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:
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.
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.
THE STEPFATHER (1987)
Long before playing John Locke on Lost, Terry O’Quinn starred in the 1987 film The Stepfather, playing a character that was loosely based on a real-life murderer. (Look up John List if you’re interested.) In the film, O’Quinn’s character is in search of the perfect family life, and when the families he marries into disappoint him he murders them and moves on with a new identity. When he marries Susan (Shelley Hack), single mother of teenage Stephanie (Jill Schoelen), we know it’s only a matter of time before he’ll be trying to kill them, too. Directed by Joseph Ruben, The Stepfather is a captivating horror-thriller, and O’Quinn does an incredible job in the title role.
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.
HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL (1959)
If you’re like me, you’ll occasionally have to take a moment to remember which story is The Haunting of Hill House and which is House on Haunted Hill. Shudder gives you the chance to watch both. Directed by famous showman William Castle and starring genre icon Vincent Price, House on Haunted Hill is about a wealthy couple that invites a group of people to spend the night in their haunted mansion, offering a prize of up to $50,000 if they can survive until morning. All sorts of spooky shenanigans ensue, and this is another haunted house story that had an obvious influence on Sam Raimi. Price and Carol Ohmart play the couple that would really like to kill each other, and they’re a delight to watch. Bonus: Elvira hosted House on Haunted Hill for her recent Shudder special and you can watch that version of the film on there, too.
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 HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)
Wes Craven’s 1977 film The Hills Have Eyes gets overshadowed by his bigger movies (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, etc.) and even by its own 2006 remake, but it’s still one of the best entries in Craven’s filmography. When a family has car trouble in the middle of the desert, they find that they’re being stalked by another family, a clan of cannibals that live in the hills. To survive, the civilized family will have to become just as savage as their attackers. The Hills Have Eyes features some unforgettable characters and performances, with Dee Wallace among the potential victims and Lance Gordon and Michael Berryman as villains Mars and Pluto. Berryman’s role in this film, and his image on the poster, rightfully made him a genre icon. (Putting a video about the sequel here because we don’t have a video on the original.)
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.
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