Ten Years of Terror: The Best Horror Films of 2000-2009

Editor's note: We asked one of our movie reviewers, Paul Gaita, to list his picks for the top 10 horror films for 2000-2009. Most had theatrical releases, and a few only released on DVD.

Selecting horror films from any decade is a daunting task; so much of them is wrapped in the visceral elements of childhood fears and obsessions, which tends to make for close guardianship and fierce debate among those who follow and admire the genre. Horror is also a deeply fragmented genre, with countless subdivisions that hew along lines of decade, country, filmmaker, amount (or lack) of violence and suspense, and so on. So in picking the best horror films from a decade, one also has to choose a path to follow - is it the elaborately grisly "torture-porn" of the Saw series and its spin-offs, or the army of living dead pictures that sprung up in the wake of George Romero's ever-expanding zombie universe? Is it the last remnants of the slasher film, or the low-fi chills of the independent market? The movies that follow here are built on a two-fold foundation: they advanced the genre, either through inventiveness or extremity of vision, and they delivered genuine scares. Both criteria seem obvious when talking about horror, but when you look at the vast collection of films gathered under that umbrella for the last ten years, one sees that they're harder to summon up than imagined.

The Descent (2005)/ Dog Soldiers (2002) – two from Neil Marshall, a still largely unsung force in the genre. The former is a claustrophobic creature feature that pits female spelunkers against cave-dwelling monsters; the second is a rollicking action-chiller that sets werewolf films on their furry ears.

Ju-On: The Grudge - The best of Japanese director Takashi Shimizu’s seven-film series (including his 2004 American remake) that operate on the simplest of premises – a house, cursed by familial violence, is a deathtrap for all who pass through its doors. Shimizu’s subtle direction, driven more by sound and angle than effects, delivers maximum frights.

[REC] (2007)/ Quarantine (2008) – The former is a Spanish-made outbreak horror that is the best use of the increasingly tired POV/”shaky-cam” aesthetic; the latter is the American remake, which manages to reproduce its heartstopping rollercoaster momentum.

The Host (2006) – Bong Joon-ho’s extraordinary hybrid of giant monster movie, political commentary and dysfunctional family drama manages to satisfy each of its parts without sacrificing the whole.

Shaun of the Dead (2004) – This admirably loopy tribute/parody of the zombie subgenre proved that horror and comedy could co-exist in the same project; it also served as global introduction to the talents of UK director Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Spaced) and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)/ 28 Days Later (2002) – The zombie/virus subgenre got supercharged by this kinetic duo. The sprinting plague victims of the latter, directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), directly influenced the souped-up undead in Zack (Watchmen) Snyder’s comic book-styled revision of the George Romero classic.

Let the Right One In (2008) – The horrors of childhood are filtered through the prism of the ultimate outsider – the vampire – in this mood-steeped Swedish adaptation of the best-selling novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

May (2002)/ Ginger Snaps (2000) – Two stellar indie horror efforts that take the rare stance of placing the focus squarely on the transformations – both literal and figurative – of their female protagonists. The former is a disturbing story of slow-building insanity fueled by unrequited love; the latter imagines lycanthropy as the ultimate by-product of the change from adolescence to womanhood.

High Tension (2003)/ Martyrs (2008)/ Inside (2007) / Frontier(s) (2008) – What do the French know about extreme horror that Americans don’t? Quite a lot, as this quartet of blood-soaked, taboo-breaking films illustrate. High Tension earned the widest release, but the others are worth seeking out (with considerable warning) for those who like their thresholds challenged.

Planet Terror (2007)/ Feast (2006) – while many directors proclaimed their love for ‘70s-era horror and exploitation, few could bring that gonzo vibe to their own work (Rob Zombie, ahem); however, Robert Rodriguez’s alien-zombie-action grossout and John Gulager’s lunatic mashup of The Alamo, John Carpenter’s The Thing and a Kevin Smith comedy managed to reproduce the hormonally charged drive-in aesthetic for 21st audiences. -- Paul Gaita

Paul Gaita is a freelance writer who has contributed to the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, MTV, L.A. Weekly and many other publications and web sites; his horror-related credits include Fangoria, Shock Cinema and the legendary Sleazoid Express.