A few months ago, after reading a rather laughable “most disturbing movies” list from Buzzfeed, we put together our own list of The 11 Most Disturbing Horror Movies Of All Time. This highly researched list (seriously, I watched way too many movies for that list), was met with a multitude of responses. “You’ve clearly never seen a disturbing movie.” “You think that’s disturbing?” “That one has too much vomit for me,” etc. Since we dedicated July to gore and gory horror films, we wondered what YOU would think the goriest horror movie is.
Your responses were all over the board and were interesting to look through. Some of the responses we received were on the money, like Martyrs, The August Underground Trilogy, The Human Centipede 2, and films of that ilk.
To whomever said Pearl, I suggest you don’t watch any of the films on this list.
After a two-week poll, the results are in!
Top Six Goriest Horror Films According to Readers
(Author’s note: there was a three-way tie for fourth place so we’ll do the top six with the tied films all taking fourth place.)
6. Hellraiser (1987)
Clive Barker’s masterful, practical effect-filled nightmare is a classic for a reason. Even those who aren’t fans of the film cannot deny just how brutal, goopy, and downright chilling the practical effects are. From one brother coming back to life and stealing his brother’s skin, to hundreds of hooks in someone’s skin ready to rip them apart, Hellraiser is truly a horror classic.
Jesus really did weep.
5. The Green Inferno (2013)
Described (by me) as the last solid film Eli Roth made, The Green Inferno was a brutal homage to the Italian cannibal films of the 70s and 80s. I remember seeing this in the theaters as a 19-year-old, and I couldn’t help but shake the feeling that I had watched something I should not have been allowed to watch in a theater. Is this what people felt when they saw Cannibal Holocaust all those years ago? Everything about The Green Inferno is impressive, even if it’s hard to watch. It may look more polished and clean than the films it was homaging, but there’s still a distinct horrific authenticity to the violence.
4. Ready or Not (2019)
To horror fans, the names Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett might ring a bell, but for general audiences, that name might not mean much. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett were part of the filmmaking team Radio Silence, who would have a hand in one of the best segments in the V/H/S franchise and then would go on to take over the directing reigns of Scream 5 and 6. Ready or Not would be a critical and financial success, putting their names on the map for general filmgoers. I don’t necessarily agree that Ready or Not should be on this list, even if it’s a great movie. This all goes back to one of the questions raised in our Top 11 Most Disturbing Movies list: can one scene make up for a lack of gore throughout a film?
If so, then there’s definitely one scene in Ready or Not that’s pretty gory. Other than that, ehhhhhh.
3. Evil Dead (2013)
Fede Alvarez came out swinging with his remake of this horror classic. 2013’s Evil Dead was a surprising change from the franchise’s campy horror comedy. Honestly, who can forget the tongue scene? Yuck! Evil Dead would use [reportedly] 700,000 gallons of fake blood. If that’s not enough to get you to the top of the list, I don’t know what is (even if a good portion of it was used for the blood rain). Evil Dead would be followed up with an equally gruesome, and scary, film that would go on to flip the franchise on its head with Lee Cronin’s Evil Dead Rise.
2. Terrifier 2 (2022)
This is the only film on this list that I have received death threats about! A few years ago I wrote about how I just do not like the Terrifier films, and the totally normal fans were not happy. Here’s a snippet of some DMs I received: “I hope Art cuts you from dick to head,” “I’d pay to watch Art skin you in your bedroom,” “F*gg*t.”
I can understand why this film was voted for so many times, I mean Scream 6 tooootally stole a bunch of ideas from this masterpiece! Anyway, this is your list, not mine. Um. Sure, the bedroom scene is pretty gnarly, but this 2 ½ hour bore fest just doesn’t do it for me.
1. Brain Dead/Dead Alive (1992)
Peter Jackson’s gorefest Dead Alive is beloved by many who seek gory films. The first half of the film is fairly tame, and kind of hysterical. It’s not until you get to the mid-second act that things get gross as hell. If you want to watch a practical effects masterclass of blood and viscera, then you must check out the unrated cut of Dead Alive. You can read my full thoughts on it here.