10 Essential Action Horror Movies Of The 2000s

Considering the intensity and life-or-death stakes that are typically the driving forces behind action movies and horror films, it comes as no surprise that these two genres often overlap. And at this point, it seems fair to say that action-horror is its own flourishing category in its own right.

Every decade is home to great films of every variety, but the 00s were a particularly prolific time for action-horror. The era was even home to a few movies that are still strong influences in cinema today. What are the most essential action-horror movies of the 2000s?

10 The Descent (2005)

Obviously, a dark and mysterious setting where unsuspecting people are under attack from scary monsters is a classic setup for any horror film. But, Neil Marshall’s film about a group of friends who find more than they bargained for when they start exploring a cave system really uses every aspect of its premise to the fullest extent.

The Descent is such a fantastic 2000s horror film largely due to the psychological interplay between these women and how their relationships are affected by the imminent danger.

9 Resident Evil (2002)

Movies based on video games don’t exactly have a sparkling reputation, but if anyone could translate Resident Evil from the console to the screen, it was expert horror-action director Paul W.S. Anderson.

The Resident Evil film franchise has almost become bigger than the video game series, and it has evolved into something that is barely recognizable in comparison to the first movie. But, the initial installment is a verifiable classic that is at least partly responsible for launching Milla Jovovich into action heroine superstardom.

8 Underworld (2003)

Vampires are a perennial point of interest in mainstream media, but in the 2000s they underwent a bit of a makeover. And that is at least partially due to the success of Underworld.

The film almost feels like a blend between classic vampire and werewolf lore through the lens of The Matrix, the horror elements really shine through but it’s an action movie through and through. And, the rivalry between the vampires and Lycans that was established in the first film was enough to build an entire franchise out of.

7 30 Days Of Night (2007)

It arrived on the scene just before the debut of Iron Man and the beginning of comic book dominance in the entire cinema marketplace, but 30 Days of Night is a somewhat underappreciated horror movie based on a comic series.

30 Days of Night focuses on some exceptionally inhuman vampires who are attempting to devour an entire Alaskan town that is so far north that the sun won’t rise again for an entire month, and that interesting premise yields some thrilling results.

6 Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

It’s pretty difficult to remake a film and create something that is distinct and memorable in its own right, but 2004’s Dawn of the Dead did just that.

In retrospect, it’s not surprising that the film was so popular, as the movie was directed by Zack Snyder and written by James Gunn, a director and writer who would both be catapulted into the stratosphere of cinema after their outrageously successful comic book films. Dawn of the Dead pays homage to George A. Romero’s classic but created a new zombie tale for a contemporary audience.

5 Grindhouse (2007)

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s collaborative effort Grindhouse is a pastiche of all of the classic tropes that drove the success of the titular grindhouse theaters that showed cheesy action-horror exploitation films.

Grindhouse is actually a double feature, with Rodriguez creating the film Planet Terror and Tarantino helming Death Proof. And although the film itself wasn’t a rousing success at the box office, it has become a bit of a cult classic and is truly unique among films of the 2000s.

4 Constantine (2005)

It’s interesting to see how Marvel and eventually DC movies dominated theaters in the 2010s, because it seems like the success of horror comic adaptations may have laid the groundwork for more mainstream superhero fare.

And one film that was released in 2005 that may have paved the way a bit was Constantine. The film stars Keanu Reeves (in one of his best horror roles) as Constantine, a man who battles against demons in an attempt to save himself from an eternity in Hell.

3 Pitch Black (2000)

The Fast and the Furious undoubtedly made Vin Diesel the star that he became, but it’s unlikely that Dom Toretto would have become the action hero who anchored a franchise were it not for Diesel’s star-making turn as Riddick in Pitch Black.

The story is a classic action-horror concept of a ragtag group of survivors trying to stay alive while being attacked by alien creatures on a foreign planet, but it’s the play with light and darkness that makes Pitch Black most memorable.

2 I Am Legend (2007)

I Am Legend is a movie inspired by a novel of the same name, and the focal point of the story is Robert Neville, an Army virologist who looks like he might be the last living man in Manhattan.

The monsters in I Am Legend are something between zombies and vampires, but the film really shines in that it takes a pretty simple and well-worn-in action-horror concept and turns it into almost a character study of sorts. Will Smith and the dog that shares most of his screen time really carry the entire production on their shoulders.

1 28 Days Later (2002)

Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later arguably both revitalized and reinvented the entire zombie genre. In a now-familiar zombie story beginning, Jim (played by Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma to discover that the world has effectively ended while he was asleep.

The super-fast zombies of the 28 Days duology changed what the reanimated dead could be, but the real strength of 28 Days Later is seeing the best and worst of what people can become when they’re forced back into basic survival mode.