The best horror films streaming on Shudder

Jaws not only scared people from going into the water back in the summer of 1975, it also ushered in an era of “man versus beast” knockoffs such as Grizzly, Orca, and Piranha. One of the best creature features to come out of that killer animal craze was Alligator, an exaggerated cautionary tale about what might happen if you flush a baby gator down the toilet. Screenwriter John Sayles (Piranha, The Howling) ups the fear factor by exposing his titular beast to discarded lab animal remains pumped full of growth hormones, resulting in a 36-foot mutant alligator rampaging under and through the streets of Chicago. Robert Forster (The Black Hole, Jackie Brown) stars as a disgraced detective who becomes hell-bent on eliminating the roided-out reptile after it kills his partner during a sewer search.

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As its title implies, Castle Freak is a gothic horror tale about a troubled family who inherits a creepy 12th century castle in the Italian countryside—but there’s a nasty little secret lurking in the dungeons. Known for going a long way with often miniscule budgets, Castle Freak was directed by the late-great Stuart Gordon (From Beyond, Re-Animator), who makes yet another effective and ghoulish H.P. Lovecraft adaptation here (in this case, very loose adaptations of Lovecraft’s “The Outsider” and “The Dunwich Horror”). Not only that, but the film also reunites Jeffrey Combs (Re-Animator) and scream queen Barbara Crampton (Chopping Mall, Re-Aninamtor), two beloved horror thespians who are no strangers to Gordon’s delightfully demented Lovecraftian obscurities.

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Based on the short story of the same name by H.P. Lovecraft, Color Out Of Space finds a rural New England family coming face-to-face with a cosmic threat that could very well threaten the entire planet. After a meteorite of extraterrestrial origin crashes in their front yard, it seeps into the earth, emitting an otherworldly glow. It soon alters the surrounding fauna and flora, even distorting the fabric of space-time. As each day passes, things get weirder, and they soon discover—in very fucked up ways—that humans in close proximity to the strange phenomenon are mutating, too. Color Out Of Space is a nightmarish mindfuck indeed, stylishly directed by Richard Stanley (Hardware, The Island Of Doctor Moreau) who returned to helm his first feature-length film after a 24-year hiatus.

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Dagon is director Stuart Gordon’s fourth and final feature-length H.P. Lovecraft adaptation—one that tackles the author’s beloved Cthulhu mythos. Based on the novella The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the story is about four vacationers who shipwreck off the coast of a creepy fishing village named Imboca. Unlucky for them, the locals are deformed sea-creature hybrids who deem unwelcome visitors as fine sacrifices to their sea-god Dagon. Unlike the original story, Gordon switched the location from New England to Spain (where it was actually filmed), giving the film an entirely different look and feel from his previous Lovecraft projects. And it was a smart move—say what you will about some of the shoddy CGI effects (which are thankfully used sparingly), but the disturbing practical effects and various mutant designs more than make up for it. It’s an effective and charming little horror flick oozing with an eerie atmosphere and, arguably, one of Gordon’s most underrated Lovecraftian delights.

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Let’s start by saying that Death Spa is by no means a horror masterpiece—in fact, it’s far from it—not even B-level, maybe C-level. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not an uproarious sight to behold. The plot is as batshit as it sounds: set in the late-1980s, a pissed-off entity who wants revenge on a gym owner (and all of his spandex-wearing clientele) wreaks havoc in a state-of-the-art fitness center. This ghost in the machine hacks all of the gym’s computerized equipment, turning everything from tanning beds and ellipticals into literal death traps—talk about a killer workout! If you want to liven up your horror night in a so-bad-it’s-good way, queue up this pure slice of ’80s cheese and laugh your asses off as oiled-up gym rats with big hair (you can almost smell the Aqua Net) are dispatched in glorious, over-the-top ways.

