A Descent Into Horror And Madness: My Top 5 Shudder Recommendations

Shudder bills itself as the Netflix of horror films, they claim to have something for every kind of horror fan. Their library is made up of some old classics and some original content, there are gems to be found if you know where to look. Fear not dear reader, over the last month (ish), I have been on an odyssey going through Shudders entire back catalogue; only the stuff that interested me though mind. As such, I have written this post to give you some hand-picked recommendations; which hopefully will scratch your horror ich and maybe give you some new horror favourites. In the UK you can get Shudder as an extension to your Amazon account, it will come up as a video channel. I don’t know how you get it elsewhere.

Body At Brighton Rock

This goofy camp thriller soon takes a turn to the dark side. Set in an American national park, a ranger get lost and has to spend the night next to a corpse. There is a lot going on here and the twist at the end is genius. It is absolutely dripping in style and has such a unique voice. The horror with this one comes from the idea of being stranded in the woods alone over night; which in and of itself is a terrifying thought. She also fights a bear briefly so there is that!

Stitches

Stitches is a pitch-black horror comedy about a dead clown who has come back to get his revenge on the group of kids that killed him. This is a rare treat as it is a horror comedy that actually manages to be both scary and funny. Ross Nobel nails the jokes and there are several laugh out loud moments, he is also menacing as hell. Another two reasons this is great is because it creates a fantastically weird mythology for clowns and also because it has some of the best gore, I have ever seen in a horror film.

Dead Hooker In The Trunk

This is the debut film of the Soska Sisters that should be all you need to know. However for those of you who aren’t die hard fans, this film kicks ass because it is a low budget exploitation esque film and knows it. The look of the film is very early Robert Rodriguez, grindhousey and grainy, the sort of film that looks like it was shot on film but wasn’t. The Sisters are standout as the lead characters, but there are also plenty of other memorable characters and moments. It was this film that put them on Eli Roth’s radar.

The Hell House Trilogy

Found footage as a genre is played out, it is very, and I do mean very rare to get a good found footage film, yet the first Hell House LLC is just that. The series is about a hotel that is also a gateway to hell and as you can imagine a lot of ghostly goings on happen in the hotel and different groups of people fall prey to them over the course of the series. Though the second film is a dip in quality for sure, all three of these films are good found footage films and the ending of the third film may be the best ending to a series I have ever seen, no spoilers here though.

Monster Party/Killer Party

This dark comedy film is about a group of thieves that break into a house to find a meeting of recovering murders going on. It is worth a watch for that premise alone, however what follows is a tense well-acted masterclass in suspense. What’s more it has Lance Reddick in, and that man can do no wrong, he is great as a crazed cult leader. This film is manic and maddening in the best way.

Bonus Recommendations

Mayhem is a great film, with a terrific sense of angry energy and one hell of a performance by Samara Weaving, if you like The Babysitter and Ready Or Not you will love this.

Also The Midnight Swim is superb and one of the most unsettling films I have ever seen, to say more would ruin it.

I have full spoiler reviews of all of these films up on the site, so check them out to after you have watched them, or before if you’re not bothered about spoilers; either way.

I hope you enjoy these films as much as I did, happy viewing!

Written by Luke

Blair Witch 2: A Trip To The Woods

Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadows is a horror fantasy film directed by Joe Berlinger. The film serves as sort of sequel to the original, but many view it as a standalone project. The plot sees a group of people go to the ‘real life’ filming locations of the first film and surprise, surprise things go wrong, and it turns out the Blair Witch is real.

This film is part found footage, part mockumentary. This film is often unfairly compared to the first film in a hugely unfavourably way. Sure, is it a bad sequel? Yes. It is even a sequel? Only in a lose sense. Was this film riddled with behind the scenes issues? Yes, hell the director of the sequel wanted nothing to do with it and said his vison of the film was not what was made. However is it a bad film? No.

There is some enjoyment to be had here. This is an early 2000’s film in every sense of the word, it opens with a Marilyn Manson song of course because what is more noughties horror than that. It is goofy and weird, and the CGI is bad, but that is part of the fun.

It depends on the sort of horror fan you’re, if you like a horror film to be scary and all of that then this sucks, it is not scary, there is no atmosphere, the scares are obvious and boring. However, if you’re the sort of horror fan that also enjoys bad horror films, I’m taking about things like Killer Clowns From Outer Space, then this is great; I found myself laughing far more than anything else.

Overall, as a horror film, divorcing it from the first film, this film is a failure, but it is also so bad it is good. There are a lot of unintentional laughs to be had here and some goofy hockie genre fun, so it depends what you want.

Pros.

It is hilarious.

Cons.

It is not scary.

It feels like a mishmash.

It doesn’t work as a sequel.

