The Best Movies On Shudder In Every Sub-Genre Right Now

Shudder has a huge ever-rotating list of great movies. They have something for everyone. It doesn’t matter what your favorite subgenre is, they have a massive library to satisfy that itch. Here are the Best Movies On Shudder Right Now separated into subgenre for easy consumption. The weather getting cold, and the virus is heating up so stay home where it’s safe and stream the best Shudder has to offer. Grab yourself a full month of Shudder free here using code Signal. If you are looking for more Shudder lists, find them all here. Keep this page bookmarked as we will update it monthly.

Editor’s Note: Updated for November 2020

Best Sci-Fi Horror

Color Out Of Space

After a meteorite lands in their front yard, Nathan Gardner and his family find themselves battling an extraterrestrial organism as it infects their minds and bodies, and turns their lives into a living nightmare. Director Richard Stanley triumphantly returns with Nicolas Cage and mind expanding cosmic horror in tow. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Madeleine Arthur, Brendan Meyer, Julian Hilliard, Elliot Knight

In terms of Lovecraftian adaptations, you don’t get much better than this one. This is one of the truest adaptations in terms of the visual emotional resonance of Color Out Of Space. Read our full review here.

Starfish

When a mysterious signal summons the end of the world, it appears that Aubrey may be the last person left on Earth. Trapped in her dead best friend’s apartment, her only clue is a Mixtape left behind, labeled THIS MIXTAPE WILL SAVE THE WORLD. Stricken with grief, seemingly alone and surrounded by monstrous creatures, Aubrey’s reality frays at the edges as she’s thrust into the outside world. She begins to put the clues together, uncovering a series of tapes all with pieces of the mystery signal, but can Aubrey overcome her demons and will completing The Signal save the world or condemn it?

Cast: Virginia Gardner, Christina Masterson, Eric Beecroft, Natalie Mitchell

This is one of my favorite movies of any subgenre for its utterly unique approach. It is gorgeous with nods to Eldritch Terror, grief-based horror, existential dread, and even a completely bonkers animation sequence you can’t miss. After watching read our full explained piece to help make sense of the madness.

Best Horror Comedy

Yummy

When a young couple travels to a shady hospital for cosmetic surgery, the boyfriend stumbles upon a patient suffering from an experimental rejuvenation treatment. He frees her, but doesn’t realize she’s ground zero for an outbreak which will change the doctors, patients, and his mother-in-law into bloodthirsty, utterly outrageous zombies. A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.

Cast: Maaike Neuville, Bart Hollanders, Benjamin Ramon

I can’t say enough good things about this Belgian horror movie. Yummy is one of those movies you can’t help but love even while you are cringing. It’s ridiculous and gross and perfect for those horror-comedy lovers. Read our full review here.

One Cut Of The Dead

While shooting a low-budget zombie film in an abandoned warehouse, the crew find themselves caught between actual zombies and a mad director who won’t stop rolling. If you think you know what happens next, think again. Filmmaker Shinichiro Ueda turns the film on its head more than once for one of the wildest, funniest, and most surprising zombie movies of all time. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.

Cast: Harumi Shuhama, Kazuaki Nagaya, Mao, Takayuki Hamatsu

Our editor describes this movie and one that will steal your heart and probably eat it too. One Cut is endearing, funny, and unlike anything, you will ever see. It’s destined to be a classic!

Best Hardcore Horror

Audition

A man begins a relationship with a very deadly female killer in Takashi Miike’s ultra-gory masterpiece. Widower Aoyama falls for the radiant and mysterious Asami. But as he delves into her past, he learns her former acquaintances have either gone missing – or have missing limbs. Will he be next? Thanks to its heart-stopping final act, Miike’s chilling tale put him in the pantheon of great horror directors, and led to the J-Horror genre becoming a worldwide phenomenon. If you haven’t seen it, be warned: when the needles come out, there’s no turning back…. (In Japanese with English Subtitles)

Cast: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina

Brutal, disgusting, and designed to make the viewer very uncomfortable, Audition is as gag-worthy as it gets. It easily makes both this list and my Most Extreme Horror Movie List of all time. Eat something before watching and then avoid food or drink until it is over.

