If you’re looking to stream horror, Shudder is one of the best services to satisfy that hunger. Everything a horror fan could want is here, whether you love supernatural frights or gruesome slashers. Even old folks like me can get all nostalgic with TV horror host Joe Bob Briggs returning for live-streaming events.

Even though Shudder is far cheaper than other streaming services, you’ll still want to get bang for your buck by watching the best it offers. Thankfully, they host some of my all-time favorite horror films, from recent hits to revered classics. So if you’re thirsty for horror, give these titles a stab.

10

V/H/S/85

The V/H/S horror anthology saga has always been a fun grab bag of retro horror, and V/H/S/85 is one of the highlights. As the title implies, the film showcases scary stories set in the year 1985, spanning from a spooky Mexican broadcast amid an earthquake to a virtual reality performance that turns gruesome.

While V/H/S/85 stuck to the format of disturbing tapes amid an ongoing story (this one featuring a science experiment gone wrong), this entry goes against some of the series’ conventions. Two segments overlap beautifully in transitioning from a camping trip gone awry to a deadly cult facing its final hour. The film is especially worth watching for the POV-breaking investigation segment, directed by Scott Derrickson and co-written by C. Robert Cargill (The Black Phone).

9

MadS

MadS is not your typical zombie, considering the film’s grand scope. Through one long shot, the movie follows three individuals on a night when a zombie outbreak claims France. The infected are followed as they slowly lose their minds, and the camera diverts to other young folks trying to survive this dreadful evening between parties and driving.

MadS has a surprising psychological level of lingering terror of death for a film that feels so broad in its shooting. The film doesn’t shy away from those who become infected as the camera gets close and the hallucinations of people losing their minds are revealed. There’s always doubt about what is real and who will live in this chaotic horror, elevating the one-take shot to another level of visually stimulating filmmaking.

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8

The Toxic Avenger

Troma Entertainment was ahead of the superhero curve when they made the B-movie icon The Toxic Avenger. The unfortunate Melvin falls into toxic waste and becomes a towering mutant of great strength and melted skin, given the name Toxic Avenger or Toxie for short. He aims to clean up his city from crime and corruption, but with the messiest of ways, involving ripping off limbs and pulling out guts.

For debuting amid a controversial era for horror movies, The Toxic Avenger gleefully charged into irreverent territory with campy gusto. The film broke all the rules of decency with gratuitous violence delivered in an over-the-top manner. That embracing of the uproarious absurdity put Troma Entertainment on the map, with Toxie garnering several sequels, a Saturday morning kids cartoon (yes, seriously), and a reboot debuting this year. So, before the new Toxic Avenger hits theaters, give classic Toxie a try.

7

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Christmas horror films aren’t much odder than Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. A small Finnish community happens upon Santa Claus, but he’s not the jolly holiday figure most people assume. This Santa is a vicious monster who brutalizes reindeer and kidnaps children, forcing the residents to band together and trap this threat to their village.

Based on a short film, Jalmari Helander’s film has a bit of everything. It mixes fantasy and horror into a terrifying yet absurd scenario of trying to capture a Santa Claus monster, staged with plenty of weirdness amid its snowy atmosphere. This is a delightful Christmas detour when you’re sick of all the cheerful pictures, crave some Christmas horror, and you’ve already watched Black Christmas a dozen times.

6

Zombie

Sometimes called Zombie 2 (branded as a sequel to the Italian dub of Dawn of the Dead that was retitled Zombie), Lucio Fulci’s Zombie is far more brutal than what George Romero cooked up with his undead films. Set on a Caribbean island, a voodoo curse causes the undead to rise from the grave. An investigation turns deadly as flesh-eating monsters attack from land and sea, where nobody is safe from the decaying monsters roaming amid water and fire.

Although shot on a small budget, Fulci’s zombie flick boasts unforgettable shots. The underwater sequence involving sharks and the undead is remarkable enough, but the abundance of brutal gore effects is so disgusting that it’s no wonder this film garnered controversy. Whether you call it Zombie, Zombie 2, or Zombie Flesh Eaters, it’s an amazing zombie movie and one of Fulci’s flesh-chewing finest.

5

Infested

While it might not be a dominant horror sub-genre, Infested is one of the best creature features about spiders. Set inside a Paris apartment complex, the unfortunate residents face an infestation of an exotic, dangerous, oversized horde of spiders. It isn’t long before the residents find themselves trying to flee from cobwebs and hundreds of creepy crawlers.

Some people find the idea of an apartment building overrun by spiders scary, but Infested goes the extra mile to make it gross and engrossing. In addition to the stellar staging of spiders killing humans, there’s an overlapping story about class struggle and racism that befalls the victims. Brutal with its insects and poignant with its reflection of the COVID-19 era, this spider movie has some extra brains amid its meaty mayhem.

4

One Cut of the Dead

Brilliantly self-aware, One Cut of the Dead is a low-budget horror movie about low-budget filmmaking. The production of a zombie film doesn’t go well, and a real zombie outbreak during filming makes matters worse. But the bloody carnage that unfolds might make for a great movie worth capturing on film.

One Cut of the Dead is the little horror film that could make the most of its limitations. With unknown actors and few funds, there’s some skillful one-shot direction and great filmmaking satire. While other small horror films might follow trends, this one did its own thing, garnering a sequel and remakes of its unique take on zombies and unbroken shots.

3

The Babadook

No horror film has better tapped into parenting anxieties than The Babadook. This sleeper hit of an Australian horror follows the widow Amelia (Essie Davis), struggling to raise her troubled son, Sam. Her life is made worse by the Babadook, a supernatural force summoned from a children’s book that takes control of Amelia’s already erratic mind.

The psychological horror in The Babadook is so disturbingly effective at getting under the skin of an overworked parent fearing they’ll lose control. The monster is mainly reserved for the shadows, making his lingering presence with his top hat and long fingers all the more creepy. The supernatural frights made this film a must-watch horror film of the 2010s, even receiving a parody segment on The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror special.

2

Mad God

Mad God is unlike any animated film I’ve seen, stop-motion or otherwise. Directed by special effects master Phil Tippett, the film follows a mysterious masked man and his journey into the underworld. The unnamed character witnesses the strangest, grossest, and most inhuman of monsters and situations ripped straight out of the most disturbing nightmares.

Mad God plays like a stop-motion horror equal to Fantastic Planet, exploring all the weirdness and terror animation can convey. With hardly any dialogue, the whole film feels like a surreal trip into the depths of hell, complete with an onslaught of dark landscapes and filthy creatures massacring each other. It’s rare to see animated horror films, but Phil Tippett knocked this one out of the park with this artistic depiction of losing your mind and body.

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1

Audition

Takashi Miike is the king of disturbing Japanese films, and Audition reigns supreme as his nightmarish best. The film follows a widower who holds an audition for a show that’s actually a ploy to find a new girlfriend. The woman he ends up with appears docile, but she harbors a dark secret involving needles and wires.

Although Audition boasts Miike’s horrifying brutality, it also has a harsher thematic edge. The film explores gender perceptions with how the widow is framed as misogynistic and tortured by a vengeful woman. I won’t divulge how vicious it gets, but let’s just say the finale involves unnecessary eye surgery.

Shudder has so much more to offer with their horror beyond supernatural spookiness or gory slasher flicks. As you can see, they’ve got some campy classics, invigorating originals, and even animated films. These are some of my favorite horror films that prove the genre, and Shudder, has far more to offer than another zombie outbreak or masked killer romp.