Much like the 1970s before it, the decade between 2000-2009 was a particularly fruitful era in the horror genre spawned by a climate of international turmoil and rapid technological advancements in the filmmaking industry. In the post-9/11 era, America was thrust into paranoid, war-fuelled anxiety and grief, and with the internet fully emerging as a dominant force behind modern culture, those anxieties were shared globally as each and every new horrific worldwide event was broadcast in crystal clear detail onto the computer screens of international households. The flip side of that technological advancement was the emergence of digital filmmaking, laptop editing software, and rapid-fire communication that allowed for an unprecedented number of unique voices, who might never have had a chance before, to get their films made and distributed. All this considered, it's no wonder directors like James Wan, John Boorman, Zack Snyder, and many others spawned terrifying features during this period, many of which we've cataloged here in our list of the best horror movies of the 2000s.

At the same time, a number of international trends were sweeping the genre, with inventive emergent subgenres popping up the world over. Riding off the late '90s rise of J-Horror, Asian cinema emerged at the forefront of genre filmmaking with a consistent string of eerie supernatural chillers -- a trend that unfortunately led to the string of derivative American remakes that had half the heart and none of the edge of their predecessors. In French-language cinema, the sadistic hyper-violent stylings of the French New Wave swept through the horror community like a brash, invigorating force, while a string of Spanish-language filmmakers turned to the old-fashioned chills of lowkey, character-driven ghost stories.

Stateside, a number of trends also swept through the genre. Slasher films were out, but the impending zombie craze was in its nascent stages. Thanks to the rampant success of Paranormal Activity, the found-footage subgenre became the order of the hour for low-cost thrills, a format that was notoriously grating in the hands of the wrong filmmaker but offered plenty of opportunities for inventive perspective for others. And of course, the early aughts were the era of "torture porn", the much-maligned genre that focused on carnage and mutilation over narrative. Home invasion and survival horror also became particularly prominent genres in an era where audiences and filmmakers seemed to grapple with the fact that the scariest part of the human experience is the humans.

As I said before, it was a pretty spectacularly abundant decade for horror and there's a ridiculous wealth of movies I love that didn't find a spot on this list, so here's a rather lengthy list of honorable mentions: Calvaire, The Signal, Stuck, Frontier(s), All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Marebito, Suicide Club, Them, Versus, The Children, Silent Hill, The Cottage, Exte, The Ruins, Ju-On: The Grudge, Bug, Wolf Creek, Teeth, Hostel, 30 Days of Night, Sauna, Slither, Frailty, Severence, and to be honest, probably a few more that I'm forgetting.

And now, without further ado, check out the 41 best horror films of the 2000s.

RELATED: The 50 Best Horror Movies of the 1990s, Ranked

Saw (2004)

Saw-Reverse-Bear-Trap
Image Via Lionsgate

Despite the reputation it earned as shock-factor torture porn thanks to the increasingly reductive format of the sequels, Saw is essentially a horror-grown thriller with hints of outright violence and shockingly little gore. James Wan and Leigh Whannell's nasty little puzzle box introduced one of the most iconic modern horror villains in Tobin Bell's Jigsaw, a murderer of ideals and dastardly creativity. Setting his sights on victim's who take their life for granted, Jigsaw constructs a series of puzzles and challenges designed to test the victim's grit and will to live. Jigsaw's essential credo is that if one doesn't value life enough to do whatever it takes to survive, then they are undeserving of it. The film's main action is set against two unlikely allies, chained together in a room with scant clues on how to escape. Jigsaw gives each of them pieces of the puzzle, turning them against each other despite their bet efforts to collaborate on an escape strategy. It's a chamber piece meets noir detective thriller that, along with Eli Roth's Hostel, became the progenitor of the torture porn craze. But while Jigsaw's grisly traps became the calling card of the franchise, Wan and Whannell were up to something much more clever and Saw is no parade of graphic perversion, but a twisty murder mystery that values narrative surprise over shock value set-pieces.

