20 Best Horror Movies On Hulu

Summary

• Hulu offers a variety of horror movies, including originals, cult classics, and indie gems with something for every horror fan.
• From psychological thrillers to supernatural horror, Hulu’s selection covers a range of subgenres and styles to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
• Popular titles like “Get Out” and lesser-known gems like “The Invitation” provide a diverse lineup of chilling horror experiences for subscribers on Hulu.

The best horror movies on Hulu have a mix of classics, modern-day releases, and even some great Hulu original movies. All of them, from vintage body horrors to contemporary supernatural thrillers, possess the ability to scare and terrify subscribers. While the selection of scary titles on Hulu is not as large as a service like Netflix or Max, there is still something worth watching for horror fans. Showcasing the titles Disney+ won’t stream because of its focus on family features, Hulu has everything from fun, campy horror movies to some R-rated fright fests guaranteed to keep viewers awake at night.

While there are some popular horror movies on Hulu that genre aficionados will recognize, there is also an eclectic mix of independent scary films that cater to people wanting something different. There are horror Oscar contenders on Hulu, and there are also small movies that have developed a strong cult following. Hulu also offers some great original horror movies, ranging the gamut from body horror to horror comedies to even sequels to former big-budget theatrical franchises. From psychological thrillers and slasher movies to supernatural horror and funny splatterfests, the best horror movies on Hulu have something for everyone.

For more horror movie recommendations, check out our lists of the best horror movies on Netflix, the best horrors on Prime, and the greatest horror movies of all time.

20

The ABCs Of Death (2012)

A Horror Anthology By Top Genre Filmmakers

In 2012, 26 horror directors joined forces to create 26 short horror tales that fit into a two-hour running time. As the title of the film suggests, each of the horror shorts has a title that starts with each letter of the alphabet in order from A to Z. The directors include some of the genre’s best names, including Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes), Angela Bettis (May), Ti West (Pearl), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), and Ben Wheatley (Kill List). The only rule was that every short had to deal with death.

The ABCs of Death debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and then went straight to VOD in 2013. The movie didn’t do well critically, receiving a 37% rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the critics’ main problem was that the quality of each short varied, with some that were scary and others that mixed the mark. But there’s really a lot here for horror fans to love, and the best shorts are scary enough to make up for the ones that miss the mark.

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19

Get Out (2017)

A Horror Movie Of Liberal Racism

Get Out was not only one of the best horror movies of the century so far, but it also proved that Jordan Peele is one of the best horror directors in Hollywood. This might have come as a surprise to people who know him from his comedy work, but Peele delivered a brilliant horror movie with a fantastic social message. Daniel Kaluuya plays Chris Washington, a Black photographer who goes to meet his white girlfriend’s family in upstate New York.

Once there, everyone seems to love him, but the longer he stays, the stranger things start to get and then he realizes that her family and friends have evil plans for him. The movie was a massive success, making $255.4 million on a $4.5 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). It was also one of the rare horror movies to earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Kaluuya. Critics loved Get Out, and it has an almost perfect 98% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

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18

The Invitation (2022)

A Woman Invited To A European Home Learns A Terrifying Secret

The Invitation was a surprising horror movie released in 2022. It follows Evie (Nathalie Emmanuel), a young freelance caterer. She takes a DNS test and learns she has a cousin in England named Oliver (Hugh Skinner) and then sets out to meet him. Oliver then invites Evie to fly out and attend a wedding so she can meet more of her extended family. She agrees, and it is one of the worst decisions of her life, as she finds herself in great danger when they reveal they are vampires and have been searching for her for years.

Fascinatingly, The Invitation is a sequel to Dracula. The movie features the elderly Jonathan and Mina Harker, who work for Walter De Ville, the Lord of the Manor, who turns out to be Dracula himself. The Invitation didn’t perform well at the box office, with a $38 million take on a $10 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). However, it ended up as a huge success on Netflix when it first hit streaming and is now available for Hulu streamers to discover.

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17

Antebellum (2020)

A Woman Is Kidnapped And Wakes Up In A Terrifying Alternate Reality

Released in 2020 and starring Janelle Monáe (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery), Antebellum sees Monáe as a sociologist named Dr. Veronica Henley, who is preparing for a trip to promote her new book. However, while in Louisiana on the book promotional tour, she is abducted by a woman named Elizabeth and her husband Jasper and held captive at a plantation. The movie also has scenes from the Confederate days, where a plantation kills any enslaved person who tries to escape.

