Shudder‘s library of horror movies is huge—and its exclusive and original sub-category is no slouch, either. If you’re looking for a spooky, freaky, unsettling, gruesome, or otherwise genre-perfect pair of films for your next movie night, here are some curations to start with.
Get Away and Black Cab
Have yourself a Nick Frost mini-festival and appreciate his acting range at the same time: in horror comedy Get Away, which Frost also wrote, he plays a dad whose family trip is rudely interrupted by a serial killer; in dark thriller Black Cab, he’s cast against type as a cab driver who picks up a bickering couple and soon reveals he has icky plans for them.
Speak No Evil and Influencer
You may never travel again after watching these two films. Speak No Evil (the 2022 Danish original, not the James McAvoy remake with the cop-out ending) is an extremely tense exploration of why you should never trust people you meet on vacation—and also, why you should never choose “politeness” over “trusting your gut” when something seems very, very wrong. Influencer, meanwhile, is a twisty, turn-y tale that exposes how sharing too much of yourself online can open the door to some godawful consequences.
Grafted and Slaxxx
Two offbeat revenge tales: body horror Grafted follows a budding scientist who taps into her talents to remedy an unsightly skin condition while teaching the mean girls who’ve been tormenting her a lesson; Slaxx, meanwhile, is a horror comedy about the perils of fast fashion… as transmitted through sentient killer pants! Both movies are gross as hell, as an added bonus.
Boys From County Hell and Oddity
“Irish horror” is the theme here. Boys From County Hell tells a clever vampire story, imagining that Bram Stoker got his inspiration for Dracula after traveling through a part of rural Ireland with its own vampire legend, and asking: what if one day that legend came true… and something very ancient and awful lurched into existence? Oddity, meanwhile, is about a blind woman who owns a curiosity shop and uses some of her most potent artifacts to figure out the truth about her twin sister’s murder. It legit made me scream, and coming from a seasoned horror junkie that’s no small praise.
Kids vs. Aliens and Destroy All Neighbors
Madcap energy is the common thread between these two otherwise not-that-similar titles, but you’re guaranteed a good time if not thematic cohesion. Kids vs. Aliens is Jason Eisener’s expansion of his V/H/S/2 segment about a bunch of scrappy kids (and a few evil teens) forced to rely on their wits, improvised weapons, and deep affection for pro wrestling to fight off unfriendly extraterrestrials. Destroy All Neighbors has its own deep affections—more prog rock in horror movies, please!—as it follows an aspiring musician who gets entangled in splattery mayhem after deciding to confront an obnoxious neighbor.
V/H/S/85 and V/H/S/Beyond
Speaking of the long-running V/H/S film series, which is now under Shudder’s stewardship, the most recent releases would make for an outstanding found-footage double-wide. V/H/S/85 is maybe the franchise’s strongest entry overall, with the segment by Scott Derrickson (The Gorge, Black Phone) using Throbbing Gristle’s “Hamburger Lady” to exceptionally nightmarish effect, and the pair of interlaced stories by Mike P. Nelson offering their own sick surprises. V/H/S/Beyond, meanwhile, features a mighty convincing warning against ever going skydiving, and continues the series’ long tradition of “once you see it, you can’t unsee it” imagery in some gleefully agonizing ways.
One Cut of the Dead and The Sadness
Two excellent zombie movies from Asia, done in very different ways. Japan’s One Cut of the Dead subverts all your expectations about 30 minutes in—just keep watching, and you’ll be richly rewarded with one of the most original horror movies in recent years. Meanwhile, The Sadness (made in Taiwan by a Canadian filmmaker) contains some of the most impressive stomach-challenging gore and cringe-inducing violence ever to hit the screen, in a tale that’s more “epidemic of rage monsters” than “corpses back from the dead.”
Terrified and When Evil Lurks
While the horror faithful eagerly await Demián Rugna’s next movie, whatever it may end up being, there are still plenty of fresh nightmares to unlock in re-watching his previous releases. Terrified offers genuine and original frights of the haunted-house variety; When Evil Lurks makes just about every other possession movie since the original Exorcist look sorely lacking in imagination. Both will mess you up individually, so imagine the possibilities if you watch them back to back.
The Queen of Black Magic and Impetigore
Speaking of filmmakers with the ability to shock your socks off: all hail Indonesian talent Joko Anwar. The Queen of Black Magic and Impetigore, both folk-horror tales released in 2019, will make you very glad you don’t have something awful in your past that’s just waiting to explode in the present. That goes double if you have delicate nerves and/or a low tolerance for creepy-crawly insects.
Late Night With the Devil and The Sacrifice Game
A 1970s talk show is the perfect milieu for retro-horror found footage take Late Night With the Devil, about a host who makes an unfortunate gamble that comes back to bite him during a live Halloween broadcast. Another summoning of sorts takes center stage in Christmas horror The Sacrifice Game, which is also set in the 1970s and draws on both the boarding-school genre and Manson cult-type fears to great effect.
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