Games

Best Superhero Horror Movies

Published

2 months ago

October 13, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Key Takeaways

Table of Contents

Superhero movies are typically exciting but do not evoke feelings of dread, but some, like Priest, explore darker themes.
Constantine creates a bleak atmosphere and deviates from a happy ending, departing from typical superhero movie tropes.
The movie Blade features a unique vampire antihero, straying from the usual gothic horror or romantic portrayals of vampires.

Superhero movies are basically their own genre, comprised of brave individuals who use their powers to save the world from supervillains while causing millions in property damage in the process. These movies elicit excitement and adrenaline as they watch the heroes and villains go toe to toe, routing for one side or the other.

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What they normally don’t do is illicit feelings of dread or unease with horrifying visuals in the form of characters, locations, or the themes explored. While no superhero film will have the audience cowering behind cushions for safety, there are still several of these movies that verge on the dark side.

6 Priest

A Trained Warrior Must Face Dangerous Vampires

Release Date: May 13, 2011
Director: Scott Stewart
Running Time: 1hr 27m

Vampires and humans waged war for centuries, devastating the world and leading to the founding of a theocracy and a group of elite-trained warriors to give humanity a fighting chance, called Priests. When the war ends, the Priests try to reintegrate into society, but one Priest is called out of retirement to save his niece, who was kidnapped by the vampire who tore her family to pieces. The Priest acts outside of the Church’s authority, prompting them to send other Priests after him.

His journey will span numerous locations, showing an alternative Earth ravaged by wars, creating a rather dystopian and grim-dark world befitting of the monsters dwelling within it. With surprising revelations made about Lucy’s parentage, and the refusal of the Church to recognize evidence thrown at their feet, the story of Priest is one that is truly gripping, taking many twists and turns, which sets it apart from other superhero movies that tend to be more cut and dry.

5 Brightburn

A Darker Take on the Superman Story

Release Date: May 24, 2019
Director: David Yarovesky
Running Time: 1hr 30m

Everyone is familiar with the story of DC’s Superman. He crashes into the earth as a baby and is taken in by a kindly couple. He uses his powers for the good of the world, being one of the most noble superheroes of all time. But, what if Superman was not the benevolent alien he appears as in most media? Brightburn explores this idea, as Brandon, the child who is found at the bottom of a crater by Tori and Kyle Breyer, who take him in and raise him as their own.

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As his powers begin to exhibit, so does the darker side of his nature. He becomes increasingly aggressive, which makes a terrifying combination with his powers of flight and preternatural strength. As is the norm for superhero movies, Brandon seems to conquer all of his foes, including his own family. The movie ends on the ominous note that this could just be the start of their world’s troubles, as there are none who could possibly be strong enough to face him.

4 Constantine

An Occult Expert Who Battles Demons

Release Date: February 18th, 2005
Director: Francis Lawrence
Running Time: 2hrs 1m

In the world of Constantine, a treaty that kept demons from entering Earth is breached as demons seek to come to the mortal plane through their human victims, and John Constantine is one of the few willing to do the dirty work of exorcising them out of humans and banishing them back to hell, all the while battling with lung cancer. He knows he is on the clock, but rather than living his life to the fullest, he continues his work, much to the chagrin of the angel Gabriel.

Constantine has a very bleak feeling present throughout the film, provided by a dying protagonist and a world infested by demons. Though he outwits the devil at the end and is brought back to life and spared the flames of Hell, for now, it still doesn’t feel like a happy ending that superhero movies normally provide. Even though he triumphed, it doesn’t feel like a complete victory for Constantine, and it is up to the viewers to decide if he won Lucifer’s gambit, or if he got his soul in the end.

3 Blade

The Daywalker Who Hunts Vampires

Release Date: August 21, 1998
Director: Stephen Norrington
Running Time: 2hrs

One of the more forgotten and overlooked Marvel movies, but still the utmost classic, Blade certainly deserves more time in the sun, metaphorically speaking. This badass-fanged superhero owes his special abilities not to being an alien or being bitten by a radioactive spider, but to being a bloodthirsty creature of the night.

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More of an antihero than a straight-up hero, he uses his nature to do good rather than harm, cleansing the world of the scourge of his vampiric brethren, specifically a vampire named Deacon Frost, who revels in his nature, hosting the iconic blood-rave in his LA club. Vampires are more often than not used for gothic horror or romance, such as seen in movies such as Let the Right One In or Only Lovers Left Alive, respectively. Having the lead in a superhero movie be a vampire is certainly a novel and unique movie, and paid off as this movie is nothing short of excellent.

2 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

The Multiverse Leads to Some Strange and Horrifying Places

Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness

Release Date: May 6, 2022
Director: Sam Raimi
Runtime: 126 minutes

Hopping from dimension to dimension is bound to lead to some strange and maddening places, and this is exactly what happened in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Marvel’s first stab at a surreal horror film involved the Scarlet Witch, who would do anything and sacrifice anyone to be reunited with the two children she had in her spin-off TV series. She travels across different universes in search of the power she needs, with Strange in pursuit to stop her machinations.

Marvel movies always boast beautiful and impressive visuals thanks to the efforts of their SFX team as well as a substantial budget, and the Multiverse of Madness verges towards surreal horror, with scenes of twisting madness and distorting characters in a way that only people like John Carpenter could dream of. For anyone looking for a genuinely frightening superhero movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness should already be on their radar, if they haven’t watched this movie already.

1 The Crow

An Epic Tale of Love and Revenge

Release Date: May 13th, 1994
Director: Alex Proyas
Running Time: 1hr 42m

On the night before Halloween, the day they were due to be married, Eric Draven and Shelley Webster were brutally murdered. One year later, a crow arrives at Eric’s grave and raises him from the dead to right the wrong done to them the year before. He experiences flashbacks of the tragic events, so he knows who exactly to go for.

The movie is spent with Eric working through his murderous to-do list, disposing of the dangerous, rowdy, and demented gang members, often in an extremely brutal and creative fashion. Once his work is done, his body returns to rest, and his spirit departs with Shelley’s. It’s a bittersweet ending that sees the two lovers reunited, but Sarah is left alone, bereft of her friends once more. The Crow maintains a melancholic and gothic feel throughout the movie, which aren’t normally themes in ordinary superhero movies.