It’s hard to believe, but 2024 is coming to a close! Where did the time go? With just a few weeks left, we thought it would be fun to look at some of the best horror movies of 2004, exactly 20 years ago — or maybe OVER 20 years, depending on when you’re reading this post!
It’s surprising to see just how many diverse and impactful horror movies came out in 2004. One of the movies below spawned 9+ sequels and a thriller-style soap opera storyline. Another was so popular that you probably know the sound of the creature even if you’ve never seen the movie. Others revisited franchises we know and love and still managed to add creative twists!
Regardless of whether you’re a horror veteran looking for some nostalgia or someone a little younger looking to explore early 2000s horror, you’re bound to find something you’ll like on this list.
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Dawn of the Dead
The original George Romero Dawn of the Dead (1978) is a classic that we believe every horror fan should experience. The same can be said for the 2004 reboot.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) is tense, gory, terrifying, and captures the spirit of the 1978 version but does it in a way that’s modern and engaging. It also had some pretty awesome special features on DVD, like a half-hour series of clips showing news outlets realizing that this isn’t “just” a case civil unrest; it’s a full-on zombie apocalypse.
There’s just so much to love. Let’s put it this way: there’s a Richard Cheese cover of Disturbed’s “Down with the Sickness,” zombie childbirth, and some downright awesome dismemberment effects — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
An interesting side note: Dawn of the Dead (2004) was Zack Synder’s directorial debut, and the screenplay was written by Slither‘s James Gunn!
Where Dawn of the Dead is currently streaming:
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead (2004) is a memorable horror-comedy starring Simon Pegg as Shaun and Nick Frost as Ed. After a day of disrespect and stress from his colleagues, step-father, and ex-girlfriend, Shaun wakes up the next day to learn there’s a zombie outbreak and decides to save the day and make things right with the help of his slacker best friend, Ed.
As I’m sure you can imagine, things don’t go according to plan.
Overall, Shaun of the Dead is something you should check if you’re into horror, comedies, or both. It pokes fun at the genre and is extremely self-aware, which makes for a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. Plus, there are little easter eggs sprinkled throughout for you to discover, both in terms of horror homages and references to other Pegg/Frost films.
Where Shaun of the Dead is currently streaming:
The Grudge
Next up is The Grudge (2004), which is actually a remake of the original Japanese Ju-On: The Grudge (2002). The actual plot of this movie wasn’t our favorite (likely something was lost in translation), but there’s no denying the impact and spook factor associated with the look of the onryō and the creepy death rattle.
The Grudge (2004) was important to American audiences of the era because, for better or worse, it introduced them to a type of Japanese cinema that had otherwise been overlooked in the US. It went on to have an Americanized sequel of its own and helped propel the Grudge/Ju-on franchise overall, which became successful enough to spawn several spin-offs and sequels, with the most recent being Sadako vs. Kayako (2016).
If you’ve heard of The Grudge but haven’t seen it for yourself, it’s worth watching at least once. It has a creep factor that will have you thinking a little more about the history of the house you’re living in right now.
Where The Grudge is currently streaming:
The Butterfly Effect
The Butterfly Effect (2004) is a psychological thriller starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Eric Stoltz, and more. The film follows Evan Treborn (Kutcher), who discovers he has a unique power to go to the past and do things that will change the future. After doing this a few times, things get out of hand. He ends up in a spiral where things seem to get worse and worse for his friends and family the more he tries to help — a truly nightmarish scenario!
It really makes you think about how every decision you make impacts your future.
Despite the “Please, just stop doing this, you’re making things worse” feeling every time he goes back and changes something, they manage to wrap it up nicely. Though it’s worth mentioning that one of the alternate endings they filmed is laugh-out-loud ridiculous and well worth looking up after you’ve watched the theatrical release’s conclusion.
The Butterfly Effect is a dark movie at times and touches on sensitive topics, but if this sounds even remotely interesting to you, it’s 100% worth checking out.
Where The Butterfly Effect is currently streaming:
Cube Zero
We talked a bit about Cube Zero (2004) in our Horror Movie Prequels article, so we’ll keep it short this time around, and you can see a more complete breakdown there.
Cube Zero is the third movie in the Cube series and a prequel to the events of the first two movies. It follows people who are trapped in a cube structure that’s armed with death traps, time warps, alternate realities, and other crazy dangers. They don’t know how they got there and want to leave. Most of them don’t get out!
It’s a very entertaining movie, and all three films in the original Cube trilogy would make a fun triple feature since they’re all fairly short.
Where Cube Zero is currently streaming:
Satan’s Little Helper
The next movie on our list is Satan’s Little Helper (2004). We didn’t get around to seeing this movie until earlier this year when it appeared on The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs. But oh man, we were thoroughly entertained, and we’re pretty sure you will be too!
Satan’s Little Helper follows Dougie, a 9-year-old kid who’s hooked on a game where he’s, well, pretending to be Satan’s little helper. Reality and fantasy blend on Halloween when Dougie meets a serial killer dressed as Satan and begins unknowingly helping him with his murders. Dougie eventually manages to bring his new friend around his family and it goes as well as you might expect.
