- 12/06/2025
The hidden horror movie gems from the beginning of the 2000s.
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00:00Horror in the early noughties was complicated.
00:04Not that it wasn't successful, far from it.
00:06Movie franchises like the Saw films dominated to the point of being regarded as a Halloween
00:11tradition.
00:12But it wasn't all torture porn and scary movie sequels, thank god, as there were quite
00:17a few hidden gems buried amongst the schlock.
00:20While many of them have long since been exhumed and appreciated fully by the public, or managed
00:25to eke out a kind of success upon release, many were left to the wayside.
00:29So with that in mind, I'm Ellie for WhatCulture and here are 10 forgotten horror movies from
00:34the early 2000s.
00:36Number 10.
00:37Elvira's Haunted Hills.
00:39The first horror host to be syndicated nationally, Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark, has earned
00:45her spot in the halls of horror royalty.
00:47Naturally, such an iconic character has had a few forays into film, most famously with
00:53Elvira, Mistress of the Dark in 1988.
00:57The film was practically destined for cult status, as was its sequel in 2001, Elvira's
01:03Haunted Hills.
01:05Upon its release, critics tore the movie apart for, well, for just not making most of them
01:10laugh, frankly.
01:11But Haunted Hills is a wonderfully cheesy good time, just like the previous Elvira film.
01:17Cassandra Peterson's Elvira has always been one of the most amusingly magnetic presences
01:22in horror history, and that doesn't change in Haunted Hills.
01:26The humour, for the most part, has aged shockingly well, and while a few gags could be more tightly
01:31written, it's a solid 6 out of 10 horror comedy.
01:35If you love the Mistress of the Dark, and really, who doesn't, Haunted Hills is right
01:39up your dark, decrepit alley.
01:419.
01:42Creep
01:43The London Underground is one of those perfect horror settings.
01:47Although most Londoners are bark on it as part of their daily commute, that doesn't take
01:51away this overwhelming eeriness it has, especially at night.
01:56Creep is one of the, well, creepiest explorations of the anxieties inherent to The London Underground,
02:02a film that moves and behaves less like a narrative, and more like a nightmare you can't
02:06wake up from.
02:08The set-up is that a woman has got blackout drunk on her way to a party, and contrary
02:12to every anecdote from Londoners who have been in this girl's exact scenario, wasn't
02:17thrown out onto the street by security come closing time.
02:21She wakes up in The Underground, alone, with nothing to do but wait until morning.
02:26Which would be fine, if she were alone.
02:28Even when the film stays in the brightest lit sections of The Underground, the dizzyingly
02:33bright lights just feel uncomfortable, and when it moves into the tunnels, it's replaced
02:38with an oppressive, suffocating darkness.
02:40Not to give too much away about what happens next, but suffice it to say, you won't forget
02:45it, and you'll definitely be thinking twice before taking the tube at night.
02:498.
02:50Willard
02:51If you have moosophobia, welcome to your worst nightmare.
02:549.
02:55Willard
02:56A remake of the 1971 horror classic starred everyone's favourite gonzo weirdo, Crispin
03:02what-is-it Glover.
03:04It tells the story of the eponymous Willard, a beaten-down young man who finds out he has
03:08an unnatural connection to the many, many rats that haunt his late father's old estate.
03:14He proceeds to use this power to exact revenge on the people who have wronged him.
03:192003's Willard ditches the original's early 70s faux realism in favour of being closer
03:24to an origin movie for an obscure Batman villain.
03:28Everything from the music to the cinematography to the way the film frames Willard and his rat,
03:33you keep expecting the picture to cut away from him and reveal the plucky superhero who
03:37will be our actual protagonist.
03:39The fact that that never happens is what transforms this into a horror movie.
03:44While the film is deeply flawed, its unique energy more than picks up the slack, making
03:48for a fun late-night watch with friends.
03:51Unless you're scared of rats.
03:537.
03:54Cherry Fools
03:55Slasher flicks were a different breed in the wake of Wes Craven's scream, constantly
04:00fighting to attain the same level of self-aware scares that the 90s classic achieved and made
04:05look so effortless.
04:07Cherry Fools was one of many pretenders to Scream's throne, but deserves to be looked
04:11out on its own merits as a fun, sick thrill ride.
04:15The story centres around a small town that's being terrorised by a serial killer who, in
04:19a twist on the usual slasher targets, only goes after virgins.
04:23Brittany Murphy stars as Jodie Markin, the daughter of the town's sheriff, determined to
04:28find the truth behind the murders.
04:30As the body count climbs higher, Jodie uncovers the dark secret of her family and their connection
04:35to the killer.
04:37As Scream clones go, Cherry Fools has the leg up of actually understanding that the
04:41fun of Scream was how it subverted slasher tropes, instead of just inserting snarky
04:46teenage leads in a story that otherwise plays the hits.
04:50Having the killer exclusively target the character trope that's typically the last one out in
04:54your usual slasher fare makes for a fun gimmick to build a solid 7 out of 10 movie on.
04:596.
05:00Joyride
05:01Ever wanted to know what would happen if one of the early Fast and Furious movies got invaded
05:06by the truck from Duel?
05:08Well you should check out 2001's Joyride.
05:10Joyride is a different kind of horror movie for the time.
05:14While many were still following the slasher template of being trapped in a single place
05:17with an entity that desperately wants you dead, this picture went for the angle of nowhere
05:22being safe because the entity in question has an 18 wheeler and you don't.
05:28Joyride sees Paul Walker playing a dude going on a cross country road trip to meet the girl
05:32of his dreams and due to typical asshole horror movie protagonist shenanigans ends up pissing
05:38off the wrong truck driver.
