The Scariest Horror Movie From Every Year of the 2000s
The 2000s may not have seen the end times via Y2K, but they did usher in some fantastic horror movies. After the ’90s saw a dip in quality with an over-reliance on dying properties, the 2000s saw new ideas come in to shake up the genre. Creative voices that would go on to be Oscar winners and horror franchise maestros offered up new ideas that audiences were hungry for.
Since there were so many horror movies from the formative decade, we’re going to break them down year by year. The following list covers the scariest horror movies from every year of the 2000s. These are the movies that best represent a decade that proved to be a good start for horror in the 21st century, and many have gone on to become true landmarks in the genre.
10
‘American Psycho’ (2000)
Years before Christian Bale played a wealthy bachelor who dressed up as a bat, he played a wealthy bachelor who dressed as a normal human in American Psycho. Bale played the ambitious and arrogant Patrick Bateman, a man who prides himself on his wealth, appearance, and ability to get away with murder. Bateman doesn’t do anything halfway, so when he indulges in his desire to become a serial killer, he focuses on becoming the best.
Based on what was considered an unfilmable novel by Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho was a controversial story that even non-horror fans were familiar with. Bale had large roles prior to American Psycho in movies like Empire of the Sun and Newsies, but it was his turn as the cold-blooded Bateman that garnered him national attention. The violence was shocking for its time, especially as Bateman’s confidence grew, but the film’s satirical, tongue-in-cheek tone ensured grim moments became a detached insight into the killer’s mind.
9
‘The Others’ (2001)
The best horror movie from 2001 shows no sign of aging, even nearly 25 years after its premiere. In The Others, Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman caring for her two young children during World War II. Although Grace waits anxiously for her husband to return, she discovers ghostly visitors may have already taken residence in the house.
The Others draws out the suspense by setting the mood through the dark and gloomy atmosphere of Grace’s house, eschewing jump scares for a more satisfying build of tension. For anyone who subscribes to the theory that only R-rated movies can be scary, The Others’ PG-13 rating doesn’t hold it back from being relentlessly tense and unnerving. The Others was a massive hit upon release, making $210 million on a $17 million budget, making it one of the top movies of the year.
8
’28 Days Later’ (2002)
Danny Boyle breathed new life into an established sub-genre when he made the groundbreaking horror film 28 Days Later. In one month, the entirety of the UK falls to the manmade Rage virus, but Jim (Cillian Murphy) misses the destruction while in a deep coma. When Jim finally awakens, he is faced with surviving in a version of London overrun by feral infected humans.
The best zombie movies adhered to a particular set of established rules leading up to the 2000s, and 28 Days Later seemed concerned with none of them. The infected charged forward in ferocious packs, leaving Jim and the audience little time to process a way to survive the overwhelming threat. All zombie movies are essentially survival movies at heart, but 28 Days Later was a primal kill-or-be-killed experience that reshaped zombie films moving forward.
7
‘Final Destination 2’ (2003)
Death continued to chase down occupational oversights in the beloved sequel Final Destination 2. After a narrowly avoided freeway pileup leaves Kimberly (A.J. Cook) and a group of motorists as unintentional survivors, they each become the target of death. Knowing they can’t avoid death forever, Kimberly finds the one person who has managed the impossible, Clear Rivers (Ali Larter).
The original Final Destination introduced a clever new concept that put a fresh coat of paint on the slasher model, but the sequel upped the gore and ingenious kills that the franchise would become known for. The opening sequence, involving falling logs on the freeway, is frequently cited as the best Final Destination accident in the series. Many Final Destination movies would be released over the years, but until Final Destination Bloodlines, none were able to top the second entry.
6
‘Saw’ (2004)
Two men, strangers to one another, wake up chained in a deserted room. Throughout Saw, audiences learn who the men are and what their relationship is to the mysterious and sadistic Jigsaw killer. Little is known of Jigsaw other than his method of murder: elaborate traps that force the potential victim into making impossible choices in order to survive.
