The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Backwoods Brutality
The first sequel to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre where Tobe Hooper returns and pushes the series into an outrageously black sense of humour
Splatter Films
Splatter Films are works that place an emphasis on splatter, gore and blood-letting. These are works of horror, although many place their tongues in cheek and go over-the-top to become Horror Comedies. Works that are more concerned with creatures, transformations and mutations are listed under Makeup Effects Vehicles.
The first splatter film was Herschell Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast (1963). From there, Lewis built a career out of serving up painfully bad films whose sole virtue was depicting extreme bloodletting. Others soon followed suit.
The splatter film gained a major boost with George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), which showed numerous ways that zombies can be despatched. This was followed by the Slasher Film, in particular with Friday the 13th (1980) and sequels, that showed teens being despatched in a series of novelty deaths. Horror magazines of the day made superstars out of the various effects artists.
The splatter film’s heyday was in the 1980s-90s. Apart from occasional revivals, the genre has largely died away in the 2000s where the earlier reliance on makeup effects has become supplanted by digital gore, although there are many exceptions to this that prefer old school methods. In recent years, Japan has produced a robust output of ridiculously over-the-top splatter films.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
Backwoods Brutality
A remake of Tobe Hooper’s landmark classic that presaged a host of inferior 70s/80s horror remakes throughout the 2000s/10s. What we have is now a different film although not entirely an uninteresting one
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)
Backwoods Brutality
The ninth Texas Chainsaw Massacre film, this offers the intriguing idea of Leatherface vs millennials
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006)
Backwoods Brutality
Prequel to the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, which sets out to tell the origin story of the cannibal family. New director Jonathan Liebesman pushes the gore and sadism to Torture Porn extremes
13 Eerie (2013)
Zombie Film
A zombie film from the director who subsequently went on to make the WolfCop films. The one thing this has going for it are some convincing zombie makeups and exxxxtremely gory splatter effects
Thou Shalt Not Kill … Except (1985)
Crazed Cultists
Film made by several Sam Raimi associates about a crazed cult with Raimi making an acting appearance as the cult’s leader. This wades in much gory enthusiasm
Der Todesking (1990)
Anthology of Deaths and Suicides
From Jörg Buttgereit, director of the notorious NEKRomantik, an anthology that depicts various scenes of death and suicide. Essentially the original version of The ABCs of Death
Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Cops vs Bio-Mechanoid Mutants
One among the 00s spate of gonzo Japanese splatter films. The film exists as a series of outlandishly over-the-top and absurdly entertaining splatter and bizarrely cartoonish bio-mechanoid transformation
Toolbox Murders (2003)
Apartment Block Slasher
After a decade-long slump, Tobe Hooper started to show he still had what it took with this remake of the 1980 slasher film
The Toxic Avenger (1984)
Mutant Superhero/Bad Taste Splatter/Troma Film
The film that launched the name of Troma Films. The world’s first superhero splatter film, this readily dives into bad taste just to see what kind of offence it can get away with
The Toxic Avenger (2023)
Mutant Superhero/Troma Remake
A remake of the work that launched Troma films. The original The Toxic Avenger was a gungily nasty film that readily trod way over all lines of good taste. In being cast with name stars, this has been cleaned up considerably
Train (2008)
Torture Porn/Organ-Harvesting Train