Session 9 (2009)

'Session 9'

Brad Anderson's spooky little tale of encroaching madness is all about the atmosphere. There's not much that's inherently terrifying about the film – there's almost no gore, the pace is slow and the action low, and much of it is just a bunch of dudes talking as they go through the paces of their daily grind. But Anderson masters a slow-burn tension that creeps up on you as the boundaries of sanity and civility dissolve within the confines of a decaying abandoned mental hospital. The film follows a group of asbestos control experts, a real red-blooded masculine bunch of working everymen who badger and belittle each other in their unglamorous high-pressure gig. As those tensions fester and deepen, a parallel narrative unfurls via the disturbing audio recordings of a split-personality patient who underwent hypnotherapy in the decrepit hospital. As the horrors of the past unfurl through the session tapes, a Lovecraftian descent into madness sweeps through the crew, who turn on each other, vanish, and reappear in a perplexing, slight narrative that rides on its thick, creeping mood to carry the film to its chilling conclusion.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

A teenage girl screaming on the ground
Image via Screen Gems

In a genre as tried and true as the exorcism film, it's a challenge to come up with a new spin that manages to make the threat of the devil feel fresh and dangerous. With The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Scott Derrickson pulled off just that feat with a mature, heartfelt drama that also chills to the bone when the moment calls for it. Were it not for the heavy horror overtones, The Exorcism of Emily Rose would have probably been positioned as a prestige drama. Supported by an A-List cast that includes Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson, the film dramatizes the real-life death of Anneliese Michel, a woman who was diagnosed with Epilepsy after a series of visions and fits. Uncured by conventional medicine, her family turned to the church in a brutal exorcism that ended her life. Telling the concurrent stories of Emily, the priest who was charged with negligent homicide (Wilkinson), and the Lawyer defending him at trial (Linney), The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a pensive portrait of faith and the chilling reality that, if you believe in god, you must also believe in the horrifying power of the devil.

As Emily, the fresh-out-of-Julliard Jennifer Carpenter delivers a career-making performance; contorting and screeching with the frenetic panic of an animal caught in a trap, and Derrickson utilizes these piercing moments of performance horror with a wise restraint. With one foot in the realm of reality as we know it and one firmly planted in the reality of biblical horrors, Derrickson interweaves the dramatic and the terrifying with a measured hand.

Final Destination (2001)

Final Destination plane scene
Image via New Line Cinema

Like so many originals that spawn a franchise, Final Destination isn't nearly as goofy as the films that followed. Directed by James Wong, who would amusingly enough cement the franchise status in the realm of the silly with the delightful Final Destination 3, Final Destination, in its original incarnation, is an effective horror thriller with just enough self-aware humor. The story follows a group of teens (and one horribly ill-fated teacher) after they escape the fiery deaths that awaited them on flight 180. Thanks to the premonitions of the young, awkward Alex Browning (Devin Sawa), the band of teens exit the flight just before it explodes. And everyone who stepped off the plane with him, whether against their will or not, become the targets of death – an unembodied, relentless force that is constantly setting the wheels in motion for Rube Goldberg-esque death machinations.

It's broad and cheeky, but never more than it is disturbing as the victims are picked off one-by-one by a force they are all but helpless against. There's a blatant goofiness to the ultimate discovery of how Death chooses the order of its victims and how it can (at least temporarily) be defeated, but like Nightmare on Elm Street before it and It Follows after, Final Destination deals in the ultimate and unavoidable fact that we will all perish. And in the Final Destination world, if we try to skirt that inevitable doom, we just become the target of an invisible, whatever-it-takes form of death that will have it's bloody vengeance.

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Katie standing up in the middle of the night while possessed in 'Paranormal Activity.'
Image via Paramount Pictures

Yes, Cannibal Holocaust was technically the first ever found footage film. Yes, 1999's The Blair Witch Project pushed the boundaries of the genre in ways no one could have ever imagined. But 2007's Paranormal Activity, the first of a seven-and-growing franchise, kickstarted the found footage craze that persists today, 16 years later. The simple but effective story follows a couple, Kate and Micah, who document the unexplained and creepy happenings in their home. It begins with a subtle noise in the middle of the night, Katie's keys drop to the floor without any explanation. But then it escalates to the door slamming, Katie finds a burnt picture from her childhood in the attic. Katie's behavior begins to become more erratic and aggressive. And it all culminates in an unforgettable finale that yes, seems predictable in today's climate, but terrified audiences at the time. Paranormal Activity is the cinematic embodiment of "less is more." No blood, no gore, no Freddy Kruger. It's what we can't see that makes the film so terrifying. The concept has been done to death, and to varying results in the subsequent sequels. But the original film has to be remembered for its innovative approach to a genre many thought was dead and for bringing it back to life. To this day, it remains one of the most profitable films of all time. - Emma Kiely

Rec (2007)

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Image via Filmax International

Paranormal Activity may have been the found-footage revivalist that launched a thousand imitators, but Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza's news footage-style descent into a hellish house of horrors was the most kinetically-charged and outright horrifying found footage film of the decade. Following TV host Angela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) on a routine assignment for her series "While You're Sleeping" with a plan to spend the night on patrol with the local firemen. Rec spins that night out into a nightmarish journey through a building under siege when those firemen respond to a distress call that leaves them trapped in a lockdown with a mysterious deadly virus. A virus that also happens to turn people in to cannibalistic monsters. Along with her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso), Angela makes it her mission to document the truth of the events as they unfold. Rec is economical and calculating with its scares, proving that the found footage format can reap great rewards when its in the hands of clever filmmakers, and as the green-tinged faces that light up the screen throughout, the performers deliver face-first terror with completely convincing immediacy. Rec is the rare horror film that makes good on the promise of the found footage medium, and even rarer, it's one genuinely scary.

Eden Lake (2008)

Michael Fassbender tied up in Eden Lake
Image via Optimum Releasing

The 2000s were a decade filled with horror films about ordinary people doing extraordinary bad things to good people, but Eden Lake may well be the most wrenching. The feature directorial debut from My Little Eye scribe James Watkins follows a young couple Jenny (Kelly Reilly) and Steve (Michael Fassbender) on a planned romantic lakeside getaway that goes horrifically wrong when they confront a gang of unruly teenagers (including a young Jack O'Connell, who has always had a gift for menace). What should be a casual, if confrontational, conversation rapidly escalates from contentious to deadly serious when the local teens reveal themselves as a sadistic force of violence. The consequences for the unsuspecting couple are harrowing, and Watkins ditches flashiness and shock-factor gore for an unflinching and all-too-effective presentation of violence. The film cleverly avoids the classist bent that threatens at every turn, and while the young villains are never quite sympathetic, Watkins leaves room to explore peer pressure and the dangers of group-think. Eden Lake isn't quite the endurance test that marked some of the decades most depraved offerings (looking at you, Martyrs), but it's a chilling experience that leaves a pit in your stomach for days.

Orphan (2009)

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Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Juame Collet-Serra is one of the cheekiest filmmakers in the genre, so it's fitting that he'd be the one to take the tired "Evil Child" trope and turn it into something completely bombastic. The movie follows a married couple, Kate (Vera Farmiga) and John (Peter Sarsgaard) recovering from the loss of a child in labor. To help the healing process, the two set out to adopt a new member of their family and they're instantly taken with the well-mannered and all-too-precious Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman); a Russian orphan with remarkable artistic talents and a sugary sweetness. Naturally, that saccharine charm belies the deep and despicable capability for evil that Kate almost immediately discerns once Esther is welcomed into their home. If there's an aggressive failing in Orphan, it's the way that John absolutely refuses to believe his wife at every turn, but the film is devoted to such a schlocky, sensationalist reinvention of the demon seed child that it's impossible to take such squabbles too seriously. Collet-Serra takes the film in all manner of twisted and unpredictable directions, and once you figure out where it's all headed, it's impossible not to marvel at the work the young Fuhrman delivers in the dastardly role. Orphan is a pulpy melodrama that's dripping with psychosis, neurosis, and all kinds of damage, and it's an absolute blast from start to finish.

Antichrist (2009)

He and She in the forest

Antichrist is such a viscerally disquieting and disturbing movie, it's hard to translate the film's image-heavy effect into a quick blurb, but I'll do my best. In the hands of Lars Von Trier, who never seems to run out of new forms of torment for his characters, Antichrist is something between shock schlock and arthouse cinema. It's vile and unapologetic, getting up close and personal with rotting corpses, genital mutilation, and sex scenes so lurid and lengthy they border on pornographic. And did I mention the genital mutilation? Because oh boy, it's a doozy. Von Trier sparked some bonafide controversy with his explicit, hellish trip down the rabbit hole of guilt and grief, and with two fearless performers like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe carrying film, he had a pair of powerhouse talents willing to see the gruesome tale to its brutal, bitter end. Antichrist is mean-spirited and cynical; an unflinching look at the worst of the human experience and the greatest indecencies in man, but it is also the singular vision of a forceful auteur that's to be admired for its audacity and the efficiency with which it displays the disgusting depths of human evilness.