Saw kicked off an enduring horror franchise with an intriguing mystery, viciously creative kills, and a shocking twist ending that people still talk about as being one of the best. Made on a minimal budget of an estimated 1.2 million, Saw became a box office mega-hit, making roughly 104 million at the worldwide box office. The film not only introduced Tobin Bell’s Jigsaw as a new horror icon, but it also announced the arrival of director James Wan, who proved his success wasn’t a fluke by making The Conjuring and Insidious.
5
‘The Descent’ (2005)
A group of women goes on a cave exploring trip to seek adventure, but what they find instead is a nest of carnivorous monsters. The spelunking trip marks the first time Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) has been with the group since losing her husband and daughter in a tragic car accident. After narrowly avoiding death a year before, Sarah must summon the will to survive in the darkened caves against the creatures who call it home.
The Descent remains a cult-favorite movie that proves not every scary film needs seven sequels to follow. Another low-budget film to overperform expectations, The Descent’s strong character work made the film resonate with audiences who could relate to the inner struggles of the group. Helping matters was the claustrophobic setting of the caves, which was a change of pace from the cabins in the woods or haunted high schools featured predominantly in horror, making it stand out in a crowded field.
4
‘The Host’ (2006)
Unethical waste disposal leads to the residents of Seoul being terrorized by a monster in The Host. Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) is a humble merchant working a food stand along the Han River when an aquatic fish-like monster abducts his daughter. Forced to confront both the monster and a government that wants to cover up their involvement, Park will bravely do what he can to get his daughter back.
The Host received positive attention for the original monster design and the social message, but the movie was also a frightening monster movie that did the basics well. Presented like a feral animal moving on instinct, the oversized fish creature was a powerful representation of nature revolting. The film’s mixture of social commentary and horror complemented one another, putting director Bong Joon Ho on people’s radar before he took home all the awards for Parasite.
3
‘Rec’ (2007)
A television reporter is assigned the wrong story to cover in one of the best found footage horror films Rec. Television reporter Angela (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) are speaking with the night crew of a fire station when a call comes in. Angela and Pablo tag along, but when the situation turns deadly, the two become trapped in the building with a supernatural threat intent on leaving no survivors.
Rec succeeds where so many other promising found footage films fail by properly establishing the ever-present camera. We see the calm before the storm during the interviews at the fire station, and as the situation worsens, the growing unease shifts into fear for survival in what feels like real time. Brilliantly working as both a found footage horror and zombie film alike, Rec led to multiple sequels and an American remake called Quarantine.
2
‘Let the Right One In’ (2008)
A very different type of vampire story is told in the Swedish horror film Let the Right One In. Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a lonely child whose main interaction with classmates is being mercilessly bullied. When an older man and what appears to be his daughter, Eli (Lina Leandersson), move into his apartment building, Oskar strikes up a friendship with the young girl, not understanding she is not what she appears to be.
Let the Right One In explores the deeper level in which a vampire consumes a person’s life, with the victim a willing participant. A haunting movie with moments of tenderness between Eli and Oskar that can’t ever be completely trusted as authentic. Let the Right One In is thought-provoking, beautifully morose, and in the moments we see Eli’s true nature, horrifying in a way vampire fiction rarely delivers.
1
‘The House of the Devil’ (2009)
The House of the Devil follows college student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), who answers an ad for a babysitting job. Upon arriving at the house, Samantha is immediately thrown a curveball by finding out the person she’s watching will be an elderly mother. Samantha reluctantly agrees, but as the night progresses and odd occurrences continue to happen, she begins to suspect that the babysitting job was a trap.
Before Ti West explored sexuality and violence with the acclaimed X trilogy, The House of the Devil gave the director’s career a significant boost. The House of the Devil succeeds or fails based on how much the atmosphere of the movie sucks the viewer in, with the late ’70s presentation a factor in the creepiness of the film. Featuring a slow-burning story and an excellent performance from Donahue, The House of the Devil is an indie horror gem many missed.
