Happy Monday, boils and ghouls! Sure, it’s everyone’s least favorite day of the week, but it also means that we’re just a little bit closer to October 31st, and I think that’s something to celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than by enjoying some of the brilliant horror movies that have come out over the last 20 years?
So, for this installment of “From Streams to Screams,” I wanted to celebrate 31 excellent genre offerings that have come out over the last two decades that are currently streaming on various platforms, including a few very recent titles such as Gareth Evans’ Apostle and Terrified (which destroyed me this weekend).
So, if you’re in the mood for some modern horrors this Halloween season, this curated list might provide you with some inspiration and help you get into the spirit over the next few weeks.
Terrified (Available on Shudder)
They are in your house and they are watching you.
The Cell (2000) (Available on Amazon Prime)
When Stargher, a serial killer who drowns his victims in torture cells and performs bizarre rituals with their bodies, falls into a coma, the FBI asks Deane to enter his mind...
Lake Bodom (Available to Shudder)
Four teens get some scary surprises when they camp out at the site of a grisly massacre.
May (Available on Vudu)
Nobody knows what to make of May (Angela Bettis). Born with a lazy eye, for which she wore a patch while growing up, she became a loner oddball whose only friend was a perfectly kept doll. She moves to L.A. and takes up with a filmmaker (Jeremy Sisto), but the relationship sours quickly -- and dangerously. She then befriends an alluring lesbian colleague (Anna Faris), but that, too, along with every connection May attempts to make, turns deadly.
Murder Party (Available on Netflix)
A lonely man attends a random Halloween party, only to learn that the sketchy art students hosting the bash intend to kill him for grant money.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Available on Shudder)
Strange things are afoot in Bad City, where a lonely vampire is stalking the towns’ most unsavory inhabitants.
Boys in the Trees (Available on Netflix)
Dark forces and nightmares are unleashed when two teenage friends, estranged by one’s popularity, reunite for a Halloween walk through the forest.
Absentia (Available on Amazon Prime)
Tricia's husband has been missing for 7 years. Her little sister Callie comes to live with her as the pressure mounts to finally declare him 'dead in absentia.' As Tricia sifts through the wreckage and tries to move on with her life, Callie finds herself drawn to an ominous tunnel near the house. She soon comes to the realization that his presumed death might be anything but 'natural'.
Patchwork (Available on Netflix)
Three women discover that they’ve been dismembered and sewn back together into one new, “perfect” woman, and set out to get revenge on their captor.
28 Weeks Later (Available on Hulu)
This sequel to the original horror-thriller picks up six months after the military has declared Britain safe from the rage virus, but a terrifying new nightmare soon begins.
Apostle (Available on Netflix)
In 1905, a drifter on a dangerous mission to rescue his kidnapped sister tangles with a sinister religious cult on an isolated island.
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (2014) (Available on Amazon Prime)
Sixty five years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called "moonlight murders" begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.
Creep (Available on Netflix)
When a cash-strapped videographer takes a job in a remote mountain town, he finds that the client has some unsettling ideas in mind.
Creep 2 (Available on Netflix)
A video artist finds the perfect character for a sensational piece, but the subject of her dreams soon reveals his insidious side.
P2 (Available on Shudder)
A woman who is the last to leave her office on Christmas eve must rely on her wits to survive when she is trapped in a parking garage.
Carrie (2002) (Available on Amazon Prime)
Carrie, based on the novel by Stephen King takes on new life as a teenage horror story unveils the existence of a tortured and anguished high school outcast. Carrie, a telekinetic teenager, unleashes her wrath after years of torment from an overbearing mother and constant cruelty from her classmates. The result of her rage is horrifying.
The Ritual (Available on Netflix)
Four friends with a long-standing, but strained, connection take a hiking trip into the Swedish wilderness, from which they may never return.
Found Footage 3D (Available on Shudder)
When he's hired to document the behind-the-scenes action of the "the first 3D found-footage horror film," an aspiring filmmaker packs up his camera and travels with the film's crew to a creepy cabin in the woods. But when the fictional evil presence from their film begins appearing in his behind-the-scenes footage, he has to figure out how to stop it, or it just may find its way into the real world.
Cabin Fever (2002) (Available on Shudder)
Vacationing friends catch a horrifying flesh-eating virus in Eli Roth’s debut.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Available on Amazon Prime)
Two girls must fight a mysterious evil force at a deserted prep school in this terrifying horror film.
Teeth (Available on Netflix)
When a virtuous high school student is sexually assaulted, she discovers that she has an unexpected line of defense: a toothed vagina.
Revenge (Available on Shudder)
A young woman takes vengeance on the three married men who left her for dead in the boldest, bloodiest film of the year.
The Others (2001) (Available on Hulu)
Grace lives alone with her children and begins to sense supernatural forces.
The Boy (2016) (Available on Netflix)
A nanny is hired by a couple to look after their boy. She’s shocked to learn that her charge is actually a doll that the couple treats like a human.
The Loved Ones (Available on Amazon Prime)
Hell hath no fury like a prom queen scorned. When Brent rejects Lola's invitation to prom, he becomes the victim of her twisted revenge.
Gerald’s Game (Available on Netflix)
When her husband’s sex game goes wrong, Jessie – handcuffed to a bed in a remote lake house – faces warped visions, dark secrets and a dire choice.
[REC] (Available on Hulu)
A young TV reporter and her cameraman cover the night shift at the local fire station. Receiving a call from an old lady trapped in her house, they reach her building to hear horrifying screams.
As Above, So Below (Available on Netflix)
A beautiful tomb raider and her crew hunt for treasure in the catacombs of Paris, and find themselves in a hellish underworld.
My Bloody Valentine (2009) (Available on Amazon Prime)
Ten years ago in the town of Harmony, an inexperienced coal miner caused an accident in the tunnels that trapped and killed five men and sent the only survivor, Harry Warden, into a permanent coma. But Harry Warden wanted revenge. Exactly one year later, on Valentine's Day, he woke up...and brutally murdered twenty-two people with a pickaxe before being killed. Now, after years of peace, something from Harmony's dark past has returned. Wearing a miner's mask and armed with a pickaxe, an unstoppable killer is on the loose. And as his footsteps come ever closer, the townspeople realize in terror that it just might be Harry Warden who's come back...
Beyond the Gates (Available on Netflix)
Two brothers closing up a video store owned by their missing father find a mysterious role-playing game that turns into a desperate bid for survival.
Let Me In (Available on Amazon Prime)
Owen, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Abby (Chloë Grace Moretz of KICK-ASS), a beautiful but peculiar girl who turns out to be a vampire.
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In case you missed them, check here to read all of our 2018 special features celebrating the Halloween season!
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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