The Worst Horror Movies of 2022: Choose or Die, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and More

2022 has mostly been a good year for horror movies. We got some good reboots and some great originals that have left us thrilled and chilled. But it’s also been a year of bad movies, just like every year. From stupidly bad CGI that left us scratching our heads at the absurdity to stupid protagonists who walk into horror movie logic and then cry wolf – the worst horror movies of 2022 have done it all.

I think the most problematic issue at this point is that these movies try to repeat the same thing that we have seen before with a modern twist, adding nothing and taking away too much. Thus, if you’re curious about what not to watch as the year ends, here are the worst horror movies of 2022 that left us disappointed and rather annoyed!

Worst Horror Movies of 2022 (in no particular order)

Choose or Die

I was intrigued when I read some reviews of Choose or Die that went as far as to say that this was a good movie. I mean, more power to you but this movie really just tested my patience in the worst of ways. Starring Asa Butterfield and Iola Evans, the movie tries to do so many things together that it ends up being a jumbled mess of nothing.

The story follows young coder Kayla, who finds herself in a world of chaos when she fires up a 1980s survival horror game which tears apart her reality as well as those around her and forces her to make deadly choices.

Although the premise sounds interesting and rather retro, the film is just so mind-numbingly stupid that it made me question who thought this was a good idea.

Watch the movie on Netflix.

Also Read: Choose or Die Review: Asa Butterfield Movie is Truly Cursed

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The biggest gripe I have with this movie is that it dared to get our final girl from the first movie and then kill her in the most insulting way possible. There is a lot wrong with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but the movie is just so preachy and condescending that it’s hard to sit there and be lectured by a bunch of annoying youngsters.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre follows Melody and Lila, and their friends, who buy a small town in rural America to make it better and swankier. However, it ends up being the worst mistake of their lives when they invariably make stupid decisions and bring out the wrath of Leatherface, who goes on a killing rampage.

The question here, thus, remains, why was Sally Hardesty in this movie? Why did she decide that taunting Leatherface and making him remember her and her friends was the better idea instead of just, you know, killing him was a better idea? I don’t know.

At least the kills were pretty bloody and gory.

Watch the movie on Netflix.

Also Read: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) Review: Leatherface Returns For Another Dud

Old People

Netflix just keeps popping up with bad movies, doesn’t it? Writer-director Andy Fetscher brings forth a tale of ‘old people bad!’ in this movie that really wants to bring home the fact that frail and weak oldies can murder people in the blink of an eye. I wondered where they got the strength to choke a young and healthy person, but I was met with ‘movie logic’ at every step.

Either way, the film follows Ella, who returns to her hometown for her sister’s wedding only to find the old people who have been left in the town have started an uprising and will stop at nothing before getting their revenge.

Just, this movie leaves me with so many questions. It’s a boring and long tale about how you should take care of your elders in their last years. Otherwise, they might murder you and your kids. I don’t understand how or why it happened, just that it did. The scares or kills are just subpar and don’t hold your attention for any amount of time, especially because the logic doesn’t make any sense.

Goodnight Mommy

2014 German horror Goodnight Mommy was a nightmare-fuelled and surprisingly skin-crawling brutal watch that really left us a bit out of it by the end. With a surprising twist that you might or might not have predicted, we certainly were left a bit confused with the American remake that no one asked for. This is especially because the remake is quite bad.

Starring Naomi Watts as, well, mommy, the 2022 remake was just plain disappointing. Not only is it a scene-for-scene copy of the original story, but it also doesn’t feature the shocking cruelty and brutality of the first. What transpires is a not-so-good adaptation of a rather creepy tale and leaves you feeling rather confused about the point of it all.

I think watching the original is a better idea if you really want to find yourself spooked.

Watch the movie here.

Umma

Ok, listen. There are a ton of great movies out there that talk about first-generation American issues and how important it is to break the cycle of abuse. And honestly, I like these movies to be a drama because not everything needs to be a horror movie.

Written and directed by Iris K. Shim, the film stars Sandra Oh in the lead role as Amanda, who is plagued by her own mother and what she went through at her hands. Intent on not following in her footsteps, Amanda decides to be different with her own daughter, Crissy. However, when umma dies, Amanda is wracked with a spirit that refuses to let go of her.

Sure, you can say that the movie has potential. It does – but the delivery of the story and the overall tone are just so lacklustre that you feel nothing for it. The horror elements start to go downhill pretty soon, and the movie just feels uncomfortable to sit through after a while.

The movie is available for rent here.

Abandoned

Spencer Squire is a half-baked mess. It’s neither horrific nor is it entertaining to fill the time that you waste watching it. It follows the same pattern as several other haunted house movies, with horrific things happening to our protagonists once they move in.

But unfortunately, the movie is just so cliched and so devoid of scares that it turns into a snooze fest. The movie stars Emma Roberts, John Gallagher Jr. and Michael Shannon, and none of these actors could save this horrendous mess of a movie from coming out shining on the other side.

The movie is available here.

Grimcutty

Ok, before anyone comes running after me with a pitchfork, I will acknowledge that the movie has something novel to it that makes watching it somewhat interesting. But, I mean, I just can’t take Grimcutty seriously. Like, look at the ghost (or entity, whatever you want to call it). It’s just so goofy.

Written and directed by John Ross and starring Sara Wolfkind, Shannyn Sossamon and Usman Ally, the movie’s characters are just such annoying people that you want to slap someone instead of actually being invested in their struggles. Everyone makes the worst decisions all the time, and thus leaves you feeling so absolutely annoyed that enjoying this wild ride becomes a chore.

Watch it here.

Firestarter

Stephen King adaptations will either be a horrifying watch from start to end, or they will be so bad that looking at the screen for extended periods of time will be impossible. Keith Thomas’s sci-fi horror flick, starring Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, is just so bad that it’s, well, bad.

The problem with adapting King is that it’s just so difficult to bring the nuances of the written word to the screen, and a lot is lost in translation. For this movie, it gets rid of anything and everything of note that actually made the book good and makes a feature-length mess with the basic and uninteresting parts – it’s like they deliberately wanted the movie to bomb.

It’s a hollow adaptation that brings nothing new to the table besides Efron playing a rather yummy father.

Jeepers Creepers: Reborn

Ah, another sequel – but this time, it’s on the other end of the spectrum.

I think fans of the original were really looking forward to another outing with The Creeper. The original trilogy’s director’s criminal endeavours aside, the sequel to the trilogy is a sad watch. Its rather low budget is evident in every frame, and it just looks so bad that it pulls you out of the story.

On top of that, the story itself is laughable and makes no sense if you think about it. The plot holes are glaring, and the dialogue is horrendous. The acting isn’t great, either. Thus, you are left with a movie that really doesn’t know how to ‘movie’ and leaves you feeling rather cheated of the experience.

Rent the movie here.

Dashcam

I am not even going to defend my stance on this movie. It doesn’t even matter what the core of the movie is – it’s horrendously annoying and feels like someone is slapping me over and over again every few minutes.

Rob Savage’s Host was delightful. I think it was one of my favourites from that year. However, Dashcam is its annoying sibling from hell, wherein you want the protagonist to die after the first few minutes. If the idea was to get on our nerves, the creators really did a good job with that.

The movie is available here.

Which movie did you hate in 2022? Tell us in the comments below!

Also Read: The Recruit (2022) Review: Noah Centineo’s Spy Thriller is Familiar and Underwhelming