"In the 2000s, the lines of horror got burrier. Thrillers, mystery, and sci fi had long been horror adjacent – films like Silence of the Lambs and Seven remain subjects of debate as to what qualifies as horror – and other genres increasingly borrow from horror to build tension or add a more visceral touch to their grounded proceedings.
Which begs the question: is horror a genre, a style, or a combination of factors that combine to form an experience? This list looks at the best horror-adjacent movies of the first quarter of this century (2000-2024). The films here are poignant, silly, serious, and utterly insane. They're not totally horror, but the DNA of the genre has been spliced just enough but not quite."