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For a proper dose of trashy Italian gore and violence, there’s nothing better than Lamberto Bava’s Demons. The plot centers around a group of random people, including a crew of punk rockers, who are invited to a movie screening hosted by a mysterious masked man. During the film, select audience members are transformed into hideous bloodthirsty demons. Trapped and barricaded inside a theater infested by a growing demonic horde, the moviegoers must fight for their lives and seek a way out in order to survive the bloody chaos. Punctuated by gnarly makeup effects and a kick-ass score and soundtrack featuring Mötley Crüe and Billy Idol, Demons is a bizarre and widely entertaining ’80s Italian horror gem.

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With Demons 2, Lamberto Bava dialed every level up a notch: the gore, the mayhem, the overacting, the ridiculousness (that baby demon sequence!)—it’s an absolutely demented sequel that many argue is far more entertaining than the first. This time an entire high rise apartment building is infested with demons after a mysterious broadcast airs a documentary about the events that took place during the first film. The tagline on the U.S. version’s poster says it all: “Let’s Party.” That’s what this movie is—a pure blood-drenched party which, like its predecessor, sports a synth score and a rockin’ ’80s soundtrack including The Cult, Peter Murphy, Love and Rockets, and The Smiths.

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Set 15 years after the original, The Exorcist III follows detective Lt. Kinderman (George C. Scott) as he investigates a series of grisly murders that mirror the handiwork of the Gemini Killer, a serial killer who was executed the very same night as Regan MacNeil’s exorcism. Kinderman’s search for answers leads him to a psychiatric hospital where he encounters a patient who bears a striking resemblance to Father Karras (Jason Miller), who perished during the conclusion of the first film. Let’s get one thing out of the way here—The Exorcist is the greatest exorcism movie of all time. Everything that followed in this subgenre has been a pale imitation with mostly lackluster results (even most of the sequels in this franchise are pure dreck). The notable exception is The Exorcist III, an underappreciated occult thriller that steps away from shock and projectile vomit and leans into slow-burn mystery with a chilling performance by Brad Dourif—and it has one of the best jump scares of all time. While it received mixed reviews upon its initial release, the film gained a cult following and a newfound appreciation over time.

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Set in the 18th century frontier, a reverend and his followers are chased out of their village after being accused of polygamy. Fleeing deep into a deserted valley, they settle near a forest haunted by ancient evil spirits and a nefarious tree witch. Eyes Of Fire is a 1983 folk horror film directed by acclaimed photographer Avery Crounse—aside from rare VHS copies that survived the ’80s and some bad quality YouTube uploads (it never saw a DVD release), it remained virtually unseen until Severin Films restored and remastered this rare gem in 2021. Now you can experience this long lost hallucinatory fever dream in all its HD glory on Shudder.

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What do you get when you toss The Hunger Games and slasher films of the 1980s into a blender? You get The Furies, a thrilling survival horror flick about a bunch of women who are abducted and taken to a desolate reserve populated by masked maniacs. Monitored and observed by mysterious onlookers, a deadly cat-and-mouse game ensues with some surprising twists and turns along the way.

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When people think about young adult genre flicks with a supernatural twist, Twilight often springs to mind. But a far superior example would be Ginger Snaps, a tragic coming-of-age tale involving werewolves and sisterhood (and, thankfully, not a single shred of a teen-romance plot). The story follows rebellious 15-year-old Ginger (Katherine Isabelle) and her younger oddball sister Brigitte (Emily Perkins). On Halloween night, Ginger survives an attack by a werewolf and soon begins a slow lycanthropic metamorphosis of her own. As her temperament begins to rise, so does the body count at their high school, so it’s up to Brigitte to find a way to reverse her sister’s transformation before the next full moon. Ginger Snaps is a unique and ferocious little werewolf movie you shouldn’t miss, one with memorable performances thanks to the chemistry between its two leads.

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Steeped in Irish lore and set in a remote house in Ireland’s backwoods, two parents must fight off a tribe of imp-like forest creatures that are hellbent on kidnapping their infant son. Full of dread, tension, well-executed scares, and some truly fiendish practical effects, The Hallow is a well-shot and highly effective folk horror/home-invasion thriller drenched in dark atmosphere. It also has a satisfyingly creepy and tragic climax that sticks with you.