It makes no sense.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bliss: The Trip Of A Lifetime

Bliss is a horror mystery film directed by Joe Begos. The plot follows struggling artist Dezzy (Dora Madison), who begins to slip into a world of horrors after sampling the drug Bliss. Dezzy has days of blackouts only awaking to find herself covered in blood, with more and more of her friends going missing, and her painting becoming more and more complete.

This is a hell of a film. It is one of the trippiest films I have ever seen, and I works so well because you’re never quite aware of what is going on, nothing is spelt out to you here, there are so many levels to this film and things to be considered. Even long after watching it and sitting down to write out my thoughts, I find new thoughts coming into my head, being like oh I wonder if this was this, or that meant that. The ambiguous ending of the film only adds to it.

I also love the slow burning intensity this film has, things don’t just go from 0 to 100 as they do in some other horror films, even the good ones, but rather the descent begins softly and then becomes more and more of a freefall as the film progresses. You feel the sense of confusion and peril Dezzy is in, as she doesn’t realise what is happening to her, it is palpable.

My one complaint would be with the amount of nudity in the film, I understand that the director was clearly going for a very primal feel, but Dezzy spends more of the film nude than dressed and it reaches a point where it feels gratuitous. A lot of the time I don’t understand the reason for it either, the same scene could be staged without her being in the shower, maybe it was done push boundaries, maybe to be pervy; we can only speculate.

Overall, this is a great film, truly unique and beautifully designed. A good watch, however there is too much nudity which can be a bit uncomfortable.

Pros.

Stunning visuals.

Ambiguous story telling.

Great building sense of tension.

Good performances.

Cons.

Gratuitous nudity.

4.5/5

Pontypool: Ghosts Of The Radio

Pontypool is a Canadian horror film directed by Bruce McDonald. The plot follows a local radio crew in the midst of a language-based pandemic. Said virus effects English speakers making them slowly lose their minds and become transfixed on killing themselves and others, the pathogen seems to be triggered by repeat use of language and the perceived meaning of words.

I have to hand it to this film it is one of the most original zombie esque films I have ever seen, the premise which is based on the novel by Tony Burgess, Pontypool Changes Everything, is truly original and novel and for that I applaud them. I have never seen another film quite like this, the only other film that I can draw a slight if inaccurate comparison to is Arrival and that is souly because language is of huge importance in that film.

However, I think based on how the film executes its premise that it would be better suited to a short film: because though learning about what is going on and the virus is cool and interesting it just isn’t enough to sustain an hour and a half film. As such a lot of the other stuff such as the conflict between Grant (Stephen McHattie), and his producer in the beginning it all just feels like filler, it feels as though it has been written in to pad out the run time, because it adds nothing, the film doesn’t really get going until the virus stuff starts.

That I think is the key issue with this film, though it is novel and original, there just isn’t enough there to keep you entertained for an hour and a half. As the film was midway through, I was really starting to lose interest and yes, the break threw at the end and the bizarre post credits scene does something to pull me back, but it doesn’t really make you check back in.

Overall, though it is original and interesting it still falls down in the middle and becomes a slog that is hard to finish and honestly if I was reviewing it, I probably would have turned it off here, full of promise, but not fun to watch.

Pros.

The premise is cool.

It is truly unique.

Cons.

It is hard to get through.

There is not enough cool stuff to sustain the runtime.

After a point it becomes boring.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Don’t Knock Twice: Knock Knock Knocking On Hell’s Door

Don’t Knock Twice is a British horror film directed by Caradog W. James. The plot sees Chloe (Lucy Boynton), become the target of an evil demonic witch, who is intent on taking her away. She seeks out her biological mother Jess (Katee Sackoff), to help her defeat the witch and the two of them go on a journey to find out the truth and save Chloe’s soul.

Before we get into this review can I just say it makes no sense to have a British film set in Britain with a British cast, and then have the lead be an American. It is never explained why she is in England, which would be so easy to do, it would take one line of dialogue.

That said.

I enjoyed the twists and turns this film took, I enjoyed when the film was getting us to question whether the witch was even real or whether it was one of the two leading ladies, facing perhaps a mental break. I also enjoyed the twist ending, when the woman who had advised Jess on how to defeat the witch turned out to be working for the witch, I never saw it coming.

I also enjoyed the atmosphere and tone of this film; I thought the scares in this film were effective because a lot of the time they were achieved through a build up of tension. There were two jump scares in this film and both of them worked because of the harsh oppressive atmosphere. A lot of horror films today think all they need to be scary is jump scares, but they aren’t effective if you don’t have the right atmosphere for them. I thought the decision to really get into the back story of the witch was interesting as it gave us quite a nice meaty mythology to sink our teeth into.

