Halloween is nearly upon us—have you crammed in your required amount of horror movie viewing hours? If not, and you’re specifically in the mood for a recent release, look no further than Shudder. Though the genre streamer has a huge library of older favorites and classics, it’s also chock full of titles that came out in 2024. Here are 10 to check out for maximum frights.
Oddity
Don’t sleep on Oddity, a movie guaranteed to interfere with your sleep once you experience it. Written and directed by Damian McCarthy, this Irish chiller follows Darcy (Carolyn Bracken), a blind woman determined to learn the truth about her twin sister’s murder. A creepy psychiatric hospital and an isolated old house provide shriek-worthy settings, but Bracken’s performance and the fact that Darcy owns a shop full of cursed objects—and isn’t afraid to use them!—end up being Oddity‘s most uniquely freaky elements.
Mads
David Moreau’s Mads offers proof that there’s always a way to make the zombie genre feel fresh again. This French release follows a group of friends who experience the very beginnings of a mysterious outbreak… in a film that feels like it’s unfolding in one tense, thrilling continuous take.
Late Night With the Devil
Though this retro-styled, David Dastmalchian-starring sleeper hit about a Faustian talk show host came out back in March, it actually takes place on Halloween, making it the perfect pick for viewing this weekend. It’s what Mr. Wriggles would want you to do!
V/H/S/Beyond
The long-running found-footage anthology series puts a special emphasis on sci-fi in this latest installment, but there’s still plenty of body horror—a V/H/S specialty—to go around here. The jaw-dropping last few minutes of Kate Siegel’s UFO tale “Stowaway” live rent-free in our heads now, and we both love and hate her for it.
In a Violent Nature
We weren’t completely on board with this “slasher from the slasher’s POV” experiment, but the gore is excellent—and In a Violent Nature‘s ability to say something new about one of horror’s most well-worn genres makes it fascinating all the same. It’s also definitely the only film in existence that pays equal homage to Terrence Malick and Jason Voorhees.
Stopmotion
When her mother—a famous stop-motion animator—falls ill, Ella (Aisling Franciosi) is finally free to pursue her own animation career. But unbridled creativity comes at a price, especially when it’s couched in so many complicated emotions. Ella’s stop-motion world soon begins to bleed into reality, allowing Stopmotion to make excellent use of both live-action and animated sequences as it charts her breakdown.
Destroy All Neighbors
“A love letter to prog rock that co-stars a disembodied head” might not describe all of Destroy All Neighbors, but it’s a good start—and a good time is guaranteed if you stream this horror comedy about a frustrated musician who goes through hell (not literally, but he comes awfully close) to achieve his dreams.
Azrael
In the post-apocalypse, demons prowl the earth—which sounds like a set-up for some big, FX-laden fantasy adventure, but Azrael is instead styled as a gritty survival thriller, with a silent Samara Weaving fighting for her life in a forest full of horrors both human and otherwise.
The Devil’s Bath
The latest from Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the filmmaking team behind Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge, draws its story from actual historical records. It’s set in 1750 Austria and follows a religious woman trapped in a deeply unsatisfying life—and who comes to see an act of horrific violence as her only means of escape. It’s a bleak story, but a gorgeous one; the cinematography won a prize at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
The Demon Disorder
Special effects artist turned director Steven Boyle helmed this gruesome Australian import about a trio of brothers dealing with some very unpleasant unfinished business regarding their father, who may be dead but is still very much a presence in their lives. Boyle’s FX background means the gore gets special emphasis, and it’s memorably distressing.
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