Dinosaur movies often fall into the realms of science fiction and fantasy. From dubious, pre-historically inaccurate adventures like One Million Years B.C. to the animated epic The Land Before Time, dinosaurs on film have captured the imaginations of audiences for decades. It's perhaps surprising, then, that there are so few horror movies concerning the 'terrible lizards'.
This list features a selection of films involving dinosaurs that could be labeled as 'horror', to a larger or lesser extent. It's quite telling that few of the movies below are actually good (although a few do fall into the 'so-bad-it's-enjoyable' category). All the films chosen also feature actual dinosaurs, as opposed to generic mutated reptiles – so there's no Godzilla here!
10 The VelociPastor
Perhaps the Sharknado movies are to blame for the onslaught of ever-ridiculous low budget titles and premises arising from independent moviemakers. Writer, director and producer Brendan Steere must surely be praised for moving away from the shark subgenre though, choosing instead to focus on dinosaurs...and priests.
Pastor Doug Jones becomes infected by an ancient artifact, which turns him into a Velociraptor when angry. He falls in love, fights ninjas and decides to dedicate his life to hunting criminals. It's surprisingly funny and extremely silly.
9 The Crater Lake Monster
Released in 1977, The Crater Lake Monster was a throwback to the monster movies of the 1950s. Somehow, it managed to look even cheaper than them, resulting in the film being a major flop upon its release. Critics at the time panned it, and its reputation hasn't improved.
The movie involves a plesiosaur (not technically a dinosaur, but a sea reptile that lived at the same time as them), terrorizing the lake of the title in California. A troubled production and budget issues hindered the movie, and it serves as curio now more than anything else.
8 The Eden Formula
Also known as the much better title Tyrannosaurus Wrecks, The Eden Formula was described as Aliens meets Die Hard meets Jurassic Park. Boasting a cast of genre luminaries, including Dee Wallace and Tony Todd, this film should have had 'cult classic' written all over it. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
An overly-simplistic plot, deadly serious tone and recycled footage from director John Carl Buechler's effects work on the Carnosaur movies all added to a dour, uninteresting 90 minutes. Critics suggested that if The Eden Formula had leaned in to pastiching the movies it emulates rather than just copying them, it might have been more fun.
7 The Dinosaur Project
Taking the found-footage approach to dinosaurs, The Dinosaur Project is an interesting entry in the dinosaur movie canon. The plot involves a group of people who study cryptozoology as they head out into the Congo to search for an elusive Elasmosaurus – (a species of plesiosaur).
Taking more of its cue from the Jurassic Park franchise, there's still lots to enjoy here, and there are some surprisingly scary moments throughout. Unlike many other movies on this list, the special effects are decent as well, and the found-footage angle adds some originality to the experience.
6 Raptor Island
Raptor Island was a 2004 Sci Fi Channel original that was full-throttle, testosterone-fueled action. The plot is extremely simple – a group of SEALS follow a terrorist organization onto a mysterious island full of Velociraptors. Chaos and bloodshed ensues. Technically, the raptors here are mutated lizards, transformed by nuclear waste, but they resemble actual dinosaurs, hence their inclusion on the list.
Silly fun, this film has more in common with Predator than Jurassic Park. It was followed by a sequel – Planet Raptor. In this one, the raptors have taken over the entire planet by 2066, and it's up to a group of marines to save then day.
5 Carnosaur
Inspired by a novel and released in 1993, Carnosaur's origins are extremely similar to those of Jurassic Park (which would completely eclipse this movie). Carnosaur is a very different beast though, the plot focussing on a madman who wishes to wipe out the human race with a virus, before replacing humanity with dinosaurs.
Rush-released to capitalize on the promotion of Jurassic Park, Carnosaur actually did quite well at the cinema, even though it was very quickly over-shadowed. With a strong focus on horror and gore, it was maligned by critics but gained a cult status, spawning its own little franchise.
4 Carnosaur 3
Also released as Primal Species, perhaps to appeal to audiences who hadn't seen the previous two installments, Carnosaur 3 The plot follows a team of soldiers who are hunting down some stolen dinosaurs. Of course, two of the creatures (a raptor and a T-Rex) escape, and chaos ensues. Plenty of soldiers and terrorists are used as dinosaur fodder, the movie having a predictably large body count.
Carnosaur 3 was panned by critics, who attacked everything from the shoddy effects work to the dubious acting ability of its leads. Spin-offs aside, this is the final entry in the main Carnosaur franchise, and it's unlikely a revival will happen any time soon.
3 Raptor
Produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman (who was also responsible for getting Caronaur off the ground), Raptor is a cheap spin-off of the Carnosaur series. It shamelessly reuses footage from the other movies in the franchise, which messes up the already dubious continuity of the series.
Genre stalwart Eric Roberts leads the cast as a Sheriff trying to uncover a series of attacks in his community. Poor special effects, a thin plot and a lack of any real tension sent this movie into obscurity, hammering another nail into the Carnosaur coffin.
2 65
A moderately-budgeted sci-fi thriller, 65 pitted Adam Driver against dinosaurs on a prehistoric earth. Set in the Cretaceous Period, which featured some of the most fearsome predators of all, the movie held a lot of promise. Eschewing a complex plot in favor of B-movie adventure, there are plenty of thrills throughout.
Decent CGI means that the dinosaurs are convincing, although many critics felt that the overall movie was a little dull and repetitive. There's still plenty of fun to be had, though, and overall 65 is certainly one of the better movies on this list.
1 Jurassic Park
The ultimate benchmark, every dinosaur movie that will ever be released will always be judged against Jurassic Park. The original novel was a much nastier, darker affair. Gorier and scarier, it was very much a book for adults. Speilberg's adaptation takes a more family friendly approach, but he still made sure that the horror element was intact.
From the Tyrannosaurus breaking out of its pen, to a heart-stopping sequence involving two children trapped in a kitchen with a pair of raptors, Jurassic Park is the scariest film on this list regardless of its age rating. A classic 90s blockbuster, it will likely be a long time before any budding director makes a dinosaur movie with the same impact.