4 Ghastly Goblin Horror Movies Ranked
“Ghosts and goblins come to play on October’s final day!” – Rusty Fischer
Stories about goblins date back to the Middle Ages. These monstrous creatures appear in the folklore of numerous European nations. Goblins are most associated with the fantasy genre, but they show up in horror too. There aren’t a huge number of goblin horror movies, but since I’ve already covered virtually every other type of monster associated with the Halloween season, I’m giving goblins a turn.
What, exactly, are goblins anyway? It depends. Their appearance and abilities vary from story to story, and there’s lots of variations in the movies below as well. No two goblin films are alike. Here are four ghastly goblin horror movies ranked.
Spoiler: none of these movies are good, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth watching!
4. Hobgoblins (1988)
A group of tiny monsters escape from a vault at a movie studio and terrorize a dude named Kevin (Tom Bartlett) and his friends. The little creatures manipulate people by using their deepest fantasies against them.
This infamous anti-classic has developed a cult following for its sheer hilarious awfulness. Hobgoblins is a cheap Gremlins ripoff with extremely poor production values. It’s one of the funniest and campiest horror flicks of the ’80s.
If you subscribe to the theory that the only true bad movie is a boring one, then Hobgoblins deserves credit for being inept in an entertaining way. It’s an endearingly terrible effort that unintentionally works as a comedy.
3. Troll 2 (1990)
A family moves to the strange town of Nilbog (goblin spelled backwards!) and encounters a horde of evil vegetarian monsters who want to transform them into plants so they can eat them. You’d think it would be easier for the goblins to just eat normal plants. But that makes way too much sense for this movie.
If you like movies like Hobgoblins or Silent Night Deadly Night 2, you’ll love Troll 2. It’s the ultimate so bad it’s good cult classic. There are actually no trolls in this movie. The monsters are consistently referred to as goblins.
That’s because this wasn’t originally intended as a sequel. It was only after filming that it was decided to title the film Troll 2 for marketing purposes (the original Troll is an 1986 film about a troll that terrorizes an apartment complex).
Its lack of trolls is just one of the many bizarre things about Troll 2, a movie that’s both incredibly weird and astonishingly terrible. From vegetarian goblins to inexplicable dance scenes and erotic popcorn (don’t ask), Troll 2 will have you shaking your head in disbelief throughout.
Troll 2 is a surreal and unforgettable experience that every fan of cheesy horror movies should watch at least once.
2. The Gate (1987)
A boy accidentally unleashes a mob of demonic goblins who escape from another dimension through a hole in the backyard. The monsters have telepathic abilities and can cause people to have terrifying visions of their worst fears. The kid’s best friend, teen sister, and her friends are also terrorized by the monsters.
The Gate meets a threshold of basic competence that the previous two movies in this list failed to reach. It was clearly designed to appeal to The Goonies crowd, but didn’t perform nearly as well commercially.
This movie is surprisingly dark and mean for a film targeted to ’80s kids. Nobody is safe, not even the poor family dog. I doubt modern kids would be fazed by The Gate – they probably see way worse stuff on Tik Tok every day.
But The Gate was stuck in a strange netherworld of being too scary for kids of that era but too juvenile to appeal to adults. Today, it’s interesting as a period piece. Some stuff in this movie, like the slurs the teenage characters use, have not aged well.
The goblins in this one are a horde of tiny monsters. Yes, this is another Gremlins-inspired goblin horror movie. This trend was quite the craze back in the ’80s and early ’90s. It’s a virtually dead genre these days.
1. The Goblin (AKA The Halloween Creature) (2010)
My list of goblin horror movies is topped (by default) by The Goblin, a creatively named 2010 Syfy Channel television movie. It’s about a family (dad, wife #2, teen girl mourning her dead mom who was wife #1, teen girl’s friend who is living with them for some reason, and teen girl’s infant half brother) that moves to a small woodsy town.
The dad is starting a new business venture in the area. What he doesn’t know is that the town was cursed by a witch back in the 19th century. A human-sized goblin emerges from the woods every Halloween night. The creature slaughters people and steals their babies. The infants are never seen again. No prize for guessing if the goblin wants the family’s baby!
The Goblin is a mediocre and forgettable effort, but it does have (again, by default) the best acting and characterization of this group. It also has the best monster. This goblin is much more menacing than its counterparts in the other movies. It would be a stretch to call this film creepy, but it manages to muster some tension here and there.
Guilty Pleasures
Many horror fans, including myself, get a kick out of watching entertainingly terrible films. These goblin horror movies, especially the first two, are perfect choices if that’s what you’re looking for.
If there’s a truly terrifying and effective goblin horror movie out there, I couldn’t find it. Of course, it could be made someday. Guillermo del Toro is a filmmaker that comes to mind who would be capable of making a great creepy goblin flick. His films tend to feature dark fantasy, horror, and a gothic aesthetic.
Peter Jackson is another obvious idea. He started off making horror films early in his career before becoming famous with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
I would even be interested in a campy goblins series similar to the Leprechaun movies. It won’t happen, but it’s fun to imagine Warwick Davis playing a goblin. In any case, for now, the goblins have been relegated to the realm of low budget b-movies. Hopefully they’ll get a great movie someday.
