Yet another October is upon us, and with this comes one of the most delightful Halloween traditions: watching campy (and sometimes flat-out scary) horror movies. My teen son is incredibly passionate about all things horror these days, and I asked him to advise me (and you) on what movies other teens might like.
Without further ado, here are seven of the best campy horror movies for teens (and that you'll like, too).
'Titanic 666'
OK, here we go: It's 2022 and the Titanic 3 is retracing the original Titanic route. Passengers include an influencer couple, a professor selling Titanic artifacts, and a mysterious woman who seems a little evil. Unsurprisingly, there are issues with ghosts, zombies, and icebergs.
The teenager says: "It's very cheesy and it's the perfect movie to watch as a prank with your friend who is scared of everything. If you're a fan of Titanic but you want bloody murder in it, there you go. It's a very cheesy horror movie. 5/5 stars, best horror movie ever."
'Child's Play'
Most of us are more than familiar with the 1988 Child's Play, and that little red-headed weirdo still has a way of popping up each Halloween season. My son and I watched this one together without expecting to be scared and ended up genuinely frightened way more than once.
The teen says: "It's really good; I like it. 5/5 stars."
'Shaun of the Dead'
Shaun of the Dead is a zombie movie from 2004 that has a fairly massive cult following. It tells the story of Shaun, who is more or less stuck in a dead-end job until he is called upon to save the world from zombies.
The teen says: "I don't know if I can classify this as a horror movie, but it's a good zombie movie. It's reeeallyyyy good. 5/5 stars."
'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'
Listen: I know this movie isn't a Halloween movie, and you know this movie isn't a Halloween movie, but my 13-year-old insisted that it be added to the list because "it has France in it." Never mind that he has visited and enjoyed France.
The teen says: "Scary because it has France in it. Why? Teenagers don't need more information. 5/5 stars."
'The Cabin in the Woods'
The Cabin in the Woods is about a bunch of college students who end up part of an experiment conducted by two engineers who want to see how the students, whom they've drugged, respond to being attacked by monsters.
The teen says: "It's really good, a great horror movie. It's actually very good, do recommend to anyone who wants to begin horror movies or is a horror movie connoisseur. 4.9/5 stars, minus .1 because you don't see the evil gods' faces at the end."
'Young Frankenstein'
As a parody of the original, Young Frankenstein is certainly intended to be more funny than scary, though it'll probably inspire both sensations at different points.
The teen says: "YES, wonderful movie. 4.5/5 stars. Could use more Frankenstein."
'Halloween'
Halloween is the slasher movie that introduced us all to Michael Myers, but it turns out that kids these days aren't too scared of ol' Mike anymore.
The teen says: "It's cheesy, just an old '80s movie. Halloween out of 5 stars. Yeah, write that, they'll know what it means."