It’s so weird that it’s funny, and the interactions the characters have range from creepy to flat-out hilarious.
Despite the wacky plot, there are a lot of dark themes woven through the movie, too. But the generous layer of humor and satire make this a must-watch for people who consider themselves fans of dark humor.
Where Satan’s Little Helper is currently streaming:
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
Much like Cube Zero, Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004) was covered in our prequel post, so please go check that out when you’re done with this post!
Let’s just make this clear: if you’re familiar with the Tremors movies and like them, you’ll love Tremors 4: The Legend Begins. It tells the story of how the town of Perfection came to be, including one of their earlier encounters with graboids.
One of our favorite things about this series is how the entertaining Michael Gross plays the survivalist Burt Gummer in 6 of the 7 movies. The exception is this movie, where he plays Burt’s ancestor, Hiram Gummer. And he manages to be just as entertaining.
Where Tremors 4 is currently streaming:
Seed of Chucky
Seed of Chucky (2004) is the fifth movie in the Child’s Play franchise. It follows Glen/Glenda — Chucky and Tiffany’s “seed” — and their journey to reunite with their parents.
What starts out as a…”simple”…resurrection turns into a wild ride with twists and turns that will have you laughing, gasping, and probably a little confused.
The kills are fun, the movie is entertaining, and we get a glimpse of Chucky and Tiffany’s parenting skills. If you’re a fan of the series, check it out! If you’re not familiar with it, we highly recommend starting with Child’s Play (1988) and working your way up to this one.
Where Seed of Chucky is streaming now:
Saw
Saw has become a massive horror franchise with 10 movies and counting. At this point, it might seem like they’ve been around forever, but it all started with Saw (2004).
The plot for the original Saw is very basic. Two guys wake up in a room and don’t know how they got there. They find out they were kidnapped by the Jigsaw Killer, who tests his victims to put their lives on the line. In this case, the killer orders the two men to kill one another in order to save their families.
Over time, it becomes clear how they all know each other, and a few other people get involved for an exciting and memorable climax.
The Saw franchise has evolved so much over the past 20 years. It’s become a web of interconnected stories and a thriller/suspense soap opera plotline that grows with each movie. The way all of the ‘jigsaw’ pieces fit together to form a well-made, entertaining series is truly awesome.
If you haven’t checked out the first one, now is your time. This is one rabbit hole you should jump down as soon as possible.
Where Saw is currently streaming:
Van Helsing
Much like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and The Monster Squad (1987), Van Helsing (2004) features multiple monsters coming together, ensuring you get your money’s worth in terms of creature effects!
However, while A&C Meet F and The Monster Squad are intentional horror comedies, many of laughs in Van Helsing… aren’t. Does that make it a lesser film overall? We’ll leave that up to you! What we WILL say is that it’s one of Robert Tharp’s favorites, and he genuinely adores its campy charms, its plethora of monsters (Dracula, Mr. Hyde, werewolves, vampire brides, Frankenstein’s monster, etc.), and its rollicking horror-adventure plotline that follows Hugh Jackman’s superhero-like Van Helsing in an array of surprising directions.
Where Van Helsing (2004) is streaming now:
The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera was a horror novel which was then put to film(s) which was then turned into a musical stage play and then THAT stage play was made into a movie. The Phantom of the Opera (2004) is the movie version of the musical stage play.
While not as tight as the stage musical (2004 was near the beginning of an era of inflated runtimes, which were almost always detrimental to the movies of the time), with some baffling tweaks used to pad out the additional stuffed-in 15 minutes, it was still exciting to see one of horror’s best musicals adapted for the silver screen.
The gothic sets, elaborate costumes, acting, and singing are all well-done! Emmy Rossum (The Day After Tomorrow, Poseidon) shines as Christine and fully shows off that she started her career in opera before pivoting to acting. Gerard Butler (Dracula 2000) as the Phantom was a casting choice that made people at the time say, “Huh?” but he pulls it off! And the part of heroic Raoul is one of the earliest film roles of Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring & Insidious franchises), and his Broadway beginnings are put to fantastic use.
If you’re ever given the chance to see the live stage play version of Ander Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, do so; however, in the meantime, this one’s worth a watch. You’ll be singing at least one of the songs to yourself for days afterward!
Where The Phantom of the Opera is currently streaming:
The Village
We’d be curious to know how NEW viewers of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village would receive it. At the time, horror audiences were disappointed by this one. They were expecting creepy creatures and a twist ending that would SHOCK them, and — without too many spoilers — they got neither.
Part of the problem may have been that many of us who were in our teens and twenties when The Village came out had already read Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Running Out of Time as required reading in elementary school… a young adult novel that The Village shares so much DNA with that a plagiarism lawsuit was threatened. (It was also the reason Lauren, and many others, were able to guess the film’s “twist” from the trailers alone).
But, if you take The Village at face value, with none of the extremely high expectations of the 2004 audiences/critics, it’s period piece horror film in which a blind young woman seeks medical help for her village as her friends and family are being killed off.
