BEST HORROR FILMS OF THE DECADE
In the past ten years, we have seen many things happen in the horror genre. We were introduced to J-Horror phenomenon that took the world by storm after The Ring. We were introduced to the dreaded “torture porn” phrase that got a negative connotation after the Hostel and Saw franchises, and we became cultured in foreign horror films. This past decade has offered many hits and misses in the genre and although picking the best horror films in the past ten years sounds as hard as picking the best booty call since the year 2000, I was still able to list what I thought should be considered as the crème of the crème in horror this decade. Read on to find out more and make sure to comment below with your picks.
Best Canadian Feature: GINGER SNAPS
Back in 2001, Ginger Snaps made a surprising impact and revived Canada’s love of horror with its tongue in cheek werewolf tale that mixed in the perfect amount of humor and scares and introduced fans to up and coming actress, Katherine Isabelle. PMS has never been so scary. Runners up: My Little Eye, Pontypool
Best French Horror Feature: HIGH TENSION
Many of you may be ready to debate me on this decision to name Alexandre Aja’s now cult film as the top French Horror film, but no one can deny that Aja’s home invasion horror film opened the doors for future French filmmakers to terrify us with ripped out baby foetuses and killer children. Although, the film has an imperfect twist at the end, it still is worthy to be recognized in this category. Runners up: Inside, Ils, Martyrs
Best Remake: DAWN OF THE DEAD
After Michael Bay opened Pandora’s Box with his Platinum Dune financed remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 2003, the world has been subjected to abysmal and pointless horror remakes ever since. However in 2004, newcomer Zack Snyder brought to the horror universe a remake of a beloved George Romero classic that had won over most horror aficionados after the film’s first crazy and apocalyptic nine minutes. I don’t care what you say; fast zombies are far scarier than slow zombies. Runners Up: The Hills Have Eyes, Funny Games
Best Sequel: THE DEVIL’S REJECTS
Many people will argue that this film is a stand alone film and that shouldn’t be considered a sequel to Rob Zombie’s directorial debut, The House of 1000 Corpses, however I think that’s a load of crap. Personally, if I hadn’t watched House of 1000 Corpses, I would have been slightly lost after the police raid at the beginning. The Devil’s Rejects took the Firefly family out of its surreal environment and put them in the real world where they appeared to be toned down yet no less terrifying than they were in the previous instalment. Now if only Halloween 2 was this good. Runners Up: Rec 2, 28 Weeks Later
Best Film Adaptation: THE MIST and THE RUINS (tie)
Frank Darabont (a.k.a “the Anti-Mick Garris) adapted yet another stellar film from the creepy mind of Stephen King in 2007 with The Mist. Unlike the hopeful ending in the original novella, Darabont chose to shoot a far more shocking and grim ending that not even the most devout horror fan could have seen coming. It was a bold yet appreciated decision.