Bliss

Struggling through a creative rut, hard-partying artist Dezzy Donahue can’t stop the bad streak. In an effort to combat her tough luck, Dezzy throws caution to the wind, indulges in heavy drugs and rages her nights away. Gradually, though, the party starts to end, and in its place, Dezzy finds herself thirsting for blood and suffering from terrifying visions. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.

Cast: Dora Madison, Jeremy Gardner, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Graham Skipper

This drug-fueled freak out by Joe Begos is an intense demonic vampire movie colored with an insane amount of blood. I loved it but it isn’t for the faint of heart. Read our full review here.

Best Zombie Movie

Train To Busan

When a mysterious virus breaks out across the country, the infected turn into the murderous undead. A few terrified travelers find themselves trapped on a bullet train from hell, fighting for their lives as hordes of the living dead crash towards them, crawling closer with every stop. Suspicion is rife and tensions run high as some will do anything to survive and make it to the safe zone.

Cast: Yoo Gong, Yu-mi Jung, Dong-seok Ma

Train To Busan is a gorgeous thrill ride that just happens to be about zombies. I was as scared as I was emotionally invested. The acting is brilliant, the effects are top-notch, and the story line effective. Next to Night Of The Living Dead, this is the best zombie movie from any time.

Best Foreign Horror Movies

The Wailing

In this unbelievably tense supernatural thriller, a foreigner’s mysterious appearance in a quiet, rural village causes suspicion among the locals – suspicion which quickly turns to hysteria as the townspeople begin killing each other in brutal outbursts for seemingly no reason. As the investigating officer watches his daughter fall under the same savage spell, he agrees to consult a shaman for answers – unknowingly escalating the situation into something far more dangerous.

Cast: Kwak Do Won, Hwang Jung Min, Kunimura Jun, Chun Woo Hee

The Wailing will sneak up on you. It is far scarier than you think it will be. It is one of those films that grabs you and doesn’t let go until the credits roll. This film is one of the truly scary films on this list.

Impetigore

Down on her luck, Maya learns that she may inherit a house in her ancestral village. But when Maya returns to the village with her loyal best-friend, Dini, she’s unaware that the community has been trying to kill her to remove the curse that’s plagued them for years. As she unravels the complicated truth of her past, Maya finds herself in a fight for her life. A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.

Cast: Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, Marissa Anita, Christine Hakim, Asmara Abigail

I’m a huge fan of Joko Anwar. His work is singularly impactful. Indonesian curses, stunning paper puppetry, and skinless monsters combine to make this well worth your time. Read our full review here.

Hagazussa

In a remote Alpine village in the 15th century lives a marked woman. The scapegoat of ancient superstitions and monstrous misogyny, this self-styled witch begins to assert her otherworldly birthright. This atmospheric debut feature from Lukas Feigelfeld is a haunting pagan death trip and a startling vision of psychedelic horror.

Cast: Aleksandra Cwen, Celina Peter, Tanja Petrovsky, Claudia Martini, Haymon Maria Buttinger

This one of a kind German film is a study in understated dread. The fear and anxiety it induces are all-consuming and the bizarre ending must be seen to be believed. Read our full explained piece here to help you make sense of things.

Tigers Are Not Afraid

A haunting horror fairytale set against the backdrop of Mexico’s devastating drug wars,​ TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID follows a group of orphaned children armed with three magical wishes, running from the ghosts that haunt them and the cartel that murdered their parents. Filmmaker Issa López creates a world that recalls the early films of Guillermo del Toro, imbued with her own gritty urban spin on magical realism to conjure a wholly unique experience that audiences will not soon forget. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.

