8 Most Underrated Action Horror Movies, Ranked

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8 Most Underrated Action Horror Movies, Ranked

Rotham May 3, 2026 0 Comments

Everyone knows what an action movie is, and everyone knows what a horror movie is, and so, unsurprisingly, you probably know what an action/horror movie is, even if you haven’t seen one. Okay, you’ve probably seen one, since Aliens would qualify, certain Godzilla movies (including Godzilla Minus One) would, and the recent (at the time of writing) Sinners would also be an action horror film.

Those examples also have other genres they fall into, and it’s hard to find movies that are just action and horror, genre-wise, especially if you want a 50-50 split or something. And, with the following, the movies have to be at least somewhat underrated or forgotten, so that necessitates defining an action horror film rather broadly. Some of these have more action than horror, and some lean more toward horror than action, while just about all of them do a few extra things when it comes to genre, too. They are largely obscure/underappreciated action horror movies, though, and worth digging out if you yourself dig those genres, especially when they collide.

8

‘Dog Soldiers’ (2002)

Of all the movies here, Dog Soldiers is the most recent, and probably the least forgotten, even though it still very much qualifies for cult classic status and has never really been, like, anywhere near blockbuster territory or anything. It is not as good as the two greatest werewolf movies of all time (which both happened to come out in 1981: An American Werewolf in London and The Howling), but it’s still top-tier, and does combine werewolf horror with quite a bit of action in a mostly effective way.

It’s about well-armed soldiers taking part in war games, in an isolated setting, and then the fight for survival that ensues when they run into… well, werewolves. That’s it, but that’s all you need for Dog Soldiers. It doesn’t really try to overdo anything or be anything more than a pulpy mash-up of the action and horror genres, with a little by way of the thriller and war genres thrown in for good measure.

7

‘Human Lanterns’ (1982)

Human Lanterns is pretty all over the place, kind of being like a murder-mystery, a horror film, and a martial arts movie all at once. Watching any one of those kinds of movies on their own, you could certainly expect some in-your-face violence, but all of that all at once? Yes, there’s a lot of bloodshed here. It’s also called “Human Lanterns,” so you’re more or less prepared for that from the start, one would hope.

If it came together a little more seamlessly, then it wouldn’t be the same. It would be better, but it would not be the wonderful chaotic mess that it is, and Human Lanterns stands out because it’s a mess. Call it a blessing and a curse, then, and… okay, laying it all out like that goes some way to explaining why it’s fairly obscure, but it is very much worth watching if you’re burned out on more by-the-numbers classic martial arts movies. It’s one of the strangest under the Shaw Brothers banner, that’s for Shaw.

6

‘Haunted Samurai’ (1970)

Though it’s called Haunted Samurai, much of this film is actually relatively restrained as a period drama of sorts, just with a bit by way of horror and action (the former satisfying the “Haunted” part of the title, and the latter satisfying the “Samurai” part of the same title). It’s about an enforcer for a clan of ninjas turning his back on that part of his life after a tragedy, only for that choice to have some pretty bizarre consequences.

The “haunting” part of Haunted Samurai might not be as literal as you’re expecting, though there is something dark and eerie about parts of the film, especially as far as the atmosphere is concerned. The action, though infrequent, is brutal and quite striking when it does come around, and there ends up being just enough here to make this worth highlighting as a fairly underrated samurai film (that sort of flirts with some horror ideas and tropes here and there).

5

‘The Peacock King’ (1988)

There’s seemingly a story being told throughout The Peacock King, but it’s genuinely quite hard to get a handle on, and harder still to effectively summarize. There’s someone who wants to open the gates of hell and unleash the forces there on Earth, and a journey is required to do that from a handful of different locations, which various heroes have to try to stop.

The martial arts action here isn’t too intense or anything, but it is generally fun to watch, and when The Peacock King also chooses to turn into something that’s almost a kaiju movie, right near the end, it’s pretty fun, too. There’s plenty here that’s surreal and offbeat, with it being a good kind of film to just zone out to… what else is there to do, when so little sense is being made on a narrative front?

4

‘Petey Wheatstraw’ (1977)

Petey Wheatstraw is the kind of movie where every word you say about it, when giving a description, will probably make it sound more enticing, so it’s easy to sell, to say the least. It’s a Blaxploitation movie about a stand-up comedian who is murdered, but then brought back to life via a deal with the devil, and he then seeks revenge while trying to bail on the part of his deal with the devil that involves marrying the devil’s daughter.

This comedian also knows martial arts, and he has a cane from the devil that lets him do fantastical things. It only gets more ridiculous from there, and sure, Petey Wheatstraw is more focused on comedy than anything else genre-wise (to be expected, from a Rudy Ray Moore vehicle). But it is very funny in a chaotic sort of way, and the supernatural elements plus the over-the-top action scenes kind of just add to the chaos and improve the film, even if you might technically not see it as particularly strong when judged as either an action movie or a piece of horror.

Starring Meiko Kaji, who’s best known for playing the central role in Lady Snowblood, stars in Blind Woman’s Curse as a yakuza member who does the blinding, as in to an opponent during a duel. The opponent lives, and there’s a black cat present when the injury happens, so that individual and the cat go on a crusade of revenge against Meiko Kaji’s character and that character’s associates.

It’s a samurai and yakuza film at the same time, which is already a fairly ambitious juggling of sub-genres, but then you throw in the supernatural/horror element, and you’ve got something else entirely.

It’s strange, in other words, if the whole premise didn’t clue you in. It’s a samurai and yakuza film at the same time, which is already a fairly ambitious juggling of sub-genres, but then you throw in the supernatural/horror element – and make that part of the film tied to revenge – and you’ve got something else entirely. The strangeness of Blind Woman’s Curse is compelling, and there’s not a whole lot else out there comparable to it.

2

‘The Seventh Curse’ (1986)

Directed by Lam Nai-Choi, who also did the aforementioned The Peacock King, The Seventh Curse is a little more well-known, but still fairly obscure in the overall scheme of things. It’s also a better movie than The Peacock King, or at least it handles all the chaotic things it wants to with a little more of a steady hand, and maybe the fact that it feels like a bit more of a comedy helps, too.

It’s about a man who’s cursed while undertaking a rescue mission in the jungle, and so he has to go back there to try and find a cure, encountering all sorts of adversaries and supernatural threats in the process. The Seventh Curse is relentless, and borderline-exhausting, since it crams a few movies’ worth of action scenes into just one film (and a film that clocks in at under 90 minutes, at that), but if you can more or less keep up, it’s a blast.

1

‘Versus’ (2000)

The Versus (2000) protagonist wielding dual katanas — Man with swords being cool in Versus – 2000

Sure, it throws together a whole bunch of different genres and has various sequences that might not feel too distinct on their own, but if you look at Versus as a whole, and try to take in everything, it’s pretty startling how bold and singular it is. The main characters are mostly criminals, but it doesn’t really play out like a gangster or yakuza movie, since they find themselves in a forest that brings the dead back to life, plus there are some other things that emerge to fight them.

It has a story that’s really just an excuse for wild action sequences, pitting characters against a variety of foes, making Versus function as a horror/fantasy/action/thriller/adventure/mystery movie all at once, plus some other genres (probably) too. It’s a wonderful and somehow consistent mess of a movie, and one that not nearly enough people seem to appreciate or even know about.