Although not as good as The Mist, the survival horror film The Ruins definitely deserves recognition not only simply because it didn’t get it in its opening weekend when the dreaded Prom Night remake took the number one spot at the box office, (How did we let that happen?) but because Scott Smith (author of the novel and screenplay) made a creative move and fooled fans of the book by switching the character’s deaths and personalities in the script. Runner Up: Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door
Best J-Horror Feature: BATTLE ROYALE
Japanese horror films seemed to explode onto the scene in 2000 when the remake for 1999’s Ringu came out and wowed American audiences. However, the most explosive J-horror film has to be 2000’s Battle Royale which involved a huge class of young students fighting each other to death in brutal and horrific ways. Lord of the Flies seems tame compared to this beast. No wonder it’s Quentin Tarantino’s favourite film this decade. Runners Up: The Eye, Ichi the Killer
Best Creature Feature: THE DESCENT
Neil Marshall may have won over horror fans with his 2002 werewolf film, Dog Soldiers. However, it was not until 2005 when he unleashed his creature feature from beyond the caves with The Descent. I have to give props to a director for filming a horror film with an all female cast! I had never been so terrified in a theatre before and can honestly say it was the scariest film experience this decade…however, it still wasn’t my favorite. Stay tuned… Runners Up: Creep, Feast
Best PG-13 Horror Film: DRAG ME TO HELL
I know picking the best Pg-13 rated horror film of the decade seems almost as fun as picking your best STD you’ve contracted in the last ten years, but I have to admit some original PG-13 horror films this past decade have surprised me; most notably Sam Raimi’s recent horror film, Drag me to Hell. Despite his dearly missed departure from the horror genre in the past decade, Raimi made sure to please fans in this last year with his welcome return to horror and proved that large amounts saliva and nose blood can replace R-rated gore seamlessly. Runners Up: Disturbia, The Others, The Ring
Best Anthology: TRICK R TREAT
For a while there I was afraid we would not see this make it on the list as it seemed extremely doubtful that Michael Dougherty’s much buzzed about film was ever going to see the light of the day. Thankfully, the film came out just in time for this year’s Halloween season and has pleased fans and critics alike. Instead of taking the four separate stories and splicing them together with only a ghastly narrator’s introduction as the sole connection to the stories, Trick ‘R Treat took a unique turn with a broken-narrative tale following five different stories that all take place on Halloween night. The premise alone is why the film deserves the spot in this category. Runner Up: Grindhouse
Best Horror Film Directed by an Actor: FRAILTY
Years after he was turned into a pile of crap onscreen and years before he would be known for the most famous polygamist on HBO, Bill Paxton made and starred in one of the most influential horror films this decade. Frailty was a sleeper hit in 2002 and its killer twist does not disappoint. Catch this subtext-heavy thriller if you haven’t already done so. Runners Up: The Tripper , Roman
Best Hand Held Horror Film: REC
In 1999, the world was taken aback by horror’s most famous venture into cinema verite with The Blair Witch Project. Ironically enough, it took nearly ten years for filmmakers to capitalize on the trendy sub-genre and Rec is definitely the most beloved from the past ten years. The surprisingly decent remake Quarantine hardly made a splash into the hearts of most horror fans as they were still shell-shocked from their Rec experience to bother with it. Runners Up: Paranormal Activity, S&Man
Best Horror Comedy: BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON
It has been three years since Behind the Mask wowed me over in the film festival circuit, and I am still impressed by its fresh and beyond creative concept that deconstructs the slasher genre in the most intelligent manner I’ve ever seen. This low-budget mockumentary is something I will continue to show to friends for years to come. Runners Up: Shaun of the Dead, Severance, Hatchet
Best Vampire Film: LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
Thanks to Stephenie Meyer, vampires have made a huge comeback over the past couple of years for a PG-13 audience, however some vampire films have fortunately have had far more bite than the dreaded Twilight films. Last year, Let The Right One In won over critics with its beautifully shot tale of adolescent angst in the film festival circuit. Despite the fact fans were robbed with a poorly subtitled DVD release, it is still able to win top spot for best vampire film in my opinion. Runners up: Blade 2, 30 Days of Night
Favorite Horror Film of the Decade: IDENTITY
In 2003, I fell in love with James Mangold’s underrated psychological thriller and found it amazing how the clever twists at the end of the movie were made so obvious in the title, poster and spoiler-heavy trailer, yet were still surprising to see when revealed. I saw this film multiples times in theatres and on DVD and it still holds up to this very day.
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Nice, good idea to put them into categories, you can mention more titles that way. Props for putting High Tension over Inside, I feel the same way. It’s good to see Battle Royale made an impression on you
Identity, good movie, bold choice.
Nice job with the love for IDENTITY. I saw it on HBO and fell in love with it. John Cusack is the man. You put together a great list, but I would change a few things around. HAUTE TENSION, as great as the movie, the end was just as bad. That killed it for me. ILS is one fucked up movie, but in a great way, and that would be my choice. I would add 1408 to the adaptation list. I loved that movie so much. And once again, Cusack pulled it out.
I know it’s personal opinion, but for favorite horror film, I’m going with little talked about, but awesomely amazing, SESSION 9. I took me at least 3 times to watch it before I was able to watch it with the lights off. Wonderfully written and acted, this might be the most underrated film of the past 10 years.
Great list none the less!
Nice list, love that Battle Royale is on there and that somebody else remembered Frality.
@whitechapel Yeah..there was no way I’m listing in order of preference! WAY TOO HARD!
Glad to see you liked the list. 
@Brad- Identity is the sh*t! I think it’s pretty much forgotten by now..which is why it deserves some love! I’m actually not a big fan of 1408 to be quite honest and although I totally agree with you with High Tension’s f*cked up twist ending, it still was the catalyst for the other french horror films that scared the crap out of us. That’s why it noted it as number one!
Session 9 is great fave choice!
@Melissa Frailty is amazing!! Happy Birthday by the way
Great list Serena!!
mehul Reply:
September 13th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
dear, from where should I download this all stuffs? pls. help me with this.
Interesting list, Miss Whitney. I loved “Inside” and “Audition” (wasn’t that like 2001?). Best remake for me was “Willard”.
Brad Reiter Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I love me some Crispin Glover.
High Tension is awesome but Inside smoked it in every department.
Willard always gets left out, such a great remake by Glen Morgan, as was Black Christmas.
I’d also give some love to Freddy Vs. Jason, a film that delivered the goods in all departments.
Brad Reiter Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
FvJ could have either been great or horrible. No one knew what to expect after all the years it took to get made. I would say it certainly delivered. I loved it in every way.
Jason Bene Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Ronny Yu delivered a gory, stylish, sexy romp that meshed the two franchises extremely well. It’s just an awesome film!
For the most part, I think this is a terrific list. However, as far as the remake thing goes, I would have dumped Hills Have Eyes in favor for My Bloody Valentine 3D.
Vampire films: I put 30 Days Of Night in front of Let The Right One In…but after Blade II, I’d try to squeeze in Shadow Of The Vampire (2000).
I liked Ginger Snaps II better than the first.
Creature Feature: Descent without question. However, I would have given a runner up to Rogue. Yeah. The one with the crocodile. Munches on a pre-Avatar Sam Worthington no less.
As far as the best horror of the past decade IDENTITY: it is.
And that was before James Marigold’s recent successes outside of horror/suspense. It is almost tough now to even remember he directed IDENTITY, given Walk The Line and 3:10 To Yuma.
I wasn’t a fan of Alexandre Aja’s High Tension. Or Hills Have Eyes. Oddly, I actually liked the K-horror remake of Mirrors…and I am sort of looking forward to Piranha 3-D, so maybe I am coming around…
Adaptation runner up: Midnight Meat Train
Come on. You had to have been tempted…
-DjS
“Vampire films: I put 30 Days Of Night in front of Let The Right One In”
Surely you jest.
“Let the Right One In” is a modern masterpiece where as “30 Days” is simply another moderately entertaining diversion.
They’re not even in the same class.
The Descent really impressed me as did the stylish “Drag Me to Hell” and “Identity” was sheer entertainment.
Still, “Let the Right One In” is my favorite horror film in years.
Jon Reply:
May 10th, 2010 at 8:09 am
I agree on “Let the Right One In.”
Room 1408 should be here!!!
Jason Reply:
November 13th, 2010 at 3:29 am
Yikes, Room 1408??? The story is one of the creepiest “haunted room at the inn” stories ever written. Unfortunately, the elements that make it so effective in print cannot and do not translate to film. I think the three worst adaptations of Stephen King material to film are probably “Lawnmower Man”, “The Mangler”, and “Room 1408″. Some things just need to be read.
Although I agree that Haute Tension, deserves to be recognized on this list, Martyrs should definitely be at the top of the list!!!
The movie was genius and had way more meaning and impact than did Haute Tension.
Another French movie that was not mentioned, although it would fall under the Thriller category is Irreversible. It’s a great movie! I highly suggest it. I also just recently checked out a film Quebecois called 5150 Elm’s Way it isn’t as good as the others but it was watchable and interesting.
Besides the whole Haute Tension over Martyrs I agree with your list!
Jon Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 1:36 pm
To me what hurts Martyrs is it isn’t something that will be re-watched as much as Haute Tension, but it is a good film; I’ll let time decide to me if it is great.
Sam Reply:
September 12th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Martyrs and Irreversible set the benchmark for dark films …. Haute Tension was good but no where near as gritty as irreversible
Pretty good list although I don’t agree with ‘The Ruins’ and I would have placed ‘Inland Empire’ somewhere on the list.
Another French movie that was not mentioned, although it would fall under the Thriller category is Irreversible. It’s a great movie! I highly suggest it. I also just recently checked out a film Quebecois called 5150 Elm’s Way it isn’t as good as the others but it was watchable and interesting.
Rec, BR, Haute Tension, Drag Me to Hell and The Descent were all top quality movies, cheers for that. However, The Mist?? The Ruins?? Identity?? All garbage. Let the Right One In was VERY boring and highly overrated. You want something that’ll knock your socks off?? Try Martyrs, Frontiers and A L’interieur (amazing French horror flicks), and if you’d like to see a good suspense/real life horror flick, try the German “Antibodies” Very well done.
Andrew L Reply:
July 11th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Anthony S, if you thought Let The Right One In was highly overrated, you shouldn’t have even posted a comment. Your opinion is degraded to meaningless automatically, because of that comment. And btw, it’s VERY boring because you’re VERY narrow-minded. I guess you’ve never seen real acting. However I agree, that The Mist, and The Ruins were garbage.
Blade 2 a great action movie with little to NO substance because of the atrocious actors who played the elder vampire, lawyer and the main girl.
May!
so i am a big horror fan and i went through this list and couldnt agree more. you and i have the same tastes. i need more of you’re suggestions. and if you havent yet, see shuttle and the killing room.
email me with more suggestions if you can <3
I’m very glad that I came across this list! It’s always fun to read someone’s opinions of “Best…” and I thought you explained all the choices very well.
I was a little surprised that there was so little mentioned from East Asia, given the genre’s rise in the region over the past 15 years. Namely, I think there should have been categories created for “A Tale of Two Sisters” and “The Happiness of the Katakuris”, and “Thirst” certainly should have been given some love in the vampire category. I am not a fan of vampire movies at all, but “Let the Right One In” and “Thirst” blew the doors off the hinges and the hinges off the jambs for that sub-genre.
“Phone”, “Three…Extremes”, “Ichi the Killer”, “The Happiness of the Katakuris”, “Dark Water” (the Japanese version), and several others probably ought to at least be mentioned, if not have a category created for them.
Good Stuff! Thanks!
Where is the Orphanage in this discussion? Are ghost movies not included in this list?
wasn’t feeling identity or the ruins. midnight meat train is very underrated i love that movie!
why diddnt “Frontiers” make the French list? i think that may have been one of my favorite films of all time! it was beatiful,dramatic,artistic,and had me hooked and on the edge of my seat the whole way through!
And “The Descent” was,and still is, THE BEST HORROR MOVIE EVER. In my opinion at least. however i did find the Sequel to be slightly disapointing. but still a excellent film. I think i actualy cried while watching it. and i disliked Rec.2 simply because of the religious standpoint. i dont need jesus mixing with my zombies. well….i guess they werent actual Zombies,then again either were the ones in 28 Days later.
i loved Dawn of the Dead and All other “Fast Zombie” films. well,most anyways. hopefully 2010 has some instore for the world,because the only one that i have seen so far from this year was La Horde. that was brilliant. hope to see more!!!
)
(any word of World War Z? I heard its release will be in 2012….so far away….IT BETTER BE WORTH IT!
wher is it saw
Identity??? That is not even the best John Cusack film of the decade and he is a mediocre actor at best who can only play himself more or less. I wouldn’t even consider Identity a horror movie to be honest more of a psychological thriller as you said. I just now watched it and it did not scare me in the least bit, I mean isn’t that what horror films should do?
Also your categories don’t even make sense, why bother with half of them. They should have went like this. Best horror movie, best foreign horror movie, best horror made for television and then for the hell of it maybe best horror video game.
Haters gonna hate..
Hate to be one of “those guys” but, Battle Royale SUCKED compared to the book! Terrible. just terrible.
howwww is trick r treat on this list? one of the worst, non-scary, horror films i’ve ever seen. only my 4 year old cousin might be scared of it. anyways, i liked the ring and the grudge. probably because they’re based on j-horror’s and the best horror films i’ve seen so far are k-horror or j-horror. and trust me, i’ve seen alot. i’m not easily scared, but the grudge scared meee. and the ring was just very eerie; i loved the whole storyline and how everything seemed to fall into place.
The Ring, The Shining- These two could be here…
High Tension was a flat out rip-off of Dean Koontz’s Intensity.
night of the demon…………………not the black and white vampire film. The version or the beast running round the woods dismembering everyone. fantasic film banned very quickly on release and never realeased since. About 77-79 i would say, started off with the man having t do what a man has to do, ends with a rayburn oven scene. Fantastic. Dont make films like these were any more, along the same era as the burning,last house on the left, the original zombie flesh eaters, etc etc.
So happy to see both Frailty and Identity getting a mention, both are criminally underrated. Still hopin that Bill Paxton does another genre film.
My choice for the BEST horror film of this decade is SK’s The Mist.
It worked on so many levels, plus i loved the GUT PUNCH ending.
Honorable Mention…
Dog Soldiers
Dead Birds
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Night Watch(the russian vampire film)
Session 9
Wrong Turn
Sheitan
Abonimable
Mulberry Street
Eden Lake
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Willard
Calvaire
I agree w/ Identity as your best choice, it has a great storyline although it does’nt really frighten me. i dnt think even horror movies really scare me at all. but high tension was good and frontiers. i liked ILS, but its not better than high tension, that guy was pussy! audition was one of those movies that i could’nt stand to watch. it was horrific!!!
In true fashion these are great horror movies. But looking back on what else is out I do like going off of a list like this top horror movie list http://www.filmcrave.com/list_genre_movie.php?genre=Horror which also allowed me to see trailers too. Pretty cool stuff.
I hate to see High Tension on any list because I found the last act such a let down that I felt it ruined what was one of the best “high tension’ movies I had ever seen. I was so let down by the ending that I felt the greatness of the first two acts were overshadowed.
“Let The Right One In” on the other hand, brilliant film. Amazingly paced and creepy without being in your face. I think the climatic finale was cinematic brilliance, makes me smile just thinking about it.
Good list overall, your categories make a list like this a lot palpable.
My #1 horror film pick is Midnight Meat Train. See the the trailer here –> http://m.youtube.com/watch?&gl=US&client=mv-google&hl=en&v=Rk4u8dOOEcE
My #1 horror film pick is Midnight Meat Train. See the the trailer here –> http://m.youtube.com/watch?&gl=US&client=mv-google&hl=en&v=Rk4u8dOOEcE
Took the advice from feedback at the top of the comment list and watched “Session 9″.
Glad that it is not on the list because it sucked out loud. I haven’t seen a movie this boring since “Shutter Island”, which could qualify as the worst movie ever.
Gonna a few other suggestions from the list! There’s a few I still haven’t seen.
