Rob Zombie’s Most Hated Horror Movies

Here’s a guide to Rob Zombie’s most hated horror movies. Musician Rob Zombie made his directorial debut with 2003’s House Of 1000 Corpses, which received mixed reviews but has since become a cult favorite. Despite the film’s rocky reception, Zombie quickly followed up with an acclaimed sequel dubbed The Devil’s Rejects, which was less of a horror movie than a gritty modern-day Western. In the years that followed Zombie would follow with his duology of Halloween remakes and 3 From Hell – the last part of his Firefly family movie trilogy.

Rob Zombie has a distinct style and is greatly influenced by both classic black and white horror movies and genre films from the ’70s. Zombie’s work is often brutally violent and uncompromising, with The Devil’s Rejects often cited as his best film to date. That said, his filmography has proven divisive, such as his remake of Halloween featuring unlikable characters and a lack of genuine tension or suspense.

When it comes to Zombie’s favorite horror movies he’s cited the likes of White Zombie – unsurprisingly – and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He’s also got strong opinions on what he doesn’t too, so here are Rob Zombie’s most hated horror movies.

Dracula 2000 (2000)

Dracula 2000 is a glossy action-horror movie that tried to update the Count for the new millennium. Dracula 2000 cast Gerald Butler as the title monster, with a cast that also included Christopher Plummer as Van Helsing, Jonny Lee Miller and Jeri Ryan, but while it features a surprisingly creative new origin for Dracula and some fun setpieces, it’s aged poorly.

Zombie didn’t mince words about Dracula 2000 while chatting with Revolver magazine, stating “This may be the worst movie ever committed to film. I found every single thing about it to be offensive, from top to bottom.” If that didn’t make his feelings entirely clear, the filmmaker closed with “Everything about this movie is complete horses***.“

The Mummy Returns (2001)

The Mummy Returns is more of an overblown summer blockbuster than a horror movie, though it has horror-leaning sequences. While the previous movie was an entertaining mix of action and horror, The Mummy Returns gave itself over to an endless parade of noisy setpieces and shoddy CGI – including the now infamous Scorpion King VFX finale. Whereas The Mummy still holds up, The Mummy Returns failed to match it in every area. It’s one of Rob Zombie’s most hated horror movies because “This was a 10th generation crappy Raiders of the Lost Ark rip-off.“

Scream 2 (1997)

The most surprising entry on Zombie’s most hated list goes to Scream 2 – though it might actually be Scream 3. Says Zombie, “When I saw Scream 2 on TV, I just hated it. Though it could have been Scream 3, I can’t remember which one it was, and that’s never a good sign.” Scream 2 is considered one of that franchise’s best sequels, being both an effective slasher with some intense stalking scenes and a witty deconstruction of the genre. That said, perhaps the sequel’s meta reflection and a cast of improbably good-looking victims wasn’t to Zombie’s taste.

Psycho (1998)

Psycho 1998 is director Gus Van Sant’s remake of the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie. Instead of reinventing or putting a new spin on the idea, the remake copied the original’s dialogue and scenes almost shot for shot, with Van Sant claiming his entry in the Psycho movie franchise was a grand cinematic experiment to see if xeroxing a great movie would result in one; critics and audiences generally agreed it did not. “I picked this not because it’s the worst film ever made, but because it’s the most pointless film ever made,” stated Zombie.

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)

The final entry on Rob Zombie’s most hated horror movies list goes to I Know What You Did Last Summer. This certainly suggests Zombie is not a fan of Kevin Williamson’s meta-slasher era, as the scribe also penned the first two Scream movies. I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of that cycle’s better entries and plays like a whodunnit instead of a gory slasher. Zombie’s review of the movie is “Once again, dopey teen actors being menaced by … what? The Morton’s Fisherman guy? That’s not a horror movie, that’s barely a Nancy Drew mystery.”

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3486 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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