There are very few movies that seem to be as cursed as The New Mutants, a horror/superhero hybrid set in the X-Men movie universe, about young mutants trapped in an academy with their own fears. It’s been delayed multiple times these past couple years, and just a few weeks before it was finally supposed to hit theaters the world gets struck by a horrible pandemic.

Now it’s been delayed indefinitely… once again.

It’s a shame, because although superhero movies have been just as popular as ever over the last ten years, movies that combine the horror and superhero genres haven’t been especially prevalent lately. There’s a lot of overlap between them, since both genres feature worlds of unexpected and often secret dangers, and villains with malevolent intents and shocking, disturbing powers.

Fortunately, although New Mutants is on hold, there are lots of superhero horror movies worth discovering over the decades. Some are superhero movies with monstrous elements, some are monster movies that play a lot like superhero and supervillain stories. But a lot of them are our favorite movies, so to keep us all busy and happy while we wait for The New Mutants to come out – someday – here are our picks for The Best Superhero Horror Movies!

Blade (1998)

The film that kickstarted the modern superhero wave was a gothic vampire thriller about corporate bloodsuckers waging war against a half-human/half-vampire action hero, played with growling intensity by Wesley Snipes. Although the original Blade is mired in 1990s aesthetics – raves, black leather, early bullet-time VFX – the film’s unapologetic earnestness about the material makes it easy to take seriously over 20 years later. Guillermo del Toro’s sequel had grosser monsters, but Stephen Norrington’s original is still the coolest film in the series.

Brightburn (2019)

The Superman mythos gets sadistically turned on its head in Brightburn, the story of a kindly couple living in rural America who find an alien child in the woods, raise it as their own, and discover far too late that he has godlike powers and the personality of a serial killer. David Yarovesky’s film may be too clever for its own good, by revolving exclusively around riffs on familiar comic book lore, but the inversion is refreshing and the horror is very real, thanks in large part to Elizabeth Banks’ harrowing performance as a mother who loves her son so much that she refuses to recognize the warning signs.

Constantine (2005)

Keanu Reeves isn’t British, but otherwise, Francis Lawrence’s adaptation of DC’s Hellblazer comic books is pretty darned faithful to the grim, noir-ish supernatural origins of John Constantine. As a freelance exorcist and magician, Constantine – who is already dying of lung cancer – gets wrapped up in a mystical mystery that could lead to the apocalypse. Stylish and effective, the film is pretty darned close to the ideal Constantine film.

The Crow (1994)

The tragic on-set death of actor Brandon Lee throws a shadow over Alex Proyas’s gothic superhero story, about a couple of artists who are brutally murdered, and a supernatural crow that brings one of them to back to life a year later to avenge their deaths. But Lee’s haunting, haunted performance is such a powerful, star-making turn that The Crow ultimately plays like a celebration of the actor, as well as a hypnotically realized, expressionistic action-thriller about deep emotional scars.

Darkman (1990)

Sam Raimi’s first superhero movie plays, in many ways, like a dry run for his blockbuster Spider-Man movies, with many shots and sequences eventually revisited wholesale for larger audiences. But the original Darkman is a kinetic masterpiece in its own right, a Universal Horror-inspired story of a disfigured, newly-mad scientist using state of the art technology to impersonate his would-be killers and destroy them from within. Liam Neeson has never been this gloriously unhinged, and Raimi’s visual style is at its hyperactive best.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

The first Ghost Rider tried so hard to make a story about a spirit of vengeance with a flaming skull for a head who sold his soul to the devil palatable for mainstream superhero fans. Neveldine/Taylor’s follow-up doesn’t have those problems. It’s a bar fight of a movie, full of elaborate action, questionable imagery and one of the wildest performances of Nicolas Cage’s career (and that is, of course, saying something). It’s a film about shooting hellfire out of multiple orifices, it’s a film about unleashing inner beasts, and it’s a film about absolutely going for cinematic broke, even if you break something in the process. Weird, wild, woolly superhero storytelling, just the way some of us like it.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

Guillermo del Toro’s original Hellboy featured great performances and remarkable makeup, but was held back by a protagonist who had nothing to do with the story, and only existed to have everything explained to him. The follow-up, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, frees del Toro of those constraints, and sets Ron Perlman’s title character loose in a luscious and spectacularly detailed world of monsters and fairy tale creatures, some of whom are trying to fight back against the evils of mankind. That’s a tempting and sympathetic prospect for a hero who’s never felt accepted in the world he protects. Incredibly imaginative and breathtakingly realized, Hellboy II is one of the best films of del Toro’s career.

