Photo Credit ( Pixabay )

The 2000s were an exciting (and turbulent!) time for scary films, starting with a surge of quick zombies and hard-R splatter, followed by a deluge of teen slashers and PG-13 remakes, and ending with the emergence of the “elevated horror” movement that would rule the next decade. The gloomy atmosphere that followed 9/11 and the Abu Ghraib incident hangs over “torture porn” movies like Hostel and the Saw franchise, and most of the horror production from Hollywood studios during this time lacked originality. However, when you broaden your perspective to encompass independent and foreign filmmakers, the 2000s burst with vitality and inventiveness. (Ironically, it was also a fantastic decade for horror-comedies.) A few variables, all of which had to do with the growing significance of the internet in daily life, contributed to this shift.

As film festivals and movie blogs elevated directors like Guillermo del Toro, Park Chan-wook, Edgar Wright, and Takashi Miike to international fame among moviegoers, horror films truly took the world by storm in the 2000s. Additionally, a proliferation of specialty DVD labels introduced important works from movements such as the Korean New Wave, New French Extremity, and J-Horror to audiences throughout the world, even for those directors who did not become well-known. Blogs had an impact on the American cinema business as well. After being documented online, all-night movie marathons and private screenings, many of which took place at the first Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas, served as launching pads for viral hits.

It’s another matter entirely whether or not mainstream viewers and reviewers were prepared for the most avant-garde horror film of the 2000s. Fortunately, EW’s ranking of the top 25 horror films of the decade includes multiple redemption arcs.

Allow the Proper Person to Enter (2008)
With its distinct and eerie interpretation of vampire folklore, this Swedish import stunned both reviewers and fans when it rushed into American theaters in 2008. Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson, two newbies, play Oskar and Eli, two lonely children who share an apartment block in a tiny Swedish city during the winter.

Although Oskar is attracted to Eli, there is an oddity in her relationship with her older roommate, Per Rangar, who, as we learn later, sneaks out at night and drains random victims of blood like deer carcasses. Like all the best vampire films, Let The Right One In is fundamentally a twisted and heartbreaking love story, complete with a frozen environment, mysterious people, and a haunting tone.

Trick R’ Treat (2007)
Michael Dougherty, the director of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, made his feature debut with this anthology picture, which at first had trouble getting distribution (it was released directly to DVD in 2009), but it has since become a seasonal mainstay.

Black humor and an autumnal setting unify these gruesome horror stories, which are all set on Halloween night in the made-up town of Warren Valley, Ohio. It also includes a school bus full of the vengeful ghosts of slain children, a spooky young hellion named Sam, Anna Paquin as a reluctant partygoer costumed as young Red Riding Hood, and Brian Cox as a frugal neighbor who pays for his lack of holiday cheer with his life.

American Psycho (2000)
‘American Psycho’ starring Christian Bale. The Everett Collection
The adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ contentious book, which centers on a Wall Street investment banker named Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) who doubles as a crazed serial murderer, features a new female sensibility thanks to director Mary Harron and writers Guinevere Turner.

Inside Ellis’ orgy of bloodlust, Harron and Turner underscore the harsh satire of toxic masculinity and materialistic excess, while also emphasizing the comedy of ’80s yuppie manners. It’s hardly surprising that Bale-as-Bateman has given rise to numerous memes in the 22 years since the film’s premiere, as his very game performance further heightens the absurdity and humor of this extremely violent and dark film.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Shaun of the Dead and other game-changing titles don’t come along very often. In addition to being Edgar Wright’s breakthrough blockbuster, this movie introduced Nick Frost and Simon Pegg to the world—the world that wasn’t already watching British TV, anyway. And with a high blood alcohol content and a sense of humor, they’re the perfect combination to get us through the zombie apocalypse.

Shaun is the epicenter of the so-called “zom-com” (zombie comedy), and it continues to be more witty and absurd than its numerous clones. In a lengthy opening scene, the titular character goes about his daily life, hardly noticing the undead mayhem that is going on around him. In addition to the gore when it’s necessary and the comedy’s flawless execution, the movie is just incredibly entertaining.

(2000) Ginger Snaps
What Let the Right One In did for vampire fiction, Ginger Snaps done for werewolf films. Despite being directed by a man (John Fawcett, who later worked on Orphan Black), this contemporary monster movie has greatly influenced feminist horror cinema.

Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and her older sister Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), two gothic Canadian outcasts, are at the center of the plot. Their relationship is put to the strain when Ginger is attacked by an odd animal and turns into a sexually aggressive werewolf. As a forerunner to movies like Raw and Jennifer’s Body that employ similar themes, Ginger Snaps was innovative in how it applied traditional horror tropes to a tale about female sexuality and coming of age.

Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Drag Me To Hell, a pulpy, exhilarating rollercoaster ride of a demon possession film, marked Sam Raimi’s return to the genre that made him renowned after a long hiatus. Christine, played by Alison Lohman, is a loan officer at a bank in Southern California who becomes cursed after evicting the incorrect old lady.