Antebellum has an interesting twist that shows it is not actually a time travel movie, with Veronica taken back to the dark days of slavery, and it’s this twist that helped raise the movie’s status thanks to its approach on the social topics for the times. While critics were mostly unimpressed, ranking it at a low 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, Variety named Antebellum as one of the best films of 2020 thanks to its production design, storytelling, and social relevancy.

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16

Fresh (2022)

A Horror Romantic Thriller About Cannibalism

Fresh is a unique Hulu original horror movie, as it is a romantic thriller about cannibalism. The movie has a great cast, with Daisy Edgar-Jones (Twisters) star as Noa, a single woman who is growing frustrated with online dating. However, she meets a man at the supermarket named Steve, and they hit it off quickly. Sebastian Stan (Captain America and the Winter Soldier) plays Steve, and it isn’t long before she learns the hard way that he is a cannibal. He captures her with the intent of slowly dismembering her and selling her body parts to other wealthy cannibals.

The movie takes several disturbing twists and turns, including how far Steve’s cannibalistic schemes reach. When Hulu released the movie, it was one of the most streamed for the week it hit the service regardless of platform (via Media Play News). Critics also loved Fresh, and it sits at a high 81% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, while also winning Best Horror Movie at the Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Film Awards.

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15

Split (2017)

M. Night Shyamalan’s Tale Of A Terrifying Kidnapper

M. Night Shyamalan had not had a critically successful movie in over a decade when he returned to cinemas with Split. With this one movie, he revitalized his career and started a resurgence that is still going to this day. In Split, James McAvoy stars as Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with dissociative identity disorder and 23 distinct personalities. However, the problem is that one of these is a superhumanly strong monster that abducts and kills young women.

Anya Taylor-Joy plays Casey Cooke, who along with her two friends, is the latest person kidnapped, and she has to find a way to escape before the “Beast” kills her. What no one expected was that the movie would tie into Unbreakable, one of Shyamalan’s biggest cult favorites, and lead to a third movie called Glass. Split was a monster success, making over $278 million on a $9 million budget (via Box Office Mojo) with a 78% positive rating average on Rotten Tomatoes.

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14

The Boogeyman (2023)

A Grieving Family Must Add Being Haunted To Their List Of Troubles

In 2023, 20th Century Studios adapted Stephen King’s 1973 short story, The Boogeyman. The Hulu horror movie focuses on therapist and single father Will (Chris Messina), who is mourning the death of his wife. He and his daughters are both struggling to overcome the loss when the mysterious Boogeyman begins to haunt the family. There were some differences between the movie and the original short story, including focusing on the doctor’s daughter over his own mental state, but the changes work well for the movie medium.

The movie was a small box office success, making $82.3 million on a $35 million budget (via The Numbers) before making it to Hulu less than a year later. The Boogeyman sits at a lukewarm 60% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics say it falls short of the original story but remains a spooky movie that works for horror fans.

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13

Run (2020)

Sarah Paulson Stars As One Of Cinema’s Worst Mothers

Run is a very different psychological horror movie. The Hulu original is similar to a very disturbing true-crime story about a mother misusing medication to keep her daughter sick. Sarah Paulson stars as the mother, Diane, who makes her daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen) believe she can’t walk and needs a wheelchair while convincing doctors that Chloe’s various diseases require full-time care from her.

However, the horror starts when Chloe learns the truth about her “illness” and tries to escape. Run ended up as one of Hulu’s most successful original horror movies, the most-watched in the streaming service’s history (via Deadline). While some horror fans may be interested in Run‘s true crime inspirations, what’s perhaps more interesting is that it’s also based in the same fictional world as Searching (2018) and Missing (2023). Aneesh Chaganty directed all three movies, which include references to each other.

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12

28 Weeks Later (2007)

The Explosive Sequel To The Game-Changing British Zombie Movie

In 2002, Danny Boyle directed the horror movie 28 Days Later, a British zombie film famous for its haunting, isolated atmosphere, as well as being among the first to feature fast infected zombies instead of the slow, shuffling undead audiences were used to. It spawned a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, in 2007, set around eight months after the first movie’s outbreak.

