Now Scream This: 50 Great Streaming Horror Movies to Get You Through Quarantine

(Welcome to Now Scream This, a column where horror experts Chris Evangelista and Matt Donato tell you what scary, spooky, and spine-tingling movies are streaming and where you can watch them.)

Matt: Remember all those “Now Scream This” articles you read, took recommendations from, then never followed-through on watches? Given global circumstances, Chris and I figured it’s time for  a refresher course on what we absolutely love on streaming right now. This week’s theme is easy: WHY HAVEN’T YOU WATCHED THIS YET. Even better, we’re hitting you with twenty-five selections each. We could all use a distraction right about now, and we’ve got fifty of ‘em loaded in the chamber just for you! Totally don’t mean that as a threat, either.

Chris: Hi everyone. Stay the hell home, please. And watch these movies. That’s all I have to say to you right now. 

Dog Soldiers

Now Streaming on Shudder and Amazon Prime

Matt: I think I speak for countless horror fans when I say we deserve more werewolf content than what’s so stingily unleashed these days. Neil Marshall’s Dog Soldiers will forever be one of my favorite fanged and furry exemplifications as to why. Military-grade intensity, wicked Lycan costumes, and feral ferocity that exudes front-of-the-pack energies.

Chris: I’ll never forget the advice my father gave me on my wedding night: “They should make more practical-effects werewolf movies.” 

Deadly Games

Now Streaming on Shudder

Matt: Under lockdown protocol, there’s no better time to take a cinematic risk. Watch something underseen like Deadly Games, a Christmas horror survival story with Home Alone notes that sat around for decades before Shudder inked a US distribution deal. ‘Tis may not be the season, but there’s no holiday requirement for this wicked winter amusement.

Chris: I wanted to like this, but a dog gets killed, so, no dice. 

Tigers Are Not Afraid

Now Streaming on Shudder

Matt: Oh look, another reason for me to recommend Issa López’s Tigers Are Not Afraid! What a beautifully overwhelming Mexican tale about cartel violence, lost children, and the courage of a tiger. The farther from release we get, the more I recognize the importance of what López created.

Chris: I still haven’t seen this yet. I am sorry. 

Satan’s Slaves

Now Streaming on Shudder

Matt: Joko Anwar’s Satan’s Slaves is as close any director’s gotten – succeeding, mind you – to challenging James Wan’s stranglehold on haunted house cinema. An Indonesian import that’s one of the scariest damn movies in the last decade. I don’t use that kind of hyperbole lightly, please trust.

Chris: Believe the hype: this is legitimately scary. 

Dude Bro Party Massacre III

Now Streaming on Shudder

Matt: Those nutcase comedians behind 5 Second Films pulled off the unthinkable: create an intentional slasher trashterpiece equal parts masculinity satire and throwback 80s cheesefest. Astonishingly hilarious, mesmerically moronic, and unthinkably fun for horror fans who love a smarter-than-it-looks genre roast. You tap a keg, I’ll bring the oranges. 

Chris: I refuse to believe this movie exists. 

Demon Wind

Now Streaming on Shudder and Amazon Prime

Matt: Demon Wind is legendary around these parts (my brain, mainly). A dumbfounding mix of Evil Dead II and The Fog that gets nowhere near either’s quality level, nonsensical in narration. Oh yeah, it’s also the most fun you can have questioning a film’s every single bad decision and outright existence? Supremely satisfying in a best-worst way.

Chris: For the longest time, I refused to give in to Matt’s Demon Wind obsession. Then I watched it. And I understood. 

Insidious

Now Streaming on Netflix

Matt: I can’t mention James Wan above without directing y’all to his first foray into “The Further,” before a trio of sequels. Insidious is a paranormal exclamation point that early-on confirms Wan’s immense horror filmmaking talents. Dare I say still one of his tightest, scariest, and most memorable titles?

Chris: I love this, as I love almost all James Wan horror movies. Make more horror movies, James! 

Cloverfield

Now Streaming on Netflix

Matt: Cloverfield is a special kind of found footage film that’s cleverly scaled to make audiences feel helpless and insignificant. Mission accomplished! Kaiju frights are up-close and personal, as New York City crumbles around us based on perspective. This is my Godzilla, no joke.

Chris: 9/11: The Monster Movie. This movie haunted me when I first saw it, and it still does to this day. Yeah, it’s a “fun” monster movie, but it’s also unrelentingly bleak. 

Killer Klowns From Outer Space

Now Streaming on Netflix

Matt: Is there ever a bad time for funhouse horror, especially when popcorn bazookas and cotton candy cocoons are involved? Killer Klowns From Outer Space is the class prankster of late-night horror, living up to the sideshow appeal in title phrasing alone. An unapologetic pizza-and-beers kind of Friday night winner.

Chris: A perfect film? Yes, I think so. 

Child’s Play

Now Streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime

Matt: Child’s Play isn’t even my favorite Chucky flick, but respect your elders. Witness where it all started for my favorite slasher franchise, with some voodoo chants and the soul of a serial killer stuffed into some huggable plaything. That charred, melty Chucky though – scrub said image from your mind, go ahead.

Chris: I knew one of us would pick this one. Matt and I are #TeamChucky all the way. (I picked a different Child’s Play.) 

Grabbers

Now Streaming on Hulu

Matt: Imagine an Amblin alien movie, set on a Celtic Island, but with more townsfolk munching and where staying drunk means staying alive. That’s Grabbers. One uniquely enjoyable, creature-first fight against both invaders and sobriety. A genius concept brewed to near-perfection, far more than some throwaway gimmick.

Chris: No idea what the hell this is. 

