Just as the advent of VHS in the 1980s meant that the market was flooded with dozens of cheaply made horror movies, so too was the 2000s marked by an avalanche of straight-to-DVD horror. This was a decade where big screen horror hits were scarce–the likes of Saw, Paranormal Activity, and FInal Destination were huge, but for the most part the best scary movies were low budget, independent, and sometimes not even released in theaters at all.
The movie that had the biggest influence on horror in the 2000s was actually released at the tail end of the previous decade, but its impact was immense. The Blair Witch Project was made on a small budget of $60,000 but grossed more than $248 million at the worldwide box office, and the found footage movie became the decade’s big horror craze. The advent of affordable digital filmmaking enabled literally anyone to make a horror movie, any deficiencies in sound and vision excused by the conventions of the format.
With many of the big names in horror–John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, Wes Craven–either semi-retired or moving away from the genre, new names started to emerge. The huge success of Saw helped James Wan begin his steady rise to the top tier of Hollywood blockbusters, while independent filmmakers such as Brad Anderson, Ti West, and Lucky McKee made scary, clever, and distinctive films that are among of the decade’s best. More than any other decade, the 2000s is packed with underrated and underseen gems that took horror into some fascinating places. So here’s 13 of the best that are worth revisiting or seeing for the first time.
