2005 Might Just Be the Worst Year for Horror, and These 10 Movies Prove It
Over the years, horror has endured numerous peaks and valleys. At the start of the 21st century, important horror movies such as Saw and The Ring kicked off new franchises and introduced fresh stylistic approaches. Meanwhile, a few years later, in 2005, executives looked at one another, shrugged, and said, “Uhhhh, should we remake something?”
From countless remakes to an almost stubborn insistence on adapting video games, the following movies are proof that 2005 was one of the worst years for horror. Not all of these projects were necessarily financial disasters, but none of them will be remembered as horror classics, if they’re remembered at all. In fact, they all represent the lazy, careless approach adopted in the 2000s, which came dangerously close to ruining the genre’s reputation.
10
‘The Amityville Horror’
George and Kathy Lutz (Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George) think they have found the perfect dreamhouse in The Amityville Horror. A remake of the 1979 original of the same name, The Amityville Horror follows the couple as they encounter strange, unexplained occurrences in their newly purchased home. When George and Kathy find out the previous family was murdered where they now stand, they’ll have to leave before they suffer the same fate.
The Amityville Horror remake has a strong cast and is the film debut of Chloë Grace Moretz, but it’s an unmemorable production. The film was a financial success that considerably contributed to building Reynolds’ leading man reputation, but horror fans, especially those of the original film, and critics questioned why the movie was made at all. While not the worst horror movie of 2005 by a wide margin, it’s also an example of studios picking the lazy route of a remake as opposed to giving opportunities to new ideas.
9
‘The Gingerdead Man’
In The Gingerdead Man, Millard Fendlemeyer (Gary Busey), an executed serial killer, comes back as a murderous cookie. Now in the form of a grotesque gingerbread man, Millard picks up where he left off to continue adding numbers to his body count. On the night of Millard’s return, swearing off sugar could very well save your life.
The Gingerdead Man is so ridiculous a concept that it almost gets a pass for sheer creativity. The writing is purposely cheesy, and the villain is more silly than menacing, taking its campy concept as far as possible. However, the “we know this is bad” attitude can only stretch for so long, and while that works for a short time, the level of campiness on display is exhausting for a feature-length film.
8
‘House of Wax’
The word remake is used very loosely for the early 2000s version of House of Wax. The updated slasher follows a group of young adults on their way to a football game when they encounter suspicious car trouble. Forced to stop in a strange town, the group discovers the majority of the town is made up of wax figures, and anyone left is looking to add them to the collection.
A remake doesn’t need to be a shot-for-shot reenactment; in fact, the 1998 remake of Psycho makes a strong case against it, but 2005’s House of Wax was an entirely different movie. House of Wax doesn’t offer much in the way of surprises, but the set design and graphic brutality have allowed the horror flick to gain a cult following as an underappreciated gem. However, at the time of its release, House of Wax failed to make an impact at the box office despite a healthy marketing campaign to create buzz.
7
‘Hide and Seek’
Hide and Seek demonstrates that not all imaginary friends are harmless. After the death of his wife, Dr. David Callaway (Robert De Niro) moves himself and his daughter Emily (Dakota Fanning) to new surroundings. David becomes concerned when Emily keeps mentioning her new imaginary friend “Charlie” and even more so when the new friend has the potential to cause them great harm.
In terms of performances, no one was aiming hard criticism toward De Niro or Fanning. The plot, however, was a different story. While not every viewer guessed what would happen, horror veterans had seen enough of similar plotlines to catch the not entirely subtle foreshadowing going into the third act. De Niro started in many great thrillers, but Hide and Seek was the cinematic equivalent of going through the motions.
6
‘Cursed’
The makers of Scream reteamed for a modern werewolf tale with the disappointingly appropriate title of Cursed. The horror comedy opens with Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) and his sister Ellie (Christina Ricci) getting into a werewolf-caused car accident that leaves them both with scars for their troubles. Jimmy and Ellie soon begin developing wolf-like urges, sending them down the path to becoming bloodthirsty werewolves themselves.
