The 13 Best Meta Horror Movies Of All Time

When The Cabin in the Woods was first getting teased for mainstream audiences, many expected just another stereotypical “cabin in the woods-esque” movie that comes and goes with time. That couldn't be further from the truth, however, as the film drastically flipped every aspect of the horror genre on its head and delivered a subversive masterpiece that would become an instant classic. Giving reasonings and explanations for seemingly every possible horror movie of all time, The Cabin in the Woods played with meta tropes, but not with the characters in the film, with the audiences watching the film.

The film that changed mainstream horror for all time, Wes Craven's Scream may seem like a stereotypical slasher on the surface, but thanks to its killer characters, witty writing, and phenomenal tongue-in-cheek nods to the horror genre as a whole,  it revolutionized and popularized meta-horror and sparked a revolution in the genre. Having characters who knew of horror movies, the tropes, and the downfalls was something that was rarely showcased in horror movies, and while it may seem all the norm today, Sceam is the film that made it the popular thing to do.

While Scream may get most of the credit for sparking the meta horror craze, it was actually another Wes Craven film that attempted to do something bold, risky, and game-changing in the horror genre in Wes Craven's New Nightmare. A film that knows of the franchise its in and stars the original cast playing fictionalized versions of themselves, New Nightmare was a bizarre and triumphant experience for horror fans desperate for something new in the slasher genre. While it may not have the popularity of acclaim of Scream, there is no doubt that without New Nightmare, meta horror as we know it today would not exist.

Shaun of the Dead is one of the rare films that was able to parody its source material so well, that it actually ended up circling all the way back around and became widely regarded as one of the best films of the genre. A zombie movie that knows how to chew scenery and delivery devastating acts of violence and gore, Shaun of the Dead plays on the tropes and ideologies of zombie movies as a whole to perfection, mocking and making fun of the ideas and choices characters have while managing to keep its heart intact and delivering a beautifully haunting piece of art.

Wacky, bizarre, tongue-in-cheek, and wickedly entertaining, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives is a film that knows exactly what it's doing and what it wants to be, and that is a film that makes fun of its own franchise while still offering fans a hellaciously fun time. With over-the-top gags, characters who are essentially parodies of other characters throughout the franchise, and some of the weirdest jokes ever in a slasher film, Jason Lives saw that the franchise was becoming stale, and decided to both metaphorically and literally bring Jason back to life in a new, fun, and innovative way. 

Most horror comedies take a tongue and cheek look at horror as a whole, but no film puts audiences through the wringer of tropes the beloved franchise has to offer more than Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Purposely dumb but with tons of heart, the film shows the stereotypes people give to one another, and how sometimes, things can simply be a massive misunderstanding. While the meta moments are mainly played for laughs, there is still plenty of gore, violence, and scares to satisfy the appetites of many horror fans.