There are some streaming platforms that, over the years, have gained a reputation for having some the best of a certain genre — such as Netflix with its many acclaimed romantic-comedy movies. Yet, there are only a small few that are specifically and exclusively curated for one type of genre. For instance, anybody looking for a one-stop location to stream the best horror movies, look no further than Shudder.
Powered by AMC Networks since it launched in 2015, this platform has everything from slashers to supernatural thrillers, primitive classics to more recent favorites, and even some scary TV shows that will keep you creeped out all night long. If none of those details are enough to convince you to get a Shudder subscription, just wait until you hear about the price. We will discuss that and more regarding the leading streaming service for horror fans in our breakdown below.
The Shudder Subscription Plans And Price
It really does pay to be a horror fan, especially one with a Shudder subscription, which costs the low price of just $5.99 per month after a seven-day free trial. Purchasing an annual subscription of $56.99 is an even better deal, equating to only $4.75 each month. If, for any reason, a subscriber would need to request a refund, they can receive a full repayment for a standard monthly subscription within 48 hours of being billed and for the annual plan within seven days of receiving the bill.
Shudder programming is also available as part of the AMC+ bundle — which costs $6.99 - $8.99, depending on how you access it — or as an Amazon Prime Video add-on for the same price as a standard monthly subscription. It should be noted that these rates are different in countries outside of the U.S. — including Canada, the U.K., Ireland, and New Zealand — based on their local conversion rates.
Shudder Supported Devices
One of the scariest situations that a horror fan can run into is having a streaming device that is not compatible with the Shudder, such as a PlayStation console (which I can confirm from personal experience). Luckily, the app is available on plenty of common devices used for home viewing — such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV (except in New Zealand), Xbox consoles, Samsung TV models from 2018 or later, and any Apple or Android devices. Of course, logging into the official Shudder website on a personal computer and hooking it up to a regular television set via HDMI cable should also do the trick.
Shudder Adds New Original Programming And Older Classics Regularly
Once you have purchased your Shudder subscription, you will be grated access to all the best horror movies on the platform, as well as its many great, aforementioned TV series (such as Slasher: Flesh and Blood), documentaries about the genre’s most iconic moments and figures (including Cursed Films), and even podcasts, like Video Palace. If you ever ran into the unlikely situation that you ran out of titles to watch, you would not have to wait very long to find your next scare.
Shudder expands its already vast and diverse catalog every week with content that ranges from brand new titles that are exclusive to the platform (for instance, 2020’s video call horror hit, Host) to essential favorites of the genre (such as three of the Halloween movies, including the 1978 original) and even some more obscure deep cuts that are worth a look, like the holiday-themed thriller, Deadly Games. There really is no way that a horror fan could ever run out of things to watch with a Shudder subscription, no matter what kind of frights they are in the mood for.
Slashers, Anthologies, And Sci-Fi Crossovers Are Just Some Of Shudder’s Included Categories
The beautiful thing about the horror genre is that there so many variations of it — such as ghost stories, gothic costume dramas, or psychological thrillers, to name a few. A Shudder subscription puts titles that fall under all of these subgenres and any others you can think of (even ones that have yet to be properly named) and the platform makes it easy for a viewer to find them.
Selecting the “Collections” tab on Shudder’s home page will show a subscriber various specific categories to choose from — including “Found Frights” (which includes some great found footage thrillers) or “Comedy of Horrors” (which points you in the direction of the platform’s best horror-comedy movies), and even special sections personally collected by guest curators like Watcher director Chloe Okuno or drag icons The Boulet Brothers. Even if none of these horror subgenres (or any horror subgenre) does not fit your preference, you can find plenty of non-horror movies on Shudder, too, but this only covers a small portion of the different movie categories you can find all over the platform.
Shudder TV Streams A Constant Marathon Of Movies
Having so many different categories of horror movies can, understandably, be a bit of a nightmare in itself as you might find yourself unable to decide what to watch next. Thankfully, Shudder has provided a solution in the form of Shudder TV — a collection of original “channels” that show a never-ending stream of specially curated movies one after the other.
There are three different feeds to choose from with “It Came From Shudder” being the most basic and diverse of the bunch. Meanwhile, “The Folk Horror Collection” specializes in cinematic updates of chilling tales passed down between generations and “Slashics” (also the name of one of the platform’s included collections) could keep fans of slasher movie favorites endlessly entertained.
For those who revel in the most disturbing frights, the most splatterrific gore, and even the most morbid sense of humor, the entertainment that comes with a Shudder subscription truly is endless. I recognize that Netflix has a great horror movie selection and many of the best scary movies on Hulu are genuinely some of my favorites, but nothing really compares to the variety, the quantity, and the true unwavering passion clearly recognized in Shudder’s catalog, made by horror fans for horror fans and, perhaps, even horror fans-to-be.
