October 17, 2016

When it comes to streaming horror services, we’ve been hearing a lot of noise about Shudder for well over a year now. Since it was an upstart company, I had been patiently waiting for it to appear on one of my TV devices so I could give it a whirl on my own home entertainment system and in the comfort of my living room. I kept hearing how their horror selection blew away Netflix. (Which to be fair, I think is pretty darned great as is, despite what people say.) And finally, for Amazon users, you can now access Shudder via an Amazon Prime account for $4.99 a month, with the first month free.

Initially, I just skimmed their Featured Movies and thought that might be it. But boy, was I wrong. I started delving into their sub-sections and ended up adding dozens of titles to my watch list. For those of you that have Amazon Prime, I strongly suggest at least signing up for the free month trial. And when you do, here’s a handful of great horror movies now streaming on there that you can queue up. Some I’ve seen, some I’ve been meaning to see. But this makes for the perfect gift to yourself for the Halloween season!

FROM THE DARK

Like most of you out there, I watch horror movies all year ‘round. So around the Halloween season, I try to dig and break out films I haven’t seen yet. So, my first order of business after logging into my freshly minted Shudder account was to find something new and exciting that I’d never heard of before. FROM THE DARK caught my eye! It had a pretty high user rating, and a cool looking creature on the front. Upon further investigation, it’s directed by Conor McMahon, who also did the horror/comedy STITCHES, so I was sold. While the lead couple is really funny in their interactions with each other, which also makes them immediately likable, this is definitely more of a straight horror film than his previous effort. Sarah and Mark are driving cross country and get stranded in the mud. Mark walks up through the woods to an old house, and meets the owner, who is badly injured and bleeding out. But it turns out the bite is from some strange creature, and he starts to morph into a similar breed of creature. Their only weakness seems to be light! So the couple are doing anything they can to use light to their advantage, including their cell phone lights. It’s a small movie that feels much bigger than it is, and just a good, old fashioned creature feature.

ANGST

In the same way that a film like HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER leaves an indelible mark on you, ANGST is in that same vein. Heralded by Gaspar Noe as one of his all time favorite films, ANGST follows a convicted murderer played by Erwin Leder as he just gets out of jail, and immediately looks for a house to break into so he can satisfy his compulsion to murder again. It’s all told practically in real time and from his point of view. The camera is always hovering either beside or above him, so this uncomfortably puts us in his shoes as he has no self-control in carrying out these horrible crimes. Naturally, they don’t go according to plan, and the further along it goes, the more it pushes the boundaries of what you can take. This one was made by Gerald Kargl in 1983, and feels like what the MANIAC remake did, only with the 80’s aesthetic of the original MANIAC in place. Approach with caution! (And read my previous write-up on ANGST here!)

SANTA SANGRE

The films of Alejandro Jodorowsky are a sub-genre of cult films onto their own. They are challenging to the viewer, surreal, esoteric and visually stunning. Of his filmography, this is probably the most commercially accessible of the bunch. It plays like a bizarre Dario Argento version of PSYCHO, only much weirder and with the backdrop of circus performers. The less you know about this film, the better. Just know it’s truly a work of art. To learn more, check out my more extensive article here.

ICHI THE KILLER

Want some of the classics? Shudder has got you covered! It’s been years since I’ve seen Takashi Miike’s 2001 cult masterpiece ICHI THE KILLER, about an emotionally repressed serial killer hitman named Ichi that takes down hired assassins from the Yakuza, occasionally cries and blows out cigarette smoke from the slits in his cheeks. Long before movies like MARTYRS and A SERBIAN FILM tested the threshold of cinema decency, this bonkers Japanese film hit all the check marks in lunacy within the confines of one movie. And for that, it will always stand out as one of Miike’s most talked about & celebrated films, next to AUDITION. (Which, by the way, is also on Shudder!) This is one I’m looking forward to revisiting!

SLEEP TIGHT

This is one I haven’t seen yet, but has been on my recommended queue from various friends for ages. SLEEP TIGHT is a 2011 psychological thriller from one of the two directors that created and helmed the [REC] films. Luis Tosar plays Cesar, a miserable apartment concierge that makes it his mission to make everyone else around him miserable too. When he sets his sights on tenant Clara (Marta Etura) however, he takes his level of stalking to creepy and inappropriate levels. Considering how much I love the original [REC], this has been bumped up to the top of my “watch list” queue, thanks to Shudder.

MALEVOLENCE

Last but certainly not least is a movie I’ve written a lot about over the years. Stevan Mena’s debut feature MALEVOLENCE came out at a time when bid budget studio horror felt bankrupt. In 2004, I was sick of everything out there, and I stumbled upon a flier for this Anchor Bay distributed original. It also managed to snag a theatrical release in Long Island, New York and a group of friends and I went to check it out on the big screen. What unfolded was a terrifying movie that somehow captured the essence of what made HALLOWEEN, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET so effective. It also evoked that feeling we had as underage kids watching FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 at far too young an age. If you want to see something that essentially acts as a proper remake to HALLOWEEN without actually being Michael Myers, MALEVOLENCE is that movie. And if you dig it, a prequel film titled BEREAVEMENT also exists!

The above are just 6 recommendations that I immediately added to my Shudder queue upon first inspection. If you’re looking for the big name horror classics, you’ll find HELLRAISER 1 & 2, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, HOUSE, BASKET CASE, RE-ANIMATOR and LET THE RIGHT ONE IN on there. Indie favorites such as BEHIND THE MASK, JOHN DIES AT THE END and EXCISION are also covered. Same for cannibal cult classics like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and CANNIBAL FEROX. As a new found Shudder subscriber, I’m excited to really dig into their library and discover some more horror classics!