Furthermore, I thought the witch herself was quite impressive, I liked the physicality of the performance and that it wasn’t CGI. I think the CGI effects/creatures that are in this film are far less impressive by comparison.

Overall, though this film gets a bad rap, I think it is a surprisingly strong horror film, both of the leads are great, it is scary and most important of all, it is well written.

Pros.

A non-CGI creature.

Good scares/ underusing jump scares.

Good twists and turns.

Solid lead performances.

Cons.

Some of the CGI effects weren’t good and more of it should have been done practically.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

House Of The Devil: The 80’s Will Never Die

House Of The Devil is an 80’s themed possession horror film directed by Ti West. The plot sees struggling student Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), take a babysitting job so she can pay to move into her own place. However, after she arrives at the house, she quickly begins to realise that something isn’t right and as the night progresses thing take a turn for the demonic.

My feelings on Ti West as a director are mixed, his style of directing is more miss than hit for me; I lovingly refer to him as a poor man’s Adam Wingard. I didn’t like The Babysitters, I thought it was disjointed and clumsy and I didn’t like his section in The ABC’s Of Death, I thought it was tasteless and cheap. So when I realised, he was the director of this I didn’t have high hopes.

That said, I actually enjoyed this film. Did it have it issues? Sure. A lot of it felt too drawn out with not a lot happening, and the use of spiking the audio after a scare started to become unpleasant to listen to after a while, but apart from that I thought it was enjoyable.

I enjoyed the 80’s aesthetic of the film, my favourite sequences of the film were the opening credits and the bit when Samantha was dancing around the house, I loved the goofy tone of the film in this regard. I thought the songs were great and I truly believe the 80’s will never die.

What’s more the performances are surprisingly good, the two I would draw attention to are Greta Gerwig as Megan and Tom Noonan as Mr Ulman. Gerwig is memorable as Sam’s best friend Megan, who guesses something is wrong right from the beginning. Gerwig has some great comedic moments and easily manages to impress; sadly she isn’t around for long. Noonan on the other hand, is creepy and imposing from the moment he appears on screen, he manages to do a lot with very little and gives a memorable performance.

Overall, this is a surprisingly good haunted house/possession horror film, with some strong performances.

Pros.

Noonan and Gerwig.

The 80’s feel of it.

Some good scares.

Cons.

Technical issues/ audio spiking.

It is overly drawn out.

Lena Dunham takes you out of the film.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Found Footage 3D: A Whole Other Dimension Of Average

Found Footage 3D is a horror film directed by Steven DeGennaro. The plot is about a budding group of filmmakers making a found footage film which becomes menacingly real, when they demonic monster of their film spills out into the real world the usual hijinks ensue.

This film had promise, the premise lent it the ability to be to found footage films what Scream was to slasher films. When I first started to watch this film, I thought it would be a smart film that would point out all the ridiculous things about this subgenre and be somewhat tongue in cheek and the beginning is suggestive towards this being the case.

However, as the film progress you realise something, this film is not mocking the genre, nor is it a homage or a tribute, it is just yet another found footage movie that is exactly the same as the rest. After the satirical start, events play out just like they would in any number of other found footage films and it all just feel very been there and done that. Yes, it is not the fault of the film that the genre is played out, but it is there fault that the filmmakers behind his film thought to add to the genre rather than change it.

The characters are the same collection you would expect from this sort of film and everything is incredibly formulaic. The leader of the group Derek (Carter Roy), is an intensely unlikable person, this must have surely been by design, though I don’t know why it would be as this leads you to want him to die for the entirety of the film, only to get a very disappointing death at the end of the film, leaving you feeling disappointed.

That would be a great way to sum up this film disappointing.

Overall, this film is a waste of time and is squanders its opportunity to be something different.

Pros.

The ending is good and tense.

The premise is unique.

Cons.

It wastes its potential.

It is painfully average.

Worst of all it is disappointing.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

The ABC’s Of Death: Bring Back Moral Panics!

The ABCs Of Death is a 26-part horror anthology film with each segment being directed by a different person and being about a different letter of the alphabet. The film features such popular directors as Adam Wingard and Ben Wheatley.

Before I get into the review in depth, I just want to say don’t watch this film! I understand the need in cinema, especially in the horror genre, to be shocking and boundary pushing, but this film is just cheap shock value, it has no class, no taste, it is just edgy for the sake of being edgy. An example of my point, in Ti West’s segment M Is For Miscarriage the whole point of the story is a women looking for a plunger to push her stillborn kid down the toilet, there is nothing more to it than that, it is handled poorly and with questionable taste; also that is one of the more tame examples from this anthology.

There are plenty of other segments that feature, rape, paedophilia, illusions to bestiality, dog fighting and many other horrible things, not one of them is handled with any taste, it is all shock for shock value. Surprisingly one of the ones I just mentioned the dog fighting one directed by Marcel Sarmiento, is probably the one with the most taste; that is not something I expected to be writing this morning.

