Explored all of Netflix’s horror options and need to look elsewhere for a fear-based fix? The genre specialists at Shudder are on hand if you’re looking for the perfect fright night!
And with haunted-house humiliations, doom-laden documentaries, and other terrors besides, here are the 10 best movies the scary streaming platform has to offer right now.
Skinamarink (2022)
Kyle Edward Ball’s experimental slow-burner, filmed in his childhood house, is not for everyone. ‘Is the film going to continue like this?’ you’ll be thinking after the first few minutes of out-of-focus shots of Lego bricks, walls and dark, night-time corridors. Yes, is the answer.
Some viewers will find this monumentally dreary. But for those who conjure their own demons when peering into the darkness, this is one of the most terrifying, not to mention cruel movie experiences they can possibly have as they watch two young siblings at home alone, with their parents gone, and a malevolent spirit that calls the kids upstairs and changes the fabric of reality around them.
‘Can we watch something happy now,’ says young Kevin at one point, in one of the few lines of dialogue. No, apparently. This one gets darker, literally, as it goes on.
Eden Lake (2008)
Taking a not-particularly subtle aim at Britain’s political policies on youth and class, this film focuses on well-to-do happy couple Kelly Reilly and Michael Fassbender whose romantic weekend by a lovely lake is interrupted by some psychotic young locals and their peer-pressured friends.
Complaints about the noise soon tumble into a desperate and gory fight for survival for the pair in James Watkins’ thriller, with an extraordinary ending that challenges its viewers’ own perceptions of revenge and natural justice.
Troll-Hunter (2010)
André Øvredal’s 2010 found-footage adventure sees a group of students investigate unexplained bear killings in the Norwegian wilderness, only to discover that their reluctant guide is on the hunt for the trolls of the country’s fairy tales.
As the scares get bigger – in more ways than one –some pretty impressive effects help conjure up an air of believability.
Deadstream (2022)
Joseph Winter’s low-budget haunted house hit is a riot from start to finish. The director also stars as disgraced YouTube star Shawn Ruddy, who is so desperate to keep his one remaining sponsor onside and win his viewers back, that he will do anything to get views and keep his watchers entertained. This includes locking himself inside an abandoned home with a few vengeful, murderous spirits!
Apart from phantoms who persist in sticking bony fingers up his nose when unconscious, Ruddy’s tormentors also include his YouTube streamers, who provide often-unhelpful commands to make him investigate the ghostly goings-on. Winter walks a fine line between keeping his charismatic-but-idiotic desperado likeable while revelling in his self-imposed social media-based humiliation.
V/H/S (2012)
This found-footage anthology might be somewhat patchy in terms of variable quality, but when it’s good, it hits home hard.
Strung together with a plot line about a gang of petty criminals who break into a home to find a video (only to find a dead man sitting in front of static several TVs and a vague sense they’re not alone), the opening segment, ‘Amateur Night,’ will have you rooting for the monster over the terrible men attempting to take advantage. There’s an uneasy joy to be hard at following this group of friendly nitwits who realise that the haunted-house party they’ve descended on might be a little more real than they envisaged in 10/31/98.
Insidious (2010)
This 2010 carnival of gruelling set-pieces from James Wan features one of the best jump scares in movie history. The director truly filled the house full of horrors, as the family in this horror piece faces the terrifying prospect that their son may be haunted by a terrifying spirit.
If that’s not enough, Chapter 2 is also available on Shudder.
Ringu (1998)
Hideo Nakata’s 1998 masterpiece about a mysterious videotape that kills anyone who watches it, spawned a host of Hollywood remakes of Japanese horrors – including its own Naomi Watts-fronted adaptation in 2002.
But this original remains the best, filled with an uneasy sense of dread, right up to its brutal signature scene that terrifying reveals precisely how the ghoulish Sadako enacts her show-stoppers.
Host (2020)
Sure, an increase in trade for sourdough bread makers might have been one of the very few bright spots of the fall-out of Covid-19, but this jump-scare heavy Zoom-call based stay-at-home horror has another silver lining to a very dark cloud.
Rob Savage’s short-and-not-very-sweet feature sees a group of friends pass time during the pandemic by going on call for an ill-advised online seance, only to conjure a demon into their homes. Despite the 57-minute runtime, memorable moments are numerous, and bares repeat viewing, with fun to be had figuring out precisely who’s responsible for unleashing Jack the Hanged Spectre onto our screens (tip: no, it’s not just Jemma).
[REC] (2007)
Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza’s Barcelona-based creature feature was a game-changer in the found-footage genre, setting up the investigation into a mysterious virus at a quarantined apartment block as a professionally filmed, live TV documentary rather than the grainy camcorder material of The Blair Witch Project.
The framing, and the movie’s exceptionally scary ending in the block’s penthouse, worked, both to demonstrate that the genre could work with more sophisticated material, and to show that there are worse things for the TV crew to deal with than gremlins in the system. Or even zombies.
Lake Mungo (2008)
Joel Anderson’s 2008 faux-documentary might – with one very notable exception – be short of jump scares, but it makes up for it with its desperate sense of misery, dread and isolation.
Sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer’s life after death – and her doomed, haunted quest to be understood by those closest to her – will play on the mind long after the credits roll, along with the unanswered questions of what happened the night she drowned.
And there we have it, our picks for the 10 scariest movies to watch on Shudder.
What do you think of our list? Have we included your favourites? Or have we missed any must-watch movies that deserve to be on our Shudder watchlist? We love to hear from you so do feel free to let us know in the comments below!