Prepare for Halloween with These 10 Chilling Films Available on Hulu and Disney+
Did you spend your entire weekend celebrating Halloween, only to realize that the actual holiday isn't until... Thursday? Spend the remaining days of spooky season enjoying trick-or-treat candy and streaming horror movies, including these 10 bone-chilling picks from Hulu via Disney.
Us
Lupita Nyong’o is currently captivating audiences in The Wild Robot—but her chilling horror performances can't be overlooked. Although this year's A Quiet Place: Day One didn't make as big of an impact, her dual performance in Jordan Peele's chilling tale of doppelgängers is just as haunting and terrifying as it was back in 2019.
When Evil Strikes
Grotesque, haunting visuals and a possession plot that sets its own rules make this 2023 release from Argentine writer-director Demián Rugna a standout. Whatever he's working on next (he also made 2017’s Terrified, and had a segment in 2022 anthology Satanic Hispanics) is already at the top of our must-watch list.
Barbarian
You know how horror movies always warn against entering the basement? Never was that warning more true than in writer-director Zach Cregger’s 2022 slice of terror hiding in an Airbnb rental. Despite using one of the genre’s oldest tropes as a starting point, Barbarian never takes the predictable route. Georgina Campbell delivers a strong performance as the determined lead, but extra praise goes to Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long for their unexpected supporting roles.
The Fly
David Cronenberg's 1986 celebration of gooey body horror, eccentric genius, the chemistry between Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, and cheeseburgers is sci-fi horror at its finest, reimagining and updating the 1950s original in all the right ways.
The Mist
Sometimes, lists of "best Stephen King adaptations" forget about this 2007 release from writer-director Frank Darabont, which alters the ending of King’s original story with devastating consequences. (Unlike, say, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, King actually endorsed the modification.) Thomas Jane leads an ensemble cast in this harrowing tale of survival set in (where else?) a small Maine town wrapped in a fog of malevolent creatures.
The Omen (and The First Omen, and Damien – Omen II)
The Antichrist is dominating the 2024 horror scene, with The First Omen proving that prequels can feel innovative and shocking—even when leading into one of the genre’s most-watched classics. Revisit the beginning with the 1976 original Omen, then discover what happened just before in The First Omen. For additional devilish entertainment, Hulu also offers the best Omen sequel (two words: military school) as part of its library.
Skinamarink
Now that lo-fi horror mastermind Kyle Edward Ball has announced his second film (no details yet, other than it will be with A24 and titled The Land of Nod), it's a great time to rewatch his 2023 ultralow-budget debut, which may have divided audiences (some were terrified, others fell asleep), but certainly introduced a captivating new talent.
Managing the Undead
The author of Let the Right One In serves as the source material for this somber zombie movie, which takes place in Norway and follows various individuals whose grief over losing a loved one becomes more complicated when the dead begin to rise.
Smile
With Smile 2 currently tearing up the box office, will Smile 3 be next in line? Parker Finn's 2022 original sets the stage for a series that could potentially continue indefinitely, spreading grinning ghouls across theaters and viral social media posts for eternity.
Keep Your Breath
In this new-to-Hulu 2024 release set in oppressively dusty 1930s Oklahoma, Sarah Paulson plays a mentally fragile mother who begins to suspect that a drifter (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) may actually be a malevolent supernatural entity—in a film that successfully straddles the line between “is it real?” and “wait... is she losing her mind?”
Lupita Nyong'o's chilling horror performances in movies like 'A Quiet Place: Day One' and 'The Wild Robot' demonstrate her versatility in the genre. In the future, io9 is eagerly anticipating Demián Rugna's next project, following his success with 'Grotesque' and 'Terrified'.
The 2023 release 'Grotesque' features haunting visuals and a unique possession plot, making it a must-watch for horror lovers, and whatever the director works on next is already highly anticipated.
