10 Forgotten Horror Movies From The Early 2000s
The hidden horror movie gems from the beginning of the 2000s.
Horror in the early aughts was... complicated.
Not that it wasn't successful, far from it. Movie franchises like the Saw films dominated to the point of being regarded as a Halloween tradition. "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw" declared the trailer for the Saw franchise's fourth installment. As you can imagine, a confident statement like that says a lot about what the landscape for horror was like in that decade.
But it wasn't all torture porn and Scary Movie sequels (thank god), as there were quite a few hidden gems buried amongst the schlock. While many of them have long since been exhumed and appreciated fully by the public, or managed to eke out a kind of success upon release, many were left to the wayside.
These ten horror movies were scattered across the early 2000s and, despite having their fans, have not received the fanfare they quite deserve. The only real ground rule here is that the cutoff point is after 2004, as films released after that slot into the mid and late-2000s.
So if you're looking for something a bit more obscure for horror movie night, you can't go wrong with these ten forgotten gems.
10. Elvira's Haunted Hills
The first horror host to be syndicated nationally, Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark, has earned her spot in the halls of horror royalty. Naturally, such an iconic character has had a few forays into film, most famously with Elvira: Mistress of the Dark in 1988. The film was practically destined for cult status, as was its sequel in 2001 - Elvira's Haunted Hills.
Upon its release, critics tore the movie apart for, well, for just not making most of them laugh, frankly. Different strokes and all that, but for my money, Haunted Hills is a wonderfully cheesy good time, just like the previous Elvira film.
Cassandra Peterson's Elvira has always been one of the most amusingly magnetic presences in horror history, and that doesn't change in Haunted Hills. The humor, for the most part, has aged shockingly well, and while a few gags could be more tightly written, it's a solid 6/10 horror comedy.
If you love the Mistress of the Dark (and really, who doesn't?) Haunted Hills is right up your dark, decrepit alley.