When it comes to great genre movies, there are just names you will always trust. Names like Romero, Craven, Cronenberg, Carpenter, Hitchcock, Dante, and many, many more, of course. So, with that in mind, I decided to round up 31 different films helmed by some of our Masters of Horror that are currently streaming across an array of digital platforms, including a few not-as-obvious choices that have thrilled audiences in a variety of mediums (such as William Peter Blatty and Jennifer Lynch).
Also, if you think I may have missed something that is currently streaming, do not fret—that film has most likely popped up in one of my other From Streams to Screams column, or it will later on this month. I do hope you enjoy this list, and be sure to head back in a few days when we celebrate the greatest decade in horror: the 1980s!
Rabid (Available on Shudder)
In David Cronenberg’s must-see cult favorite, a woman named Rose (porn star Marilyn Chambers) develops a thirst for blood after receiving experimental surgery. When Rose wakes up, she finds a stinger under her armpit which she uses to feed off victims, who later turn rabid and attack others.
Mimic (Available on Tubi TV)
A scientist faces her worst nightmare when a lab-created insect species she engineered to kill pests returns to eradicate its only predator: humans. Directed by Guillermo del Toro.
The Birds (Available on Shudder)
A powerful, terrifying study of paranoia and hysteria in the wake of unexplained chaos, THE BIRDS is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most iconic films. It all begins rather innocuously, as a beautiful, strong-willed socialite (Tippi Hedren, in her film debut) travels to the coastal town of Bodega Bay to hook up with a rugged fellow (Rod Taylor) she's only just met. Once there, however, bizarre things start happening. The birds, you see, are behaving strangely...Using impressive visual effects and creating some of the most iconic and famous staging of his career, Hitchcock delivers one of the most chilling and entertaining classics of all time.
Body Bags (Available on Tubi TV)
Three different horror stories bring a serial killer, a botched hair transplant, and a baseball player to a deranged coroner's morgue. Directed by John Carpenter & Tobe Hooper.
Day of the Dead (Available on Shudder)
After a zombie apocalypse, scientists attempt to reverse the reanimation process. Directed by George A. Romero.
Piranha (1978) (Available on Tubi TV)
When flesh-eating piranhas are accidentally released into a summer resort's rivers, the guests become their next meal. Directed by Joe Dante.
Deadly Blessing (Available on Hulu)
A former Hittite (a member of an Amish-like sect) dies in a mysterious tractor "accident," and his widow is left to face the frightening Hittites who view her as "the incubus" and may have sinister designs on her. Directed by Wes Craven.
Bug (Available on Shudder)
An unhinged couple hole up in a rundown motel. Directed by William Friedkin.
Nightbreed: Director’s Cut (Available on Shudder & Tubi TV)
A wanted man seeks refuge in an underground kingdom of grotesque monsters. Directed by Clive Barker.
Two Evil Eyes (Available on Vudu)
Two horror tales based on short stories by Edgar Allan Poe directed by two famous horror directors, George A. Romero and Dario Argento.
Castle Freak (Available on Shudder)
An American family inherits an Italian castle which houses a bloodthirsty monster. Directed by Stuart Gordon.
The Hills Have Eyes (1977) (Available on Hulu)
A suburban American family is being stalked by a group of psychotics who live in a remote desert. Directed by Wes Craven.
Lord of Illusions (Available on Tubi TV)
Detective Harry D’Amour investigates a deadly cult that employs magic when the wife of a famed illusionist hires him to solve the murder of a friend. Directed by Clive Barker.
Rear Window (Available on Shudder)
A photographer who suspects his neighbor of murder enlists his girlfriend to help investigate. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
The Dark Half (Available on Hulu)
A precocious writer undergoes a grotesque operation which reveals a twin in his brain. The twin goes on a murderous rampage--leaving all of the evidence pointed at the writer. Directed by George A. Romero.
God Told Me to Kill (Available on Shudder)
A cop investigates a string of murders committed by strangers who claim “God” told them to kill. Directed by Larry Cohen.
Stephen King’s Riding the Bullet (Available on Tubi TV & Vudu)
In this thriller by Stephen King, a hitchhiker is picked up by a shadowy figure who harbors a dark secret: one that may just cost him his life. Directed by Mick Garris.
Phantasm: Remastered (Available on Shudder)
Don Coscarelli’s beloved 1979 sci-fi horror classic returns in a new restoration.
The Crazies (1973) (Available on Vudu)
The military attempts to contain a manmade combat virus that causes death and permanent insanity in those infected, as it overtakes a small Pennsylvania town. Directed by George A. Romero.
Chained (Available on Shudder & Tubi TV)
A serial killer kidnaps a young boy hoping to turn him into his protégé. Directed by Jennifer Lynch.
Rope (Available on Shudder)
James Stewart, Farley Granger and John Dall star in this macabre spellbinder, which was inspired by a real-life case of murder. Two thrill-seeking friends (Granger and Dall) strangle a classmate and then hold a party for their victim's family and friends, serving refreshments on a buffet table fashioned from a trunk containing the lifeless body. When dinner conversation revolves around talk of the 'perfect murder', their former teacher (Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious that his students have turned his intellectual theories into brutal reality. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Bruiser (Available on Tubi TV)
A man wakes to find his face has been replaced by a white featureless mask. Now he’s a blank, an anonymous, featureless phantom. Bent on exacting revenge on those who bullied him, he explodes, deciding that he going to kill a lot of people. Directed by George A. Romero.
The Exorcist III (Available on Shudder)
A cop investigates brutal murders similar to ones committed by a long-dead serial killer. Directed by William Peter Blatty.
Shivers (Available on Tubi TV)
The unsuspecting residents of an apartment building are in danger of being wiped out after a twisted medical experiment goes awry. Directed by David Cronenberg.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) (Available on Shudder)
A group of friends are terrorized by a chainsaw-wielding madman and his depraved family in this legendary horror classic from Tobe Hooper.
Blood Feast (1963) (Available on Shudder & Tubi TV)
An Egyptian caterer kills various women in suburban Miami to use their body parts to bring to life a dormant Egyptian goddess, while an inept police detective try to track him down. Directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis.
Night of the Living Dead (1968) (Available on Shudder & Vudu)
George Romero, the legendary director who helmed the Night of the Living Dead series, brings you a crazed tale of nuclear radiation that raises the dead, and creates a legion of flesh-eating zombies.
Black Sabbath (Available on Shudder & Tubi TV)
Experience old-fashioned scares with this classic trio of tales about a haunted nurse, a stalked prostitute, and a vampire on the prowl. Directed by Mario Bava.
Hisss (Available on Netflix)
In a plot to bait the snake-goddess for her immortality-granting essence, George States journeys to India and abducts her reptilian lover. Directed by Jennifer Lynch.
Tenebrae (Available on Shudder)
A razor-wielding psycho stalks a horror writer in Dario Argento’s most celebrated gialli.
Dagon (Available on Tubi TV)
In this adaptation of a HP Lovecraft story, a boating accident leaves a young man and woman ashore in a decrepit Spanish fishing town which they discover is in the grips of an ancient sea god and its monstrous half human offspring. Directed by Stuart Gordon.
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In case you missed them, check here to read all of our other 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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