The Avengers have saved the world from robots and aliens, but who do you call when you’ve got serial killers, zombies, vampires or evil mirrors? You also call The Avengers, because most of the cast and crew of the blockbuster franchise have impressive horror pedigrees, and have all fought – or become – the forces of evil in one way or another over the years.
Whether you’re in the mood to watch Iron Man, The Hulk and Mysterio investigate a serial killer, or watch Captain Marvel, Nick Fury and Loki fight giant monsters (or watch Stan Lee complain about comic book deadlines during the middle of a deadly kidnapping spree), there’s something in The Avengers’ collective resumé for just about any kind of horror fan!
Cabin in the Woods (2012)
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Chris Hemsworth wasn’t a part of the MCU when Cabin in the Woods started filming, or even when it was finished, but due to post-production delays he was already world famous as the mighty Thor by the time this insidiously clever horror-comedy came out. Co-written by Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon, and directed by Drew Goddard (who later turned Hemsworth in a cult leader in Bad Times at the El Royale), the film is about a bunch of college students who vacation at a cabin in the woods, unaware that they’re being watched by two mysterious bureaucrats who really, really, REALLY need them to die. Unpredictable, gory, and smart.
Under the Skin (2013)
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Scarlett Johansson took a break from the MCU to star in this acclaimed arthouse sci-fi horror thriller from director Jonathan Glazer. In the film she plays an alien who takes the form of Scarlett Johansson, and prowls the streets in a creepy van, picking up horny men and luring them to their otherworldly doom. Along the way she becomes fascinated with the idea of her human sexuality, in a film that seems to comment directly on the global obsession with the actor’s appearance. Johansson filmed many of the Under the Skin’s scenes in crowds who didn’t know they were being filmed. Their reactions to her beauty and celebrity are real.
Zodiac (2007)
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Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Mysterio himself, Jake Gyllenhaal co-star in a film that, lately, seems likely to go down as David Fincher’s masterpiece. Zodiac tells the horrifyingly true story of the Zodiac Killer, who plagued San Francisco and toyed with the press and police in the 1970s, and who was never brought to justice. The real-life story offers no catharsis so neither does Fincher’s film, which underlines the obsessive qualities of everyone who dedicated their lives to solving the mystery and never accomplished their goals. The murder scenes are few, but frightening, and yet the dread fills every impeccably designed frame.
1408 (2007)
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Samuel J. Jackson took a break from running S.H.I.E.L.D. to run the Dolphin Hotel, a luxury destination with a dark secret hidden in room 1408. John Cusack stars as a writer investigating haunted hotels and in Mikael Håfström’s he finally finds one, despite the protestations of Jackson. Our hero spends most of the film in that one room, while Stephen King’s cagey story finds unexpected ways to turn a single location into one of the most breathless and inventive haunted house tales you’ve ever seen.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
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Before he directed Thor: Ragnarok, and before he co-starred as the rocky gladiator Korg, Taika Waititi was directing or co-directing wonderful New Zealand genre comedies like What We Do in the Shadows. The film co-stars Waititi as one of several vampires who live together in the 21st century, struggling to adapt to new social conventions, and proving themselves just as lovably neurotic as any of the all-time great comedy characters. Co-written, co-directed and co-starring Jemaine Clement, What We Do in the Shadows plays with every vampire genre trope and somehow, amidst all that nuts-and-bolts cleverness, never loses sight of the characters’ (demonic) humanity.
Annihilation (2018)
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MCU alumni Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson co-star in Alex Garland’s visually and thematically ambitious sci-fi/horror thriller, about an inexplicable alien “shimmer” that keeps growing and infecting everything it touches. It’s up to a team of scientists, led by Jennifer Jason Leigh, to step inside the foreboding zone and find a way to save the planet. Once inside they are besieged by shocking monstrosities, but the real terror may be growing inside of them already. Benedict Wong shows up as well, as the scientist to whom this ominous tale is being told.
Oculus (2013)
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Mike Flanagan’s breakout horror film stars Nebula herself, Karen Gillan, as a young woman whose past has been haunted – quite literally – by a cursed mirror. Oculus weaves back and forth between her childhood and her present, when she plans to finally destroy the mirror once and for all. The mirror has other plans, and fear, madness and a truly repulsive scene with a lightbulb ensue. Oculus plays by odd rules but Gillan’s excellent performance and Flanagan’s boundless energy make it a scary, unusual treat.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
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Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Reilly, Shea Whigham and even Terry Notary, who provides the motion capture for Groot, co-star in this satisfying big budget creature feature. Larson plays a photographer trying to expose military secrets, who stumbles into the biggest secret of all: a clandestine mission to Skull Island, home of fearsome giant beasts and – of course – their king, Kong. Inventive creature designs and a grand sense of scale lift Kong: Skull Island out of its rather obvious Vietnam War allegories, and highlight just how incredible this MonsterVerse can be.