I can break down the shorts into 4 categories, good or at least well done, these are the segments by Wingard, Wheatly, Adrian Garcia Bogliano, Lee Hardcastle and Banjong Pisanthanakun. The weird stuff this includes the furry segment, the farting segment and the final segment. The average/ boring stuff, this includes the surfing segment and the life cycle one and then the offensively bad/ done in poor taste, which includes most everything else. So as you can see it is truly a mixed bag, with very few well done segments.

Finally, unlike something like V/H/S where are all of the segments worked together, they were separate and individual, but they all had the same feel and tone, the tone in this film is wildly all over the place, you have really dark unpleasant segments, followed by light and fluffy stuff and it is jarring to say the least.

Overall, this has been one of the toughest films I have watched recently and not only do I not recommend it, I advise you to stay away from it, you could probably find more cultured nuanced horror on Youtube. A black mark on some of the biggest names in horror.

Pros.

There is about 5/26 good segments.

Cons.

Most of the segments are horrible.

It is incredibly hard to watch.

It is done in such poor taste I would call it offensive.

The tonal inconsistencies and also the lack of effort by some, looking at you Ti West.

1/5

Dead Shack: Zombies Gotta Eat

Dead Shack is a comedy horror film directed by Peter Ricq. The plot sees a family go to stay in the countryside, once they’re there the children of the family realise that there is something wrong with the woman next-door; she is feeding people to her zombie family, and their parents seem to be next on the menu.

The first 45 minutes of this film are a slog, boring, confusing, and poorly done. The opening cinematography choice of using a collection of bird’s eye shots, while we hear diegetic audio that we can’t see, is jarring and not nice to watch. This turned me off the film before it had even begun.

It is also confusing because as we are introduced to the characters, all of whom are incredibly bland barring the father of the family Roger (Donovan Stinson), we don’t understand how they are related. This is particularly true of Jason (Matthew Nelson-Mahood), even after watching it till the end, I still don’t understand why he was there or who he was to the family; it seems needless obtuse.

The only positive of this first half of the film is Roger, the dad, who is hilarious. Comedy in this film is a strange beast because whenever anyone other than Roger makes a joke it falls flat and is painfully unfunny, but when Roger does it he actually manages to make you laugh; reminding you that this film is supposed to be a comedy horror, rather than just bland. This a testament to Stinson’s comedic abilities.

The second half of the film is better as it focuses on the showdown between the kids and the neighbour, there is no weird cinematography or editing choices, it flows much better, it actually gives you some faith in the film. The showdown itself is well done and we get some nice gore and a few shocks, it is not enough to be remembered after you have finished it mind, but it is still far, far better than the first half.

Overall, this is an okay film, there are a few good jokes and the second half is watchable. However, the first half is a real drag to watch so I really can’t recommend it.

Pros.

Donovan Stinson.

The second half really turns it around.

Cons.

Bad filmmaking decisions.

Terrible characters.

One of the worst first halves I’ve seen in a long time.

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Zombie Spring Breakers: Hans After Peep Show

Zombie Spring Breakers is a horror comedy directed by Andy Edwards. The plot sees a group of young people head off to Ibiza to escape all the pressure of back home, namely a zombie outbreak. However, surprise surprise the party island hasn’t been able to keep the zombies out and the island becomes infected soon after their arrival and our plucky group needs to escape.

This is great horror junk food; will it change the world or reinvent the genre? No. However, it is good for a few good laughs and some gory kills. This is defiantly a zombie comedy rather than a horror comedy as there is no horror in this film at all, this film doesn’t even consider trying to balance the two genre it just throws everything into the comedy.

With that it mind, this film is funny it does have it’s moments, not all of the jokes land it isn’t a joke a minute, none stop, laughing fit, but it will give you a smile or two while you watch it. The main comedic force in this film is Matt King (of Peep Show fame), who plays the film’s villain, evil club owner Karl. King has all the best lines and every time we get to see him interact with another member of the cast or deliver a line; we get to see why he is such a talented performer; if it wasn’t for him this film would be easily forgotten.

The rest of the cast is fine, they are serviceable enough, they won’t blow you away. None of them are really memorable and you will forget them when the film ends. They are the usual collection of stereotypes and character types, as you probably aren’t surprised, but at least they seem to have good on-screen chemistry together.

Overall, this is the sort of film that won’t affect you either way if you miss it, however if one night it is on the TV and you’re bored and maybe a little drunk there is far worse things to watch.

Pros.

Matt King.

The cast have good chemistry.

Cons.

The characters are boring, bland and forgettable.

There is no horror.

Lots of it makes no sense at all.

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke