The Aught’s, as some people have come to call this decade about to end, was actually a pretty good decade in terms of the amount of quality horror that showed up on the big-screen. We had some channeling the nastiness of the 70’s exploitation era while a couple ushered in this decade’s era of the so-called “torture porn.” There were more than just a few remakes of past horror films. Most of these remakes were quite awful compared to the original, but more than a few managed to end being good and held their own against the original.
Some of the titles I will list will eschew gore and the shock scares for a more subtle and atmospheric approach. More than a few straddled not just horror but other genres like comedy, drama and sci-fi. If there was one major observation I was able to make, when collating what I thought was the 20 best horror films of the decade, it was that the Foreign studios really came into the decade with a vengeance.
While I consider these horror films on this list as “the best of…” it is still my opinion and I am sure there will be people who will disagree, but even if people do not agree with all my choices it would be hard to dispute any of them as not being good to great in their own way. Like my similar Sci-Fi list this one will be numbered but only for organizational sake and doesn’t determine which film is better than rest. They’re all equal in my eyes.
- The Mist (dir. Frank Darabont)
- Splinter (dir. Toby Wilkins)
- Let the Right One In (dir. Tomas Alfredson)
- Hostel (dir. Eli Roth)
- A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim Ji-woon)
- The Descent (dir. Neil Marshall)
- Martyrs (dir. Pascal Laugier)
- 28 Days Later… (dir. Danny Boyle)
- Bubba Ho-Tep (dir. Don Coscarelli)
- Dawn of the Dead (dir. Zack Snyder)
- The Devil’s Backbone (Guillermo del Toro)
- Frailty (dir. Bill Paxton)
- Kairo (dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
- Shaun of the Dead (dir. Edgar Wright)
- American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron)
- Inside (dir. Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Mary)
- The Orphanage (dir. Juan Antonio Bayona)
- The Devil’s Rejects (dir. Rob Zombie)
- Slither (dir. James gunn)
- Audition (dir. Takashi Miike)
Honorable Mentions: Saw, Haute Tension, Drag Me To Hell, Trick ‘r Treat, Dog Soldiers, Ju-On, May, Midnight Meat Train, The Ruins, Jeepers Creepers, Ginger Snaps, Funny Games (remake), Shutter, Frontier(s), Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon…just to name a few.
Through the Shattered Lens 
This is a great list Buck. Other than Splinter, Martyrs, and The Orphanage, I’ve seen everything on your list. Actually, add Let The Right One In to my unwatched list. My girl got me that awhile ago, I just haven’t gotten around to it.
Let’s see, you have most of the other good picks in your honorable mentions, especially Ju-on, Haute Tension, Trick ‘r Treat, etc which would probably all make my own list.
Can’t think of too many you omitted completely. Maybe The Ring remake, Session 9, and REC (which is another I just haven’t gotten to, but obviously it is supposed to be brilliant).
Your list is thorough, which is not surprising knowing you. Maybe I’ll get my own up on Gamespot at some point. Nice job.
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There were so many more I could list but I decided to leave it at 20 or the list would be closer to 50. On the Japanese gothic horror genre I decided to just put Kairo in as that was the best of the lot.
I also decided to put The Descent in and leave Dog Soldiers out. I didn’t want a particular director to have more than one in the top 20. Same reason why I kept Haute Tension in the honorable mentions section while putting The hills have Eyes remake in the 20. Now that was a remake which definitely matched and, at times, improved on the original.
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Oh, no question about The Descent. Top 5 of the decade for me, for sure. I love Dog Soldiers, but you’re right to pick The Descent as his pinnacle film. And Aja definitely did the trick with that remake, not a fan of the original too much myself. Your reasonings are sound, after all, it’s your list…we all have different criteria. For the most part in 2009, I watched very little and what I did watch ended up being repeat viewings. Lists like these though get me fired up.
Happy New Year man, keep the love for horror strong.
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I may love all sort of films, but horror will always remain the first one. As you’ve noticed by now it’s not just horror I’ll be ranting and raving about though it will probably constitute almost 1/4 of it. I actually have a blog post down the line that will have running zombies vs Romero zombies and which I think is better.
Plus, I’ll be posting zombie outbreak survival tips and techniques soon. I’m not going to wait for the first major sign before I start preparing. 🙂
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Well, I favorited this blog of yours so I’ll keep up with at least the horror aspect of it 🙂
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Thanks! I just posted my review of the Zombie Survival Guide and its companion graphic novel. If you’re up for some writing here and there I’m looking for some guests writers who won’t mind putting up reviews and/or editorials.
