Long before James Cameron used 3D to immerse viewers in the world of Avatar, it was used as a gimmick to "throw" things at the audience. While 3D movies these days tend to follow Cameron's approach and hardly have anything flying out of the screen, back in the day these movies would have all manner of random objects aimed at your face, courtesy of the red and blue glasses that struggled to stay on as you jumped around.
While every genre has dabbled in 3D, it found a home with horror. Horror is already trying to scare its audience, so 3D allows creatives to take that to another level. With the killer throwing axes, knives, and even severed limbs at the audience, the immersion is heightened as it feels like the killer is "coming right at you", turning your typical slasher movie into what feels like a thrilling carnival ride.
1 'Fright Night' (2011)
Charley Brewster's (Anton Yelchin) new neighbor Jerry (Colin Farrell) is charming, handsome, and a vampire, whose eyes are set on Charley's girlfriend Amy (Imogen Poots) and mother Jane (Toni Collette). Together with Las Vegas showman Peter Vincent (David Tennant), Charley sets out to rid his neighborhood of the bloodsucker.
One of the rare remakes that is a worthy follow-up, Fright Night honors the 80s original while adding its own spin on the cult classic. Stacked with a great cast, the film follows the Avatar route of using Real 3D to immerse the audience in its world, so you can feel Farrell's hungry breath on your shoulder.
2 'Friday the 13th Part III' (1982)
Further proving that dumb teenagers just can't stay out of Camp Crystal Lake, Friday the 13th Part III follows a new group as they arrive for a weekend full of booze, sex, and dismemberment. Part III is notable for giving Jason his iconic hockey mask, which he would wear in every entry going forward.
Perhaps one of the first movies that comes to mind when one thinks of 3D horror, Part III is cheesy dumb fun. The characters are the typical group you expect in a 80s slasher movie, and Jason picks them off in memorable fashion. The 3D highlight is when Jason crushes one teen's head with his bare hands, causing his eyeball to pop out and fly at the screen. Another 3D horror of this era, the abysmal Jaws 3-D was notably released a year later, delivering less pure schlocky fun than Friday the 13th Part III.
3 'Final Destination 5' (2011)
When Death tries to save the employees of Presage Paper from a terrifying weekend of team bonding by collapsing the bridge they are traveling on, employee Sam has a premonition and avoids his demise along with a handful of co-workers. Soon enough, Death comes back for what is owed and kills the survivors in freak accidents.
Final Destination 5 is one of the best entries in the franchise, reviving interest in the series after the low point of The Final Destination. A series seemingly suited to 3D, the movie throws several deadly objects at viewers while the intro even recreates fan-favorite deaths from past movies to make use of the 3D technology.
4 'Underworld: Awakening' (2012)
The fourth entry in the horror-action series, Underworld: Awakening sees franchise heroine Selene (Kate Beckinsale) discovering she has a daughter while engaged in a battle to keep them both alive. Turning her attention away from the war between vampires and lycans, she focuses her guns on a more dangerous threat: humanity.
Underworld as a franchise has always favored action over subtle storytelling, which makes it a good fit for the 3D space. Selene and company regularly run around firing guns and throwing blades, making for plenty of screen-popping sequences, while the movie itself is an enjoyable way to kill 90 minutes.
5 'Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters' (2013)
Envisioning a scenario where the classic fairy tale resulted in the siblings becoming monster slayers, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters follows the pair in adulthood, played by Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. Stumbling upon a village that is plagued with witches, the duo set out to do what they do best.
Hansel & Gretel is better than the reviews say, its mix of comedy and gore making for an entertaining horror-action flick. The deadly gadgets the siblings have created make short work of the killer witches, with body parts and guts being thrown at the screen alongside bullets and crossbow bolts.
6 'The Meg' (2018)
Action star Jason Statham has tussled with his fair share of bad guys throughout his career, but The Meg sees him facing his deadliest opponent yet: a 75-foot-long megalodon shark. When the impossibly large creature makes its presence known, Statham and a team of specialists work to stop the shark from munching on innocent swimmers.
While The Meg does not entirely live up to its promise of debuting the world's deadliest killing machine due to being hampered by a PG-13 rating, it is still a worthy entry in the killer shark genre. It is impossible not to get hyped for the idea of Statham fighting a shark, and the Real 3D presentation helps to make the underwater segments more tense.
7 'Saw 3D' (2010)
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The seventh entry in the unkillable horror saga, Saw 3D follows a new group of victims chosen to play Jigsaw's deadly games. After Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) falsely claims he is a Jigsaw survivor to gain fame and fortune, the con artist and his entourage are subjected to a series of gruesome games.
Saw 3D is one of the weaker entries in the franchise, but it still offers the brutal signature traps the series is known for, with a 3D twist. The highlight sees late Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington and his buddies all linked to a car that promptly destroys them all in signature Saw fashion.
8 'Piranha 3D' (2010)
When a horde of teenagers descends on a lake in Arizona, they are planning for a party full of debauchery. What they are not expecting is an army of flesh-eating piranha to be nipping out their feet, so it falls to local Sheriff Forester (Elisabeth Shue) and her team to save the day and her teenage son, who is among the party goers.
One of the bloodiest movies of all time, everything in Piranha 3D builds towards its jaw-dropping attack scene where countless hungry piranha feast on the oblivious partiers. People are literally torn apart by the fish while others are squashed by boats as they try to escape, creating a sequence that will have you trying to wipe the gore off your 3D glasses.
9 'My Bloody Valentine' (2009)
A remake of the classic 80s slasher movie, My Bloody Valentine sees the residents of a mining town haunted by a killer decked in mining gear after a cave-in claimed the lives of several workers. As the locals and police try to discover the miner's identity, they must avoid being on the wrong end of his blood-soaked pickaxe.
Avoiding the plot of the original by focusing on adult characters rather than teens, My Bloody Valentine is one of the better modern slashers. It does not shy away from gore as victims are torn apart by the mining instrument, while there are several great 3D moments as the killer tosses his weapon at the screen.
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10 'Resident Evil: Retribution' (2012)
Continuing the saga of the Resident Evil movie franchise's fan-fiction character Alice (Milla Jovovich), Resident Evil: Retribution sees the unkillable heroine captured by Umbrella. As she battles to escape her testing ground surroundings, a team of mercenaries arrives to free her from her tormentors.
Realizing the franchise was starting to lose steam as it shifted even further away from the games, the filmmakers decided to add 3D to the mix. With both Retribution and its predecessor Afterlife utilizing the technology, it sees both Alice and her enemies tossing axes and knives at the screen, while bullets rain down like water.