The 20 Best Horror Movies on Hulu Right Now

This post is updated frequently as movies leave and enter Hulu. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk. 

Isn’t the world scary enough nowadays? Of course not! Everyone needs a good break from reality now and then, and horror can be the best way to do that. And Hulu has a remarkably deep catalog of horror films, including massive hits, indie darlings, and even a few originals. These are the best chillers on Hulu right now, updated monthly.

How We Pick Our Films

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes about movies and TV every day. To curate this list, he dives into Hulu’s catalogue every month to surface terrifying horror titles — using his taste and a lifetime of cinema study as his guide, instead of whatever the algorithm happens to be pushing. After triple-checking to make sure they’re still available, he watches each and writes his recommendation. We highlight more than just the crowdpleasers: Filmmakers can use horror to craft spine-tingling moods, keep audiences on their toes, and comment on culture. Read on to find something to watch.

28 Weeks Later

Year: 2007
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle handed off directorial duties on this sequel to his 28 Days Later to Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, and the result is an underrated action flick, a zombie movie that moves at lightning speed as it details the effort to establish a safe zone from the undead apocalypse in London. It has a phenomenal cast that includes Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Imogen Poots, and Idris Elba. There are reports that the long-delayed 28 Months Later may finally go into production soon — so catch up now.

Alien

Year: 1979
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Ridley Scott

The one that changed everything. Alien didn’t just launch a mega-franchise or create an iconic character in Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. It shifted the entire sci-fi/horror landscape forever. And what’s even more stunning about Alien is that over four decades later, it still rips. From beginning to end, it is one of the rare movies that could be called perfect.

*Alien: Romulus

Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Fede Alvarez

The first direct Alien sequel in decades, this strong reboot was directed by the man who worked the same magic on Evil Dead in 2013. Taking place between Alien and Aliens, Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson in a ruthlessly simple story of a crew of space travelers who end up on the wrong space station. It’s not perfect (and contains some truly janky CGI at times), but it’s a reminder of what really works about the Alien franchise in its purest form.

Barbarian

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Zach Cregger

Georgina Marshall plays a woman who discovers that her AirBnB has been double-booked when she arrives and finds someone already staying there—the excellent Bill Skarsgard. Despite her instincts, she decides to stay too, and then things go very sideways, but not in the way you expect them to. A truly odd movie, Barbarian was a massive hit, making ten times its budget and producing roughly a million WTF reaction TikToks.

birth/rebirth

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Laura Moss

This mesmerizing riff on Frankenstein is one of the best horror films of 2023. Judy Reyes stars as a nurse whose daughter dies at the age of five, only to be brought back to life by a morgue technician (an unforgettable Marin Ireland) who has been experimenting with a daring new process. How far would you go to bring a child back from the dead? What lines would you cross? birth/rebirth is a brilliant, unforgettable piece of work.

The Empty Man

Year: 2020
Runtime: 2h 17m
Director: David Prior

20th Century Fox had absolutely no idea what to do with David Prior’s adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, and so quietly shuttled it into theaters and then VOD. The funny thing is that this ambitious study of an ex-cop (James Badge Dale) who investigates a missing girl has already started to develop a cult following of its own. It’s a smart, unique piece of work that is only going to get more and more popular.

The First Omen

Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Arkasha Stevenson

There’s no reason for The First Omen to be as good as it is. First off, most studio horror films don’t take anywhere near the kind of risks that this daring genre flick takes. Second, horror prequels are very rarely good. This one is great. Nell Tiger Free (Servant) plays an American novitiate in Rome who discovers a vile plan to bring the antichrist to life. With stunning use of practical effects and an incredible lead performance, this is one of the best horror films of the 2020s.

The Fly

Year: 1986 
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg delivered one of the best remakes of all time when he tackled the classic tale of a scientist who slowly becomes a fly after an experiment goes very wrong. Eschewing cheese for true body horror, Cronenberg pulled arguably the best performance of the career of Jeff Goldblum as the poor guy at the center of this waking nightmare. It’s gruesome and timeless.

The Host

Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h
Director: Bong Joon-ho

The success of Parasite brought an entirely new, larger audience to the work of Bong Joon-ho, and they probably loved this riveting genre piece about a giant monster living in the Han River. Parasite star Song Kang-ho plays the patriarch of a family that’s forced into action when the creature kidnaps his daughter. When it was released, it became the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time. It rules.

