So we’ve assembled our take on some of the best horror films of the 21st century – the zombie-apocalypse tales, things-that-go-bump-in-the-psyche ghost stories, retro-slasher flicks, K-horror and Hollywood franchise films that have spooked us, shook us and scared us shitless since 2000.
Whether some of these are genuinely a ‘horror’ film, however, is still up for debate, at least for some of us, who don’t get scared at all. But the ranked list of films here is guaranteed to have you repeating to yourself, “It’s only a movie, it’s only a movie, it’s only a movie!”
‘The Conjuring’ – Lots of director’s pledge allegiance to old-school horror flicks like ‘The Exorcist’; James Wan is one of the few capable of making something worthy of his influences. This ghost story par excellence works from the same true-life sources that gave us ‘The Amityville Horror’. In the early 1970s, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren visit a Rhode Island family who believe their home is haunted. ‘The Conjuring’ isn’t merely a spot-on period re-creation – it’s a fiendishly effective throwback to ’70s-style studio horror, back when methodical pacing and an icy tone trumped cheap gore. Stately, sophisticated dread permeates every frame, with Wan devilishly toying with his audience as they jump at every creaky floorboard and random trip to the super-creepy basement.
‘The Babadook’ – Jennifer Kent’s debut was not only one of the most assured in years but one of the most conceptually sound: She not only knows how to scare people, but why. The story of a widowed mother, whose son is menaced by an angular demon that’s literally straight out of a children’s book begins as a nerve-scraping parable of grief; it becomes truly terrifying, however, when the subject shifts to how quickly parental love can turn to hate. It’s a monster movie in which everyone takes turns being the monster.
‘The Ring’ – a female ghost with long, black hair, the grotesque loom of fright on the faces of those she comes for, home video – Gore Verbinski’s remake of influential Japanese horror ‘Ringu’ transposes the story from Tokyo to Seattle, but the song remain the same. A VHS tape begins circulating that, upon viewing, allegedly kills whoever views it seven days after watching it. Quicker than you can say ‘urban legend’, bodies begin piling up and an angry spirit is crawling out of a TV set. Rarely has an American remake of a foreign horror film captured the original spirit so spot on.