The 31 Days of Millennium Horror Archive

31 days, 31 of the Best Horror Movies of the New Millennium.

Were they the movies that everyone expected, or even wanted? No, probably not all of them. We did our best to to highlight the best of the best Genre movies that we’ve seen over the past decade and a half though, and as objective as we tried to be, this list was never going to please everybody.

That's alright though. It pleased us to be able to give some love to 31 dynamically different, and fundamentally excellent movies. 

Some of the movies on this list are instant classics. Some were funny, while others were terrifying. They come from all over the world, bringing distinctly different voices to a Genre that so often needs a fresh new voice to rise above the dull droning of the ordinary masses.

Above all else, the 31 movies below are great films, each in their own way, and should be seen by anyone who truly loves Horror.

So here is a recap of the 31 Best Horror Movies of the New Millennium. At least, according to us.

Enjoy. 

The 31 Days of Horror #1: Trick 'r Treat (2009)

Title: Trick 'r Treat
Year: 2009.
Sub-Genre: Anthology.

And so we arrive at the #1 spot on our Millennium Countdown to find Trick 'r Treat waiting for us, and rightly so.

If you want to debate our claim that Trick 'r Treat is the best Horror movie of the past 15 years, we won't be mad at you; there are many great Horror movies out there that could occupy this top spot, and they would absolutely deserve to be there. The reason that Trick 'r Treat gets the #1 nod from us though, is because no other movie has quite captured the Spirit of Halloween like this one does... in both the figurative, and literal sense. Not even Halloween (1978). Blasphemy, I know.

T'rT is a twisted, darkly humorous, creative, and fun movie, and Sam is one of the coolest Horror movie monsters ever. The literal Spirit of Halloween, Sam(hain) only appears in the background throughout most of this movie (until he gets his own segment at the end), but even with that limited screen-time, he made quite an impact.

It's a shame that Warner Bros. dumped this one on DVD, and never gave it a chance in theaters. As great as it is, we can't imagine that people wouldn't have flocked to see it in droves; positive word of mouth alone would have ensured it made its small, $12 million budget back, and then some. Then again, we don't run a Studio, so what do we know?

Trick 'r Treat is an instant classic of the 21st Century, and one that should be viewed every Halloween as A Christmas Story is viewed every Christmas. It's a new tradition, folks.

The 31 Days of Horror #2: Session 9 (2001)

Title: Session 9
Year: 2001.
Sub-Genre: Haunted House, Psychological, Supernatural.

Session 9 is hands-down one of the creepiest movies ever made.

It's not much on blood or kills, and there aren't any jump-scares to be had, but nothing tops this Brad Anderson film for creepy atmosphere; between the eerily unsettling "Session" tapes that we hear playing throughout, to the music, to the isolation of the asylum itself, this is the kind of movie that will unsettle you enough to make you get up and turn on all of the lights on in your house.

I especially like the ending; was the voice on the tapes just a disturbed patient, or something more sinister that drives people to murder? I think it's a little Demonic if you ask me, but then again, I have a vivid imagination. Either way, it will make you look at it differently when you watch it a second time.

"I live in the weak and the wounded, Doc."

Chilling as hell.

If you haven't seen this movie, do so now; alone, in the dark, and preferably at around midnight.

See you tomorrow with #1!