CJ
shake, rattle and roll is the best for me.. and of course the exorcist. these two movies really made me scared!!!!!!!
http://filmonista.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/my-top-10-halloween-appropriate-films/
wow i think haunted in the conneticutt was amazing also frailty an ddrag me to hell i love tention !!!
Don Fields Reply:
October 31st, 2010 at 1:52 pm
To be honest I agree with a lot of the pics of this list and have a pretty extensive collection of movies.
Nice work and a few I have to check out that are posted on here still yet.
Ginger Snaps for what it was I really liked, if it obviously wasn’t so low budget and the Werewolf at the end would have been slightly better, CGI type of effects etc, would have made it a much better ending but oh well
Drag me to Hell I really couldn’t get into I guess too much for some reason.
The Mist I liked a lot myself, but had always wanted to see that made into a movie from the first time I’d read it, was glad it was pretty much kept to form with the short story it was derived from, although to be honest I don’t think the “surprise” ending surprised me that much as I kind of predicted that one to my wife just from watching the trailers and having read the book.
I like your list a lot better than most that through the common ones out there.
Sorry about that meant it as a separate post to begin with.
Pumpkinhead believe it or not is pretty good flick I thought from years ago, and just as a B Flick type horror laugh Teeth was pretty out there hehe.
Near Dark is a great vampire flick btw also for anyone who has never seen that.
Jason Reply:
November 13th, 2010 at 3:34 am
The barroom scene is an absolute classic. THOSE are vampires.
I disagree that room 1408 should be in the list. It wasn’t that great, and wasn’t really a true horror. I was pleased to see disturbia at least mentioned. That moivie was fantastic for a pg horror. I can’t really see how Drag me to hell is popular on every forum.
Its pleasing to see hight tension, battle royal, and trick ‘r treat on the lsit as well. However no way in hell should identiy be there, this movie was very ordinary, very very ordinary. Its twist was clever but thats about it.
i am 22 years old but never had the courage to watch a horror movie in my entire life. now breaking my own rules. choosing DRAG ME TO HELL as a start. hope ill be able to finish the movie and not run away in between.
I agree with most of this list, but Twilight is obviously the best vampire film that has ever been made. Have you SEEN the CGI?!
horrorchic Reply:
November 20th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Huh?
Hellfire Reply:
November 26th, 2010 at 4:51 am
Have you seen any other films?
Whoa! Image seeking search engines all night with this and i lastly found it the following!
The sequel to “Descent” is worth watching as well. There were several pretty nailbiting scenes in it, and the acting was decent. Just a couple of complaints: First, I could have done without watching a cave monster stick his ass over a cliff and crap on our heroines (well, near miss, anyway). Second, what in the HELL was that ending??!! If you see it, you’ll understand my complaint.
Thanks for the list – just trying to avoid any pitfalls on a rainy day video rental. Since you listed a few of my favorites I will trust your judgement.
I concur on: Ginger Snaps I and II definitely not the 3rd, Identity,and Frailty. Haven’t seen a lot that made your list, but that was the point sort of. Let the Right One In and Drag me to Hell concern me as choices, though. I liked many on your runners up lists
the descent is the all time worst movie…
here is the list of all time best horror movies…..
1.Exorsist
2.The exorsism of Emily rose
3.Wrong Turn 2-Dead end
4.The Modnight Meat train
5.The Grudge
6.High Tension
7.The Ring
8.Constentien
9.Hannibel
10.The Eye
The list could be change……i am searching for good and original horror movies
bindaas Reply:
December 2nd, 2010 at 11:16 pm
exorsist is all time greatest movie
Hellfire Reply:
December 12th, 2010 at 5:01 am
You should watch “Inside” or “The Entity” and change your list.
Also watch Silence of the lambs
I love horror movies..the one which scared me most was SAW 4. didn’ t even finish watching it…scary as hell.
I loved The Mist!! REC 2 was great.
drag me to hell sucked. i don’t understand why people liked it so much. the cgi was terrible