The Village isn’t bad to look at, it’s a hoot to watch with friends (there’s definitely some unintentional hilarity to be found!), and if you go into it cold then you may even get to enjoy a couple tense scenes. We have mixed feelings about this one because we were alive for the (mismanaged?) marketing surrounding it that almost guaranteed it would be a failure that never stood a chance of meeting its own hype. But, again, we’d love to know what HorrorFam.com readers who’re NEW to this one think!
Where The Village is currently streaming:
Secret Window
Speaking of plagiarism accusations, Johnny Depp’s moody author character, Mort Rainey, is just trying to loaf around in his ex-wife’s bath robe, mutter to himself, and take as many naps as humanly possible when a strange man in a wide-brimmed hat named Shooter shows up on his doorstep demanding justice. You see, Shooter thinks Mort stole a story he wrote and he’s plenty mad. Mad enough to KILL?! You bet!
If you were an avid reader of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine back in 2004, then you saw Secret Window advertised for MONTHS ahead of its release. It was featured on several covers. The magazine – featured heavily within the film and linked to a major plot point – was HYPE for Secret Window to be released! Then, it came out, and it was… mid.
That said, Johnny Depp is mesmerizing in one of his oddest roles. Odd in the sense that he really is just stumbling around in a woman’s bathrobe and taking naps for quite a lot of it. But, that’s one of the reasons Mort Rainey is a great (EASY!) costume choice for horror cosplayers. Also, as Mort says in the movie, “The ending is all that matters.” And the ending will probably make you walk away from the 96-minute runtime with a chuckle. (Or at least one of those “laughs” where you push some air out your nose). It’s silly fun.
Oh, and Secret Window is based on a Stephen King story! Its original title was “Secret Window, Secret Garden” and was one of the novellas within Four Past Midnight.
Where Secret Window is currently streaming:
AVP: Alien VS Predator
Whenever there’s a crossover between horror franchises, it’s a BIG deal! In 2003, we got Freddy VS Jason and got to see A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Kreuger and Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees duke it out. A year later, in 2004, we got to see what would happen if Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise went up against Predators from the Predator series!
AVP: Alien VS Predator actually originated as a comic book series back in 1989 and the 2004 film adaptation has that kind of late-1980’s feel to it. It was riiiiiiiiiight before comics went FULL “grim dark” in terms of characterization but were just starting to up the violence to absurd degrees. It’s a good time!
That said, we’ve noticed that diehard Alien (and especially Prometheus) fans tend to pooh-pooh this one whereas Predator fans leave pretty happy. Personally, we love both franchises; but in the name of setting expectations to avoid senseless disappointment: Alien VS Predator isn’t a horror comedy, but it also shouldn’t be taken seriously, like, at ALL. It’s a “turn off your brain” horror ACTION movie, all the way!
Where Alien VS Predator is currently streaming:
Blade: Trinity
Another comic book movie! 2004 was FULL of them (Spider-Man 2, The Punisher, Catwoman, etc.), and the horror genre was no exception. Much like Alien VS Predator originating from a 1980’s comic series, Marvel’s half-vampire superhero was a product of the 1970’s.
The first Blade (1998), with its can’t-be-topped opening minutes, is a tough act to follow. But Blade II made Robert Tharp’s list of Best Horror Movie Sequels and 2004’s Blade: Trinity, as the final chapter in the original Blade trilogy, shouldn’t be missed if only for its historical value.
Blade goes up against Dracula(!) in this one, and teams up with Ryan Reynolds — which we wouldn’t see happen again for 20 years!
Where Blade Trinity is currently streaming:
Hellboy
We’re wrapping up with the third and final horror comic book film adaptation on our list: Hellboy (2004) is based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name. It stars Ron Perlman as Hellboy, a demon raised in our world who works for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense to stop monster-related threats before they escalate.
The CGI in Hellboy is laughable by today’s standards, but the practical effects and makeup absolutely hold up. Creature feature sweetheart Doug Jones as Abe Sapien, the psychic gill-man, is a standout character (and effect!) and it’s hard to believe that bright red isn’t Ron Pearlman’s natural skin tone.
Good guy monsters fight (literal) Nazi monsters with some laughs along the way.
Where Hellboy is currently streaming
Which 2004 Horror Movies Are YOUR Favorites?
We’ve included the vast bulk of the horror films that were released in 2004 on this list, each representing the “best” the year had to offer. Or, at the very least, each of these 2004 horror movies were significant in one way or another — from spawning franchises, like Saw; to ending them, like Blade: Trinity. From horror film adaptations of novels to comic books. From zombies to dolls and everything in-between!
But there are definitely a few we left out! The appropriately titled Julianne Moore psychological thriller, The Forgotten, for example. And the utterly unforgettable, but much more obscure (and admittedly not for everyone), Kibakichi: Bakko-yokaiden…
What do YOU think of the horror movies from 2004? Are they totally your jam, or do you prefer the horror offerings from 1954, 1984, or 1994 more? Let us know in the comments!
Images were purchased via MovieStillsDB.