Splinter (2008)

A hand covered in black liquid with splinters coming out of it

A descendant of The Thing‘s lineage, Splinter is your classic practically-scripted limited-location starter film with an extra edge thanks to first-time director Toby Wilkins background in visual effects and a scene-stealing performance from Shea Whigham, who somehow still hasn’t become the industry-leading name his talent deserves . Set almost entirely in a gas station, Splinter follows a believably worn-in-but-still-in-love couple Polly and Seth (Jill Wagner and Paulo Costanzo) who are taken hostage by a pair of deadly fugitives (Whigham and Rachel Kerbs). When they stop at a gas station, the group is besieged by an amorphous, infectious organism that inhabits and reconfigures the bodies of its victims into grotesque malformities.

The concept is lean and elegant, and it's executed beautifully, but the film’s greatest strength the faith it has in its characters, who are given the opportunity to defy expectation at every turn. Splinter gleefully plays against gender tropes, introducing Polly as the tough, outdoorsy type in contrast to Seth’s reticent intellectualism, and celebrates the individual strengths that come with those traits. Meanwhile, Whigham’s Dennis Farrell, who is introduced as a violent antagonist, ultimately becomes the film’s standout character. It’s the type of movie that regularly turns up on a lot of “Best Movies You Haven’t Seen” lists and the kind of directorial debut that makes you sad Wilkins hasn’t turned out another original film since.

The Ring (2002)

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For a generation of moviegoers, Gore Verbinski's 2002 remake of the J-Horror classic Ringu was one of those formative terrifying movie-going experiences that leaves you too afraid to turn off the lights. An old VHS video tape changes hands. An unsuspecting innocent hits play. What follows is a stream of haunting, skin-crawling imagery. The video ends. The phone rings. "Seven Days." And before you know it, the specter of an ashen, stringy-haired dead girl is hot on your heels, claiming you for the dead. In Verbinski's hands, The Ring is classy and slick, carried by the impeccable Naomi Watts, and infused with his signature dash of weirdness that leaves a squeamish dread that leaves you looking over your shoulder (over covering your TV set with a sheet) for days. No doubt, part of The Ring's effect when it first arrived was thanks to the fact that Western audiences were widely unfamiliar with the eerie stylings and ghoulish nightmares of the budding Asian horror scene, but unlike the slew of J-Horror remakes that would follow, The Ring stands on its own as a chilling, impressively executed accomplishment of stifling unease that actually honors the source material instead of just cribbing from it.

Inside (2007)

inside-movie
Image via La Fabrique de Films

Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo nightmare of maternity and grief is a sticky, gruesome affair that's splatter-painted with thick, hard-earned torrents of blood. Four months after the horrific car crash that killed her husband, Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is in mourning and about to give birth when a mysterious and malicious woman creeps into her home with the intent to cut the baby from her belly with a pair of scissors. From the moment La Femme (Beatrice Dalle) slips those shears into Sarah's navel, the movie descends into frenetic in-your-face chaos caked with blood that spatters, sprays, drips, drops, jets, explodes and oozes absolutely everywhere on screen. Sarah escapes La Femme’s initial attack to a pristine white bathroom, gleaming with white tiles, white towels, a white shower curtain, and Sarah herself in a white nightgown. Then we watch as minute by minute it’s desecrated and defaced by unending torrents of bloodshed.

The film suffers from some logic issues, especially near the end, but what it lacks in plot, it makes up for in a ferocious, breathless battle of attrition. The two women go at each other with primal rage, and Inside transforms everyday household items into objects of terror through a series of escalating set-pieces; scissors, knitting needles, hairpins, toasters, teeth, and air freshener are all used to inflict maximum damage. Absolutely anything and everything that can be used as a weapon is brought to bear as an instrument of destruction in this war. Because what this film boils down to in its final act is an all-out, no prisoners, guerilla war between two badass bitches determined to keep this baby; a savage battle that leaves the house awash in a waterfall of blood and viscera.

