Summary Cherry Falls cleverly subverts slasher tropes with a feminist twist and black humor.
Jennifer’s Body offers a fresh take on possession with dark satire and stellar performances.
The Loved Ones delivers a dark and twisted narrative with unexpected secrets and a shocking ending.
The 2000s aren’t always remembered as a great era for teen horror movies, but the decade did provide viewers with truly underrated gems from the sub-genre. The teen horror movie is tricky to define. Most viewers agree that teen horror movies need teenage heroes, but this alone doesn’t guarantee that a movie qualifies for the moniker. Donnie Darko is a deeply creepy movie about a teenager experiencing all manner of supernatural events, but it hardly fits the teen horror mold. Similarly, 2004’s Mean Creek is a bleak story about teens and murder, but it is far from a horror movie.
1998’s Disturbing Behavior is too sci-fi to qualify, whereas The Grudge is frequently listed as a teen horror despite its older heroine. While some movies, like 1996’s acclaimed slasher Scream, are unambiguously teen horrors, many more slip between the cracks of genre classification. This is a shame since teen horror is an endlessly influential genre. Late 1990s and early 2000s teen horror films inspired director Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving, a 2023 hit that revived the era’s instantly recognizable style and tone. Looking back on the decade’s most underrated hits, it is easy to see why Roth brought this era back.
10 Cherry Falls
This post-Scream slasher interrogated the sub-genre’s most infamous trope
With a starry cast including the late Brittany Murphy, Jay Mohr, Michale Biehn, and DJ Qualls, Cherry Falls is easily the most underrated slasher to come out of the post-Scream boom. This ingenious riff on the infamous sub-genre follows a serial killer who targets virgins, inverting a typical trope that audiences expect from slasher movies. This fresh idea means that Cherry Falls is genuinely creepy and unpredictable as the movie’s sharp, black comedic script viciously satirizes purity culture. A clever feminist slasher, Cherry Falls is also one of the most memorable Scream knock-offs.
9 Jennifer’s Body
This cult horror hit features Megan Fox’s best performance
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Jennifer’s Body Where to Watch *Availability in US stream
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buy Director Karyn Kusama Release Date September 18, 2009 Studio(s) 20th Century Cast Megan Fox , Adam Brody , J. K. Simmons , Johnny Simmons , Amanda Seyfried Runtime 102 minutes
2009’s Jennifer’s Body was a victim of badly misjudged marketing, resulting in director Karyn Kusama’s teen movie becoming a great horror movie with terrible Rotten Tomatoes reviews. This twisted love story follows Amanda Seyfried’s shy Needy as she attempts to discover why her vivacious friend Jennifer has changed completely overnight. Jennifer’s possession might technically be the movie’s focus, but Jennifer’s Body finds time for grim showbusiness satire, tragic dramedy, and a cutting commentary on victim-blaming and slut-shaming.
8 The Loved Ones
This Australian indie was criminally under-seen upon release
The Loved Ones Director Sean Byrne Release Date September 13, 2009 Cast Victoria Thaine, John Brumpton, Robin McLeavy, Jessica McNamee, Xavier Samuel, Richard Wilson Rating R Runtime 84 minutes Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime, Horror
2009’s The Loved Ones is a dark, comic spin on Misery wherein an unhinged teenage girl takes her crush hostage and tortures him for turning down an invitation to prom. Of course, the plot of The Loved Ones grows more twisted as the story continues and various secrets about the girl, her captive, and her creepily supportive father all come to the surface. With its wild twist ending, this gruesome Australian indie horror is guaranteed to leave even the most seasoned horror fans surprised.
7 My Bloody Valentine 3D
2009’s grisly ‘80s slasher remake is a gory blackly comedic delight
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My Bloody Valentine 3D Director Patrick Lussier Release Date January 16, 2009 Studio(s) Lionsgate Cast Jensen Ackles , Jaime King , Kerr Smith , Edi Gathegi , Megan Boone , Tom Atkins , Kevin Tighe Runtime 101 Minutes
While some great horror movies take place in the hero’s head, 2009’s My Bloody Valentine takes this reveal and makes it even wilder. The twisty slasher re-imagining features an ingenious last-minute revelation that re-contextualizes its entire story. Starring Jensen Ackles as a young man who returns to his hometown years after a mysterious massacre, My Bloody Valentine is a gleefully gory, enjoyably silly whodunit that dispenses with subtlety in favor of memorably nasty, brutal kills.
