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10 best Shudder movies you can stream right now in 2023

Check out our choices for the best movies available to stream right now on Shudder, which is the home of the greatest horror films from every subgenre and more.

What are the best Shudder movies? There are so many streaming platforms these days, but none offer the same specific thrill of terror as well as Shudder. Between originals and licensed releases, it’s become the ideal place for anyone who enjoys a scare every once in a while.

Shudder is the home of some of the best horror movies ever made, and helps fans keep up to date with new movies in the genre too, as well as hidden gems. The streaming service now has a mighty catalog of the best zombie movies, best vampire movies, best werewolf movies, and more from just about every sub-genre.

This is great and all, but it does make it hard to pick what to watch. Thankfully, we know our ghouls from our goblins, so we’ve had a look through what’s on offer to tell you the best Shudder movies. We’ve included big hits and underrated thrillers, to keep you terrified long into the future.

The 10 best Shudder movies:

  • The Invitation
  • Skinamarink
  • Relic
  • Mad God
  • Tigers Are Not Afraid
  • One Cut of the Dead
  • The Sadness
  • PG: Psycho Goreman
  • Blood Quantum
  • Violation
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The Invitation (2015)

For those who like more subtle horror, The Invitation is light on gore but (very) heavy on eeriness. Dinner parties are horrifying enough, but are even worse when they’re hosted by your ex-spouse, and The Invitation manages to slowly ratchet up the tension as this one turns sour.

The Invitation will undoubtedly surprise you with its twists and turns, keeping you hooked with mystery and some brilliant performances from its cast. It’s a must-watch for horror sceptics and horror enthusiasts alike.

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Skinamarink (2022)

Look, here’s the simple fact of the matter: Skinamarink isn’t for everyone. This experimental horror movie has left audiences across the world scratching their head, and – worst of all – bored. It’s not a mainstream horror movie, and you can’t go into it expecting that. It barely even has a plot.

Instead, Skinamarink is a horror movie designed to unlock deep feelings of fear from your childhood through its creation of atmosphere. It wants to remind you of when you lay awake in the dark, on your bed, wondering what the noises around you were: imagining what horrifying sources they might be emanating from. It’s not a crowd-pleaser, and it’s certainly not a movie. But it is a rewarding and provoking horror, if you have the patience and temperament for to let it simply be what it is.

Best Shudder movies: Relic

Relic (2018)

If you ever think your mold problem’s bad, stick this on. Kay and Sam travel home because Edna, their respective mother and grandmother, has gone missing. They find a strange black growth in different corners, and odd noises that appear to be coming from the walls.

Edna comes back, but she’s not who they remember, and whatever’s going on upstairs appears to be growing entirely new, misshapen sections onto the house. The creep factor is high on this impressive supernatural chiller from Natalie Erika James, who establishes a genuine air of being trapped.

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Mad God (2022)

Decades in the making, effects wizard Phil Tippett takes us through his vision of hell. The stop-motion animated movie is constantly morphing from one impossible structure to the next, an unnamed wanderer our only guide.

Even when composed of faeces, the creatures command a certain curiosity. An incredible, mesmerising feat from top to bottom, and one that’s unlikely to ever be truly replicated.

Best Shudder movies: Tigers Are Not Afraid

Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017)

A group of homeless children in Mexican slums survive on the fringes of extreme gang violence. Among them are Shine and Estrella, whose mothers are lost due to human trafficking, and their desire to remember the faces of their parents puts them in danger.

Issa López’s ghost movie uses childlike innocence for a portrait of cascading trauma and desperation that’s as devastating as it is poetic. The cast elevate a poignant story that’s hard to watch without feeling haunted.

Best Shudder movies: One Cut of the Dead

One Cut of the Dead (2017)

A clever, comedic spin on undead schlock that celebrates the kinetic excitement of indie filmmaking. Survivors of a zombie plague are gradually devoured in a gooey warehouse chase which morphs into a documentary on what just happened.

The transition is carried by some light family comedy. In a sub-genre full of rotting flesh, Shin’ichirō Ueda manages to do something that feels truly fresh.

Best Shudder movies: The Sadness

The Sadness (2021)

Two people try to find each other while society falls apart due to a sudden pandemic. The Sadness was one of several films that struck a nerve the last few years.

Its depiction of a rage virus is worth commending, if only for how ruthless it is. Blood and entrails are splattered everywhere, Rob Jabbaz delivering a true lesson in violence.

Best Shudder movies: Psycho Goreman

PG: Psycho Goreman (2020)

ET as a superhero movie, but for people who grew up renting videos and love plenty of fake blood and guts. Two young siblings, Mimi and Luke, investigate a glowing rock in their backyard, only to discover and intergalactic warrior has crash landed right next to them. Cool!

He’s got loads of cosmic tech and he doesn’t understand Earth whatsoever. Radical! A roundtable of space assassins send their deadliest after him, leading to hilarious encounters. Tubular! One of Mimi and Luke’s friends is turned into an oversized brain slug with tentacles for arms. Right on! Wonderfully self-aware and cleverly made.

Best Shudder movies: Blood Quantum

Blood Quantum (2019)

Put zombies anywhere and you can likely make a good film, put them on a Native American reserve, and you’re on your way to a great one. The infection appears from a local river, creating a strong analogy for environmental protection that becomes about defending Native American history from ongoing colonial efforts.

Michael Greyeyes is in fine form as sheriff Traylor, who helps establish a sense of order in the community. Won’t surprise you to read that doesn’t last, but writer and director Jeff Barnaby knows his way around an explosive meltdown.

Best Shudder movies: Violation

Violation (2020)

Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli reduce rape-revenge to its carnal elements. The narrative dry-heaves through flashbacks and the present day, violence on one end responding to the sickening entitlement and degradation on the other.

In addition to co-directing and co-writing, Sims-Fewer plays the lead, Miriam. Her intensity and focus grounds your viewing, even through the most squeamish parts. Tight cuts and cinematographic flourishes make it a stirring thoroughfare that winds a knot in your gut.

Those are the best movies on Shudder. If you want more, we have a list of the best Netflix horror movies, and you can also check out our guides to the Hellraiser movies in order and Halloween movies in order.

If you want to keep up with horror on TV, see what’s going on with the Fall of the House of Usher release date. Or, read our thoughts on why Evil Dead might be the perfect horror franchise, as well as our Evil Dead Rise review.