Horror movies come in all shapes and sizes.
You’ve got your comedy horrors, your psychological horrors, your tense thriller-y horrors — and, of course, your genuinely scary horrors.
I’m not just talking about your run-of-the-mill, yikes-that’s-a-bit-creepy kind of films, here, either. I’m talking about the truly terror-inducing — the type of movies you wake in the dead of night thinking about, and which stay with you for a long, long time after the credits have rolled. The horribly twitchy, sleep-with-the-lights-on-and-avoid-all-mirrors kind of movies.
Streaming platform Shudder has a lot to offer in this regard.
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We’ve combed through the archives of the service (which is chock-full of horror, sci-fi and thrillers of all kinds) to track down the most terrifying films we could — from jumpy classics like Ring to the bleak puppet-themed horror of Matthew Holness’ Possum. If you’re unable to deal with jump-scares, these are not for you.
Cushions to hide behind at the ready…
Possum
What’s it about?
After losing his puppeteering job, a man returns to his childhood home to destroy a creepy puppet he carries in a brown bag. But after a local teenager goes missing, it’s clear that something more sinister is at play.
Why’s it so scary?
The overall tone of Possum is probably more bleak than scary, but the puppet is the stuff of nightmares: a near-person sized, spider-like creation with a human mask for a face that has the disconcerting habit of reappearing even after it’s been disposed of. The ominous, jagged background score that follows Philip (Sean Harris) around doesn’t help, and the jump scares – when they do come – are well placed and unpleasant.
How to watch: Possum is streaming now on Shudder.
The Medium
Credit: Christine Ramage
What’s it about?
A documentary film crew travel to northern Thailand to interview a shaman who claims to be possessed by a goddess — only to get caught up in something far more sinister when her niece begins to act strangely.
Why’s it so scary?
“The film’s first two acts move at a subtle, simmering pace, but the finale is sheer frightening chaos,” writes Mashable’s Shannon Connellan in her review. “It’s a diabolical move from director [Banjong] Pisanthanakun, who lulls audiences into a sense of security before swiftly pulling the rug out from under us. Sitting at over two hours, the film spends ample time with the characters but keeps the momentum through a sense of foreboding — thanks in part to Chatchai Ponhprapaphan’s haunting score. As events escalate, the documentarians’ distance to their subjects becomes compromised while they wonder whether they should try to help Mink. This shift is reflected in a mix of their footage and security camera coverage. And in the well-worn tradition of found footage/documentary horror films like Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project, The Medium saves the most disturbing moments for last. There’s a scene featuring a Hereditary-level reveal that had me sleepless for days.”
How to watch: The Medium is now streaming on Shudder.
The Unheard
Credit: Shudder
What’s it about?
After undertaking an experimental procedure to restore her hearing, a woman staying in her childhood home experiences auditory hallucinations that may have something to do with her mother’s disappearance.
Why should you watch it?
“As you might have guessed from that description, [director Jeffrey A.] Brown’s movie is a bit of a genre mish-mash,” I wrote in my review for Mashable. “The setup sounds like a Black Mirror episode, the hallucinations and isolation are straight-up horror, and the disappearances blend it all together with a kind of mystery/crime/thriller element. It’s a combination that could easily start tripping over itself, but somehow it keeps a steady, confident footing. Between Brown’s perfectly unnerving direction, a tight script from Michael and Shawn Rasmussen and a well-acted story, The Unheard crackles through its two-hour runtime with scares and tension aplenty.”
How to watch: The Unheard is streaming now on Shudder.
Skinamarink
Credit: IFC Films/Shudder
What’s it about?
Given how experimental Kyle Edward Ball’s movie is, this one’s sort of hard to summarise. But it’s essentially about two siblings who can’t find their dad and are trapped in a dark house by themselves with only a whispering voice for company.
Why should you watch it?
“It totally and entirely wants to terrify us,” writes Jason Adams for Mashable in his explainer. “Skinamarink wants us to become children trapped in our beds again. It wants the very concept of the dark to be foreign, filled with questions and strangeness and terror. Forcing us back to when we were little and we didn’t know more than what was right in front of us, when what lay beyond our hallway or, God forbid, our front door might as well be the edge of the flat earth, falling off into nothingness.”*
How to watch: Skinamarink is streaming now on Shudder.
The Power
Credit: Shudder
What’s it about?
In 1974, Val (Rose Williams) starts a new job as a nurse in a London hospital. But she soon discovers that the oppressive hierarchy and rolling blackouts aren’t the only horrible things she’ll have to confront.
Why should you watch it?
“It’s the perfect setup for building a creeping sense of dread […] and [writer/director Corinna] Faith does this with a deft hand,” I wrote in my review for Mashable. “There are plenty of jump scares, too, but these never feel gratuitous — like all the best scary films, The Power‘s horror is used to draw out the movie’s main themes, rather than wielding them for mere shock value.
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“All in all, the film is pretty hard to fault. The performances are excellent all-round, with Rose Williams showing off incredible range in the central role.”
