking at all.

I had really, really low expectations for the remake of “The Crazies”, because I tend to categorically hate remakes, and I’m a huge fan of the original.

Aside from my disappointment in their leaving out the legendary incest scene, I thought the movie was a good remake, and really stood on its own.

on the other hand, 30 Days of Night surprised me by sucking a whole lot more than I thought it was going to. It was a pretty movie, but the execution was terrible.

stop it. it was the best example my feeble mind could think of at the moment

I’m sorry… I’m just still very upset that the movie was made as poorly as it was. It had so much potential! Gah!

Otis

It was gory but hilarious!

@Seek_Kolinahr it had some cool stuff in it. And I liked the scenario. But Harnett was admittedly kind of douchey at the end

A lot of critics and friends didn’t like it, but I saw Cloverfield anyway, and adore it!

I loved Cloverfield!

Of course, I also love Cannibal Holocaust. Something about that “documentary-footage” thing just works for me. Except for that one movie with the weird alien thing in the closet and having to watch people sleep for two hours.

I usually expect horror movies to suck so any time they’re good it takes me by surprise. The most striking example in recent memory was The Ring, I think.

@Austinlad That movie freaked me out, no pun intended.
@Seek_Kolinahr What alien thing are you talking about?
A couple I thought would be lame were Turistas and Perfect Getaway. I know people rag on Perfect Getaway, but for the most part of the movie I thought it was the wrong couple. Turistas was a nice light little horror flick.

I just went and saw Devil last night. I expcted it to fall a bit flat because of M Night. It actually was better than I had hoped…

I agree with being pleasantly surprised by 30 Days of Night, The Crazies remake, and Cloverfield.

Some others that haven’t been mentioned:
– [REC]. I actually had fairly high expectations. They were more than met.
– Midnight Meat Train. Thought it would be crap. Wound up thinking it was fantastic.
– Kill Theory. After Dark HorrorFest movies are almost always mediocre at best. I rated this one 4 stars.
– The Human Centipede. Seriously.

This was an enjoyable little romp. Much to my suprise. James Karen was fucking hilarious in it, stole the movie :¬)

Horror is my second weakest suit (behind musicals) so I generally don’t expect much, but these three stand out as surprisingly good.

Bad Boy Bubby (1993) I expected absolutely nothing, but check out the badass acting, and things like binaural sound design. The main idea of this movie (a character limited to, and misapplying, only those experience he has recently been exposed to) is breathtaking in possibilities. I suspect Christopher Nolan (Memento, Inception) and Tarantino were informed heavily by this movie.

Antichrist (2009) – I did not expect the poetic/heathen nature of it, as a soft-pedal lead in, then the grinding wheel, and the … yeah. Takin’ it to the next level. Movies like this give me serious hope to the Horror genera. (Right up until Antichrist II comes out anyway)

Some time back I was over visiting friends, and everyone (but me, ..pouting) agreed to watch “The Secret”. I was thinking it was that self-help faith-cult jobber from (2006)(V), but it turned out to be the The Secret (2007) with Olivia Thirlby and David Duchovny. I had never heard of it before and it (and she) were great.

@crazyivan: I forgot about The Ring! It made me cringe in the theater and want to get up and go use the bathroom or something but I forced myself to sit still. ‘fraid.

First movie that legitmately scared me since I was a kid.

@crazyivan: The restoration and additional footage for the rerelease of The Excorcist scared me silly. Having read the book as a kid, I couldn’t imagine being any more scared but thought the movie a bit corny by the time I saw it. As an adult though, it’s amazing what a flash of toothy green face can do.~

@Neizvestnaya Good call. That movie was actually scarier as an adult. I think as a kid most of it was just over my head. Love a horror movie with a cerebral element. All to rare.

I went through my horror movie phase around age 13, but honestly, horror movies and I have grown apart over the years. I realized that I prefer psychological thrillers over hack-and-slashers. So, I don’t tend to watch too many horror flicks these days.

However, I did watch the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I was pleasantly surprised. I didn’t expect to like it, didn’t expect much of anything. Well, that movie sure held my attention and then, that night, I had a nightmare about running through sheets hanging on a clothesline being chased by a psycho killer, so I think the film did its job. :P

drag me to hell.

@iamthemob I knew that would be a good one, but I’m a huge Sam Raimi fan. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Event Horizon.

And I am now going to watch Jennifer’s Body, despite my boycott of that woman, whatever the heck her name is, as being overrated as a sex symbol.

@Imadethisupwithnoforethought Jennifer’s body; It’s actually a pretty cool movie, if you’re not too critical and just want to have fun. It’s nowhere near scary though.

I am pulling it up now on a site that is less than legal to watch.

And I would actually also add the ‘blink’ episode of Dr. Who of all things, which has scared the heck out of anybody who has seen it expecting Dr. Who to be cheezerific.