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If you’re reading a best horror films to stream list, no matter what streaming service it is, are you really surprised to see John Carpenter’s Halloween make the cut? Whether it’s trick-or-treat season or not, Halloween has been deemed one of the greatest horror films of all time and it stars one of the most instantly recognizable and iconic faces in the boogeyman pantheon, Michael Myers. It also has the queen of all scream queens, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, not to mention Carpenter’s unforgettable, spine-chilling score.

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Let’s face it—the convoluted Halloween series has become the “choose your own adventure” of all horror franchises. But of all the Halloween sequels, even those following 1998’s H20, Rob Zombie’s maligned remake, and 2018’s “requel,” Halloween 4: The Return Of Michael Myers is still best of the bunch (just ignore the dopey mask design), no matter how many reboots try to pretend it never happened. The fourth entry of the original timeline takes place 10 years after the 1978 original, with Laurie Strode dead after a car wreck, leaving her orphaned daughter Jamie Loyd (Danielle Harris) in the care of a foster family. Even though Michael Myers seemingly burnt to a crisp during the finale of Halloween II, it’s revealed he survived and has been comatose ever since. But of course, he once again wakes up on Halloween night and returns to Haddonfield for yet another night of slaughter.

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At the time of its release, Halloween 5: The Revenge Of Michael Myers was considered an upset for several reasons: it killed off a very likable character in the first act, the promise of Halloween 4’s shocker of an ending was never really fulfilled, and they introduced some cult mythology that left some fans groaning. But after the mess that was Halloween 6 and Busta Rhymes’ karate-kicking antics in Halloween Resurrection, was it really that bad? It’s got a few things going for it: Donald Pleasance once again delivered a passionate performance as fan-favorite Dr. Loomis, and up-and-coming scream queen Danielle Harris totally carried the film with her memorable and very believable performance as Jamie Loyd. And even though they got the iconic Myers house all wrong (a gothic mansion, really?), that last act is still awesome (laundry chute scene, anyone?).

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Clive Barker sure had some sights to show us with Hellraiser—his outlandish and sexually charged directorial debut. The story follows the hedonistic Frank, who solves the Lament Configuration—a mysterious puzzle box that opens gateways to Hell. That’s when we’re first introduced to Pinhead (then known as Lead Cenobite), an eloquent “demon to some, angel to others’’ who brings pleasure seekers back to Hell so they can endure the limits of physical experience (basically ​hell’s twisted version of sadomasochism). Hellraiser was a fantastical new breed of horror film when it ravaged theaters in 1987, one that steered away from the common slasher genre cliches and tropes of the time. Imaginative and perverse, it’s a wild ride that still holds up, and it spawned a franchise that eventually led to a remake in 2022. But nothing beats the original.

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You have to admire Hellbound: Hellraiser II—it sure is ambitious. Director Tony Randel, scribe Peter Atkins, and Clive Barker (who only returns with a story and producer credit) expand their vision of hell and take us deeper into the inferno. This time, Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) finds herself in the labyrinthine corridors of Hell to search for her father, who perished during the events of the first film. Of course, Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and his cenobites are back as well as Julia and a new big bad named Dr. Channard, and Hell isn’t big enough for the both of them. If you look past the jagged pacing issues, and some of the needless explaining of Pinhead’s origins (a flaw a lot of horror sequels are guilty of—demystifying the villain), it’s worthy sequel with some spectacular visual effects.

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In House, William Katt (The Greatest American Hero) stars as Roger Cobb, a down-and-out fiction author who moves into his deceased aunt’s Victorian abode—the very same place where his son mysteriously disappeared months prior. But his hopes for peace and quiet are quickly halted when supernatural shenanigans ensue. It turns out the haunted manor is filled with portals to other dimensions and that his son may still be alive somewhere in the house—but who or what is holding him captive? With the perfect mix of laugh-out-loud moments, genuinely hair-raising creeps, and haunting visuals, director Steve Miner’s (Friday The 13th Part 2) House is one of the best comedy horror films ever made. From start to finish, it’s an absolute riot that’s not your typical haunted house fare—and George Wendt (Norm from Cheers!) is a hoot as Roger’s nosey neighbor.