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
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Before she got trapped in the Quantum Realm, Michelle Pfeiffer had Satan’s baby. And it was hilarious. Susan Sarandon and Cher co-star as small-town witches who accidentally summon a horny devil into their midst, and one-by-one they fall prey to his sleazy and charismatic charms. And of course, there’s no actor who does “sleazy and charismatic” better than Jack Nicholson, who mugs his way through George Miller’s classic horror comedy, having the time of his life. The impeccable cast and sharp writing keep The Witches of Eastwick grounded in pointed social commentary, telling an entertainingly dark tale of women who are trapped in a magically abusive relationship and fight their way out.
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011)
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Elizabeth Olsen plays the title character, a young woman roped into a cult led by the slippery John Hawkes, who escapes and moves in with her sister’s family, only to find them unsettlingly unsympathetic. The horrors of Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene are largely psychological, but the threat of real violence is everywhere. Emotional isolation leads to gross manipulation leads to perpetual paranoia. Escape is temporary. Fear is a permanent scar.
Pitch Black (2000)
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The only thing worse than crash-landing on a planet full of nocturnal man-eaters just before a solar eclipse that will last for days, is landing on that planet with Richard B. Riddick. Vin Diesel plays the intergalactic criminal, one of the most wanted men in the universe, who toys with his fellow survivors like Hannibal Lecter, until they have no idea who to trust. David Twohy directs this low-budget sci-fi monster flick with all the grimy panache of a filmmaker with nothing to lose, giving the world of Riddick so much detail that a franchise soon followed. Diesel himself has rarely given a better performance: only he seems to know if Riddick is a despicable murderer, or just a survivor who isn’t afraid to make terrible choices.
The Covenant (2006)
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“Good” is a word with a lot of definitions. Renny Harlin’s sexy warlock thriller The Covenant is cheesy and ridiculous, but it doesn’t seem to want to be anything else. Although it failed to find an audience on its original release, it’s steadily been gaining traction as a cult oddity in the years that followed. That’s thanks in small part to Sebastian Stan, who in the film’s barn-busting climax gets to float around screaming all kinds of over the top warlock stuff, including a particularly amusing cry of “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh WITCHYYYYYYYY!” The Covenant offers undeniable pleasures. Who cares if they’re ironic or sincere?
The Ambulance (1990)
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To comics lovers, Stan Lee was a celebrity decades before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was spawned. He even played himself in multiple films, like Kevin Smith’s Mallrats and – more to the point – Larry Cohen’s pulpy thriller The Ambulance. The film stars Eric Roberts as a Marvel comics artist who sees a woman picked up by an ambulance, only to discover that she wasn’t taken to any hospital. He tries, and mostly fails, to convince the authorities that an ambulance is driving around New York killing people, leading to one thrill after another (some o them goofy, some of the great). And sadly our hero’s boss, Stan Lee, is of absolutely no help whatsoever.
Grindhouse (2007)
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The Avengers wouldn’t have much of a film without a villain, and Thanos is certainly their greatest adversary to date. Josh Brolin is no stranger to threatening roles. In the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse, Brolin plays an abusive doctor who gets wrapped up in a grotesque zombie uprising, and tracks down his long-suffering wife to make sure she won’t live without him. Rodriguez’s installment, Planet Terror, is the broadest of the two Grindhouse installments but Brolin’s unnerving performance feels all too real.
Honorable Mention: The Walking Dead (2010-???)
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This is an overview of the best horror movies starring one or more of The Avengers, but we have to make an exception for one TV show. “The Walking Dead” has helped transform public perception of the zombie genre, and turn undead thrills into one of the most profitable enterprises on television. And one of the most indelible characters in the sprawling series-turned-franchise is Danai Gurira‘s Michonne, the samurai sword-wielding post-apocalyptic survivor who finds a grotesque way to “tame” zombies. Over the course of multiple seasons she’s repeatedly proven herself to be one of the most interesting characters in horror TV history.