The dream team of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson should have worked well to revive werewolves the same way they did slashers, but it was not to be. A prolonged and troubled production caused by recasting and subsequent reshoots ballooned the budget to roughly $100 million, dooming Cursed to lose money regardless of the reception. Compounding matters was that the final product wasn’t as clever as it intended to be, and there were more jump scares than actual moments of tension. When the werewolf flick finally limped into theaters, it opened at number four and wouldn’t reach $20 million in sales domestically.
5
‘Doom’
Before Dwayne Johnson took over Hollywood, he starred in the video game misfire Doom. Karl Urban co-starred in a story that saw Marines answer a distress call on a Mars research base. When the well-armed heroes encounter a slew of monsters, they’ll need to level up with an experimental serum that can change the user in horrific ways.
It’s amazing that studios continued to take chances on video game movies, considering how many attempts crashed and burned in 2005. Doom was a game that had name recognition, and Johnson had a certain level of continued goodwill from WWE fans, but that didn’t stop the film from flopping. Stripping the Hell aspects from the plot possibly didn’t help, but it’s hard to see what could have been done to put life into what is effectively a flat sci-fi horror hybrid.
4
‘The Fog’
John Carpenter’s The Fog is remembered as a fun and creepy supernatural movie from a horror master, so obviously, someone felt it needed to be remade. Set in the small coastal expanse of Antonio Island, a mysterious fog slowly envelops the sleepy community. With the fog comes vengeful spirits tied to the island’s past, and they’re prepared to kill any of the townspeople who find themselves within their grasp.
2005 had a fascination with tepid horror remakes, but even still, no one was asking for a watered-down, PG-13 version of The Fog. Visually, the updated version of The Fog had a few things going for it, but it couldn’t match the moody atmosphere of the original, let alone surpass it. The Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t even break the double digits, proving that audiences and critics agreed The Fog is one of the worst horror remakes ever made.
3
‘BloodRayne’
Years after Sir Ben Kingsley won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Gandhi, he would play the villain in one of the worst movies of the 2000s. Based on the video game of the same name, the truly terrible BloodRayne tells the story of Rayne (Kristanna Loken), a half-human, half-vampire, who swings a sword around in the 18th century. Causing problems for Rayne is her vampire king father, Kagan (Kingsley), who wants her out of the way while he attempts to kill off the entire human race.
BloodRayne has the look and feel of a movie made up exclusively of first takes, where the action is stiff, the plot is nonsensical, and everything feels rushed. The overall quality is below the “so bad it’s good” threshold, so BloodRayne is hard to enjoy even during an ironic viewing. Any drinking game built around bad moments in BloodRayne will send people to the hospital. Somehow, despite the fact that Bloodrayne bombed, making back nowhere near its $25 million budget, two sequels were made to establish arguably the most improbable trilogy ever made.
2
‘Boogeyman’
The fear of all children takes a starring role in the supernatural horror thriller Boogeyman. Barry Watson stars as Tim Jensen, a man still carrying the trauma of his father being killed by the Boogeyman. When Tim is encouraged to return home and face his fears (terrible advice), he puts himself and his loved ones in mortal danger with a powerful force that makes closets lethal traps.
Produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, Boogeyman was influenced by the rise of Japanese-inspired horror after the success of The Ring. Boogeyman actually opened at number one, thanks in part to its PG-13 rating, and would ultimately be a financial success that led to two sequels. However, that didn’t stop critics from attacking the film as if it were the actual Boogeyman, and audiences didn’t disagree. The plot was considered fairly by-the-numbers, and the film became a forgotten entry in the genre.
1
‘Alone in the Dark’
A once-popular video game series was the basis for the legendary box office bomb Alone in the Dark. In the film, Edward Carnby (Christian Slater) is a paranormal investigator looking into the details about a forgotten Native American Civilization known as the Abkani. With the help of his girlfriend Aline (Tara Reid), a knowledgeable museum curator, the pair rushes to prevent the apocalypse via ancient, deadly creatures.
Director Uwe Boll has a notorious reputation for making gloriously bad movies, and in that regard, Alone in the Dark may be his masterpiece. Sitting at an impressively low 1% on Rotten Tomatoes, Alone in the Dark is the type of movie that ends careers, cited by critics for its lifeless acting, wooden script, and poor special effects. Alone in the Dark was unable to make back its budget and was another piece of evidence that movies based on video games were losing propositions.