A blatant copy of Hostel featuring tourists caught aboard a train in Ukraine that runs an organ-harvesting operation
Trick (2019)
Halloween Killer
In an era where horror has become safe and mainstream, where content is specifically marketed to PG-audiences, this film about a killer that strikes on Halloween comes with a ferocious gore-drenched enthusiasm
Troma’s War (1988)
Troma Film
The nearest that Troma Films ever made to an epic, their biggest budgeted film ever, a satiric war film, albeit conducted with their usual cartoon splatter effects and bad taste humour
Tromeo & Juliet (1996)
Bad Taste Shakespeare Parody/Troma Film
Made to coincide with the Leonardo DiCaprio Romeo and Juliet, this Troma offering sets out to conduct as many bad taste variations on Shakespeare as it can
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (2010)
Backwoods Brutality Parody
An amusing parody of the Backwoods Brutality film where the hillbillies are likeable innocents and the college kids end up killing themselves in a series of bizarre accidents. Amusing, although in the end is only a one-joke film
Turbo Kid (2015)
Retro 80s Parody of Post-Holocaust Films
There is a fantastically witty idea here – a low-tech parody of the 1980s post-holocaust film – but one that seems in search of an accompanying film. The film overspills with retro ephemera and stylistic jokes but I wish there had been more to it beyond the hook of the initial joke
Turistas (2006)
Organ Harvesting of Tourists
A blatant copy of Hostel about tourists in Brazil being abducted into an organ harvesting scheme. Director John Stockwell seems distracted by filming diving scenes
Turkey Shoot (1983)
Future Prison/Human Bloodsports
Ridiculous, splatter-heavy Australian-made film about a prison camp where prisoners are offered their freedom in a run while pursued by armed hunters
Twitch of the Death Nerve (1971)
Giallo Psycho-Thriller
A giallo thriller from Mario Bava that is often regarded as the prototype of the slasher film. The film borrows from Agatha Christie with people isolated on an island being killed amid Bava’s artily extravagant set-ups
2001 Maniacs (2005)
Splatter/Southern Town of Maniacs
Eli Roth-produced remake of the Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter film Two Thousand Maniacs, this plants tongue in cheek, is fairly and squarely aimed at a frat boy audience and unapologetic about piling on copious amounts of gore and naked breasts
2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams (2010)
Splatter/Southern Town of Maniacs
Sequel to the outrageously gory 2001 Maniacs, although here the horror comedy balance spills over into absurd farce and cheap gore effects. Crucially, the film seems cheaper and less polished, more messy and random in terms of its arrangements
Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)
Splatter/Southern Town of Maniacs
One of the better of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s cheap splatter films, set in a Confederate town that exists in a timewarp and slaughters all outsiders
Undead (2003)
Zombie Splatter and Alien Abductions
Appealingly quirky homemade zombie film that launched the career of Australia’s Spierig Brothers. The two demonstrate a considerable inventivity when it comes to the visual and makeup effects, which they created all themselves
Until Dawn (2025)
Videogame Adaptation/Caught in a Timeloop
The film adaptation of the popular videogame where a group enter a lodge and become caught in a timeloop where they face horrors and are killed and then resurrected to face them again
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl (2009)
Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film
Completely insane Japanese film that wades in gore while playing everything up at a level of demented cartoonish absurdity. Possibly the most delirious movie-watching fun it is possible to have
Versus (2000)
Yakuza Zombies/Splatter
The directorial debut of Ryuhei Kitamura. A film premised on the idea of mashing the John Woo-styled gangster film up with the gore-drenched George Romero zombie film.