05:40Rusty Nail as he calls himself over the CB proceeds to torment and hunt down Walker and all of his
05:46friends on the road.
05:47While other horror movie killers like to be sneaky, Rusty Nail stands out for being 18 wheels
05:52of unsubtle death and the fact that we never really see his face while costing him that
05:57sweet sweet horror iconography makes him even more terrifying.
06:02Check this one out if you're looking for something a little bit different in your slasher thrillers.
06:065.
06:07Death Watch
06:08You'd think it would be rather pointless to make a World War One horror movie, World
06:13War One being such a horrific chapter in human history already, adding ghosts and ghouls into
06:17the mix, well, who'd notice frankly?
06:21And indeed Death Watch feels like a war movie that took a wrong turn at Transylvania and stumbled
06:25into horror by accident.
06:27Fortunately, Death Watch is aware of this and plays into it to add to the horror.
06:32The best part of Death Watch is the scale and detail in its portrayal of the war on such
06:36a measly budget.
06:38The opening scene manages through clever lighting and editing to make a few dozen soldiers feel
06:42like hundreds.
06:44When the movie settles into the trenches that will be the setting for the rest of the film,
06:48the startling attention to detail gives the viewer such a cold, wet, dreary sense of place.
06:54What makes the film so effective is that you're never given all the answers on whether there
06:58is something evil in the trenches with these men, if the shell shock of the war has just driven
07:03them all crazy, or if they all died in the opening and this is their purgatory.
07:08Death Watch is a bleak, stark look into the bowels of human nature, like all great World
07:13War One movies, but with that extra horror twist to make it stand out.
07:17Not perfect, but definitely worth a watch.
07:20Number 4.
07:21Frailty.
07:22No list about horror movies is complete without at least one religious trauma movie.
07:28Quite literally in Frailty's case, as the film centres on a father who is hopelessly
07:32convinced that an angel has visited him to order him to commit a lot of murder.
07:37What makes Frailty really work are the performances.
07:40Bill Paxton, who also directed the film, plays the part of the father with a mix of brutality
07:45and shocking nuance, an otherwise good man utterly lost in the maze of his hallucinations
07:51and dragging his two sons down with him, even as he's convinced he's doing the right thing.
07:56Powers Booth also stars as the FBI agent hearing all of this second hand from Paxton's
08:01son, giving an instantly memorable performance as the determined investigator out to find
08:07the God's Hand Killer.
08:08Telling any more would be giving away the twists and really you should just go see it for yourself.
08:13Frailty is a fantastic bit of horror, suspense and mystery.
08:17Number 3.
08:18May.
08:19Loneliness is and has always been one of those emotions that our brains just aren't equipped
08:24to handle for very long, so it's no wonder a lot of cinematic killers share intense isolation
08:29as a notch in their backstory bingo cards.
08:322002's May takes that idea and bolts with it into abject depravity.
08:37May can be easily compared to Stephen King's Carrie.
08:40Indeed none other than Roger Ebert did just that when the film released, in that both are
08:45about deeply troubled souls that have been hurt by a society that refuses to understand
08:50them.
08:51But while Carrie paired that with metaphorical and incredibly dangerous psychic powers, May
08:56remains terrifyingly grounded.
08:58This story of a woman with a lazy eye being mistreated and betrayed by everyone in her
09:02life until her mind unravels didn't receive the recognition it deserved when it first came
09:07out.
09:08If this kind of sick, swing for the fences kind of movie is your jam, 2003's loss can
09:12be your gain.
09:14Number 2.
09:15Bubba Hotep.
09:16Bruce Campbell is a national treasure, and among his fans, one film stands out, even amongst
09:21his magnum opus of the Evil Dead pictures, Bubba Hotep.
09:26Bubba Hotep is a monster movie set in a retirement home and starring two senile old men.
09:32One is convinced he's Elvis, the other is convinced he's JFK.
09:35Whether they are or not is left vague as part of the joke, as these two have to defend their
09:40retirement home and the people who live there from the eponymous Bubba Hotep, an Egyptian
09:45mummy bent on killing them all.
09:47Bubba Hotep is one of the funniest horror comedies out there, which makes the fact that it went
09:51under-seen and under-appreciated upon release a travesty.
09:55Bruce Campbell plays Elvis with just the perfect amount of comedy and nuance, keeping the tragedy
10:00of the character alive, while also maintaining the hilarity of the King of Rock now being a senile
10:05old codger.
10:06If you're looking for a good laugh to go along with your scares, then you can't go wrong with
10:10Bubba Hotep.
10:12Number 1.
10:13Bones
10:14The most slept on horror film of the early 2000s is, without a doubt, the criminally under-seen
10:19Bones.
10:21Sabotaged out the gate by awful distribution by New Line Cinema, Bones is basically a Jordan
10:26Peel movie, a full decade and a half before Get Out, a racially and politically charged horror
10:32movie starring Snoop Dogg.
10:34While not the scariest movie out there, even by the standards of the other films on this
10:38list, Bones is easily the most interesting.
10:42The story sees a murdered community leader, the eponymous Jimmy Bones, coming back as a
10:46demon to wreak terrible vengeance on the people who destroyed him.
10:50His targets include a cop who introduced drugs into the community to rot it from within, and
10:55the treasonous friends who aided in the scheme to better themselves.
10:59A story seeked in the history of the American government's many violent crimes against black
11:04communities, embodying centuries of anger in one righteous ghost, whom Snoop Dogg gives
11:09brilliant life and nuance.
11:12Bones may not be the scariest horror flick you can put on for movie night, but it makes
11:16up for it by being a compelling story rooted in history with an awesome cast.
11:21More than worthy of the top spot on this list.
Recommended
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