2000s Horror Vol. 2: The Box & The Mothman Prophecies (with Jake Ures)

While torture porn and hard-R reboots of 70s classics were capturing the mood of the Bush-era, the PG-13 horror movie was still thriving throughout the 2000s. After the success of M. Night Shyamalan at the turn of the century, as well as the emergence of Americanized J-horror adaptations throughout the aughts, studios began churning out PG-13 thrillers that were lighter on gore and gratuitous nudity and heavier on jump scares and twists. But not all those films managed to cross over with critics and audiences, and today we get to look back on a pair of PG-13 horror flicks that disappeared quickly from theaters, only to find a cult audience on home video. We're joined by cinematographer and in-house 9/11 commentator, Jake Ures, to re-analyze the 2002 "based on true events" thriller "The Mothman Prophecies" starring podcast favorite Richard Gere, as well as the first and currently last studio venture from "Donnie Darko" director Richard Kelly: the 2009 sci-fi thriller "The Box" starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden. Would "Mothman" be a low budget Blumhouse thriller tackling "fake news" and Q'anon today? When did mid-budget thrillers become a thing of the past? Is "The Box" Richard Kelly at his most restrained? Can Cameron Diaz do a Southern accent? Does James Marsden eat pussy? We're answering all of your pressing questions right here on our latest installment of Rotten Horror in the 2000s. "The Box" is streaming on PlutoTV and "The Mothman Prophecies" is available to rent wherever you rent movies!