28 Weeks Later focuses on Don (Robert Carlyle), a father who leaves his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack) to die when the infected attack their farm. However, shortly after his children Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) arrive at a London refugee camp, Alice is reunited with Don — though, as he quickly discovers, she’s carrying the virus. In addition to boasting a cast that also includes Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, and Idris Elba, 28 Weeks Later received positive reviews and 28 Years Later is now in development.

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11

Mandy (2018)

Nicolas Cage’s Cult-Favorite Revenge Horror

Nicolas Cage has appeared in many smaller projects and lower-budget movies over the last few decades that have garnered as much — or more — acclaim than the big-budget blockbusters of his earlier career, and 2018’s Mandy is no exception. While Mandy got a small limited release after making its premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, it became a cult favorite when it went to VOD.

The movie sees Cage as Red Miller, a man who watches a religious cult murder his girlfriend Mandy. Red sets out to kill the cult in some of the most violent and disgusting ways possible. The movie received universal acclaim, sitting at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also picked up several awards, including the Best Limited Release Award, Best Score, and Best Actor (for Nic Cage) from Fangoria’s Chainsaw Awards.

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10

Escape Room (2019)

A Psychological Horror Movie

2019’s Escape Room is a horror movie inspired by the growing popularity of the titular group activity. It takes the idea of trying to escape the puzzle rooms and sets it up as a Saw-type chiller with a group of people sent in to navigate deadly escape rooms, where a bad decision results in death. Beyond Saw, Escape Room also shares a lot in common with the 1997 cult hit, Cube.

Escape Room was a huge box office success when released, making $155 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo) off a small $9 million budget, and spawning a sequel in 2021 called Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, which is available to stream on Starz. Critics were not as enamored with Escape Room as audiences, but the genre is often maligned by pundits, and the fact that the original spawned a franchise speaks for itself in terms of viewer appreciation.

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9

Monsters (2010)

The 2010 Movie That Helped Kick Off Gareth Edwards’ Career

Before he took on a major monster franchise, Gareth Edwards directed a small monster movie in 2010 called, simply, Monsters. With Monsters, Edwards proved he was ready for the big time as he created the entire world — including the giant monsters — himself on his own personal computer without spending millions of dollars on a special effects team. Monsters stars Scoot McNairy as a photojournalist sent into a quarantined area between the United States and Mexico border that was home to alien monsters in order to rescue his boss’s daughter.

The movie was critically acclaimed and helped launch Edwards’ career as a director. Thanks to his ability to create such an expansive world of monsters all by himself, he earned the spot as the director for Godzilla, and has since gone on to direct Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. He’ll also be helming an untitled Jurassic World film set for release on July 2, 2025.

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8

Bad Hair (2020)

A Hulu Original Horror Movie About Possessed Hair

Bad Hair is one of the most unique original horror movies on Hulu, and among the films whose premise alone warrants attention. Directed by Justin Simien (Dear White People), Bad Hair stars Elle Lorraine as Anna, a woman whose television network she works for asks her to change her hair from its natural texture to a weave. This causes problems when the weave she gets is possessed and starts to kill anyone who tries to destroy it.

Bad Hair never takes itself seriously and brings campy humor with just the right amount of gore. The movie is a comedy-horror look at what can happen when white people try to enforce their ideas of what it means to be Black onto a proud Black woman. The reviews were only slightly positive, at 62% fresh, but most critics appreciated the ambition of the movie and its underlying themes.

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7

Watcher (2022)

A Paranoia-Inducing Psychological Thriller Set In Bucharest

Released initially at the Sundance Film Festival before moving on to IFC Midnight and Shudder, Watcher is now also available as one of the best movies on Hulu. It’s a psychological thriller centered on Julia (Maika Monroe) and Francis (Karl Glusman), an American couple who move to Bucharest. Soon, Julia begins to notice someone in the building across the street staring at her. When she learns there is a serial killer in town, she begins to believe she’s their next target.

Watcher remains a tense horror movie throughout its entire runtime, perfectly encapsulating the feeling of anxiety when living in unfamiliar surroundings. While the box office for the movie was small, based on its limited release, it was beloved by critics, who awarded it with an 88% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised the leads and the direction of the movie as well as its themes of female anxiety issues.

