False Advertising: Five Misleading Horror Titles
By on Aug 10, 2012
Oh, Chiller TV’s Friday premiere this week is Rise of the Dead! I’m always up for a cool, new zombie movie! What’s that you say? It’s not a zombie movie? What kind of “…of the Dead” movie isn’t about zombies?! Sigh. Yep, that’s right. While Rise of the Dead is a fun little diversion, it is not a zombie movie. On the bright side, it did give us the idea for this list of some of the most misleading horror movie titles of all time. Silver linings, people!
CANDYMAN (1992)
You might think this Bernard Rose film starring Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd is a delightful tale about the local guy who doles out candy by the fistful. Kind of like the guy in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. You’d be dead wrong. It’s actually about a frightening urban legend come to life in the form of the enormous, deep-voiced Tony Todd. It’s also awesome.
THE RING (2002)
I guess, technically, this film does involve a ring, but it’s not the kind you might be thinking. The title makes the film sound like a sweet romantic comedy about to get engaged, but the only ring you’re going to see in Gore Verbinski’s remake is the one you see “before you die.” Also, it’s a well… not really a ring. Still creepy as hell though.
TROLL 2 (1990)
Claudio Fragasso’s Troll 2 is the quintessential misleading horror movie title. While it does deliver the goods (or the extremely bads) in terms of silly horror movie thrills it does not, in fact, contain any trolls (they’re actually goblins) and it’s not really a true sequel at all. It did, however, spawn a fantastic documentary called Best Worst Movie. Be sure to check that one out.
THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW (1988)
Well, there might be some serpents in Wes Craven’s 1988 voodoo-zombie flick, there aren’t a whole lot of rainbows. At least not the kind of pretty unicorn rainbows you’re thinking of. There are, however, several spikes being driven through Bill Pullman’s man parts. Yikes. That still makes me cringe to this day.
FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (1989)
As much as we love Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan we’re not exactly sure if Jason ever even comes close to actually taking Manhattan. It would be more accurate if they called it: Jason Spends the Last 20 Minutes of the Movie Running Around Manhattan. That said, it did make for one hell of an awesome poster.
