High School Horror (2003-2006)

It’s 2003 and I’m entering high school.

What was happening in 2003? I was watching The WB and America’s Next Top Model (what an awful show looking back) and enjoying Power Rangers Ninja Storm (I still think that’s a great PR season). It’s also a time when for me, horror was a bit more “mainstream” but not taken so seriously. So I was curious about what horror movies came out between 2003 and 2006 (when I graduated) and a wave of nostalgia came back to me.

There are films I remember the trailers for on television or in movie theaters or seeing these movies in theaters or renting them or even seeing them for rent through Blockbuster, Family Video or a local store.

And there is one HUGE theme throughout those 4 years: remakes.

Let’s get into it!

2003, I’m a freshman and this is what caught my attention: Freddy vs Jason, Final Destination 2, House of 1000 Corpses, Jeepers Creepers 2, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Tale of Two Sisters, Underworld, Willard, Wrong Turn. Out of all of these, A Tale of Two Sisters is one that I know of NOW but clearly, this wasn’t known at all. I have brief memories of seeing Freddy vs Jason and Underworld like of course I saw those and saw them with my mom and now stepdad. I remember a lot of promos for Willard cos it was so bizarre and I recognized Crispin Glover from Charlie’s Angels and what is this movie about? A remake from the 1971 film… as well as one of the better remakes of this time period, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

2004 was a VERY interesting year. I’ve grown into being a sophomore, the idea of starting to drive is coming up and there are two distinct movie going experiences here: Dawn of the Dead and Hellboy. Now, Dawn of the Dead was fun, fun, fun, again, another remake but a worthy one. It was packed, the audience was into it, the zombie baby jumpscare got us and even the end credits were off putting in a good way. People were beginning to leave and then stopped when the cuts of the survivors reached that island and it was not good for them! And with Hellboy, I wanted to see this instead of Tyler Perry’s A Family that Preys and so I gotta see Hellboy alone at the same time my family saw the other film. What else is out in 2004? The Grudge, Alien vs Predator, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (why??), Blade: Trinity, Club Dread, Dracula 3000, Exorcist: The Beginning, Ginger Snaps 2 & 3, One Missed Call, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Seed of Chucky, Shaun of the Dead, Saw (I remember my mom giving me the dvd for it later that year and I watched it since they had bought it themselves and shook), Shutter, and Van Helsing. Whew, lots of second films in a franchise AND remakes galore again. 

2005, I’m over high school but I am starting to drive myself to school occasionally. And I was also kind of obsessed with House of Wax. That movie is… an epitome of 2000s horror, especially the soundtrack. Among House of Wax, there’s The Amityville Horror, An American Haunting, Blood Rayne (wasn’t that a video game?), Boogeyman, Constantine, Cursed, The Descent, The Devil’s Rejects, Dark Water, Doom (that was a movie… i don’t think it’s good), Dominion (prequel to The Exorcist), The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Fog, Hostel, Land of the Dead, Saw 2, The Skeleton Key, Urban Legends: Bloody Mary (again, why?) and Wolf Creek. What’s funny looking at this list is I remember tv spots for a lot of these and as an adult who is a bit of a cinephile and more open to all sorts of horror, seeing Constantine, The Descent, The Devil’s Rejects, The Amityville Horror, Hostel, Land of the Dead and I believe I’ve seen Emily Rose… these hit differently as an adult vs a teenager who probably wouldn’t give two fucks. I don’t think I was ready for The Devil’s Rejects as a teenager, you know?

Oh 2006, finally, we’re graduating! I went to prom, was driving and had my own car, I’m thinking about college and applying to places. And what’s ironic is that high school horror, at least in this context, is quite short on the list. Silent Hill (a lowkey favorite), Black Christmas, The Omen, Saw 3, Slither, Snakes on a Plane, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, When a Stranger Calls, and The Wicker Man are some highlights I remember. Just two original films and everything else was either a sequel or a remake.

We gotta address the big elephant in the room: WHY SO MANY REMAKES DURING THE 2000s???

It feels like we’re in a similar time now with all the remakes and reboots and jumping back into franchises to start a different timeline or what’s canon and what matters in a franchise. I mean, hell, Saw is STILL going and it just got started in 2004! But back to the remakes; another key thread is that the majority of them are from Japanese horror or pre 80s. And that’s clearly not a coincidence. Was there a renaissance of the 70s in the 2000s? Bell bottom jeans were a thing back then. And Japanese culture was quite prominent too. (Gwen Stefani should be punished for parading Japanese women around like groupies but I do love Hollaback Girl) and what’s kinda sad is that I’m sure people thought that these were “originals”. I have nothing against The Grudge remake, I like it but I prefer the original. Having recently seen When a Stranger Calls (1979) and I gave it a 3 or 3.5 out of 5, I can only imagine how not so good the remake is in comparison.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake is a favorite of mine of all the remakes (up there with Evil Dead and Suspiria) but I prefer the original. Same goes with Black Christmas which got ANOTHER remake and I ask why? Why are we doing this? Losing rights? Cash grab? Boredom and laziness from Hollywood whom would prefer to go to something familiar (and it is not doing well) than taking a risk on something new and original like Barbie or Oppenheimer? Hollywood nowadays is stuck in limbo and yet horror is one of the few genres where there are risks being taken but we’re also too dependent on franchises. Halloween being a tv show now, that dreadful Exorcist Believer didn’t do well and all the controversy around Scream 7. And in the midst of that, we’re getting MaXXXine, M3GAN did really well to get greenlit to a sequel, Child’s Play was turned into a television series that I enjoy and who can forget Five Nights at Freddy’s theatrical debut?

I’m all for original content and even taking an older film and being inspired by it where it can stand on its own like Suspiria but my goodness, I fear that within 10-20 years from now, we’ll get a reboot to M3GAN and that will trip me out.

What movies were out when you were in those primitive years of high school? Did you see any? What did you remember? Leave a comment below!