Cast: Paola Lara, Hanssel Casillas, Rodrigo Cortes, Ianis Guerrero, Tenoch Huerta

This horrifying look inside horror told from a childlike perspective, Tigers is devastatingly sad and profoundly terrifying. Issa López creates a world that is fantastical and gritty.

Best Body Horror

Tesuo The Iron Man

This surreal Japanese cult sensation profiles a man who mutates into a metal being. Somewhere between a modern-day nightmare and a techno-fetishist’s ultimate fantasy, this incredible film from Shinya Tsukamoto took viewers on a surreal journey into a dark and disturbing world where self-inflicted body transformations and post-human women form the fabric of a strange new reality. Likened to the work of David Lynch and David Cronenberg, TETSUO molds explosive violence, bizarre sexual imagery and jet-black humor into a cinematic experience unlike any you’ve seen. (In Japanese with English Subtitles)

Cast: Tomorowo Taguchi, Kei Fujiwara, Shin’ya Tsukamoto

Wowza, this is one bizarre film. If you like the work of Cronenberg or Lynch then you will love Tetsuo. Surreal horror has a special place in my heart. The body horror here is pretty bonkers as the end result is nothing short of metal phallic insanity.

Blue My Mind

When Mia plunges into a wild teenage rebellion in an attempt to cope with it all, her body begins to change oddly. First hardly noticeably, but then with a force that threatens to drive her out of her mind. In her despair, she attempts to numb herself with sex and drugs, but nature is more powerful. Mia’s transformation progresses inexorably, and she turns into the being which has slumbered within her for years…

Cast: Luna Wedler, Zoë Pastelle Holthuizen, Regula Grauwiller

A strange coming of age story that is deeply disturbing. It’s as pretty as it is horrific and is definitely a new take on the rape and mermaid tropes. Heartbreaking and terrifying, this is the real deal that often gets overlooked.

Best Survival Horror

Mandy

The quiet life of devoted couple Red (Nicolas Cage) and Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) takes a dark and bizarre turn when a nightmarish cult and their maniacal leader (Linus Roache) seek to possess Mandy…body and soul. A shocking assault on the innocent pair leads to a spiraling, surreal, bloody rampage of all out, mind-altering vengeance. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache, Ned Dennehy, Olwen Fouéré, Bill Duke

This was the film that Nic Cage was born to make. It is a wild, wacky ride with demon bikers, killer cults, and chainsaw fights. It is a whole lot of something.

The Movie Mandy, Abraxas, and All the Weirdness Explained

Revenge

Jen is enjoying a romantic getaway with her wealthy boyfriend, which is suddenly disrupted when his sleazy friends arrive for an unannounced hunting trip. Tension mounts until the situation abruptly––and viciously––intensifies, culminating in a shocking act that leaves Jen left for dead. Unfortunately for her assailants, Jen survives and reemerges with a relentless, wrathful intent: revenge. A white-knuckle tale of transgression and transformation, REVENGE gloriously blurs the lines of vengeance and survival while delivering a ferocious dissection of gender and genre. Director Coralie Fargeat announces her stunning arrival, painting a crimson canvas of hypnotic beauty and bloody retribution in this razor-sharp feminist subversion of the revenge-thriller. A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.

Cast: Matilda Lutz, Kevin Janssens, Vincent Colombe, Guillaume Bouchede, Jean-Louis Tribes

Jen isn’t having the abuse her boyfriend and his friends deal to her. She turns the tables and beats some serious ass. The guys are the worst and she is glorious female rage. It is an awesome mix.

Best Family Horror

We Are What We Are

The Parkers are a seemingly wholesome family, but patriarch Frank rules over them with a rigorous fervour. When tragedy strikes and his daughters Iris and Rose are forced to assume terrifying responsibilities that extend beyond those of a typical family, the local authorities begin to uncover clues to a horrible truth that the Parkers have hidden for so many years. Directed by Jim Mickle (Stakeland) WE ARE WHAT WE ARE, is a chilling tale of a family with a dark, dark secret. Contains strong language, sexual scenes, violence and gore.

