If you’re in the mood for some top-notch genre programming, look no further than Shudder. The ultimate streaming platform for all things spooky and macabre, Shudder is home to everything from psychological chills to slashers, vampires, and zombies. And the best part? Shudder’s awesome team of curators is constantly adding new titles to the archives.
As big fans of the service and horror films and TV shows in general, we’ve put together this roundup of the best movies and shows you can stream on Shudder right now. But be warned: Some of these ghoulish entries are not for the faint of heart.
Seeking more scares? Turn up the chills with our guides to the best horror movies on Netflix, the best horror movies on Hulu, and the best horror movies on Amazon Prime.
Dark August (1976)
5.1/10If demons, hexes, and ultra-low-budget filmmaking are three things you enjoy, consider Dark August. Directed by Martin Goldman, the film stars J.J. Barry as Sal Devito, an artist who relocates to a rural town in Vermont. It turns out Sal’s been trying to gain some distance from a tragic car accident that took the life of a young girl, but his past is hot on his trail. The girl’s grandfather just so happens to be into black magic and decides to curse Sal in an effort to avenge his granddaughter.
When a dark entity starts following Sal around town, he turns to a local psychic to help him combat the ever-lurking evil that won’t let him be. Not many will have heard of Dark August, but as part of Shudder’s incredible “Locals Only” curation, this shoestring creeper is extremely unsettling, and the dizzying camerawork and unusual synth score help the film to push the envelope even further.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
55%
7.5/10Directed by John Landis, An American Werewolf in London stars David Naughton and Griffin Dunne as David and Jack, two vacationing backpackers trekking through the European countryside. Out of the blue, some kind of creature descends upon the duo, killing Jack and sending David to the hospital. Through his recovery, David begins experiencing visions of the very-dead Jack, who attempts to warn his friend about the monster that’s lurking inside him. But will David ultimately heed the omens brought to him by this chilling wraith?
Featuring some of the most impressive make-up and prosthetics (courtesy of VFX guru Rick Baker), An American Werewolf… delivers one of the most horrific and painful werewolf-transformation scenes of any horror film, and even if you’re not into the lycanthropy sub-genre, it’s a cinematic marvel you shouldn’t pass up.
The Mansion of Madness (1973)
A loose adaption of Edgar Allan Poe’s The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether, Dr. Tarr’s Torture Dungeon is set in 19th-century France and follows a journalist by the name of Gaston LeBlanc (played by Arthur Hansel). Traveling by way of horse-drawn carriage, LeBlanc is conducting an investigation of one Dr. Maillard (Claudio Brook), a physician who has gained some renown for some revolutionary psychiatric methods. What no one is expecting is the unrelenting chaos that has taken hold of every corner of Maillard’s sanitarium.
With crazed inhabitants running wild and engaging in some not-so-kind ritualistic activities, Gaston grows wary of Maillard’s intentions, but it’s only a matter of time before the journalist becomes the mad doctor’s next patient. A kaleidoscopic spectacle, director Juan López Moctezuma’s film (billed as The Mansion of Madness in other countries) plays by its own rules, making for some truly insane cinema that doesn’t care if you’re cringing.
Lake of the Dead (1958)
Lake of the Dead is a 1958 Norwegian mystery-thriller film from director Kåre Bergstrøm. Following the train-bound journey of a group of intellectuals and socialites, all the familiars of a man named Bjørn Werner, the high-brow bunch soon find themselves in the heart of the Østerdal woodlands at Bjørn’s isolated cabin. But their friend is nowhere to be found, and his dog is dead.
Disturbed by the discovery, a murderous urban legend about a real nearby lake is recalled by one of the visitors — and the deep-rooted, generational hearsay ends up becoming horrifically true. Paying homage to the ‘50s stylings of the film-noir genre, Lake of the Dead achieves plenty of scares through its closed, rhetorical approach, where a single, spooky story is enough to keep us up at night.
Speak No Evil (2022)
6.6/10Speak No Evil is the kind of movie that reminds us why we should all stop making friends. Period. Written and directed by Christian Tafdrup, this excellent Danish flick is a slow-burning psychological film about two families who meet on holiday in Italy. When Bjørn and Louise (Morten Burian and Sidsel Siem Koch) return home, they receive an invitation to visit Patrick and Karin (Fedja van Huêt and Karina Smulders).
Deciding to take them up on the offer, Bjørn, Louise, and their daughter, Agnes (Liva Forsberg), travel from Denmark to the Netherlands for what sounds like an awesome weekend away from it all, but when their newfound buddies begin making their guests feel uncomfortable, our hero family begins to realize they’re not altogether welcome. An unsettling story from start to finish, Speak No Evil features great acting and a wicked third act that will leave you speechless (just like one or two of the characters).
The Apology (2022)
5.0/10In The Apology, Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad) stars as Darlene Hagen, a 19-years-sober woman who is gearing up to host a Christmas dinner for her whole family. But one dark and stormy night, Darlene’s estranged ex-brother-in-law, Jack (Linus Roache), makes an unplanned homecoming.
As the snow keeps piling up, Darlene invites him to stay, leading to what begins as a somewhat pleasant conversation between long-ago family members — that is until Jack delivers some horrific and devastating news. The Apology doesn’t need monsters or ghouls to disturb its viewers, because the real terrors are carried out by the demons that dwell within our own families.
Holidays (2016)
5.1/10Skinamarink (2023)
The Canadian horror film has a bare-bones plot: in 1995, two adolescent children awaken from a dream in the middle of the night to discover strange things happening in their empty home. Regular objects like doors and windows keep disappearing, their father is nowhere to be found, and the boundaries between reality and nightmares begin to blur.
