10 Worst Thriller Movies of the 2000s, Ranked

Few a long time have been as massively impactful and influential to the thriller style because the 2000s, with the beginnings of the twenty first century and the appearance of digital filmmaking lending itself to fixed top-notch thriller filmmaking. From high-stakes motion thrillers like Youngsters of Males and Taken to meticulously calculated slow-burn thrillers like Zodiac and No Nation For Previous Males, the 2000s had been house to most of the best thrillers of all time. Nonetheless, for each substantial and groundbreaking thriller that the last decade noticed, there have been additionally many whose fully botched executions remodeled them into titles of pure infamy.

From large blockbusters that did not dwell as much as the requirements of the last decade to low-budget disasters which are visibly falling aside on the seams, the wide range of notoriously horrible thrillers serves as a harsh distinction to the greatness that the last decade is acknowledged for. Greater than another style, there’s a distinct artwork and magic that goes into creating an efficient thriller, discovering the proper stability between rigidity and intrigue to maintain audiences engaged, but these movies fully failed at discovering stated engagement amongst audiences.

10 ‘Bangkok Harmful’ (2008)

Directed by Danny Pang Fats, Oxide Pang Shun

Whereas Nicolas Cage was all the time a beloved and acclaimed actor in each thrillers and non-thrillers alike, his popularity grew to become outlined as a chaotic, larger-than-life presence in below-average movies within the 2000s due to movies like Bangkok Harmful. The motion thriller sees Cage as Joe, knowledgeable freelance murderer who has lived a secluded and secretive life as he absolutely takes in his environment earlier than going for his newest targets. Nonetheless, after befriending a road child and practically getting them killed, he begins to coach his new buddy within the lethal arts, turning into a goal of a band of killers himself within the course of.

On the very least, the idea and identify of a Nicolas Cage movie referred to as Bangkok Harmful conjures up photographs of untamed motion and a gloriously chaotic time, even when its goal high quality is low. Nonetheless, even on this entrance, Bangkok Harmful manages to fully disappoint relating to compelling motion or stakes, turning into a generic slog that takes an excessive amount of from clichés of the period and does not do sufficient to set itself aside. It is from the worst film that Nicolas Cage has carried out, however when in comparison with what the actor is able to in a thriller context, the movie is a significant disappointment.

9 ‘The Occurring’ (2008)

Directed by M. Night time Shyamalan

One of many strangest and most divisive movies in M. Night time Shyamalan‘s filmography, The Occurring‘s makes an attempt at widespread worry and dread are largely minimized by its summary execution and performances. The movie sees a terrifying airborne virus touring throughout the northeastern United States, forcing these it infects right into a frenzy that forces them to finish their very own lives. In an try to flee the virus and discover a solution to how this all began, trainer Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his spouse flee from the cities into the countryside looking for the reality.

Whereas The Occurring has an inherently terrifying idea that would simply conjure up dread and rigidity in a special execution, the movie’s unusual characterization and stilted performances rework it into an unintentional comedy. The movie manages to always one-up itself by way of more and more unusual and complicated plot factors, line readings, and an general unusual tone that fully detracts from its intention as a thriller.

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8 ‘I Know Who Killed Me’ (2007)

Directed by Chris Sivertson

I Know Who Killed Me follows the outcry and penalties of the demise of vibrant younger Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay Lohan), whose torture by the hands of a sadistic serial killer fully decimates the lives of a small city. Nonetheless, Aubrey finally ends up escaping from the clutches of the serial killers, regaining consciousness in a hospital and insisting that she isn’t truly Aubrey Fleming, however the actual Aubrey continues to be in peril. It quickly turns into a race in opposition to time to seek out the id of the serial killer earlier than the true Aubrey turns into his newest sufferer.