Cast: Bill Sage, Ambyr Childers, Julia Garner, Wyatt Russell, Nick Damici, Kelly McGillis, Michael Parks

Family secrets run wild in this slow burner that is as weird as it is unsettling. The performances are outstanding and for those who like their horror more thoughtful, this movie is tops.

Dogtooth

In an effort to protect their three children from the corrupting influence of the outside world, a couple transforms their home into a gated compound of cultural deprivation and strict rules of behavior. But children cannot remain innocent forever. When the father brings home a young woman to satisfy his son’s sexual urges, the family’s engineered “reality” begins to crumble, with devastating consequences. Like the haunting, dystopic visions of Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noé, DOGTOOTH punctuates its compelling drama with moments of shocking violence, creating a biting social satire that is as profound as it is provocative.

Cast: Christos Stergioglou, Michele Valley, Angeliki Papoulia, Hristos Passalis, Mary Tsoni

This is one seriously messed up family and the things the parents put their kids through are nothing short of harrowing. This is psychological horror at its best.

Best Old School Horror

Hellraiser

A puzzle box reveals a realm of sadistic monsters led by a being named Pinhead, who torture the depraved man who unlocks it. Escaping Pinhead’s wrath, what remains of Frank hides out in his attic, until a chance encounter leads him to enlist his brother’s wife Julia, with whom he had a passionate affair, to lure victims home so Frank can feed off their blood. Clive Barker’s essential 80s classic offered audiences weary of slashers a thrilling new alternative: a sexually-charged horror-fantasy with a villain more terrifying””and goth””than Freddy or Jason. Contains violence and gore.

Cast: Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence

A Wes Craven masterpiece that is just as good almost 35 years later. Pinhead remains one of the most iconic baddies to ever grace the screen along with his hellish family of Cenobites. Be careful, it will tear your soul apart.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE not only changed the face of horror in 1974 but still remains one of the most shocking, powerful and terrifying films ever made. Widely banned on its release it’s notoriety has not diminished and this harrowing tale of a depraved Texan clan, and its chainsaw wielding icon of horror, Leatherface, continues to stun and disturb audiences like no other film. This new director supervised restoration brings new life and detail to the film and immerses the viewer as never before. Contains violence and gore.

Cast: Marilyn Burns, Allen Danziger, Paul A. Partain

Toby Hooper’s masterpiece is the mark by which most modern horror is measured against. The family dinner scene still haunts me no matter how much time has passed or how many times I have seen it.

Best Ghost Story Horror

Terrified

On an ordinary suburban street in Buenos Aires, voices are heard from kitchen sinks. Bodies are levitating. Evil is here. It is up to a doctor, her colleague, and an ex-cop to get to the bottom of this neighborhood nightmare. Demian Rugna’s must-see TERRIFIED is one of the scariest movies of any year. A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.

Cast: Maxi Ghione, Norberto Amadeo Gonzalo, Elvira Onetto, George Lewis, Agustín Rittano

For hands-down scariest, Terrified gets added to the Best Movies On Shudder list. It is aptly named as it is beyond creepy. You will never look at your kitchen sink the same again.

The Changeling

Consumed by grief, a New York composer moves to a secluded Victorian mansion. There he finds himself haunted by a paranormal entity that may unleash an even more disturbing secret. Peter Medak’s acclaimed and celebrated THE CHANGELING is quite simply, one of the great haunted house films.

Cast: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas

Perhaps the best ghost film in history, The Changeling does not rely on jump scares and cheap thrills. It is quality acting and storytelling and never veers from it pitch perfect tone.

