So here, without further ado, is IGN's 10 most underappreciated horror films of the decade...
10. Dead End
Sadly forgotten following a successful festival run and a small UK theatrical release in 2003, French directors Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa's Dead End stars genre favourites Lin Shaye and Ray Wise as a couple lost with their children on a road in the middle of the woods on Christmas Eve. As you'd expect, spookiness ensues...
Simple, linear and served by a dark sense of humour and a delightfully over-the-top performance from Shaye, Dead End has some genuinely creepy moments and despite its few flaws (a predictable final twist would be the main one), deserves to be discovered.
9. Satan's Little Helper
Before this year's Trick 'R' Treat, one film reigned supreme as the decade's ultimate homage to Halloween. Cult director Jeff Just Before Dawn Lieberman's return to feature film directing after over 20 years of absence, Satan's Little Helper is as dark, fun and subversive as the holiday itself. Starring Amanda Plummer and Katheryn Winnick, it is surprisingly low-key (music and gore are sparingly used), and despite, again, a somewhat disappointing ending, it is certainly clever and funny enough to warrant a mention on this list.
8. Calvaire (aka The Ordeal)
Arguably the most obscure film on this list, Belgian writer-director Fabrice du Welz's first feature is well worth a look. An unusual take on an overly familiar premise (man stranded in the middle of nowhere is abducted by wacky locals), Calvaire manages to surprise with its offbeat humour, grittiness, surreal atmosphere and beautiful cinematography. The dance scene alone is worth the ticket!
7. The Convent
A hit at horror festivals and midnight screenings around the world in the early 2000s, Mike Mendez's The Convent - in which a group of teenagers (led by Adrienne Barbeau!) fight a bunch of demonic nuns - is the epitome of silly fun. With phosphorescent blood, exploding nuns and biker chicks, The Convent may not be everyone's cup of tea, but has in the past 10 years gained a cult status it certainly deserves.
6. Slither
The film with the highest budget and widest release on this list, Dawn of the Dead and Scooby-Doo writer James Gunn's first directing effort Slither suffered the curse of the horror-comedy. Shame, because this homage to '80s B-movies - starring Elizabeth Banks and the ever-awesome Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion - is the perfect blend of genres: truly funny, genuinely gross, and completely over-the-top. Thankfully, it has since found a second life on DVD and has a growing legion of fans.
5. Frailty
The second biggest film on this list, Bill Paxton's Frailty created a huge challenge for its makers: how to adapt (and sell) this incredibly gutsy and dark script. The story of a father who believes an angel has ordered him to kill strangers and who demands his young sons to take part, it was bound to offend and shock Christians and non-believers alike. The result, unsurprisingly, divided viewers. But its uncompromising story, clever twists and well-crafted characters made it one of the most original and daring films of the decade.
4. Dagon
Prolific in the genre throughout the '80s and '90s, Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon has, in the new millennium, turned his twisted mind to dark comedies, social satires and violent thrillers. But before that, he made sure to add one more outrageous horror to his resume. Loosely adapted from two Lovecraft stories, Dagon tells the tale of two American tourists lost during a storm in a small village on the Spanish coast, where the inhabitants worship a fish god and are slowly turning into sea creatures. Atmospheric and creepy, with some great make-up and scares, it also features one of the most disturbing-yet-satisfying horror endings ever shot.
3. Bubba Ho-tep
At first glance a perfectly ridiculous concept (an ageing Elvis impersonator - or is he? - and a black man who believes he is JFK team up to defeat an evil Egyptian mummy walking the halls of their retirement home at night), Don Coscarelli's Bubba Ho-tep is in fact a touching story of friendship and hope, as the two old-timers bond over their mission and find new reason to live. Plus, Bruce Campbell's performance as a 70-something Elvis is one for the ages.
2. May
It could be argued that the best horror films are the ones that, beyond the scares, have something to say about the human condition. If so, Lucky McKee's May is certainly amongst the best genre movies in recent history. The story of a girl (wonderfully played by Angela Bettis) who struggles to make friends, May is a sad, poetic and character-driven tale of loneliness, ending in gruesome carnage. Perhaps not the scariest horror film of the decade, but certainly one of the most human.
1. The Devil's Backbone
Pan's Labyrinth is the film which revealed to the masses what anyone who had seen The Devil's Backbone had known for years: that Guillermo del Toro is a master storyteller, able to mix scares and emotion seamlessly and inject fantasy and the supernatural into everyday situations. But The Devil's Backbone, while similarly focusing on the adventures of a child facing the horrors of war, is subtler in its metaphor than its companion piece. This is Del Toro's scariest, most touching and most profound movie to date - and that's saying a lot.
So those are our picks, but what about yours? If you think there are any hidden horror gems that we have forgotten about, feel free to post them in the comments section below...