Little Monsters

Now Streaming on Hulu

Matt: We all deserve a smile right now, and Lupita Nyong’o is here to oblige in Little Monsters. A searing ray of sunshine who plucks Tay-Tay covers on the ukulele and protects her schoolchildren from undead zombie threats. Throw in Josh Gad’s asshole kid’s show host and family-unfriendly carnage for a riotous undead comedy that effortlessly makes the grade.

Chris: I’ve heard this is, in fact, quite bad. But don’t take my word for it! Matt seems to like it. 

Pyewacket 

Now Streaming on Hulu

Matt: A story of mothers, daughters, and the demons we summon when at our most foolishly vulnerable. Pyewacket is Lady Bird, but for horror fans. The kind of emotional horror that’ll spook you stiff and leave you speechless, all stemming from the finality of desperate consequences.

Chris: This is one of those great under-the-radar horror flicks that deserves more attention. 

Grave Encounters 

Now Streaming on Amazon Prime

Matt: I often find myself fighting against naysayers who spout about how all found footage films are forgettable, so here’s another to challenge such basic incorrectness: Grave Encounters. Paranormal investigators get more than they bargained for, yadda yadda, but trust this film delivers on both horror and first-person engagement. There’s more to this subgenre than The Blair Witch Project.

Chris: I know “found footage” gets a bad rap, but this is one of the good ones.

Climax

Now Streaming on Amazon Prime

Matt: Gaspar Noé is responsible for 2019’s top horror film Climax, and it’s about professional dancers. Locked inside their practice facility, tripping on spiked sangria, descending into synth-heavy hellscapes as morality disintegrates like a hallucinogenic pill fizzing in liquid. Fear the rhythms, try to maintain control.

Chris: This movie fucks, as the cool kids say. 

Anna And The Apocalypse

Now Streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime

Matt: Yes, Christmas horror films can be delightful. Anna And The Apocalypse may be about zombies, but musical elements and a core anti-Disney backbone key into expressive rewards minus typical sugarcoating. One of the most unique horror reinventions we never asked for but desperately needed.

Chris: I love half of this movie. There’s a point where it kind of loses me. But everything before that is a delight. 

Afflicted

Now Streaming on Amazon Prime

Matt: Afflicted will never be discussed as frequently as it should, because we should be talking about Afflicted every damn day. Once again, a brilliant tweak on found footage that enhances vampiric action in an almost Hardcore Henry way at times. A modern bloodsucker marvel that deserves a much more popular cinematic legacy.

Chris: This is one of the first movies I learned about when we started Now Scream This, and it’s pretty damn good! 

Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

Now Streaming on Amazon Prime

Matt: The mockumentary horror throne is Leslie Vernon’s to lose, probably for quite some time. What starts as a sharp skewering of slasher tropes eventually proclaims “anything you can do I can do better.” You know what? It can.

Chris: A clever twist on the slash-genre, and a must for horror fans. 

Night Of The Living Dead

Now Streaming on Amazon Prime

Matt: You’ve seen snippets of George A. Romero’s classic zombie masterpiece borrowed by countless horror films thanks to the public domain, but have you actually sat down and viewed yourself? Night Of The Living Dead is where so much started. Go ahead and erase that blindspot.

Chris: Never heard of it. No, I’m kidding. Wouldn’t that be wild? Anyway, this is the movie about the shopping mall, right? 

Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil

Now Streaming on Netflix

Matt: What if the shady lookin’ backwoods yokels weren’t actually killers, and partying teenagers were accidentally offing themselves in ways that frame the otherwise innocent suspects? That’s what Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil suggests, then plays out, as a horror comedy that’s damn-near impenetrable. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine need to revisit these characters pronto.

Chris: I saw this movie a while ago, and thought it was pretty funny. But it’s also a bit forgettable – I barely remember what happened. Then again, I barely remember what the hell I was doing earlier today. My brain is mush, that’s what I’m saying. 

Ginger Snaps

Now Streaming on Shudder, Tubi, and Crackle

Matt: Oh hey look, more werewolves! This time as a coming-of-age metaphor, particularly for females experiencing certain maturation side-effects. Goth vibes and mean streaks and creature transformations make for an unforgettable werewolf riff that’ll forever retain its cult Canadian status.

Chris: The teen werewolf movie you’ve been waiting for.

Spring

Now Streaming on Shudder

Matt: Love is a monster untamed in Spring. Lifesaving, tragic, unbreakable, damning. Romance makes for the most difficult horror pairing, but Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead crack proverbial codes in a way that’s nothing short of miraculous. Oh the things you’ll feel.

Chris: I love this movie so, so, so much. A romantic horror film! They do exist! 

Green Room

Now Streaming on Netflix

Matt: It’s been years since Green Room hit Fantastic Fest and there’s still no equivalent in terms of gut-nasty horror devastation. Between mangled effects work and such a bleak outlook on death’s finality, there’s magnificence in a punk band’s survival hopelessness. Never a bad time to be reminded that Nazis are bad.

Chris: While I still prefer Blue Ruin, Green Room is a brutal, unrelenting work that’s more relevant than ever. 

WolfCop

Now Streaming on Hulu and Shudder

Matt: Half cop. Half man. All boozehound lawman. WolfCop is far, FAR more than a catchy title. This werewolf comedy imagines a world where one’s transformative curse makes him a “better” police officer, donut appetite and all. Reader, I laugh frequently every time I watch.

Chris: Jesus Christ, Matt, you think you have enough werewolf movies on this list? 

Tragedy Girls

Now Streaming on Hulu

Matt: Social media satires are all the Hollywood rage, and in horror there are few more fruitful commentaries than Tragedy Girls. Two high school crime solvers create their own solvable murder scenes in an attempt to gain popularity. Well acted, impressively snappy, and super funny as cameo celebrities are victimized one by one.

Chris: I am proud to say I’ve seen almost everything on Matt’s list for once – but not this. 

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