VFW (2019)
Barroom Under Siege from Crazed Drug Addicts
Joe Begos makes an ultra-violent homage to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 with a group of war veterans in a bar at siege against a horde of crazed drug addicts outside
V/H/S Viral (2014)
Anthology of Found Footage Horror Tales
Third of the V/H/S films, all horror anthologies in the Found Footage style. While the other two were fairly hit and miss, this is extremely good. Each of the four stories sits among the very best episodes among the current crop of multi-director horror anthologies
Victor Crowley (2017)
Slasher Film Homage
Adam Green has enjoyed some success with the Hatchet films; this is the fourth entry in the series … Most of the other films have consisted of not much more than buckets of gore and a host of genre cameos – here though, Green adds a considerable sense of humour to the mix
Violent Shit (1989)
Splatter and Gore/Psycho Film
Boundary-pushing film that consists almost entirely of very enthusiastic splatter and gore scenes. Amateurishly shot on video nevertheless this gained a cult following and produced sequels
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023)
Horror Version of Children’s Character
Yes, someone made a horror version of the much loved children’s character. Imagine The Texas Chain Saw Massacre where Leatherface has been replaced by Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey II (2024)
Horror Version of Children’s Character
Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey offered a horror version of the much loved children’s character. This is more of the same with a bigger budget
Witness Infection (2020)
Mafia Zombies Comedy
Unexpectedly rather funny comedy that combines Mafia on a witness protection program and zombies
The Wizard of Gore (1970)
Splatter Magician
One of Herschell Gordon Lewis’s splatter films about a stage magician who cuts up women on stage and real life. The film makes mind boggling plays between reality and illusion
The Wizard of Gore (2007)
Splatter Magician
A remake of the cult Herschell Gordon Lewis splatter film about a stage magician who creates illusions of eviscerating people on stage
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)
Backwoods Brutality
A sequel that has been arranged for the sole purpose of serving up a series of gory dispatch set-pieces every few minutes
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021)
Zombie Apocalypse
Sequel to the cult Australian zombie film, this refines the first film and exists as even more of a visual comic-book – all that seems missing is dialogue that comes in comic balloons
Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014)
Zombie Apocalypse
Australian zombie film that comes with a hyperactive fierceness and energy that reminds of early Sam Raimi or Peter Jackson. On the minus side, the zombie genre is now so creatively strip-mined that the film never offers anything original
Xombies 3D (2011)
Norwegian Zombie Film
Amid the vast horde of low-budget zombie films of the 00s, this Norwegian effort in 3D emerges as possibly the worst. It has no discernible plot, while the gore only consists of cheap digital overlays that looks like Monty Python cutout animation
Yakuza Weapon (2011)
Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film/Yakuza With Cyborg Attachments
Another Gonzo Japanese Splatter Film about a Yakuza heir who is blown apart by rivals and then rebuilt with cyborg attachments
Yummy (2019)
Sinister Hospital Black Comedy/Zombie Oubreak
Belgian film that starts out as a blackly funny work about a cut-price East European hospital before seguing into a zombie film
Zombie Ass: The Toilet of the Dead (2011)
Gonzo Japanese Horror/Zombie Ass Parasites
Completely insane gonzo Japanese horror that feels like it is made by a mad scat fetishist involving parasites that emerge out of people’s asses. The film is driven by its outrageously perverse imagery but for all that is haphazard and incoherent when it comes to explanatory rationale
Zombie – Flesh Eaters (1979)
Italian Zombie Splatter
Italian film conceived as a quickie copy of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead with the focus on gore scenes. This made the name of cult Italian splatter director Luci Fulci.
Zombie Holocaust (1980)
Italian Zombie/Cannibal Film
One of the most extreme films among the early 1980s fad for Italian zombie films, which it also manages to merge with the Italian cannibal film. Beyond the provision of gore effects, there is not much else to the film
Zombie Strippers! (2008)
Zombie Film
One of the more entertaining entries among the gonzo zombie film, this offers precisely what its title promises in an appealingly trashy, sarcastic and suitably gore-drenched blend
Zombieland (2009)
Zombie Comedy
Enjoyable zombie comedy that has been regarded as a classic by many and contains an appealing nonchalant sense of humour and some great performances, even if it owes much to Shaun of the Dead
Zombies of Mass Destruction (2009)
Zombie Social Satire
The social metaphors of George Romero’s original zombie films has been missing from the modern equivalents. This takes them up again with great enthusiasm, making a critique of USA attitudes post 9/11, hammering its message home with all the subtlety of a 26-point headline
Zombieworld (2015)
Anthology of Zombie Short Films
A multi-director anthology of zombie-themed short films. As always in an anthology, the episodes vary but these are generally good with the standout being the side-splitting episode where Jesus faces a zombie horde