The Absolute Best Killer Insect Horror Movie, According To Reddit
With a veritable golden age of genre cinema dominating the world of cinema, horror fans have never had as many blood-curdling delights to choose from. Thankfully, the streaming realm continues to ensure they've never had quite as many avenues to catch up on all the blood-spattered slashers, nightmarish Lovecraftian thrillers, and grotesque creature features making their way into the world. But with so much creepy new content being released and so many classics worthy of discovery, it's getting more and more difficult to decide which frightful flicks are worthy of your time and money.
Fear not, though, because horror die-hards have been narrowing the field of fright-filled treats on Dreadit by ranking the best and bloodiest flicks out there, from every horrific sub-genre and generation. Of late, Dreaditors have gone through the pain-staking tasks of ranking the all-time greatest vampire flicks, the best of the sci-fi horror pack, and even pit genre icons The Shining and The Exorcist against each other for an unholy horror face off. Their latest undertaking found them ranking bug-infested hits from the creepiest, crawliest of sub-genres for a killer insect movie showdown.
Ranking this particular subgenre is no easy task, mind you, as killer insect cinema may be the most unsettling of them all — if only because bugs are real, and therefore a lot harder to write off than some of horror's more fanciful frights. Still, twisted stories of killer spiders, and slugs, and flies (oh my!) have become as legit a genre staple over the years as killer clowns and un-seeable specters. And once the votes were cast in Dreadit's latest reader poll, the title of king of the killer insect flicks went to a sci-fi body horror marvel for the ages.
David Cronenberg's The Fly is the end-all, be-all of killer insect cinema
Yes, David Cronenberg's 1986 masterpiece of DNA-crossing grotesqueries, The Fly, was indeed voted the best of the killer insect horror movies. And anyone who has ever witnessed the descent of Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) from genius physicist to the horribly mutated, murderous "Brundlefly" can confirm it's more than worthy of the top spot. That remains true even if the killer creature in Cronenberg's film is as much man as it is insect. In truth, The Fly may be all the more terrifying because of its killer creature's underlying humanity. And yeah, the film's groundbreaking, jaw-droppingly gruesome (and Oscar-winning) makeup effects continue to test the mettle of genre gurus even decades after The Fly was released. As such, the effects alone imbue the very eighties-centric film with a surprising timelessness, that makes it every bit as enjoyable for modern audiences. Factor in brilliant performances from Goldblum and costar Geena Davis, and you've got the formula for a true genre icon.
Fans of killer insect flicks will likely discover a few other movies on that Dreadit list worthy of iconic killer insect status. That includes the #2 film, James Gunn's space-parasite horror comedy Slither, which has risen from cult classic to genre staple in recent years. And as for the #3 flick, well, it's safe to say the eight-legged horrors of Arachnaphobia have been traumatizing viewers since 1990. Ditto for the #4 and #5 flicks, Guillermo Del Toro's man-eating cockroach creeper Mimic and the David Arquette-starring Eight Legged Freaks, respectively. For those in search of a hidden gem, look no further than the #9 entry, 2008's parasite chiller Splinter.
As for the rest of the films, they hold nightmares aplenty for those with an aversion to bugs.