The Scariest Horror Movies of the 2000s
This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.
To seriously paraphrase the cat from “Coraline,” you might think horror movies in the 2000s were all hokey, exploitative, and bad… but you’re wrong.
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We’re rounding out 2000s Week with a consideration of the scariest cinema the decade had to offer. That’s a fitting exercise as our blast from the past becomes yesterday’s news, and IndieWire’s exhausted staff catches its collective breath. (Can someone, anyone, please get vital signs on David Ehrlich?)
Hindsight is a funny thing. What differentiates the memories we want to keep from the nightmares that won’t leave us alone? With dozens of hidden-gem horror titles tossed out to make room for a measly top 13, this list wishes it knew. But, trapped in a torture chamber of our own making, the following curation was made with a variety of baseline good horror films that are fun, reflective of the times, and furiously fucked-up.
Extreme gore dominated the 2000s, but you won’t find “The Human Centipede” here. Franchising was big then too, but not one of the Final Destination films made our cut. Yes, everybody and their mother was terrified of “The Ring,” but we’ve got a Japanese techno-haunting that’s even scarier. There’s plenty of zombie fun to be had in the aughts, but “28 Days Later” just didn’t horrify us enough. On the tank top front — you know, that special classification of horror remakes starring Hollywood A-listers in roles that are mostly embarrassing — feel free to watch Jessica Biel’s “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” on your own time.
We didn’t get to include the Rob Zombie “Halloween” remake! We couldn’t find space for James Gunn’s “Slither”! Not even “American Psycho” qualified, but what does it say about the 2000s that three of these movies are from Australia? Y2K (the “k” stands for the killer, baby!) was a kaleidoscopic time for the horror genre, and what you take from it reflects more about you than the movies that made it.
Listed from least to most terrifying… and we’re only starting with a “Saw” sequel…. these are the 13 scariest horror movies released between 2000 and 2009. We’ll tell you why these specific titles are still troubling us to this day, but don’t be afraid of ruining anything you haven’t seen. Even looking back more than two decades, we kept every entry spoiler-free.
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