All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Horror Movies of the 2000s on the Criterion Channel

Date: October 6, 2025
Guest: Clyde Foley, film curator
Host: Alison Stewart

Overview

On this episode of All Of It, host Alison Stewart is joined by friend of the show and horror expert Clyde Foley, who curated a new series on 2000s horror films for the Criterion Channel. The conversation dives deep into what made horror movies of that decade unique, notable trends like the rise of "torture porn" and J-horror remakes, as well as underappreciated gems. Foley and Stewart explore specific films—both famous and obscure—while fielding memorable listener calls about the movies that terrified them most.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Unique Flavor of 2000s Horror

• Transition from the 90s:
  • “[The] story of the 2000s really begins in the late 90s... at the end of the 90s, we have The Blair Witch Project, which is just one of the biggest hits of all time. It was a reminder to studios that horror movies are very profitable and they don't require a lot of money.” (Clyde Foley, 02:00)
  • The decade is shaped by:
    • Rise of home video (DVD boom).
    • Influence of Japanese horror (J-horror) and subsequent American remakes.
  • The challenge in curation: “There's so much happening... and also, to be honest, there's a lot happening that I frankly kind of sidestep because it becomes very graphic and extreme.” (Clyde, 03:29)

Notable 2000s Horror Subgenres

• Torture Porn: The “Saw” franchise, “Hostel” as graphic and divisive.
• J-Horror Remakes: E.g. “The Ring,” with distinct stylistic elements.
• Body Horror and French Extremity: Films like “Trouble Every Day.”
• Found Footage: Closed by “Paranormal Activity,” bookending with “Blair Witch Project” (Foley, 30:17).

Featured Films and Takeaways

What Lies Beneath (Robert Zemeckis, 2000)

• The Hitchcock Effect:
  • “There's a thing that... many major filmmakers do where they make their Hitchcock movie... and this is [Zemeckis’s] Hitchcock movie.” (B, 05:43)
• Unexpected Depth:
  • “First half hour... basically about Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer having a daughter go off to college... joys of middle-aged sex. And then it becomes a thriller.” (B, 07:11)

Ghosts of Mars (John Carpenter, 2001)

• Retroactively Appreciated:
  • “I saw when it came out, I didn't really care for it... Years go by... there are real joys in this movie that I was not picking up on. And a lot of them have to do with Ice Cube, who's great in this movie.” (B, 09:13)

The Others (Alejandro Amenábar, 2001)

• Atmospheric, Gothic Excellence:
  • “It’s the kind of classic horror movie setup of... this big, empty, scary house and a woman... under the specter of malevolent forces... very rare, restrained, beautiful camera movements...” (B, 10:30)
• Nicole Kidman’s Performance:
  • “She is the kind of actor who is able to simultaneously broadcast a range of emotions with very subtle nuances.” (B, 11:38)

The Ring (Gore Verbinski, 2002)

• Listener Jonna from Westchester:
  • “The Ring really just floored me... That sort of urban legend, urban myth thing going for it... really saturated kind of look to it. The boy who played the son, he was great. And then, of course, that main character, the girl... terrifying.” (Jonna, 12:08)
• Visual Style Note:
  • “A lot of movies as of late really do that thing where there's a color push in post where like, all right, this movie is blue. And The Ring did that early on, but... it was all in camera.” (B, 13:16)

Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day (2001)

• French Extremity:
  • “The French were making some of the most graphic and vile horror films that anyone had ever made. And this movie gets lumped in with that, maybe rightly, maybe wrongly... It’s very much about music and it's about bodies... It's a Claire Denis film through and through.” (B, 16:24)
• Graphic nature discussed (but demurred on radio):
  • “There’s some pretty graphic scenes in it.” (A, 17:35)

Listener Favorite: Let the Right One In (Tomas Alfredson, 2008)

• Caller Isla from Brooklyn:
  • “It's about this boy who's getting bullied and then he befriends this kind of creepy, unusual girl and he suspects that she's a vampire... beautifully filmed and just creepy. Anything with children being somewhat evil... It was very poignant.” (Isla, 18:03)
• Foley on the film:
  • “It’s settled—next year's series is creepy children!” (B, 18:55)

Stuck (Stuart Gordon, 2007)

• Underrated & Unnerving:
  • “A corn-rowed Mena Suvari hits homeless Steven Ray with her car and he's stuck in the windshield... It is sadly and upsettingly based on a true story...” (B, 19:15)

Dahmer (David Jacobson, 2002)

• Jeremy Renner’s breakout:
  • “I think in terms of the films that... they may not know... I would put Dahmer under this... not the sort of sensationalized serial killer film you may expect. In fact, I would describe it more as like a chamber drama... oddly kind of similar to Eric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s...” (B, 20:40)

The Strangers (Bryan Bertino, 2008)

• Caller Kara from Croton on Hudson:
  • “The scariest horror movie of all time for me is The Strangers... the reason why it was so terrifying is... it's based on real people just getting terrorized by other real people. There's nothing haunting or supernatural about it.” (Kara, 22:07)
• Foley on horror for horror’s sake:
  • “Sometimes movies are allowed to be very lean thrill machines.” (B, 23:04)

May (Lucky McKee, 2002)