Best Workplace Horror

Mayhem

Derek Cho (Steven Yeun, “The Walking Dead”) is having a really bad day. After being unjustly fired from his job, he discovers that the law firm’s building is under quarantine for a mysterious and dangerous virus. Chaos erupts throughout the office as the victims of the disease begin acting out their wildest impulses. Joining forces with a former client (Samara Weaving, “Ash vs Evil Dead”) who has a grudge of her own, Derek savagely fights tooth and nail to get to the executives on the top floor and settle the score once and for all. A SHUDDER EXCLUSIVE.

Cast: Steven Yeun, Samara Weaving, Steven Brand

This Shudder Exclusive is a ton of fun and very cathartic for those who secretly hate their coworkers. Think of it as the anti-The Office where Jim gets fired and before he can leave gets quarantined with blood-thirsty zombies. It’s bloody, bombastic, and just as comical as it sounds. Weaving and Cho are both very likable. This is the kind of movie that likes as much laughter as blood in their horror movies.

Best Found Footage

The Taking Of Deborah Logan

After months of searching, Mia Medina has found the perfect subject for her PhD thesis film on Alzheimer’s Disease. For the next several months, cameras will record the everyday life of mother Deborah Logan and her daughter Sarah. But as the days progress, they observe behaviors and occurrences that show the progression to be far more advanced than anyone was prepared for. What becomes apparent is that there’s something besides Alzheimer’s that has taken control of Deborah’s life. It’s an evil that is far worse than the debilitating disease with which she was first diagnosed.

Cast: Jill Larson, Anne Ramsay, Michelle Ang, Brett Gentile

This film is terrifying for a multitude of reasons. The ending is flat chaos and the all too real concept of dementia and aging parents make this a must see.

Hell House

In this found-footage gem, a documentary crew visit the site of a haunted house attraction whose opening night ended with 15 unexplained deaths. Eventually the crew come across a surviving employee who has footage that shines a scary light on what really went down that night. As we watch those ill-fated thrillseekers shuffling through the horror house, the knowledge of what’s about to happen makes for a squirm-and-scream-inducing good time. Dread Central called it “a perfect fright flick for the Halloween season” which features “one of the creepiest clowns to appear in a horror movie in a long time.” Sorry Pennywise!

Cast: Kristin Michelle Taylor, Theodore Bouloukos, Jeb Kreager, Miranda Robbins, Gore Abrams

The first in the franchise is genuinely scary and the bizarre ending is perfect for the Reddit crowd. I love a good found footage film, and this is one of the best.

Host

Six friends get together during lockdown for their weekly zoom call. It’s Haley’s turn to organize an activity and instead of a quiz, she’s arranged for a Medium to conduct a séance. Bored and feeling mischievous, Jemma decides to have some fun and invents a story about a boy in her school who hanged himself. However, her prank gives a license for a demonic presence to cross over, taking on the guise of the boy in Jemma’s made-up story. The friends begin noticing strange occurrences in their homes as the evil presence begins to make itself known, and they soon realize that they might not survive the night. A SHUDDER ORIGINAL.

Cast: Haley Bishop, Radina Drandova, Jemma Moore, Caroline Ward, Emma Webb, Edward Linard

Host could not have come at a better time. This virtual horror film was the perfect panacea to a quarantine-weary world. It’s not the best movie ever made, but for a locked-down world it was the best pandemic movie ever. It easily makes the Best Movies On Shudder Right Now list.

Best Holiday Horror

Black Christmas

During a festive Yuletide party, a group of sorority sisters receives a creepy call from someone who claims he’s going to kill them all. The girls soon realize the threats were serious, when one by one, they each fall prey to the mysterious maniac. After directing two relatively ignored horror flicks which later became cult classics (CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS & DEATHDREAM), a Christmas miracle made Bob Clark’s 1974 classic a hit. A huge influence on John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN, BLACK CHRISTMAS is frequently credited with helping spawn the slasher subgenre.

Cast: Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder

The 1974 original is a classic. The performances are solid and the bad guy is fantastic. The recent remake was not so good. Ignore that one and stream up a blast from the past.