10 Worst Thriller Movies of the 2000s, Ranked

Few decades have been as massively impactful and influential to the thriller genre as the 2000s, with the beginnings of the 21st century and the advent of digital filmmaking lending itself to constant top-notch thriller filmmaking. From high-stakes action thrillers like Children of Men and Taken to meticulously calculated slow-burn thrillers like Zodiac and No Country For Old Men, the 2000s were home to many of the greatest thrillers of all time. However, for every substantial and groundbreaking thriller that the decade saw, there were also many whose completely botched executions transformed them into titles of pure infamy.

From massive blockbusters that failed to live up to the standards of the decade to low-budget disasters that are visibly falling apart at the seams, the wide variety of notoriously terrible thrillers serves as a harsh contrast to the greatness that the decade is recognized for. More than any other genre, there is a distinct art and magic that goes into creating an effective thriller, finding the perfect balance between tension and intrigue to keep audiences engaged, yet these films completely failed at finding said engagement among audiences.

10 ‘Bangkok Dangerous’ (2008)

Directed by Danny Pang Fat, Oxide Pang Shun

While Nicolas Cage was always a beloved and acclaimed actor in both thrillers and non-thrillers alike, his reputation became defined as a chaotic, larger-than-life presence in below-average films in the 2000s thanks to films like Bangkok Dangerous. The action thriller sees Cage as Joe, a professional freelance assassin who has lived a secluded and secretive life as he fully takes in his surroundings before going for his latest targets. However, after befriending a street kid and nearly getting them killed, he begins to train his new friend in the deadly arts, becoming a target of a band of killers himself in the process.

At the very least, the concept and name of a Nicolas Cage film called Bangkok Dangerous conjures up images of wild action and a gloriously chaotic time, even if its objective quality is low. However, even on this front, Bangkok Dangerous manages to completely disappoint when it comes to compelling action or stakes, becoming a generic slog that takes too much from clichés of the era and doesn’t do enough to set itself apart. It’s far from the worst movie that Nicolas Cage has done, but when compared to what the actor is capable of in a thriller context, the film is a major disappointment.

9 ‘The Happening’ (2008)

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

One of the strangest and most divisive films in M. Night Shyamalan‘s filmography, The Happening‘s attempts at widespread fear and dread are largely minimized by its abstract execution and performances. The film sees a terrifying airborne virus traveling across the northeastern United States, forcing those it infects into a frenzy that forces them to end their own lives. In an attempt to escape the virus and find an answer to how this all started, teacher Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife flee from the cities into the countryside in search of the truth.

While The Happening has an inherently terrifying concept that could easily conjure up dread and tension in a different execution, the film’s strange characterization and stilted performances transform it into an unintentional comedy. The film manages to constantly one-up itself in terms of increasingly strange and confusing plot points, line readings, and an overall strange tone that completely 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 consequences of the death of bright young Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay Lohan), whose torture at the hands of a sadistic serial killer completely decimates the lives of a small town. However, Aubrey ends up escaping from the clutches of the serial killers, regaining consciousness in a hospital and insisting that she is not actually Aubrey Fleming, but the real Aubrey is still in danger. It soon becomes a race against time to find the identity of the serial killer before the true Aubrey becomes his latest victim.

Easily one of the worst cinematic outings from Lindsay Lohan, I Know Who Killed Me has a chaotic and nonsensical plot that is not only difficult to follow, but quickly falls apart the more it’s thought about. While a lot of the hatred that surrounded the film when it was released stems from the controversies that surrounded Logan at the time, the film itself still doesn’t have any strengths on its own merits. The film attempts to tell an artsy and sophisticated take on a murder mystery, but its shallow execution makes it a painful watch to sit through.

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7 ‘A Sound of Thunder’ (2005)

Directed by Peter Hyams

A sci-fi thriller that went through production hell and became a notorious box office disaster, A Sound of Thunder attempted to bring a massive blockbuster scope to the classic 1952 short story of the same name. The film sees a company in the future that provides those the experience of a lifetime through a Time Safari, allowing rich people to travel to the past and hunt dinosaurs that would otherwise die of natural causes. However, when one hunter ends up straying away from the assigned path, he causes a chain reaction that has massive implications for history.

The implications and butterfly effect of time travel are topics that have been largely explored in thrillers long before A Sound of Thunder hit theaters, yet even as a tribute to the original short story, the film flounders greatly in execution. The CGI visual effects are jarring even for the era they were released in, along with a comical misunderstanding of history and nearly everyone on-screen giving minimal effort in their performances. Many of the issues surrounding the film can be attributed to the many rewrites, reshoots, and production issues that constantly delayed the film, making it an assured disaster from the beginning.

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6 ‘Max Payne’ (2008)

Directed by John Moore

Adapted from the critically acclaimed video game franchise, Max Payne follows the titular DEA agent whose family was murdered as a part of a conspiracy. In the seemingly endless battle of pain and revenge that Max faces, he finds himself teaming up with an assassin on her own quest for revenge, with the duo forced to solve a series of murders in New York City. Each additional body seemingly finds them closer to their own answers, yet the retribution that they are each seeking seems further and further by the day.

