Everything on Shudder UK that makes the horror streaming service worth getting

Dragula alone is worth the fiver a month

2 years ago

If, like me, you find yourself only haunting the horror section of Netflix then you might find yourself wondering if it’s really worth the ten quid a month when you’re only spending your screen time with the ghosts, zombies and axe murderers. Then enter the alternative: Shudder. Shudder is a horror focussed streaming service created by AMC Networks and platforms both horror classics and films with a cult following that never seem to get picked up by the other broader services like Netflix and Prime. They also create a horde of Shudder originals too, including movies and behind the scenes documentaries about the horror film industry. There’s not much out there telling you what horror films are streaming on Shudder in the UK, so here’s a quick guide on the best things available to watch right now if you’re considering paying the £4.99 a month.

TV shows

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula

If you love RuPaul’s Drag Race but you’re not watching Dragula, then what on earth are you doing?! Dragula is the precise reason why I got Shudder. For the uninitiated, Dragula was created by queer nightlife legends The Boulet Brothers in a bid to crown the next drag supermonster. It celebrates the underground drag scene, and its principles revolve around drag, filth, horror and glamour. Instead of lip syncing for their life, the bottom two queens have to survive an extermination challenge which has varied from the likes of getting a permanent tattoo to being buried alive.

Dragula started on YouTube, then with each season got more and more budget and has now found its permanent home on Shudder for season four. The cash prize for the winner is a whopping $100,000, and the casting is incredibly diverse featuring trans performers, drag kings and AFAB queens. Guest judges this season include Trixie Mattel and Vanessa Hudgens. It’s essential viewing!

Behind The Monsters

Behind The Monsters is an exclusive documentary series where each episode focuses on a different horror icon and explores their legacy. Episodes released so far centre on Michael Myers and Candyman.

Creepshow

The iconic George A Romero 1982 film Creepshow is one of the most famous horror anthologies of all time, and this TV show picks up where it left off. There’s now three seasons off this Shudder exclusive telling all kinds of scary short stories.

Films

Revenge

Via Shudder

One of the best films available on Shudder is 2017’s Revenge – a truly thrilling rape-revenge bloody horror from French director Coralie Fargeat. It’s a feminist blast action and it’s truly unrelenting. It has 93 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and is an absolute essential watch.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Tobe Hooper’s seminal 1974 horror about a chainsaw wielding cannibal and his family still is extremely disturbing all these years later, and is one of the most well known classics on Shudder.

Host

If you’d have told me that one of my favourite films of 2020 would be a pandemic focussed paranormal horror set on Zoom I’d have groaned you out of the room, but there’s a horrible realism to Host that is absolutely terrifying and if there’s one UK film that makes you get Shudder, I beg you, let it be this. Spectacular, original and genuinely terrifying.

Audition

Audition is one of the most talked about horror films of all time, and the only place you can stream it in the UK is on Shudder. To say what it’s about would give away its shocking twists, but Takashi Miike’s 1999 film is talked about for a reason and you should only watch this if you can tolerate extreme content. But it is BRILLIANT.

Let The Right One In

With a STUNNING 98 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, it truly doesn’t get better than the stunning Swedish romantic horror Let The Right One In. It’s one of the best vampire films of all time, and there’s a reason it’s had numerous adaptations including an American remake and a stage version.

It Follows

2014’s It Follows is one of the greatest modern horror stories of recent years, thanks to its thrilling and original premise. It Follows centres around a sex curse that once you’ve slept with someone, you will be followed by a presence that will kill you if it gets to you unless you sleep with someone and pass the curse on. It has a sublime 96 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Prevenge

I will not mince my words: Prevenge is one of the best British horror films ever made. Alice Lowe is one of the most special talents we have, and she should be revered as such. Lowe wrote, directed and starred in this film whilst pregnant and it balances being a feminist slasher comedy with an incredibly touching and emotional story themed around prenatal depression. Magnificent.

Heathers

Whilst by no means a horror film, this 80s classic dark satire is a teen film that you should have seen a million times if you love Mean Girls and Clueless. Heathers really was the blueprint, and took things a lot darker with Winona Ryder as the lead in a film about suicide, murder and the impenetrable evil that is cliques of high school girls. Chilling!

The Night Eats The World

In this indie isolated zombie film, a musician lives isolated in Paris during an apocalypse. It’s quite a low key, slow burn zombie film but one that is really impressive and worth your time if you love the likes of 28 Days Later.

Lizzie

Shudder UK is streaming Kristen Stewart and Chloë Sevigny (!!!) star in this romantic thriller based on the infamous real life axe murders of Lizzie Borden in 1892 Massachusetts. Fictionalised true crime and a lesbian love story between KRISTEN STEWART and CHLOË SEVIGNY – I mean, what more is there to say?

Lake Mungo

I only got round to watching this extremely acclaimed mockumentary / found footage Aussie horror last month, and I have to say it is one of the scariest film experiences I’ve ever had. Truly terrifying realism horror. Go in knowing nothing, and prepare to not be able to sleep again.

Possessor

One of the latest additions when browsing Shudder UK is Possessor, arguably the best sci-fi horror of 2020. Directed by horror auteur David Cronenberg’s son Brandon Cronenberg, it’s a thrilling film about assassins and brain implant technology that boasts a cast including Sean Bean. Get it watched!

Shudder has a free trial available when you sign up here. For more horror updates and the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

Featured image courtesy of Shudder / AMC.