Triangle (2009)

Melissa George in Triangle (2009)
Image Via Icon Film Distribution

After putting a delightfully cheeky spin on the backwoods slasher genre with his 2006 films Severance, writer-director Christopher Smith got even more creative with his next film, the time loop mind-bender Triangle. Centered on Melissa George‘s Jess, a woman with an undisclosed source of agony behind her surface-level calm, Triangle sees a group of friends on a yachting trip through the Bermuda Triangle, where they escape to a passing ocean liner in the midst of a terrible storm. Once aboard, they find that the massive ship is abandoned, and what’s worse, they’re being stalked by a hooded murderous figure who appears to be the only other inhabitant on the vessel. It’s difficult to talk about Triangle without giving away its many clever twists and turns, but a vicious time loop repeatedly thrusts the group into the nightmare scenario where Jess emerges at the heart of a mystery that might just hold the key to their escape. Smith makes the most of his twisty concept with an intricately designed narrative of overlapping timelines, and a number of striking and creative that showcase the horror of being stuck in a hellish time loop. -- Haleigh Foutch

Trouble Every Day (2001)

Trouble Every Day

Denis took a big risk by following her most acclaimed work with a confounding horror film. Trouble Every Day is so brutal and realistic—there is a moment where it does feel like you’re watching an actual snuff film and hearing the real screams of unspeakable and unimaginable pain—that it was hard to stomach for many art house fans but also too minimalist and observational to be championed by many horror fans. This is the bloodiest valentine ever delivered, and I’d never re-open it, even though the film-y part of me is glad I did.

Vincent Gallo and Beatrice Dalle are honeymooners with an unfortunate affliction: they feed when they fuck. So their honeymoon consists of sacrificing the lives of others in order to love themselves and have moments of marital intimacy and spiritual closeness without the threat of devouring one another. Denis doubles down on the savagery to such an uncomfortable and look-away degree as to entirely remove any romanticism of becoming afflicted and instead shows the immense loneliness that comes from being unable to experience intimacy. Trouble Every Day pushes beyond any decency that exists in the horror genre and is actually truly horrific. If you see this once, you’ll (likely) never want to see it again. Every Day also shows that when Denis enters a new genre, she won’t play by its rules, but will bend it to her own. - Brian Formo

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)

Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

For some reason, this one never quite caught fire with audiences the way it deserved. Maybe it's because of the slight budget and lack of household names, maybe it's because the film caters so specifically to horror fans, or maybe audiences were just over self-aware horror by the time Behind the Mask dropped. Whatever the case, Scott Glosserman's spin on the well-worn slasher genre is an underseen gem that manages to dance through horror and comedy with a precise tonal awareness.

A documentary-style horror, Behind the Mask never feels like it's playing by any found footage rules, but maybe because that's not the subgenre under inspection. Instead, the film digs into the tropes of the slasher genre (in a way manages to thwart obvious Scream comparisons), while still presenting a compelling narrative beyond the pithy deconstruction. Through the documentarians lensing the rise of a new slasher icon, Leslie Vernon, who Nathan Basil plays like a nightmare version of Jim Carrey, we see all the clever spins on a slasher killer's preparation. And then we see the brutality of watching those well-laid plans unfold. The core of the film is the relationship between Vernon and his chosen "final girl", the hungry young journalist Taylor Gentry (Angela Goethals), who is a much more morally complicated and ambitious spin on the classic slasher character than we're usually afforded. The intimate bond forged between them offers a fresh tonal shift when shit hits the fan, and through a mid-point stylistic shift, Behind the Mask deftly navigates from the self-effacing comedy into an effective third act slaughter.

Martyrs (2008)

A woman sits handcuffed to a door

Pascal Laugier's theological, spiritual, and carnal freakout film Martyrs has become infamous for taking the already extreme aesthetic of the so-called French New Wave and pushing it to its ultimate, deeply disturbing limits. Martyrs boasts perhaps the most disturbing opening scene of all time as we watch a picket-fence domicile gunned-down by Anna (Morjana Alaoui) and Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï), two young women on a mission of revenge. Where it goes from there is completely unprecedented and unpredictable in a deranged display of abuse and cultish faith that finds expiation in the most gruesome and unholy of acts. Martyrs takes every one of those horrific acts to their ultimate extreme, dragging the audience through a nightmarescape of inescapable torment and suffering, but there is a resonant emotional throughline for those who can endure the grueling journey, and Laugier makes fascinating work of his fascinating moralistic concept. Martyrs is deeply divisive, a genuinely controversial slice of cinema that proves an endurance test for even the most hardened of horror fans.

