15 Best of Meta-Horror Films

Meta-Cred: Metaphors the killer as being the audience. Meta before the metafilm existed. Slasher before the slasher genre existed. Decades ahead of its time, Peeping Tom attacked the audience and they fought back ending director Michael Powell's career. It's since been regarded as a visionary film even out of the scope of horror. Forcing the audience to view the killer's kills through the lens of an on-screen camera hit far too close to home for critics and audiences of the time though.

Meta-Cred: Expounds on tropes, sucker punches audience. Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard's nifty little love song to the Evil Dead II (1987). Without spoiling the film, it explored modern tropes of the slasher genre in a unique and clever way. Wildly weaving together low budget scares and high-budget CGI into something entirely different.

Meta-Cred: Expounds on tropes, reveals the inner villain. Another modern slasher trope exploration that is a must have for any serious horror collector. Both funny and smart, it flips the audience on its back numerous times. You'll never look at a horror film villain in the same light again. Enjoy the ride as Leslie Vernon takes you by the hand and shows you the tricks of the trade before making you question everything you just learned.

Meta-Cred: Defines slasher tropes for the widespread audience. Maybe not the best film on the list, but well respected and well admired for its revival of the industry in the mid-90's. It explored and defined rules and tropes of the genre for the most popcorn of audiences. The series downgraded sharply after this film, but Scream stands the test of time as a solid film. Even if it inadvertently spawned numerous bad horror films starring the hot young teenybopper actors of the time.

Meta-Cred: Defines zombie tropes for the widespread audience. Often missed as being meta, but in essence did the very same things that Scream did a decade before. Its not a deep or unique meta experience, but its a well made and well received film. Definitely contains one of the best cameo appearances of all time.

Meta-Cred: Chastises the audience for its love of violence. Michael Haneke's utterly pitch black humor cast a dark sullen shadow on the audience. A message against violence and audience expectations, he purposefully shatters the fourth wall several times to drive his point home. That point? We're all sick individuals for watching this crap.

Meta-Cred: Twists tropes, forces audience to realign them. The closest on this list to crossing the line into parody from true meta-horror. Tucker and Dale puts a whole spin on the genre allowing for a comedy of errors as two normal "rednecks" are mistaken for backwood killers. A point of view twist that eventually forces you to redefine the given roles in a film.

Meta-Cred: Explores the effect of horror on those who create it. It's odd to find a long held campy horror series all of sudden taking a very serious turn so deep into the franchise count. It wasn't well received by audiences, but critics have increasingly given it strong reviews. Wes Craven put this out a few years before Scream and its roots definitely are felt through out his far more popular work. If anything Scream is a spiritual sequel to the concepts presented in New Nightmare.

Meta-Cred: Challenges the neutrality of filmmakers. Set in black in white, this true cult classic didn't gain much notoriety until much later. The film challenges just how neutral filmmakers are as the documentarians in this mockumentary go from passively watching to actively participating in serial killings. It ultimately condemns them and sends an interpretative message about the existence of neutrality all together.

Meta-Cred: Explores horror as being art or dangerous. Somewhere between campy and pretension is Murder Party that takes not so subtle jabs at the art community. Hidden beneath that though is a commentary that directly plays into the whole violence in the media debate. A fun little film for the more serious fans of the genre.

Meta-Cred: Embraces tropes of the industry. 80's horror at its finest, rather than going deep and exploring one genre deeply it took on the entire Golden Age of Horror monster catalog. A tad stereotypical, but every bit masterful monster mash-up. One of the films that shaped my childhood.

Meta-Cred: Attacks Hollywood's lack of creativity. B-grade horror meets high art. The whole premise lures in the audience with the promise of a ridiculous C-grade late night SyFy channel offering, only to sucker punch them with a pretentious think piece. The message gets a little convoluted and is probably lost on 9 out of 10 people that watch it. Its worth a watch, just remember you're walking into a high-brow concept film with an utterly ridiculous premise.

Meta-Cred: Embraces tropes of the industry. Like Monster Squad, Waxwork takes on a broad stable of horror films and premises. Waxwork's stable is a little less iconic at times, but still pretty fun. Besides its always fun to see Zach Galligan in a decent film that isn't the childhood favorite Gremlins (1984).

Meta-Cred: Attacks both critics and fans of his own films. The one thing the Human Centipede II makes clear is that Tom Six wants you to know its just a film. Its a little up in the air whether or not the black and white sequel attacks his fans, critics or both. I had a hard time enjoying the film on any level, but was left with the impression that it was much better than most would care to admit.

Meta-Cred: Directly questions the audiences love of violence. Ever fourth wall breaking, The Last Horror Movie challenges the audience in a similar vein to Funny Games. Its unfortunately not as well made or enjoyable. Always funny to see a film that chastises its viewers for being the only ones that would ever watch it.

Bonus Film: Exploits tropes and expectations. Feast makes the list for its refusal to adopt to standard tropes, despite assuring the audience directly that it will. An irreverent little kicker of a film that doesn't have a truly meta-message. Just swims against the stream for its own comedic gain.