Justice League Dark (2017)

Matt Ryan took over the role of John Constantine for the short-lived TV series, and he’s been playing the character ever since, in multiple DC television shows and this ambitious animated movie. Justice League Dark is a horror-centric DC superhero movie, with creepy protagonists like Constantine, Zatanna, Deadman, Swamp Thing and Etrigan the Demon, who team up with Batman to solve a series of mysterious mass murders with a supernatural twist. The story is a little predictable, but the film is a satisfying sightseeing tour of the spookiest corners of the larger than life DC universe, and especially gratifying for fans of the franchise.

Nightbreed (1990)

There are two kinds of superhero horror movies: superhero movies with a horror element, and horror movies with a superhero element. For many years Clive Barker’s Nightbreed was the best X-Men movie we ever had (and arguably it still is), in which a group of mutated demons with inhuman powers are ostracized from humanity and defending themselves from waves of racist human beings who let fear turn them to villainy. Nightbreed’s sympathetic portrayal of monsters, beautiful makeup effects and astounding villain – played with subtle menace by horror director David Cronenberg – make it a great superhero movie AND a great horror film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

Another great horror movie with superhero elements, A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors acknowledges that Freddy Krueger is and always has been, essentially, a comic book supervillain who kills people in their dreams. But those are still the victims’ dreams, so in Chuck Russell’s spectacular and inventive sequel, they give themselves superhuman abilities to fight Krueger on his own terms. It takes a while for Dream Warriors to finally get around to the premise, and it’s unfortunate that some of the more interesting warriors get dispatched first (and quickly), but the Nightmare franchise was never more badass than in this particular, crowd-pleasing installment.

Phenomena (1985)

Jennifer Connelly finds herself at the center of one of Dario Argento’s bloody serial killer stories in the cult classic Phenomena (a.k.a. Creepers), but unlike Argento’s usual protagonists, she’s more than capable of defending herself. That’s because Connelly has the power to talk to insects, an ability she uses to solve the crimes with a local entomologist and defend herself to boot. Phenomena is a bizarre genre hybrid from a famously bizarre filmmaker, but it’s incredibly entertaining and – when the unexpected climax comes along – supremely, wonderfully weird.

The Toxic Avenger (1984)

Troma Entertainment put itself on the map with The Toxic Avenger, an ultra low budget, ultra violent, ultra cheesy horror monster movie about a nerd who gets bullied, falls into a vat of toxic waste, and emerges as a hulking monstrosity who’s overcome with violent rage in the presence of evil. The sequels get crazier and crazier, and the animated kids series is a surreal spinoff from the extremely gory and sex-crazed films, but the original is still the most earnest, focused and dramatically satisfying Toxic Avenger yet.

Vampire Hunter D (1985)

The anime classic Vampire Hunter D is a phenomenal pastiche of the western and horror genres, with a superpowered vampire hunter enlisted by a rancher to protect her family from a powerful vampire and his army of mutants, in a violent, post-apocalyptic steampunk future. Exciting and ethereal and, at times, genuinely creepy, Toyoo Ashida’s supernatural sci-fi superhero thriller led to a fantastic sequel – Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust – but the original remains a gold standard for the subgenre, and a highly influential anime masterwork.

Honorable Mention: Venom: Truth in Journalism (2013)

The rest of this list is focused on feature-length presentations, but Joe Lynch’s smart and creepy short film about the Spider-Man villain Venom should not be overlooked. Inspired by the horrifying mockumentary Man Bites Dog, about a documentary crew following around a serial killer, Venom: Truth in Journalism is a fake documentary about unethical journalist Eddie Brock, played by Ryan Kwanten, who has a despicable, homicidal secret. Filmed in gritty black and white and approaching the superhero genre from a distinctive angle, it’s one of the highlights of the subgenre. Even at only 17 minutes long.