Shudder is a streaming service that is specifically dedicated to the horror genre, so it’s only fitting that we here on Arrow in the Head should compile a list of the Best Horror Movies on Shudder Right Now. As with all streamers, Shudder has movies that come and go on a regular basis, but if you head over there today here are some of the best movies you can find on the service:
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
Yes, George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead seems to be available on nearly every streaming service there is, and that’s because the movie is in the public domain due to the copyright notice accidentally being left off the film print. When you’re a streaming service that deals specifically with the horror genre, it would be insane if you didn’t have Night of the Living Dead in your library – and Shudder passes the test. They have the film that gave us the modern concept of zombies, walking corpses that exist only to consume the flesh of living people. Nearing its 55th anniversary, this is technically an old movie, but it’s also a movie that never gets old.
MANIAC COP 2 (1990)
Shudder used to have the entire Maniac Cop trilogy available for your viewing pleasure… well, the first two are a pleasure. The third one is a bit tougher to get through. The first Maniac Cop is great, but it’s not on Shudder anymore. Thankfully, the sequels are still there, and the first sequel is one of the rare follow-ups that’s even better than its predecessor. As undead former police officer Matt Cordell (Robert Z’Dar) stalks the streets of New York City, killing innocent people and criminals alike on a mission of revenge, he finds an ally in serial killer Turkell (Leo Rossi) and goes up against hard-boiled cop Sean McKinney (Robert Davi). Maniac Cop 2 features a healthy body count and some awesome action set-pieces, including a sequence where a person is handcuffed to a car that is sent rolling downhill through traffic.
HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS (1988)
John Carpenter’s classic original Halloween is on Shudder as well, but today we’re going to give some love to one of the best and most entertaining sequels in the franchise Carpenter’s film spawned. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. Sure, this one doesn’t have Jamie Lee Curtis, but we do get a great performance from Danielle Harris as Laurie Strode’s young daughter Jamie Lloyd, the focus of iconic slasher Michael Myers’ latest killing spree. Donald Pleasence is back and still incredible in the role of Doctor Loomis, and director Dwight H. Little did an awesome job of capturing the look and atmosphere of a Midwestern Halloween. All that, plus it has that wonderful feeling of the 1980s. Shudder has the lesser follow-up Halloween 5 as well. Joe Bob Briggs hosted all three of the Halloween movies the streamer has on one of his specials.
CHILDREN OF THE CORN (1984)
Stephen King‘s story Children of the Corn was only about twenty pages long, but what was on those pages has spawned a franchise of eleven – so far – feature films. The sequels and reboots have tarnished the reputation of the original film somewhat, but while director Fritz Kiersch’s Children of the Corn is a bit cheesy, it still holds up as an unnerving movie with memorable performances from Peter Horton and Linda Hamilton as a couple who find themselves in a Nebraska town where the children have massacred all of the adults, and John Franklin and Courtney Gains as the leaders of the cult that believes in a god called He Who Walks Behind the Rows. A god that requires the sacrifice of anyone over the age of 19.
CHOPPING MALL (1986)
Hired by Julie Corman, wife of the legendary producer Roger Corman, to combine two major elements of 1980s pop culture – shopping malls and “dead teenager” movies – director Jim Wynorski came up with the cheesy classic Chopping Mall. The characters: a bunch of youths (including Kelli Maroney and Barbara Crampton) who decide to stay overnight in a mall. The threat: security robots whose circuits have fried, turning them into “Killbots”, lazer-blasting, electricity-zapping enforcers who execute anyone they cross paths with. Chopping Mall is quick, action-packed, and has the perfect running time for its story: it’s only 76 minutes. It’s a lot of fun to watch the Killbots rampage through the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The only thing this movie is lacking is a sequel.
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE (1982)
B-movie legend Roger Corman financed this Halloween knock-off, which was scripted by feminist author / activist Rita Mae Brown and directed by editor Amy Holden Jones, who turned down the chance to edit E.T. so she could make this. The result is a goofy flick about escaped murderer Russ Thorn (Michael Villella) crashing a slumber party with a large drill. Our heroine Valerie (Robin Stille) is the good girl stuck watching her younger sister Courtney (Jennifer Meyers) across the street. The Courtney character returned, although Meyers didn’t, for the even goofier sequel Slumber Party Massacre II, which I enjoy even more because it’s so absurd. You can watch that one on Shudder, too.
HELL NIGHT (1981)
One of the many fun slasher movies to be released in 1981, director Tom DeSimone’s Hell Night stars The Exorcist‘s Linda Blair as college student Marti, one of four pledges from the Alpha Sigma Rho fraternity and their sister sorority who have to spend the night in a mansion where a man snapped and murdered his family twelve years earlier. Of course, the mansion isn’t as empty as the college kids thought it was. Soon enough someone is stalking around, killing everyone they come across. In addition to Blair’s Marti, one of the other characters who finds himself in danger is Peter Barton, who would encounter Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter a few years later. Hell Night has a cult following, but deserves to be even more popular than it is.
MANIAC (1980)
If you like movies that are dripping in sleaze, the 1980 slasher Maniac is a special treat. Directed by William Lustig, who also directed the Maniac Cop movies, this one stars Joe Spinell as a disgusting and disturbed fellow named Frank Zito, who has serious mommy issues that drive him to go out at night and murder random people so he can scalp his female victims and stick their hair on the heads of the mannequins that fill his apartment. Legendary special effects artist Tom Savini provided the film with some nauseating gore (and the scalping stuff was his idea), including one of his trademark exploding head effects. The gore is a major drawing point, but Spinell’s performance is the reason to watch the movie… if you can stomach watching Frank Zito.
THE INVITATION (2015)
Six years after directing the underrated Jennifer’s Body, Karyn Kusama took a different approach to horror with The Invitation, a slow burn of dread, tension, and heavy emotions. Will (Logan Marshall-Green) is invited to his former home by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and his replacement David (Michiel Huisman) when the couple returns from a two-year trip to Mexico, where they got involved with a group – some people call it a cult – that has taught them to renounce pain and grief. Those are things Will still feels over the death of his son, the event that destroyed his marriage. And he also starts to suspect that there’s something very strange going on at this dinner party, where the exits are locked and the windows have bars on them. Kusama takes time with the build-up, but eventually confirms that Will is right to be concerned, and it’s worth the creepy wait.
PUPPET MASTER (1989)
Charles Band got his company Full Moon started with this “tiny terrors” horror movie about a group of people – all of whom have some kind of psychic ability – who gather together at a creepy old inn to mourn (or more like celebrate) the passing of a former associate. Unfortunately for them, that former associate has actually learned the secret of immortality and has lured them to this inn so he can unleash a bunch of homicidal puppets on them. Puppet Master spawned a long-running franchise, and it’s easy to see why: the puppets the villain has under his control are extremely cool. As the credits start rolling, viewers are left wanting to see more of Blade, Pinhead, Tunneler, Leech Woman, Jester, and their cohorts… and Band has been delivering more ever since.