The early 2000s will not be usually thought to be an amazing period for films — not to mention the horror style. It was the 2010s that marked a mainstream turning level for the style, with the popularization of arthouse, so-called “elevated horror” instigating a growth in creative, low-budget horror choices from each Hollywood and round the world.
That doesn’t imply, nonetheless, that the early aughts didn’t ship some iconic and influential horror films. On the opposite, the oft-overlooked period benefitted vastly from the invention of a number of in style franchises which are nonetheless round as we speak, in addition to a Japanese Horror wave that unfold all the technique to the U.S.
Listed here are 10 of the greatest and most important horror films of the early 2000s.
“The Others” (2001)
“The Others” could also be greatest recognized for its iconic twist, however this 2001 Gothic horror movie has an entire lot extra going for it than simply its climactic rug-pull. The movie, set on the island of Jersey in 1945, follows a girl (Nicole Kidman) as she and her two, younger kids expertise supernatural happenings of their giant, haunted manor after newcomers arrive on the grounds.
Directed with masterful management and spooky aptitude by Alejandro Amenábar, “The Others” is a fantastically atmospheric, shockingly tragic ghost thriller. It’s the uncommon horror movie that’s as outwardly and aesthetically spectacular as it’s entertaining. It simply so occurs to characteristic one of the greatest twists of this century as effectively.
“Pulse” (2001)
One of the greatest entries in the J-Horror motion that started in the late ’90s and exploded in reputation in the early 2000s, writer-director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Pulse” is a horror movie about Japanese residents who discover themselves haunted by ghosts who’ve begun to seep into the actual world via the web. It’s a chilling, entrancing movie overflowing with photos and moments that make your blood run chilly.
It might have been launched shortly after the flip of the new millennium, however “Pulse” stays one of the greatest movies about the web and the isolating, demoralizing emotions it will possibly instill not solely inside people however society itself. “Pulse” is a lonely, hopeless movie. It will get beneath your pores and skin and stays there. It additionally options the single scariest scene of any horror movie this decade, so it has that going for it, too.
“28 Days Later” (2002)
“28 Days Later” shouldn’t maintain up in addition to it does.
Not solely was the movie shot at the time with early 2000s digital video cameras however its affect on many of the zombie movies and TV exhibits which have adopted it, together with “The Strolling Useless,” is simple. Regardless of all of that, “28 Days Later” remains to be a remarkably efficient horror movie, one which feels distinctly tied to the period during which it was made and but timeless. That is due, in no small half, to each the visceral high quality of director Danny Boyle’s filmmaking and the grounded nature of author Alex Garland’s screenplay.
“28 Days Later” might drop viewers right into a post-apocalyptic world the place thousands and thousands of individuals have been pushed mad with an an infection that incites all-consuming rage, however the movie itself is deeply, heartbreakingly human, and that’s what makes the horrors of its story all the extra affecting.
“The Ring” (2002)
One of the most iconic horror films of the 2000s, “The Ring” is a supernatural horror movie that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go till it has reached its operatic, cruel conclusion. A remake of an acclaimed 1998 Japanese horror movie, “The Ring” follows a journalist (Naomi Watts) who finds a cursed videotape that causes whoever watches it to die per week later. Like “Pulse,” “The Ring” makes use of know-how as a vessel for unimaginable horror, and director Gore Verbinski mines as a lot energy as he can out of staticky, grainy VHS footage and pictures of individuals watching their TV screens.
The themes, significantly these concerning the nature of the photos we select to reveal ourselves to, are all there, and “The Ring” impressed lots of creepypasta tales and on-line legends. Over 20 years later, the movie stays a terrifying achievement — one punctuated by a brilliantly staged coup de grâce that felt immediately iconic in 2002 and has not misplaced an oz of its energy since.
“Ultimate Vacation spot 2” (2003)
From a purely qualitative perspective, is “Ultimate Vacation spot 2” one of the 10 greatest horror films of the early 2000s? In all probability not. However it’s one of the interval’s most important horror movies. Till this yr’s “Ultimate Vacation spot Bloodlines,” it was the greatest installment in a single of this century’s defining horror franchises, which produced its first 5 entries in simply 11 years. Free of the introductory exposition dumps {that a} franchise’s first movie should ship, “Ultimate Vacation spot 2” is a leaner, meaner and punchier sequel to its equally iconic 2000 predecessor.
Its opening, bloody set piece — a visitors accident that claims numerous lives — stays one of the “Ultimate Vacation spot” franchise’s best and most memorable sequences, and “Ultimate Vacation spot 2” follows it up with deaths that repeatedly shock with their gory brutality and imaginative executions. You can’t speak about the horror films of the early aughts with out mentioning “Ultimate Vacation spot,” and 2003’s “Ultimate Vacation spot 2” is the greatest of the franchise’s first 5 entries.