Simply one of many worst cinematic outings from Lindsay Lohan, I Know Who Killed Me has a chaotic and nonsensical plot that’s not solely troublesome to comply with, however shortly falls aside the extra it is considered. Whereas quite a lot of the hatred that surrounded the movie when it was launched stems from the controversies that surrounded Logan on the time, the movie itself nonetheless does not have any strengths by itself deserves. The movie makes an attempt to inform an artsy and complicated tackle a homicide thriller, however its shallow execution makes it a painful watch to sit down by.

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7 ‘A Sound of Thunder’ (2005)

Directed by Peter Hyams

A sci-fi thriller that went by manufacturing hell and have become a infamous field workplace catastrophe, A Sound of Thunder tried to carry an enormous blockbuster scope to the basic 1952 brief story of the identical identify. The movie sees an organization sooner or later that gives these the expertise of a lifetime by a Time Safari, permitting wealthy individuals to journey to the previous and hunt dinosaurs that may in any other case die of pure causes. Nonetheless, when one hunter finally ends up straying away from the assigned path, he causes a series response that has large implications for historical past.

The implications and butterfly impact of time journey are subjects which were largely explored in thrillers lengthy earlier than A Sound of Thunder hit theaters, but whilst a tribute to the unique brief story, the movie flounders tremendously in execution. The CGI visible results are jarring even for the period they had been launched in, together with a comical misunderstanding of historical past and practically everybody on-screen giving minimal effort of their performances. Most of the points surrounding the movie may be attributed to the various rewrites, reshoots, and manufacturing points that always delayed the movie, making it an assured catastrophe from the start.

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6 ‘Max Payne’ (2008)

Directed by John Moore

Tailored from the critically acclaimed online game franchise, Max Payne follows the titular DEA agent whose household was murdered as part of a conspiracy. Within the seemingly countless battle of ache and revenge that Max faces, he finds himself teaming up with an murderer on her personal quest for revenge, with the duo pressured to resolve a sequence of murders in New York Metropolis. Every further physique seemingly finds them nearer to their very own solutions, but the retribution that they’re every looking for appears additional and additional by the day.

Whereas the Max Payne video games featured among the most beloved and defining storylines in video video games once they had been launched, the movie adaptation remodeled the groundbreaking story into yet one more generic, cliche-ridden thriller. Even exterior of the efficient story of the unique video games, one in all their best strengths is their top-notch motion and gritty aesthetic, components which are additionally massively butchered by the movie, leaving a boring mess that may be a slog to get by. The movie is well in rivalry for being one of many worst online game motion pictures ever launched.

5 ‘Fundamental Intuition 2’ (2006)

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones

Releasing 14 years after the unique genre-defining thriller, Fundamental Intuition 2 proves to be one of the unwarranted and deeply underwhelming sequels to have ever been launched. The movie sees Novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) as soon as once more in bother with the legislation, with Scotland Yard appointing psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) to guage her. Nonetheless, identical to these earlier than him, Glass can not assist however be allured by Tramell’s attraction and presence, inserting the duo right into a seductive sport of rigidity.

It is blatant from the very starting scenes of Fundamental Intuition 2 that the movie had no enterprise even being made within the first place, actively going in opposition to and diminishing the strengths of the unique movie. It is ironic that one of many solely causes that the movie even exists is as a result of Stone sued the producers after promising her $14 million and did not ship when making an attempt to cancel the movie. It speaks volumes that almost no person concerned with the movie was invested in making an excellent movie, as an alternative treating the movie like a formality, with stated lack of ardour coming by seamlessly on-screen.

4 ‘Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever’ (2002)

Directed by Wych Kaosayananda

One of the crucial infamous and worst spy motion pictures of all time, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever has turn out to be notorious for being one of the critically disastrous motion pictures of all time, with its 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and shedding tens of millions on the field workplace. The movie follows the rivalry between FBI agent Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas) and rogue DIA agent Jane Sever (Lucy Liu), who’ve been at odds with each other in fixed mortal fight. Nonetheless, the enemies are pressured to group as much as take down a typical enemy who plans to make use of nanobot know-how to realize management of the world.