6 House of Wax (2005)
This clever horror remake was unfairly derided upon release
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House of Wax Director Jaume Collet-Serra Release Date May 6, 2005 Cast Brian Van Holt , Paris Hilton , Elisha Cuthbert , Chad Michael Murray , Jared Padalecki Runtime 113 minutes
House of Wax was met with critical drubbing when it was released in 2005, but a lot of this came down to socialite Paris Hilton’s supporting role in the remake. Taken on its own merits, 2005’s House of Wax is a surprisingly fun, inventive slasher with a memorable villain and a creepy setting. Admittedly, the story of a few friends getting picked off after they visit an abandoned wax museum isn’t remotely similar to the original 1953 horror movie. However, director Jaume Collet-Serra infuses this simple plot with style and flair.
5 Joy Ride
Paul Walker stars in this underrated road trip horror story
This 2001 teen horror has a disarmingly simple premise, but Joy Ride’s straightforward plot only makes the self-contained horror movie scarier. When a trio of teens prank-call a trucker over a CB radio on a road trip, they have no idea what this unhinged monster will do to get revenge. While Joy Ride’s Rusty Nail is an underrated horror villain, it is the performances of Leelee Sobieski, Steve Zahn, and the late Paul Walker that make this teen horror a classic.
4 Reeker
This 2005 horror has a memorably terrifying eponymous monster
Reeker (2005) Director Dave Payne Release Date March 13, 2005 Cast Devon Gummersall , Derek Richardson , Tina Illman , Scott Whyte , Arielle Kebbel , Michael Ironside , Eric Mabius Runtime 90 Minutes
Reeker is a desert-set slasher wherein a group of stranded teens is picked off one at a time by the titular “Reeker,” a monster that announces its presence via a terrible smell. This might not sound like a particularly scary premise, but Reeker is a surprisingly creepy road trip horror movie with a killer twist ending. The sort of smart subversion that elevates an otherwise solid teen horror effort, Reeker’s big reveal takes the movie from its simple slasher setup into trippier, more existential territory.
3 All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
2006’s grim indie slasher has a killer twist
Like Reeker, 2006’s under-seen All the Boys Love Mandy Lane has a brutal twist. However, unlike Reeker, there’s nothing fantastical about this nasty slasher’s revelations. Thanks to a lengthy legal battle, it was years before All the Boys Love Mandy Lane was released, resulting in the over-hyped slasher failing to make a mark with critics. However, for viewers who want to be surprised by a smart, stylish 2000s slasher, the less one knows about All the Boys Love Mandy Lane before viewing, the more effective its unpredictable story is.
2 Cursed (2005)
This largely overlooked Wes Craven effort boasts an incredible cast
Cursed Director Wes Craven Release Date February 25, 2005 Cast Solar, Daniel Edward Mora, Kristina Anapau, Mya, Portia de Rossi, Shannon Elizabeth Rating PG-13 Runtime 96 minutes Genres Comedy, Thriller, Horror
The late horror Wes Craven’s career featured a lot of ups and downs, with the director helming the commercial flop New Nightmare shortly before Scream succeeded at the box office and with critics. As such, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that his teen werewolf horror movie Cursed was largely forgotten when reviewers wrote off its admittedly awkward blend of comedy and supernatural horror. This is in spite of the fact that Cursed boasts a stellar cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Christina Ricci, and Judy Greer. While it does possess some silly elements, they only add to the movie’s charm.
1 Ginger Snaps
This offbeat werewolf movie deserves more recognition
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Ginger Snaps Director John Fawcett Release Date August 1, 2000 Studio(s) Lionsgate Cast Emily Perkins , Katharine Isabelle , Kris Lemche , Mimi Rogers , Jesse Moss , Danielle Hampton Runtime 108 minutes
While Cursed is better than its critics claimed, Ginger Snaps is undoubtedly the best teen horror movie from the 2000s to use lycanthropy as a metaphorical stand-in for puberty. This genuinely ingenious teen horror movie sees a pair of goth outcast teenage sisters encounter a werewolf, it results in the likable Ginger finding herself changing as the next full moon approaches. Her sister is forced to contend with what could be a horrifying transformation or standard-issue puberty in a teen horror movie that is alternately hilarious, scary, and surprisingly harrowing.