“Open Water” (2003)
Shark films have been making an attempt to flee the shadow of “Jaws” for many years, however none have managed to take action (all due respect to “The Shallows”). The movie that has come the closest to pulling that off is “Open Water,” the low-budget 2003 survival horror thriller from writer-director Chris Kentis. Impressed by the real-life disappearance of a husband and spouse, “Open Water” follows a married couple who find yourself stranded in shark-infested waters after their scuba-diving group by accident leaves them behind.
Like “28 Days Later,” “Open Water” was shot with early 2000s digital video cameras, and that call lends it a way of realism that, together with Kentis’ use of actual sharks, makes watching the movie an much more worrying and suffocating expertise. It’s an unflinching thriller that refuses to tug any punches all the method via its bleak conclusion. It leaves an enduring impression on anybody who watches it, which is probably going why it emerged as an sudden monetary and pop-cultural hit when it was launched in 2003.
“A Story of Two Sisters” (2003)
A piercing, unnerving psychological horror movie, director Kim Jee-woon’s “A Story of Two Sisters” is one of the uncommon worldwide horror films that achieved world success in the early 2000s. So far, it’s nonetheless the highest-grossing South Korean horror movie of all time, and it turned the first South Korean movie to be launched in American theaters. These two achievements make “A Story of Two Sisters” an early indicator of the South Korean horror wave that was propelled additional ahead later in the 2000s by auteurs like Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook.
By itself, although, “A Story of Two Sisters” packs a mighty punch. It envelopes viewers utterly in its twisted, cockeyed world, after which sends hurtling alongside a journey that step by step reveals in bloody, disturbing vogue the terrifying truths of its story. “A Story of Two Sisters” was famously remade in America 5 years after its launch. Its remake, titled “The Uninvited,” will not be solely inferior to its father or mother movie, however solely highlights the brilliance of the authentic much more.
“Noticed” (2004)
“Noticed” launched one of the defining horror franchises of the early and late 2000s, one which has discovered various inventive methods to proceed into the 2020s. That alone makes “Noticed” a vital horror film of its period. It was additionally the first business movie effort from director James Wan, who has gone on to turn out to be one of the strongest and vital voices in the fashionable horror house, due to his work on the “Conjuring” and “Insidious” franchises. Whereas a number of of its sequels ventured into low cost torture porn territory as effectively, “Noticed” nonetheless holds up.
It’s an engrossing mash-up of the horror, thriller and thriller genres that regularly makes your jaw drop and your pores and skin crawl. Like “The Others,” “Noticed” additionally boasts an iconic, closing twist that simply makes the movie’s ending all the extra bleak and exhilarating to witness.
“Shaun of the Useless” (2004)
“Shaun of the Useless” could also be the solely horror comedy on this checklist, however that’s for good motive. Coming two years after “28 Days Later,” director Edgar Wright’s absurd but heartfelt comedy is the send-up that the zombie style lengthy deserved. Co-written by Wright and star Simon Pegg, “Shaun of the Useless” shortly turned an prompt traditional amongst style followers. It has nearly every thing {that a} zombie movie ought to — tense motion sequences, ingenious kills, stunning gore and the form of ever-tightening suburban claustrophobia that has lengthy outlined the style.
The movie kicked off one of the most beloved and acclaimed trilogies of this century, however that isn’t even the most spectacular factor you possibly can say about “Shaun of the Useless.” Its best achievement is, as an alternative, how effectively it manages to make you snigger, poke enjoyable at zombie-movie tropes and likewise — when it needs to — make you cry. There have been many movies prefer it which have failed to seek out the identical mix of farcical humor and real, honest horror that “Shaun of the Useless” does, which is only one of the the explanation why it stays one of the most iconic and beloved horror films of the early aughts.
“The Descent” (2005)
One other low-budget British horror gem, “The Descent” is a movie that expertly and terrifyingly preys upon primal fears — specifically, claustrophobia and pitch-black darkness. Directed by Neil Marshall, the movie follows a bunch of thrill-seeking feminine cave divers who find yourself trapped in an unmapped, uncharted underground cave system solely to find that monsters lurk inside its many tunnels.
Out of all of the movies on this checklist, “The Descent” is assured to be one of the most uncomfortable to truly watch. It’s a deranged, imply movie fueled by surreal, nightmarish logic and pure, infectious terror. “The Descent” viscerally traps you in its characters’ shared, more and more determined and crazed states of thoughts. The result’s a horror movie that makes your coronary heart race, abdomen flip and proves invariably troublesome to shake.