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Gaze in wonder as the mute Assassin traverses through the post-apocalyptic landscape of a twisted world populated by monstrosities handmade by stop-motion master Phil Tippett, best known for his claymation work in the original Star Wars trilogy. Alluring, haunting, always mesmerizing, it’s a sight to behold (it took Tippet 30 years to complete this macabre masterpiece)—one that will certainly spark conversations as you attempt to dissect and decipher the meaning of it all. Mad God may be devoid of plot and dialogue, but it makes up for that with captivating imagery that will keep you glued to the screen.

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Dreamy and beautifully shot, Mandy is a phantasmic tale of vengeance starring Nicolas Cage as Red Miller, a lumberjack who lives in a secluded cabin in the woods with his girlfriend Mandy. When a crazed cult leader becomes transfixed by the very site of Mandy, he sends his demonic biker gang to abduct her. But things go south when one of the cult leader’s disciples murders her in front of a bound and gagged Red, who survives the ordeal. Armed with a badass axe and cross bow—and at one point, a giant chainsaw—he then goes on a rip-roaring rampage of revenge, in that wild-eyed way that no one does better than Nic Cage.

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On a Halloween night, a group of rowdy teens decide to throw a party at Hull House, an abandoned funeral parlor rumored to have been built on cursed land. After the witchy Angela (Mimi Kincade) conducts a seemingly innocent seance as a spooky party game, she unwittingly unleashes forces straight from Hell. One by one, the teens are possessed by diabolical demons. Their only hope for survival is to live until sunrise. Night Of The Demons is pure campy ’80s schlock—a raucous, mean-spirited Halloween treat that’s actually a good party movie any time of the year.

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Arguably the weirdest and most gonzo horror flick of all time, Phantasm centers on 13-year-old Mikey and his entanglements with a towering grave robber known as the Tall Man (played to perfection by the late Angus Scrimm). After uncovering the Tall Man’s plot to reanimate the town’s dead bodies and turn them into an army of minions, Mikey teams up with his brother Jody and ice cream man Reggie Bannister to take him down. But it won’t be easy. This unearthly mortician also commands an arsenal of deadly flying spheres that deliver the film’s most memorable kill scenes (they’re also the signature symbol of the franchise). Laced with a tinge of sci-fi, Phantasm is a one-of-a-kind fantastical horror oddity with some wild ideas—and it introduced us to one of the most unsettling horror antagonists of all time.

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The film that cemented Jamie Lee Curtis’ status as the queen of all scream queens, Prom Night is a textbook ’80s slasher that opens with a group of kids playing an innocent game of hide and seek in an abandoned building. But when 10-year-old Robin falls to her death after being taunted and teased by the older children, they make a pact to not tell anyone and deem it an accident. Fast forward six years later, it’s prom night and those pact-making kids are now sex-crazed teenagers. Soon after they all start receiving obscene prank calls, and are plucked off one by one by an assailant wearing a ski mask. Could it be someone who knows their dark secret? Aside from a painfully long disco dance floor scene, Prom Night is an enjoyable high school-set horror flick with a whodunnit twist, but it’s Curtis’ likable final girl who makes it worth the watch.

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The Prowler opens in 1944, during World War II, with a woman named Rosemary writing a break-up letter to her enlisted boyfriend. One year later, while attending a graduation dance, she and her new main squeeze are killed by a mysterious stalker wearing U.S. army fatigues. Fast forward to 1980, when the first graduation ball since the 1945 murders is about to take place. That’s when this vicious veteran appears again, this time slaying college kids attending the dance—but who is it, and why? Look, The Prowler is no Halloween, but it is one of the most satisfactory and well-made slashers to come out of the golden era of the genre. But the real star here is the practical effects created by prosthetic makeup artist extraordinaire Tom Savini (Friday The 13th, Maniac)—the kill scenes are hyperrealistic. It’s no wonder Savini often cites The Prowler as his best work.

