2023 has been a terrific year for horror films, including three movies that rank among the all-time best the genre has to offer. Indeed, from 2000 to 2023 we’ve seen a renaissance in horror cinema and renewed audience enthusiasm translating into plenty of box office success. And with Halloween just two days away, it’s time to get any scary screening plans in order. So here are the 75 essential horror movies of the new millennium to choose from for your Halloween 2023 viewing pleasure.
Sophie Wilde stars in “Talk To Me”
For the sake of this list I’m including films from 2000, even though technically the 21st Century began January 1st, 2001. But plenty of folks celebrated the arrival of the new millennium on January 1st, 2000, and it just feels weird and wrong to exclude the single year 2000 from the rest of the 2000+ years.
So, like it or not, I’ve chosen for my accounting purposes to include the year 2000, and if you disagree then feel free to ignore the year 2000’s movies on this list, there are only a few.
Additionally, I want to note that there are less foreign horror films from earliest few years of the millennium, because I simply didn’t have as much opportunity to watch them at the time and there’s so much to keep up with and refer back to from the most recent 18 to 20 years that I rarely get a chance to try to reach back and fill in those gaps, unfortunately. So I fully recognize this blindspot in my awareness and apologize for it, and I hope the strength of the rest of the list still at least speaks for itself as recommendations and acknowledgements.
So now, without further ado, here are my picks for the most essential horror movies of the new millennium, and a collection of the greatest films to choose from for your Halloween celebration this year…
- [REC]
- FRAILTY
- DAWN OF THE DEAD
- THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL
- THE HOST
- VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST
- 28 DAYS LATER
- GINGER SNAPS
- [REC]2
- LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
- THE MIST
- THE RING
- PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
- BUG
- BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE
- TRICK ‘R TREAT
- CLOVERFIELD
- THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE
- HALLOWEEN (2007)
- PONTYPOOL
- HEREDITARY
- THE WITCH
- GET OUT
- THE WAILING
- TRAIN TO BUSAN
- SINISTER
- IT: CHAPTER ONE
- THE BABADOOK
- THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER
- OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL
- SAINT MAUD
- THE CONJURING
- HALLOWEEN (2018)
- A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
- MIDSOMMAR
- MOM AND DAD
- UNDER THE SKIN
- CREEP
- IT FOLLOWS
- A QUIET PLACE
- TROLLHUNTER
- THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
- ANNIHILATION
- IT COMES AT NIGHT
- THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW
- THE PLATFORM
- X
- PREY
- THE RENTAL
- PEARL
- ARMY OF THE DEAD
- THE INVISIBLE MAN
- A QUIET PLACE PART II
- BARBARIAN
- RESURRECTION
- SMILE
- THE BLACK PHONE
- HALLOWEEN KILLS
- HALLOWEEN ENDS
- LAMB
- SPEAK NO EVIL
- BONES AND ALL
- HUESERA: THE BONE WOMAN
- NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU
- GOOD BOY
- TALK TO ME
- THE BOOGEYMAN
- TOTALLY KILLER
- EL CONDE
- WHEN EVIL LURKS
- ATTACHMENT
- THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER
- SCREAM VI
- M3GAN
- APPENDAGE
- V/H/S/85
If you can only watch three films, make it No One Will Save You, Talk To Me, and When Evil Lurks, to give you a sample of just how wonderful a year for horror it’s been in 2023, and a sense of how strong the genre has become overall when it can deliver this kind of quality with increasingly consistency.
Horror is already fantastic and sports a deep assortment of top-tier cinematic experiences, but it’s also frequently been kept at low and ultra-low budget levels, and rarely enjoys the sort of regular award consideration and serious cinematic examination and appreciation afforded other types of films.
But I think we’re seeing an evolution of horror storytelling across most all mediums, and cinema is part of that change. Which is terrific news for horror fans like you and me, dear readers.
Happy Halloween, and I hope you pick a bunch of films from this list and have as great a time watching them as I’ve had.