Directed by first-time helmer Kyle Edward Ball, Skinamarink is a lo-fi affair shot on digital cameras for a thrifty $15,000. What the movie lacks in polish, it more than makes up for in generating genuinely creepy vibes, as Ball utilizes shadows and silence to generate scares. While some have complained about the nonsensical plot and barely audible dialogue, Skinamarink is one of the few horror films that accurately reflects the experience of being trapped in a waking nightmare. See it before it becomes the cult classic it will inevitably be regarded as in the next few years.
Possession (1981)
Possession is the kind of movie that’s hard to put a concrete label on, but equal parts domestic melodrama and surrealist nightmare is a description that will get the job done. The film features Jurassic Park star Sam Neill as Mark, a husband and father who learns that his wife, Anna (Isabella Adjani), has been having an affair.
After several domestic disputes, Mark enlists the service of a private investigator to keep tabs on his spouse, only to discover that Anna may actually be the mortal vessel of some kind of dark entity. Genre-defying and unusually bleak, Possession is sure to give you the creeps in more ways than one. Adjani’s three-minute breakdown in an empty subway is alone worth watching.
Tourist Trap (1979)
While it doesn’t receive the fanfare of films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre or Halloween, director David Schmoeller’s Tourist Trap is a ’70s genre flick that deserves just as much attention. The story follows a group of five pals who become stranded at an off-the-wall museum in the middle of nowhere.
As it turns out, the proprietor of the titular trap is a man named Mr. Slausen (Chuck Connors), a charming but enigmatic figure, who may or may not be responsible for the one-by-one deaths of the core cast. If mannequins, dolls, and puppets freak you out, Tourist Trap may be the perfect blast of terror, as the film’s supernatural slasher just so happens to have a penchant for all things porcelain and dead-eyed.
Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)
Tigers Are Not Afraid is as bold a horror film as they come, fully embracing fantasy and folkloric elements to weave its symbol-laden narrative. The film stars Paola Lara as Estelle, a recently orphaned girl who joins the ranks of an adolescent street gang amidst the throes of the Mexican drug wars. After wishing for her mother’s return, Estelle’s world is flipped upside-down when vengeful wraiths start following the kids.
A film cut from much the same cloth as Guillermo del Toro’s early cinema, Tigers Are Not Afraid achieves something truly special by stepping outside the bounds of normal genre conventions to tell an impactful and relevant story, employing supernatural elements to carry this incredible cinematic journey home.
Resurrection (2022)
Resurrection is one of those movies that has an uncanny knack of digging into your bones and lurking there for weeks and months on end. It’s the kind of film you just can’t forget, a near-fact that’s perfectly aligned with the narrative itself. Rebecca Hall plays Margaret, a successful businesswoman and single mother.
With her life going exactly as planned, fate drops a bomb on Margaret’s arranged existence when her abusive ex-boyfriend David (Tim Roth) resurfaces. Almost immediately, David sets to work controlling and manipulating Margaret, but little does he know that she’s cooking up a plan for vengeance.
The Last Broadcast (1998)
Before Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project, the world of found-footage horror cinema was fairly bare, save for one-offs like The Last Broadcast, although the latter is certainly nothing to dismiss even if it didn’t get the franchise treatment.
Directed by Stefan Avalos and Lance Weiler, the movie places viewers in the shoes of a filmmaker who sets off into the infamous Pine Barrens of New Jersey to shoot a documentary about the Jersey Devil and four of the creature’s victims. The premise probably sounds familiar, and while The Last Broadcast doesn’t venture too far out-of-the-box, a few third-act surprises make this early found-footage picture a worthy addition to the genre.
Extraordinary Tales (2013)
Extraordinary Tales is an animated love letter to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, with five of the prolific author’s stories receiving the cinematic treatment from director Raúl Garcia, with segment narration provided by Guillermo del Toro, Christopher Lee, Julian Sands, and even Bela Lugosi.
While the art style may not jive with all viewers, this experimental approach to the anthology format is memorable, intellectually elevated, and faithful to the master of macabre who would probably be a huge fan of genre slam-dunks like Hereditary and The Witch.
V/H/S/99 (2022)
53%
6.7/10The Long Walk (2022)
Grizzly (1976)
25%
5.2/10Mad God (2022)
100%
6.8/10The Crazies (1973)
63%
6.1/10The House of the Devil (2009)
73%
6.3/10Night of the Demons (1988)
6.1/10Halloween (1978)
87%
7.7/10Carnival of Souls (1962)
7.1/10Deadhouse Dark (2021)
NOS4A2 (2019)
47%
6.6/10A Discovery of Witches (2018)
67%
7.9/10Creepshow (2019)
The 101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments of All Time (2022)
Cursed Films (2020)
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror (2021)
80%
7.7/10Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror is the kind of exhaustive documentary that leaves no stone unturned. And in the case of the film’s alluring subject matter — a thoroughly-traced history through folk cinema’s cross-continental generations — there are plenty of pebbles to see. Featuring interviews with genre historians, authors, and academics, as well as buzzworthy filmmakers like Robert Eggers (The Northman, The Lighthouse, and The Witch), Woodlands Dark delivers informative three-plus hours that may have been served up better as a limited series, but no one’s going to care if you pause it five times. However you wish to experience this educational tome of roots, runes, and beasts, the choice is yours alone.
The Nightmare (2015)
68%
5.7/10Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror (2019)
In Search of Darkness (2019)
8/10Editors' Recommendations
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