Have a Nightmare Tonight With These 10 Streaming Picks From Shudder and Screambox
Skinamarink
Blockbusters beckon at the movie theater, but sometimes you just want to stay home, draw all the curtains, and stream a weird, freaky, scary and/or extremely alarming cult movie. If this urge sounds familiar, read on for 10 recommended titles from horror streamers Shudder and Screambox.
High Tension
High Tension - Official Trailer
May means springtime and rebirth, or if you’re Shudder, it means “time to add some key New Extremity titles to the library.” Alexandre Aja (who went on to make the Hills Have Eyes remake, Piranha 3D, and alligator home-invasion flick Crawl, among others) added major juice to that nausea-inducing early-2000s trend with 2003 French slasher High Tension. Almost as impressive as its levels of gore is its twisty plot, which famously pulls the rug out from under the viewer with a jaw-dropping last-act reveal. If you want more in this vein (this spurting, gushing vein), Shudder has also added Inside and Livid, from shock-meisters Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, as well as the 2015 American remake of Martyrs (to go with the outstandingly revolting 2008 French version, which was already available).
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The Devil’s Doorway
The Devil’s Doorway - Official Trailer | HD | IFC Midnight
Arriving May 15 on Shudder is this 2018 found-footage chiller following a pair of priests investigating mysterious goings-on at one of Ireland’s notorious “Magdalene laundaries,” circa 1960. They discover that the female residents (including young unwed mothers) are being cruelty treated by the nuns in charge, which thanks to the tragic history of the real-life institutions isn’t entirely surprising. Far more alarming is their discovery that something more outrageously unholy is also afoot, as the film’s very title suggests.
Skinamarink
Skinamarink - Official Trailer [HD] | A Shudder Original
Is sleeper sensation Skinamarink a daringly experimental exploration of the terrors of childhood, or a pretentious, patience-challenging misfire? If you missed Skinamarink when it was being majorly buzzed about (and argued about) last year, now’s the perfect time to settle in—preferably in the absolute darkest room you can wrangle—and judge for yourself. Streaming on Shudder.
Magic
Magic (1978) - Trailer
You may think if you’ve seen one scary ventriloquist dummy, you’ve seen them all. But you haven’t traversed the outer limits of talking-doll frights until you’ve seen this 1978 Richard Attenborough film; it stars Anthony Hopkins as a struggling magician whose decades-long obsession with his high-school crush (Ann-Margret) gets exponentially weirder when his feisty wooden sidekick, “Fats,” seemingly takes on a life of his own. Magic is streaming on Shudder, as well as through Amazon Freevee (free with ads).
Final Exam
Final Exam (1981) - Official Trailer
Set on a college campus where a random maniac springs into action right when most everyone’s trying to study hard at the end of the semester (some of the students are, naturally, far more committed to partying), this 1981 cheapie sticks pretty religiously to the standard slasher formula. Extra credit goes to the nerdy character—improbably named “Radish”—whose true-crime expertise foreshadows all the Scream-spawned “horror characters who love horror” that scary movies are so fond of these days. Streaming on Shudder.
Terrifier 2
Terrifier 2 | Official Trailer
After you watch Skinamarink on Shudder, head to Screambox to watch 2022's other much-discussed low-budget breakout, which similarly demands a lot of patience from its viewer. That said, though it’s nearly two and a half hours long, Terrifier 2 has a much livelier pace, and it’s brimming with some of the most knowingly gratuitous, gleefully staged gore effects in recent memory. Some of the acting is a bit uneven, but all is mostly forgiven thanks to David Howard Thornton’s ghoulishly charismatic performance as Art the Clown—a character so unnerving you’ll be asking “Pennywise who?” once you see him in action.
Burial Ground
Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (1981) - Trailer in 1080p
There are a lot of zombie movies—and that includes the top tier of the genre, which is clearly “schlocky Italian zombie movies of the ‘70s and ‘80s”—but 1981's Burial Ground, directed by the prolific Andrea Bianchi, distinguishes itself by just being delightfully extra in so many ways. An ancient crypt is disturbed, a curse is unleashed, and the undead rise to menace the various guests who’ve recently arrived at a nearby mansion, including a mommy-fixated youth who may actually be the creepiest part of the entire affair. Streaming on Screambox.
Asylum
Asylum 1972 Trailer HD
Amicus Productions was known for its anthology horror films—including this entertaining 1972 release featuring a script by Psycho author Robert Bloch and a cast including Peter Cushing, Charlotte Rampling, and Britt Ekland. The frame story sees a doctor arriving for his first day of work at a secluded psychiatric hospital. Instead of taking charge, however, he’s forced to interview each patient to see if he can ascertain who among them formerly held his job. Then, we get four unhinged tales that involve voodoo, reanimated limbs, clothing with magical powers, imaginary friends, and living mini-mannequins, plus (naturally) a final twist for good measure. Streaming on Screambox.
Aenigma
Aenigma - (1988 Official Movie Trailer)
Screambox’s Lucio Fulci selection is decent—including standouts The Beyond and The Cat in the Brain—but Shudder’s is a bit more expansive, with those two titles as well as Zombi, The House by the Cemetery, and City of the Living Dead, and more. But both services carry 1988's Aenigma, a tale of boarding-school possession that sees a comatose prank victim take over the body of the new girl at school to get revenge. If you thought The Beyond’s “tarantula bookshelf” scene was the absolute worst, get ready for maybe only horror movie in existence to feature a slimy suffocation death involving way too many snails.
Night of the Demon
NIGHT OF THE DEMON | Official Trailer | Bigfoot Horror Movie | Streaming Movies
Not to be confused with the 1957 classic of the same name starring Dana Andrews and a whole lotta runes, or Night of the Demons, the 1988 cult classic about a party gone wrong at a funeral parlor. Streaming on Screambox, this Night of the Demon was released in 1980 and is just the thing to scratch your “gruesome backwoods exploitation, with bonus Bigfoot!” itch.
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