• Unconventional Frankenstein:
  • “A woman who is on the spectrum... develops an attraction... while also growing increasingly unhinged... standout performance by the lead actress, Angela Bettis... Anna Faris as her lesbian coworker... hilarious in this movie.” (B, 24:16)

Ginger Snaps (John Fawcett, 2000)

• Caller Jackie:
  • “A werewolf thriller about a girl, two sisters, and one of them gets her period and then gets bitten by a werewolf. So it kind of uses lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty. A really awesome, smart, feminist horror movie.” (Jackie, 25:39)
• Foley's confession:
  • “I know about Gingersnap, and this is where I'm gonna admit this caller's got me. This is a film I've never seen.” (B, 26:19)

The Descent (Neil Marshall, 2005)

• Cave Dwelling Terror:
  • “A group of women... go spelunking... and they get trapped in this cave system... soon enough, they realize they're not alone... full of cannibals.” (B, 26:42)
• Cinematography and Impact:
  • “If horror is the interplay between light and shadow, this is a pretty tight version of that.” (B, 27:40)

Paranormal Activity (Oren Peli, 2007) and [REC] (Jaume Balagueró, Paco Plaza, 2007)

• Caller Ishmael from Harlem:
  • “Paranormal Activity... When I first watched it in high school, I thought it was pretty dumb. But watching it back now... it's so slow and because almost nothing happens until the very end... it cuts against a lot of how, like, horror movies are edited these days.” (Ishmael, 29:09)
• [REC] as Found Footage Standout:
  • “It really, it moves. It's very claustrophobic... TV news crew going into an apartment building... outbreak... flesh eating zombies... Not all found footage movies move. In fact, not all found footage movies work.” (B, 30:17)
• Bookends of the Decade:
  • “If the decade opens with Blair Witch Project... it closes with Paranormal Activity, another massive hit that basically sets the tone of what horror movies end up being for the next 10 years.” (B, 30:57)

Rogue (Greg McLean, 2007)

• Monster Movie Fun:
  • “It's about a man eating giant killer crocodile... stars Radha Mitchell... Sam Worthington from Avatar.” (A, 31:21; B, 31:59)

Lake Mungo (Joel Anderson, 2008)

• Faux-Documentary Hung with Grief:
  • “Another Australian film called Lake Mungo, which is a fake documentary about a family whose daughter recently died and they think that she is maybe haunting them... a very complex, shape-shifting film.” (B, 34:56)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the challenge of curation:

  • “I don't even know if I tell the whole story of 2000s horror as much as this is a guided tour of 2000s horror.” (Clyde, 04:15)

• On John Carpenter’s enduring greatness:

  • “The thing about John Carpenter is that he is just the... a consummate master of genre in that his films don't necessarily try to say deeper things... as much as they are these very lean, well built thrill machines.” (B, 32:56)
  • Recommended Carpenter entry point: “They Live.” (B, 34:07)

• Listener Isla on ‘Let The Right One In’ (18:03):

  • “It was very poignant. Also, the friendship between the boy and the little girl is very powerful, but a lot of stuff that goes down is pretty hair raising.”

• Host Alison Stewart on horror tropes (14:10):

  • “I realize the thing that scares me the most are little scary children.”

• Clyde’s Pop Culture Reference (28:30):

  • “We really should have started the segment by saying, let's all meet up in the year 2000. Won't it be strange when we're all fully grown? To quote Jarvis Cocker.”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:00 – Clyde Foley on what makes 2000s horror unique
• 03:29 – The complexity and challenge of curating the decade
• 05:43 – Zemeckis and “What Lies Beneath” as Hitchcockian work
• 09:13 – Reappraising “Ghosts of Mars”
• 10:30 – “The Others” and the gothic revival
• 12:08 – Listener Jonna calls in about “The Ring”
• 16:24 – French Extremity and “Trouble Every Day”
• 18:03 – Isla from Brooklyn recommends “Let the Right One In”
• 20:40 – Subtlety in “Dahmer” with Jeremy Renner
• 22:07 – Kara from Croton raves about “The Strangers”
• 24:16 – The oddness of “May”
• 25:39 – Jackie on “Ginger Snaps” as feminist horror
• 26:42 – “The Descent” as a masterpiece of claustrophobic terror
• 29:09 – Ishmael from Harlem weighs in on “Paranormal Activity”
• 30:17 – The pacing and influence of “[REC]”
• 32:56 – John Carpenter’s legacy in horror
• 34:56 – Lake Mungo: “A very complex, shape-shifting film”

Final Thoughts

Clyde Foley’s 2000s horror series on the Criterion Channel is not a definitive anthology, but “a guided tour” through a turbulent and experimental decade for the genre. The selections bridge international influences and bold new directions—J-horror, found footage, horror of the real, and subversive body horror—all while balancing beloved classics and neglected masterpieces. Listener calls underscore the personal and emotional impact of these films, affirming Foley’s approach: “Sometimes movies are allowed to be very lean thrill machines.” (B, 23:04)

For those looking to get in the Halloween spirit or simply revisit the distinctive shivers of 2000s horror, this episode offers a roadmap through cult favorites, critical darlings, and the dark corners of Criterion’s catalog.