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Didn’t like Paranormal Activity? I thought it was a great movie for the budget. Honorable mention?
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I liked it but as a major horror fan I didn’t see anything in it that couldn’t have been done using traditional film techniques. The single-cam nightvision footage was a nice technique but halfway through the film I was silently thinking to myself that this couple had to be the dumbest pair I’ve seen in horror lately. Don’t even get me started on the douchebag of a boyfriend, LOL.
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Loving this list! Definitely agree with The Orphanage, absolutely eautiful piece of film making.
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Good to see visiting, Shivvy! Yeah, The Orphanage was definitely one of the better ones the last decade.
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This is one of the most legitimate lists I have seen. I would have put some of these in a different order (do you really thin The Devil’s Rejects is a better film than Audition?), but most are quality films. It does surprise me, however, to see a film like Hostel included at all. let alone one notch below the wonderfully-done Let The Right One In, given your other choices. The torture porn films don’t generate fear through clever direction or good acting. They do it cheaply by making (at least some) viewers “fear” the next grisly scene. I wish these lame films would go away.
The only other one I would question is another fan favorite, Shaun of the Dead. It shows up on a lot of Best Horror Film lists. I enjoyed that movie, but it is clearly a comedy, not horror. Should we then also consider Abbot and Costello Meet the Wolfman, or the Munsters movie when assessing the genre?
I guess we all have our specific tastes. In addition to my dislike of the aforementioned torture porn (Martyrs at least had an interesting conceit), I don’t enjoy the slasher stuff very much. The presence of some supernatural element (instead of just some jerk with a knife) makes the story more interesting. There have been attempts to infuse the supernatural into the slasher film, but they resulted in the infliction of films like the Friday the Thirteenth sequels and A Nightmare On Elm Street. The first Halloween was an exception. And I find Sam Raimi’s camp/gore film style neither scary nor funny. I didn’t see Drag Me To Hell, but the abysmal Evil Dead does not motivate me to check it out. Army Of Darkness was fairly entertaining,if not scary, though, so perhaps I should give Drag a chance.
Anyway, thanks for an unusually solid, well-considered list.
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If you like the list then you may like some of the film reviews I’ve posted. Most are usually genre films with horror probably getting the lion share of my posted reviews.
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Addendum:
My apologies. That’s what happens when I peruse a list and immediately opine. instead of reading the introduction first. Having done so now, I understand that this is not a ranking list, and that you include things like comedy films in an effort to be comprehensive.
Horror fan that I am, I still feel compelled to comment on the premise that “They’re all equal…”, with acknowledgement of your stated posture of subjectivity. (I’ll be brief this time.)
The Mist, Let The Right One In. And then Hostel, The Devil’s Rejects, Pretty much the same quality of film? Really?
Just curious, since you clearly have a passion for and knowledge of the genre. I would not expect you to equate these films, from a critical standpoint.
Thanks again for good read.
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I use the comment that they’re all equal in the most general term as possible. I say equal in that they’re all quality horror films which bring something to the genre. Now, I don’t consider all on my list as equal in the qualitative sense of the word.
I have to be on something to say Hostel is equal to The Mist or The Devil’s Rejects equal to Let the Right One In. If you notice the films I picked for the list covers every subgenre of horror. This is why I included Shaun of the Dead. While it is a comedy there’s quite a bit of horror in it that one could say the film could be either comedy or horror.
If I had to pick a true top 2 from my list in regards to quality then I would have A Tale of Two Sisters at 2 and Audition at 1.
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Understood. It is a very balanced list.
It’s funny how horror movies generate such strong feelings of loyalty or disdain for particular films among fans. I can’t be sure, but it seems to be more so than with other movie genres.
The Asian directors really know how to tell a story. don’t they? If you’re patient, you are often amply rewarded. Your top 2 are great films.
Let The Right One In is my favorite, and I think as good a choice for “best” as any other. After that, between the Asian and Spanish films you listed, and even a couple of the Hollywood offerings, I would have a hard time establishing an order for the first few on the list. That;s why I think it is so good.
I will check out your other reviews. I have recently been on a quest for recommended (good) horror films, so I look forward to some suggestions. Thanks.
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