The cartoonish broad strokes used in Drag Me to Hell, as with all of Raimi’s works, depict Christine’s desperate attempts to figure out how to remove the curse in three days before she is, well, dragged to hell. However, it’s also remarkably dramatic and disturbing for a PG-13 horror film—also vintage Raimi.

The Body of Jennifer (2009)
When Jennifer’s Body debuted in 2009, the world wasn’t prepared for it, and critics gave it disdainful reviews because they didn’t understand the goals of director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody’s high school horror film.

Anita “Needy” Lesnicki, played by Amanda Seyfried, is a bookish adolescent whose closest friend Jennifer (played by Megan Fox) turns into a violent, hypersexual demon after she gets into a van with some jerks during a bad rock show. Jennifer’s Body is queer, witty, and a ton of fun. It perfectly encapsulates the experience of watching a scary movie with your closest friends during a sleepover.

(2007) Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity, the microbudget haunted home film that could, was made on a $15,000 budget. Two factors contributed to the unexpected mega-hit’s popularity, which included Steven Spielberg as one of its biggest supporters. Legend has it that Spielberg was so terrified by the picture that he tossed away his DVD screener copy.

First, using the form of found-footage horror, it documents a time when cameras were becoming a more commonplace aspect of everyday life by embracing the new technology that were making their way into American homes in the 2000s. As producer, writer, director, editor, and cinematographer Oren Peli tells the story of a typical suburban couple who are frightened by an invisible force, the second is its patience, which results in some incredibly powerful scares.

The Descent (2005)
Those who are afraid of confined spaces should avoid The Descent, another viscerally frightening movie that takes audiences on a dark and violent journey. The majority of the film is set underground, following a group of friends as they spelunk in a cave that is inhabited by an unidentified… entity. The cave is reportedly in North Carolina, but it was really filmed in southern England.

Director Neil Marshall, who would go on to create some of the most spectacular fight sequences on Game of Thrones, had an international breakthrough with The Descent after his 2002 debut, Dog Soldiers. Another noteworthy aspect of this hybrid survival horror/monster film is that, when it debuted in theaters in 2005, the cast was almost entirely female, which was an unexpected change.

The Devil’s House (2009)
Ti West’s masterwork, The House of the Devil, stars Jocelyn Donoghue as a college student in dire need of money who accepts a dubious babysitting assignment. With the same dynamic sensibility as a Pixies song, this early 1980s slasher throwback begins quietly, builds to a crescendo, then becomes loud once again before erupting in a torrent of violence that would make any bible-thumper’s worst dreams come true.

The House of the Devil’s street cred is further enhanced by Greta Gerwig’s early appearance as the doomed best friend and a famous needle drop from The Fixx in the movie’s most well-known moment, making it an all-around strong example of the best indie-horror the ’00s has to offer.

(2001) The Devil’s Backbone
Two instantly recognizable ghost films from Spain emerged in the 2000s: The Orphanage (2007), directed by J.A. Bayona and Guillermo del Toro’s 2001 film The Devil’s Backbone, which is set in the Spanish Civil War yet was directed by a Mexican. Del Toro, who later in the decade had his mainstream debut with his dark fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth, likewise benefited from the aughts.

This harsh, spine-tingling ghost story, about a school for orphaned boys haunted by a sad body known as “the one who sighs,” is the scariest film in del Toro’s filmography in terms of raw horror, though. At the same time, The Devil’s Backbone is incredibly sad, terrifying, and beautiful.

The Others (2001)
In the classic ghost story The Others, the English-language premiere of Spanish-Chilean filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar, Nicole Kidman’s performance is the main attraction.

Kidman plays Grace, the agoraphobic mother of two children with a hereditary condition that renders them particularly sensitive to sunlight, in this masterfully done haunted house movie. You’d be right if that conjures images of frail minds and dim nooks teeming with invisible forces. Because even if The Others can be described as “mature” and “restrained,” the movie also doesn’t cut corners when it comes to tension or terror.

Angela Bettis MAY, 2002
Lucky McKee, the writer-director, has yet to entirely recreate the enchantment of his first feature, May (2002), a character-driven horror film that manages to convey the repulsive elements while capturing McKee’s twisted sense of humor with compassion and empathy.

As the titular character—a terribly lonely amateur taxidermist and veterinary assistant with a sluggish eye and no friends—Angela Bettis delivers one of the best horror performances of the decade. After too many romantic rejections, the woman loses her already shaky hold on reality. You will simultaneously fear her and feel sorry for her.

28 Days Later, Cillian Murphy (2002)
The idea of the fast-moving dead—a completely different beast from the shambling slowpokes of the Romero era—was made popular by Danny Boyle’s red-eyed “rage zombies” in 28 Days Later, which revolutionized the undead game. Stars Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris, who were both up-and-coming when the movie was filmed, shot to prominence following its release, while writer Alex Garland would go on to become a renowned director in his own right with Ex Machina and Annihilation.

28 Days Later, which was shot in a digital video format that was revolutionary at the time, skillfully strikes a mix between character-driven drama, intense terror, and iconic visuals, such as the most well-known image of Murphy standing on a trash-covered, deserted London Bridge.