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6

Piggy (2022)

The Spanish-Language Horror About An Incredibly Disturbing Choice

The Spanish-language Piggy is one of Hulu’s best original horror movies released in the past few years. Released in 2022, it’s is based on a 2019 short film of the same name, with both directed by Carlota Pereda. Piggy focuses on Sara (Laura Galan), a girl constantly picked on by three bullies in her town. When Sara witnesses her tormentors being kidnapped, she decides to ignore it. Sadly, she soon realizes she cannot remain uninvolved and ends up drawn back in with a deadly decision to make.

Piggy was a huge success, winning Best Picture at Fantastic Fest. The movie premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and initially hit theaters in Spain and France. Laura Galán won the Best New Actress Award at the Goya Awards in Spain. It has a high 91% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with high praise aimed at its cast and social commentary.

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5

Hatching (2022)

The Utterly Disturbing Original Hulu Body-Horror Movie

Hatching is an international Finnish-language horror movie from 2022 that saw word-of-mouth grow its popularity thanks to a 93% Rotten Tomatoes score and a very disturbing story. The movie follows a 12-year-old gymnast named Tinja who wants to please her image-obsessed mother. However, when Tanja finds an injured bird in the woods, she brings its egg home, and when it hatches, a strange creature emerges.

This event changes Tinja’s life as the bird begins to transform into the girl’s evil doppelgänger. When the doppelgänger rapdily grows and begins attacking and hurting people, while causing everyone to think it is Tinja, she has to find a way to stop the evil creature before it destroys her entire life and family. The movie mixes body horror and a horror-filled teenage coming-of-age story into a terrifying experience for Hulu streamers.

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4

Girl In The Basement (2021)

Based On The Fritzi True-Crime Story

Girl in the Basement was originally a Lifetime movie before finding its way to Hulu, and it features a ripped-from-the-headlines plot. Directed by Elisabeth Röhm (Angel), Girl in the Basement is based on the true story of the famed Fritzl case in which Josef Fritzl lured his own daughter into the basement and held her captive there for 24 years, sexually abusing her, and fathering seven children.

The film retells the story with Judd Nelson playing Don, a fictionalized version of Fritzl. It is currently one of the most disturbing horror movies on Hulu, and is one that’s incredibly difficult to get through. The fact it is based on a true story makes the events of the film even more terrifying for audiences to witness as Sarah Cody’s Stefanie Scott tries to escape her father and captor.

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3

No One Will Save You (2023)

The Tense Hulu Original Sci-Fi Horror With Almost No Dialogue

One of the biggest surprise hits for horror movies on Hulu in 2023 is No One Will Save You. Premiering before the Halloween season, the sci-fi horror focuses on Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever), a woman who lives alone in her childhood home outside a town where everyone seems to despise her. This all comes to a head when an alien invasion begins, and Brynn finds herself fighting for her life against the invaders.

This horror movie contains almost no dialogue (there are only five words spoken in the entire film), making it very unique but also quite brilliant. However, the tension and scares are enough to have won over viewers, as it ended up as a huge fan and critic-favorite movie after its release. No One Will Save You was the most streamed film across all platforms in the United States during the week of its release (via The Wrap).

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2

Prey (2022)

The Franchise-Redefining Prequel To Predator

Very few people expected Hulu to create an original horror movie that served as a prequel to the Predator franchise, and even fewer expected it to be good. Hulu has tried this more than once, as it also created a new Hellraiser movie. However, unlike Hellraiser, which was met with mixed to negative reviews, Prey was almost universally acclaimed.

Prey served as a prequel to Predator, showing the iconic alien arriving on Earth in 1719, where it set out to hunt humans over 200 years before returning to fight Arnold Schwarzenegger. The historical setting worked incredibly well, and Amber Midthunder proved to be one of the best human heroes in any Predator movie. The movie also received acclaim for its Indigenous casting of the Native American characters and use of traditional Camanche language.

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1

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s Sci-Fi Horror Masterpiece

One of the best horror movies on Hulu right now is one of the best of all time, with the original Alien. While the franchise’s films have changed tone over the years, the first Alien is a horror movie, above all else, a haunted house tale in space with a seemingly indestructible monster hunting down a crew. There is even a Final Girl in the movie, with Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley facing down the dangerous Queen at the end.

Alien was a huge success for director Ridley Scott, and it spawned an entire franchise, that included several sequels, including the sci-fi action movie Aliens and a brand-new movie that hit theaters in 2024. There were also two prequels and spinoffs with the Predator franchise. In 2002, the Library of Congress added the movie to the National Film Registry.

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