The Others (2001)

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Image Via StudioCanal

Alejandro Amenábar's English language debut is a classy, creepy tale that puts a welcome spin on the haunted house genre with a rare maturity and poise. And it's carried and elevated by a tremendous performance from Nicole Kidman, who is at her most stuffy and elegant as Grace Stewart, an exacting mother of two photosensitive children who fears her darkened home has been invaded by paranormal threats.

Kidman brings a tightly-laced mania to Grace as her carefully controlled world begins to unravel around her, and Amenábar delivers hair-raising moments a plenty with an elegant, old-fashioned restraint that doesn't rely on shock or effects, but carefully placed cameras and well-paced moments of pulse-pounding suspense. While the film's big tragic reveal may be a bit too telegraphed for the keen viewer, The Others offers the best kind of twist -- one that doesn't undermine the drama that came before, allowing the film to hold up surprisingly well on repeat viewings.

Trick 'r Treat (2007)

Trick 'r Treat

Michael Dougherty‘s Trick ‘r Treat is perhaps the finest ode to Halloween spirit ever created. An anthology film consisting of four expertly interwoven stories, Trick ‘r Treat follows the residents of a small town where no one is quite what they seem; the local principle is a child-murdering sociopath and the nubile virgin, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Along with the flawless autumnal production design, Trick ‘r Treat‘s greatest strength is Dougherty’s obvious love and expert knowledge of the holiday’s lore, tradition, and superstition, which saturates every moment of the film.

That spirit is perfectly embodied in the impish menace, Sam, a pint-size terror in a burlap sack who pops up throughout the segments, exacting punishment on those who fail to honor the rules of Halloween. With all due respect to John Carpenter’s slasher masterpiece, Trick ‘r Treat is perhaps the quintessential Halloween film that perfectly encapsulates the holiday’s dark magic.

May (2002)

may
Image via Lions Gate Films

Turning the final girl convention on its head before All the Boys Love Mandy Lane did the same a few years later, Lucky McKee’s stylish, mind-bending debut May is a misandrist horror dream wrapped in a gory nightmare. Bearing the name of its central, tragically misfit protagonist, the film is easily carried by the brilliant Angela Bettis, whose stormy and mystifying temperament stands in stark relief with her character’s sunny name. Marked as an outcast early in her childhood thanks to a lazy eye, May grew up with little human contact beyond the pseudo-nurturing provided by a cold and unyielding porcelain doll. Now grown up, striving for normal at the veterinary hospital where she works and beset by rejection from both the boyishly handsome, darkly minded Adam (Jeremy Sisto) and the flirty, raven-haired receptionist (a fascinating Anna Faris), May’s sense of alienation continues to grow until her perceived displacement brings her wavering sanity to the edge.

Desperate for a friend and tempted by the partial perfection she finds in her passing flings, May can’t help but take matters into her own hands, embarking on a gory mission to create her own friend – with the body parts of those who have rejected her. Tragic, a little funny and deeply disturbing, May earns its gruesome horror stripes in the casual and convincing way it takes the “crazed killer’s” side. You might just find yourself doing the same. — Aubrey Page

Cloverfield (2008)

Michael Stahl-David, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas in Cloverfield
Image via Paramount

There were no shortage of found-footage movies in the 2000s, but few of them managed to utilize the format to such pulse-pounding effect. By using the POV camera, Cloverfield puts you directly in the thick of a giant monster attack, sending shrapnel past your periphery and dust into your face as it ducks and weaves through the action with an unwavering urgency. The feature film directorial debut from Matt Reeves, who helmed from a script by Drew Goddard, follows a group of twenty-something Manhattanites through the streets of the city as a gigantic alien beast lays waste to the world around them. It's an impressively commanding debut from Reeves, who makes the found footage format feel bigger than ever, using the unconventional viewpoint as a source of scale for the monster massacre, and Goddard's script cleverly introduces new challenges and threats at every turn.

As Godzilla was a response to the nuclear bombings in Japan, Cloverfield is a manifestation of widespread American fear in the wake of 9/11, and viewed with the perspective of time, it can be an absolutely chilling portrait of that attack's devastation. But with a hulking monster for an allegory, Cloverfield is also a total blast that rockets you through the adrenaline-packed fight for survival on the ground-level of an epic horror adventure.