The Invitation

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: Jessica M. Thompson

Sony bungled the release of this one, being coy about its plot in ads that didn’t make it seem that appealing. It’s a fun horror movie, a retelling of Dracula from the perspective of a victim bride. It follows a young woman who goes to find her estranged family overseas only to, well, you can imagine. Nathalie Emmanuel goes all in on a film that should have found a bigger audience, and likely will on streaming services like Hulu.

Late Night with the Devil

Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes

A theatrical hit for IFC, the latest horror gem from the Cairnes landed on Shudder while it was still in some theaters, and has now escaped to Hulu. The wonderfully talented David Dastmalchian plays a ‘70s talk show host who has devised an unforgettable show for Halloween night, including a possessed girl as a guest. To say things go wrong would be an understatement. Stylish, funny, and original, this is one of the best horror films of 2024.

Little Monsters

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director: Abe Forsythe

Lupita Nyong’o can do absolutely anything. Just look at this horror-comedy about a group of schoolchildren who get attacked by waves of the undead. Lupita rules as the teacher and the only one who knows how to act heroic in the moment. And she’s joined by a fun supporting performance from Josh Gad, who is very from Olaf here.

Ready or Not

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Matt Betttinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

The excellent Samara Weaving stars as a newlywed who discovers that her new husband’s family are a bunch of murderous lunatics. They hunt Weaving through the night as a part of a crazy Satanic ritual that takes place after every family wedding. The script is clever, the direction is tight, but this is Weaving’s show, and she rules.

The Royal Hotel

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 31m
Director: Kitty Green

It’s not traditional horror, but this thriller is so tense that it qualifies. The excellent Julia Garner reunites with Kitty Green (after 2019’s The Assistant) and co-stars alongside Jessica Henwick as two American women backpacking through Australia. They end up in one of those small towns in the deep outback that time seems to have forgotten, bartending at the Royal Hotel, where the clientele seems to be in a state of constant threat. It’s a sharp thriller about gender dynamics that doesn’t go where you think it’s going to go.

Skinamarink

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Kyle Edward Ball

The little movie that could jumped from being a Shudder exclusive to Hulu after a brief stint in theaters that netted this five-figure movie over $1 million at the box office. Filming for almost nothing in his own childhood home, Ball taps into something primal — that feeling in the middle of the night when you wake up and can sense something is just wrong. Divisive in ways that always produce fascinating conversations, this is one of the essential horror movies of the 2020s.

Smile

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Parker Finn

Just weeks before the launch of the sequel to one of the biggest surprise horror hits of 2022 (over $200 million) worldwide, Hulu has pried it away from Paramount+ for its subscribers. One of the biggest commercial and critical horror hits of the decade, Smile is about a therapist who discovers something supernatural stalking her patients. It will get under your skin.

Suitable Flesh

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Joe Lynch

Dennis Paoli, the writer of Re-Animator and From Beyond, returns to H.P. Lovecraft with this unforgettable adaptation of “The Thing on the Doorstep.� Heather Graham, Judah Lewis, Bruce Davison, and the legendary Barbara Crampton star in a movie about identity, possession, and control, all of it with Lovecraftian insanity. How does one even begin to “blurb� a movie this defiantly strange? You just need to see it for yourself.

*Titane

Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director: Julia Ducournau

The shocking winner of the Palme d’Or in 2021, this horror drama by Julia Ducournau is about … you know, it’s almost impossible to put in a capsule. There’s a woman who has a titanium plate in her head who has a carnal relation with a car before committing a few murders and hiding her identity to escape, forming an unusual relationship with a man who believes she is his missing son. That doesn’t really capture this daring, unforgettable piece of work.

Watcher

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Chloe Okuno

One of the best films of 2022, this was a Shudder exclusive until recently. Inspired by ‘70s paranoia horror, Watcher stars Maika Monroe (It Follows) as a woman who has moved to Romania with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman). Without much to do and unable to speak the language, she starts to get paranoid that someone is watching her from across the courtyard. Stylish and riveting, it’s a must-see.

When Evil Lurks

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Demian Rugna

When Evil Lurks is one of the most messed-up horror flicks you could watch on any streaming service. An Argentinian horror film that originally dropped on Shudder shortly after its Toronto Film Festival premiere and theatrical release, it’s the story of two brothers who discover that there’s a demonic entity living on the edge of their village. When it gets accidentally released, things get really bad. Gorey and strange in equal measure, this film takes no prisoners.

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