Top Cheesy Guilty Pleasures

by Bill
(Massachusetts, USA)

Prepare to be horrified by the cheesy effects, chilled by the unrealistic creatures, and disturbed by your inability to not enjoy these horror films.

In no particular order:

1. Rawhead Rex (1986). A Clive Barker tale of a beast summoned for revenge in a small Irish village. The story is silly, although entertaining, the creature is cheesy, but fun. Loved it as a kid, nostalgic as an adult.

2. Prophecy (1979). No, not the Christopher Walken film, rather a Robert Foxworth/Talia Shire movie where human carelessness results in a most unnatural mutation of nature. Interesting story - late '70s all the way. Director John Frankenheimer has quite a long list of directorial credits, yet none I doubt are as much of a guilty pleasure as Prophecy.

3. C.H.U.D. (1984). Cannibalistic. Humanoid. Underground. Dwellers. How can it get any better than that? Again, humankind creates it's own monsters, this time with radioactive waste being dumped in the city sewer system. So cheesy, yet so many well known actors such as John Heard, Daniel Stern and John Goodman. Despite my love for this one, I won't go near the 1989 sequel C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud.

4. The Killer Shrews (1959). Seriously, anybody who missed this on a Saturday afternoon in the '70s or '80s really missed out. Giant mutated shrews...or dogs with rugs strapped to their backs...you be the judge. Director Ray Kellog also is famous for another '50s classic you need to check out as well, The Giant Gila Monster (1959).

5. Abominable (2006). Interesting take on the Bigfoot/Abominable Snowman story where instead of being a misunderstood, gentle giant, this bigfoot is out for blood and splatters a lot of it. The creature is one ugly looking sasquatch, not the typical ape-like mug on this one. As in a number of the movies in this genre, Lance Hendrickson plays a part, although not the lead.

6. Pumpkinhead (1988). Speaking of Lance, who doesn't feel guilt and pleasure at the same time when watching this classic? Summoning an evil demon for revenge is once again a bad idea, especially one as creepy as Pumpkinhead.

7. Attack of the Giant Leeches (1950). If you can get a decent quality copy of this B&W, it's a fun view, and ultra cheesy. Look for the many mistakes in dialogue, creature effects, etc. The Cormans had a hand in this one, how can it be bad?

8. Not a movie, but a group of movies, since we're talking Roger Corman; the whole Vincent Price era in Corman's movies are always great. No monsters and demons, unless you count us humans as monsters. Roger Corman certainly did.

Well, there's eight and I've got plenty more. Do they have mass appeal? Ground breaking effects? High scare factor? Huge money machines pumping them up? No, and those are some of the best things I like about them.