Loosely impressed by the favored, fast-paced motion thrillers of the ear, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever‘s lackluster execution fully fails at coming near recapturing the power required to make its world-spanning spy story work. Banderas and Liu are always going through off in opposition to one another with among the most soulless and underwhelming motion put to movie, all of the whereas having no chemistry with each other of their fixed screen-time collectively. Particularly when in comparison with the big range of different efficient spy thrillers launched within the 2000s, all of which might be a greater choice than Ecks vs. Sever.

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3 ‘S. Darko’ (2009)

Directed by Chris Fisher

Donnie Darko is likely one of the most iconic and influential thrillers not simply of the 2000s, however of all time, laying the groundwork for highly effective, thematically wealthy and psychologically inclined thrillers to achieve the twenty first century. 8 years after the unique would make waves and turn out to be one of many largest cult classics of all time, S. Darko would fully botch its try and comply with up on the extensively beloved basic. The movie follows the now-teenage Samantha Darko (Daveigh Chase) stranded in a small desert city, the place she finally ends up being affected by weird visions of the universe’s finish and compelled to face her demons head-on.

It was all the time going to be an inconceivable activity to comply with up the one-of-a-kind expertise that was the unique Donnie Darko, however S. Darko goes above and past by way of failing to recapture the strengths of the unique. The movie makes an attempt to comply with the same construction and have the identical moments and components of the unique, however these elements merely do not work the second time round, coming throughout as a lazy retread to garner good will with followers. In execution, S. Darko has nothing to supply apart from components which are downgraded from the unique, leaving it to be an odd, forgotten footnote on the unique’s legacy.

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2 ‘Curse of the Zodiac’ (2007)

Directed by Ulli Lommel

Whereas David Fincher‘s Zodiac is essentially acclaimed as among the best thrillers of the 2000s, it wasn’t the one thriller in regards to the Zodiac Killer to be launched throughout the decade, as Ulli Lommel‘s Curse of the Zodiac fails at tackling the identical infamous killer. The movie follows the notorious zodiac killer as they lay waste to the residents of the San Francisco space, nonetheless looming within the darkness even a long time after his infamous killings. With the thriller of his killings nonetheless at massive, he continues his harmful methods on the individuals of California.

Curse of the Zodiac might genuinely be used as a case examine for the way to not create a horror thriller, with practically each choice made in creating the movie actively making a worse viewing expertise. From nauseating shaky digital camera to horrible performances stuffed with botched line readings and a generic story that’s massively outdone by Fincher’s masterpiece, Curse of the Zodiac is a neverending show of horrible filmmaking. Lommel’s signature twists and makes an attempt to make the movie go in opposition to the grain actively make the movie a nuisance to look at, being a painful expertise from begin to end.

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1 ‘Home of the Lifeless’ (2003)

Directed by Uwe Boll

Certainly one of many notorious online game variations from the grasp of horrible variations, Uwe Boll, Home of the Lifeless stands head and shoulders above as what could possibly be his worst cinematic outing. Tailored from the basic sequence of horror video video games, the movie sees a techno rave social gathering on a costal island being interrupted by a swarm of zombies and monsters that seem like approaching from all sides. With the zombies being managed by an evil entity inside the Home of the Lifeless, it turns into as much as a coast guard officer and a gaggle of school college students to take the entity down.

The Home of the Lifeless franchise has a really distinct tone and magnificence that has made it a fan-favorite franchise for many years, with this type being fully deserted within the movie in favor of Boll’s signature type of lifeless, shadowy motion. The movie options all of the basic elements of Boll’s filmmaking type which have made his movies so notorious, with chaotic enhancing selections, exploitative use of sexual content material, and among the worst lighting ever put to movie. If it had been merely an authentic movie with all of those errors, many would not give it a second look, however it is the energetic destruction of a long-beloved online game franchise that has made Home of the Lifeless one of many worst thrillers of all time.

NEXT: The ten Worst Thriller Motion pictures of All Time, Ranked