While the Max Payne games featured some of the most beloved and defining storylines in video games when they were released, the film adaptation transformed the groundbreaking story into yet another generic, cliche-ridden thriller. Even outside of the effective story of the original games, one of their greatest strengths is their top-notch action and gritty aesthetic, elements that are also massively butchered by the film, leaving a dull mess that is a slog to get through. The film is easily in contention for being one of the worst video game movies ever released.

5 ‘Basic Instinct 2’ (2006)

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones

Releasing 14 years after the original genre-defining thriller, Basic Instinct 2 proves to be one of the most unwarranted and deeply underwhelming sequels to have ever been released. The film sees Novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) once again in trouble with the law, with Scotland Yard appointing psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) to evaluate her. However, just like those before him, Glass cannot help but be allured by Tramell’s charm and presence, placing the duo into a seductive game of tension.

It’s blatant from the very beginning scenes of Basic Instinct 2 that the film had no business even being made in the first place, actively going against and diminishing the strengths of the original film. It’s ironic that one of the only reasons that the film even exists is because Stone sued the producers after promising her $14 million and failed to deliver when attempting to cancel the film. It speaks volumes that nearly nobody involved with the film was invested in making a good film, instead treating the film like a formality, with said lack of passion coming through seamlessly on-screen.

4 ‘Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever’ (2002)

Directed by Wych Kaosayananda

One of the most notorious and worst spy movies of all time, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever has become infamous for being one of the most critically disastrous movies of all time, with its 0% on Rotten Tomatoes and losing millions at the box office. The film follows the rivalry between FBI agent Jeremiah Ecks (Antonio Banderas) and rogue DIA agent Jane Sever (Lucy Liu), who have been at odds with one another in constant mortal combat. However, the enemies are forced to team up to take down a common enemy who plans to use nanobot technology to gain control of the world.

Loosely inspired by the popular, fast-paced action thrillers of the ear, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever‘s lackluster execution completely fails at coming close to recapturing the energy required to make its world-spanning spy story work. Banderas and Liu are constantly facing off against each other with some of the most soulless and underwhelming action put to film, all the while having no chemistry with one another in their constant screen-time together. Especially when compared to the wide array of other effective spy thrillers released in the 2000s, all of which would be a better option than Ecks vs. Sever.

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3 ‘S. Darko’ (2009)

Directed by Chris Fisher

Donnie Darko is one of the most iconic and influential thrillers not just of the 2000s, but of all time, laying the groundwork for powerful, thematically rich and psychologically inclined thrillers to succeed in the 21st century. 8 years after the original would make waves and become one of the biggest cult classics of all time, S. Darko would completely botch its attempt to follow up on the widely beloved classic. The film follows the now-teenage Samantha Darko (Daveigh Chase) stranded in a small desert town, where she ends up being plagued by bizarre visions of the universe’s end and forced to face her demons head-on.

It was always going to be an impossible task to follow up the one-of-a-kind experience that was the original Donnie Darko, but S. Darko goes above and beyond in terms of failing to recapture the strengths of the original. The film attempts to follow a similar structure and have the same moments and elements of the original, but these aspects simply don’t work the second time around, coming across as a lazy retread to garner good will with fans. In execution, S. Darko has nothing to offer aside from elements that are downgraded from the original, leaving it to be an odd, forgotten footnote on the original’s legacy.

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2 ‘Curse of the Zodiac’ (2007)

Directed by Ulli Lommel

While David Fincher‘s Zodiac is largely acclaimed as one of the best thrillers of the 2000s, it wasn’t the only thriller about the Zodiac Killer to be released during the decade, as Ulli Lommel‘s Curse of the Zodiac fails at tackling the same notorious killer. The film follows the infamous zodiac killer as they lay waste to the citizens of the San Francisco area, still looming in the darkness even decades after his notorious killings. With the mystery of his killings still at large, he continues his destructive ways on the people of California.

Curse of the Zodiac could genuinely be used as a case study for how not to create a horror thriller, with nearly every decision made in creating the film actively making a worse viewing experience. From nauseating shaky camera to terrible performances filled with botched line readings and a generic story that is massively outdone by Fincher’s masterpiece, Curse of the Zodiac is a neverending display of terrible filmmaking. Lommel’s signature twists and attempts to make the film go against the grain actively make the film a nuisance to watch, being a painful experience from start to finish.

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1 ‘House of the Dead’ (2003)

Directed by Uwe Boll

One of many infamous video game adaptations from the master of terrible adaptations, Uwe Boll, House of the Dead stands head and shoulders above as what could be his worst cinematic outing. Adapted from the classic series of horror video games, the film sees a techno rave party on a costal island being interrupted by a swarm of zombies and monsters that appear to be approaching from all sides. With the zombies being controlled by an evil entity inside of the House of the Dead, it becomes up to a coast guard officer and a group of college students to take the entity down.

The House of the Dead franchise has a very distinct tone and style that has made it a fan-favorite franchise for decades, with this style being completely abandoned in the film in favor of Boll’s signature style of dull, shadowy action. The film features all the classic aspects of Boll’s filmmaking style that have made his films so infamous, with chaotic editing decisions, exploitative use of sexual content, and some of the worst lighting ever put to film. If it were simply an original film with all of these mistakes, many wouldn’t give it a second glance, but it’s the active destruction of a long-beloved video game franchise that has made House of the Dead one of the worst thrillers of all time.

NEXT: The 10 Worst Thriller Movies of All Time, Ranked