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Full Moon Pictures’ Puppet Master introduced us to Blade, Jester, Pinhead (the puppet, not the guy with the pins in his head), Leech Woman, and Tunneler— iconic murderous marionettes who would kick off an enduring straight-to-video franchise consisting of 15 films (and counting). Here, we meet Andre Toulon, the titular puppet master who brings his marionettes to life with a magical fluid. Fifty years after hiding his prized possessions from the Nazis and committing suicide at the Bodega Bay Inn, his puppets are discovered (and awakened) after a group of psychics visit the hotel. With the exception of Puppet Master III, there was a drastic decline in quality (even by Full Moon’s standards) as the franchise went on, but the original remains one of the best.

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Based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story and directed by Stuart Gordon (From Beyond), Re-Animator follows Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), a seemingly crackpot medical student who is obsessed with reanimating dead flesh with his secret serum. After an experiment of his goes sideways at a med school in Switzerland, he transfers to Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts, to continue his studies. That’s when he befriends housemate and fellow med student Dan Cain, who he lets in on his unorthodox experiments. After the two successfully revive a dead cat, which returns in a vicious state, they soon up their test subjects to human cadavers—with disastrous results. Wildly entertaining with deadpan humor throughout (and an absolutely bonkers third act), Re-Animator is a marvel of practical effects and a gooey good time.

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Warning: The Sadness is not for the squeamish. It might even test the gag reflex of the most seasoned of gorehound horror fans. Set in Tapei, The Sadness is about a mind-altering virus that amplifies your deepest, darkest, and most twisted desires. As the streets fill with bludgeoning sadists, a couple must navigate their way from one sick and depraved situation to the next in order to reunite and escape a city that has succumbed to carnage and chaos. If you can get past the relentless violence and obscene gore (there’s a scene involving a certain appendage and an eye socket that you’ll never unsee), The Sadness is grim, gripping, and an effective slice of survival horror.

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This remake of the 1982 slasher cult classic is the perfect example of how you do a modern-day reimagining the right away. In Slumber Party Massacre, a group of best friends are hitting the road for a “girls weekend,” but after their car breaks down in Jolly Springs, they rent a nearby secluded cabin. It turns out the renamed town of Jolly Springs was once the home of a drill-wielding killer who drowned in a lake years prior, but his body was never recovered. Of course, that driller killer resurfaces and takes up his old horrific hobby. But don’t expect this to be a by-the-numbers rehash of the original. Slumber Party Massacre is full of pleasant surprises and it flips slasher cliches and gender stereotypes on their head with refreshing and, at times, hysterical results.

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From the directing trio who brought you Turbo Kid, their love letter to ’80s-era splatterfests, comes Summer of ‘84, another nod to the Reagan years but this one is a more subdued nostalgic thriller with a cast that gives off Stranger Things vibes. The plot centers around a group of neighborhood teens who become convinced that one of their police-office neighbors is a serial killer. They end up spending their summer vacation spying on him and gathering evidence. It’s all fun and games until one of the teens makes a startling discovery that could put them all in danger.

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Inspired by the horrific real-life crimes of sadistic Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre tells the story of five teenagers who stumble upon a dilapidated farmhouse occupied by a cannibalistic family. There, they meet Leatherface, a hulking chainsaw-wielding maniac who wears masks made of human skin. Raw, brutal, and perhaps one of the grittiest and most realistic horror films ever made, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre can almost pass as a real-life snuff film—a movie that gets under your skin and leaves you feeling dirty after each viewing, no matter how many times you’ve seen it. It’s no wonder this film has resonated with horror fans for five decades. Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is one of those seminal slasher flicks you should never be surprised to see on a best horror films list.

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