How to watch: The Power is streaming now on Shudder.
Satan’s Slaves
What’s it about?
After the strange death of their mother, a family begins to suspect that her presence may not have entirely left the house.
Why’s it so scary?
Indonesian director Joko Anwar knows how to make a creepy film. It’s apparent during the opening scenes in Satan’s Slaves, when Rini (Tara Basro) makes a grim discovery in her mother’s bedroom, and it only gets clearer from there on out. The movie has a solid mixture of slow build, bumps-in-the-night style tension, and outright jump-scares, putting you on edge early and offering little by way of reprieve.
For fans of Ring (which features further down on this list), there’s even a very creepy well…
How to watch: Satan’s Slaves is streaming now on Shudder.
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Ring
Stay away from those unmarked video tapes.
Credit: Omega/Kadokawa/Kobal/Shutterstock
What’s it about?
A journalist attempts to get to the bottom of a cursed video tape, which supposedly kills the viewer a week after they’ve watched it.
Why’s it so scary?
Hideo Nakata’s 1998 horror classic not only kick-started a global franchise, but it also proved you don’t necessarily need high-tech special effects and intense music to generate scares. By today’s standards, Ring may not provide as many jump-scares as some as the other films on this list, but there are still plenty of nightmare-inducing scenes and images (and you probably won’t ever look at a well, or a grainy TV set, in quite the same way again).
How to watch: Ring is streaming now on Shudder.
The Dark and the Wicked
What’s it about?
A brother and sister return to their parents’ farmhouse to help their mother care for their dying father. But after things take a sudden, tragic turn, they realise something more sinister is going on.
Why’s it so scary?
Creaky old remote farmhouses are already the ideal setting for jumps, but Bryan Bertino’s chiller is extra effective because of its use of sound — whether it’s jangling horseshoes placed to ward off evil, a jagged background score or simply yawning, empty silence. The jumps in this one are unexpected and genuinely terrifying, and the story is unremittingly bleak.
How to watch: The Dark and the Wicked is streaming now on Shudder.
Host
What’s it about?
Unable to meet in person due to the coronavirus lockdown, a group of friends decide to try out a seance over Zoom.
Why’s it so scary?
One word: realism. The premise of the story, its Zoom setting, and the very natural dialogue all conspire to make Host feel horribly realistic. It’s like you’re watching the recording of an actual Zoom call between friends, and that makes it all the more unnerving when things begin to go really, really wrong.
Oh, and if you’re worried that the movie’s set-up might be limiting in terms of scares, don’t be: the jumps in this one are frequent, and — thanks to the creativity of director Rob Savage — always inventive.
How to watch: Host is streaming now on Shudder.
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What’s it about?
A group of paranormal investigators examines some disturbing goings-on in a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Why’s it so scary?
Rather than just having one scary monster or theme, Demián Rugna’s Terrified has a whole bunch of them — from IT-style voices gurgling away in the drain to the unmoving corpse of a dead child, returned home from the grave to sit stiffly at the dinner table.
Basically, the film is a trick box full of scares, and if one thing doesn’t get to you, chances are something else certainly will.
How to watch: Terrified is now streaming on Shudder.
Hell House LLC
What’s it about?
After the opening of a haunted house tourist attraction results in death, a fictional documentary crew tries to uncover what really happened.
Why’s it so scary?
Like all the best found-footage horror movies, Stephen Cognetti’s Hell House LLC uses realism to amp up its fear factor, splicing shaky camera shots with moving mannequins and half-glimpsed figures in the night. The tourist attraction setting could easily have come across as cheesy in this one, but luckily the movie’s prop department sourced some genuinely creepy-looking clowns for the occasion (one of which provides more than a few nasty jumps).
How to watch: Hell House LLC is streaming now on Shudder.
Z
What’s it about?
A mother grows increasingly worried about her eight-year-old son after he gets a new imaginary friend called “Z.”
Why’s it so scary?
If the likes of The Babadook and Hide and Seek have taught us anything, it’s that children having imaginary friends (at least in the context of a horror movie) is never a great thing. Brandon Christensen’s Z takes this concept and gives it a fresh twist, putting us in the shoes of Beth (Keegan Connor Tracy) as she grows increasingly disturbed by her son’s behaviour.
The thing that makes Z so unnerving isn’t so much the creepy child aspect as it is the unknowable monster — the lingering idea of “Z,” this unseen creature that dominates every scene with its absence. The fear of seeing something is often more disturbing than the thing itself, and this is an idea that the movie understands perfectly well — and uses to nail-biting effect.
How to watch: Z is streaming now on Shudder.
*This blurb appeared on a previous Mashable list.
UPDATE: Oct. 4, 2024, 12:52 p.m. EDT This list was first published on Sept. 15. 2023. It has since been updated to reflect current streaming options.
Do you like scary movies? Peruse our editor-chosen list of 100 of the best horror films and use the filters to narrow down your picks for which to watch tonight.