Jagged Mind and the 15 best horror movies to watch on Hulu right now

With October in full swing, it’s time to enjoy some horror movies. Thankfully, several streaming sites, such as Hulu have a lot to offer in terms of scares this fall. From originals for the streamer to some underrated sleeper horror films that may have slipped through the cracks, Hulu offers something for everyone.

Some lean more into sci-fi, but they are notable for some truly gripping horror tales and often work as allegories to modern life. They come from fresh faces in the genre, with a couple of famous ones, too, and more than enough to get you freaking out. Here are 15 horror movies to check out on Hulu and enjoy the Halloween season in style.

Horror movies to watch on Hulu right now

Infinity Pool

Brandon Cronenberg crafted this wild and wooly tale of a husband and wife (Alexander Skarsgard and Mia Goth) whose vacation turns into a nightmare. After he accidentally kills a man, Sgarsgard is sentenced to death. However, he has the option of having himself cloned, so the clone is the one executed.

Sounds good, right? Wrong as the choice sends the man spiraling through questions on self-identity and just what is reality or not. Even when it looks like it’s over, there’s more to this dark journey. It’s a dark and twisted tale of a man literally ready to kill himself and shows just how the “perfect escape” is anything but.

Possessor

Before Infinity Pool, Brandon Cronenberg made his mark with this 2020 film with a genius idea. Andrea Riseborough is an assassin with the perfect method of being undetected. She uses a special chip to take over the bodies of random people, use them to make her hits and then jumps out after making them kill themselves.

It’s already a cool idea, but it gets better when Riseborough’s latest job goes wrong and leaves her stuck in a man’s body. Now, the two psyches fight it out for control, among other dark battles. It leans more into sci-fi, but there’s enough for horror fans with Riseborough’s struggle for her own identity and some great grisly fun.

Jagged Mind

How far are you willing to risk for love? This dark 2023 movie answers that. Maisie Richardson-Sellers is a woman who falls for a quirky woman, played by Shannon Woodward. The seemingly perfect relationship is thrown as Richardson-Sellers keeps having odd flashes where her girlfriend changes personalities and seemingly reliving events.

Eventually realizing she’s in a  strange time loop, Richardson-Sellers tries to escape. It’s a gripping tale with some unique turns of two damaged and complex women, and the strange romance makes the scares even more terrifying. It’s a compelling story that has some horror edges amid the romance to put a darker spin on a sci-fi idea.

Crimes Of The Future

Only the twisted mind of David Cronenberg could create this film. In a future where humanity has evolved to no longer feel pain, Viggo Mortensen and wife Lea Seydoux put on “performance art” where Mortensen has his organs removed before a live audience and then grown back. Yes, it’s as gross as it sounds, yet it remains compelling for this film.

A good supporting cast, including Kristen Stewart and Scott Speedman, aids this dark and warped film. It’s crazy even by Croenberg’s own standards yet a grisly view that does ask tough questions on how far some people will go for a thrill.

Clock

Alexis Jacknow expanded her short story into this gripping 2023 film. Dianna Agron is a woman facing her 39th birthday and determined to have a child before that. A doctor suggests her biological clock is broken and puts her on a treatment that has her imagining a mysterious tall woman stalking her.

It gets weirder with Agron no longer seeing in color and obsessed with clocks around her. The ending can be baffling and make you wonder how much of what you’ve seen is real or not, yet the ride itself is a wild one, as birth-related horror is always good for some scares.

Fresh

They say the dating scene can be a horror show, but nothing like this. Daisy Edgar-Jones is a woman using a dating app to find a handsome man played by Sebastian Stan. At first, it looks good with a nice relationship until Stan drugs her and chains her up. He’s a cannibal planning to use her not just for his own meal but to satisfy others.

As a friend races to save her, Daisy is in for some horrible times in some gory scenes. Even worse is the realization Daisy isn’t his first victim, and one may be Stan’s accomplice. It’s a truly twisted take on a rom-com with a wicked final scene that puts a new spin on the term “the date from Hell.”

No One Will Save You

When Stephen King is openly recommending something as great horror, it should be checked out. It’s notable how this film has almost no dialogue whatsoever, adding to its already creepy vibe. Kaitlyn Dever is a young woman who, for some reason, is utterly despised by everyone in her town, including her parents.

The “alienation” takes on a new dimension when she finds herself facing an intruder who’s an actual alien. The sci-fi themes mix with the horror perfectly, with Dever giving a fantastic performance. The lack of spoken dialogue emphasizes the unsettling story, and the ending is a bizarre “happy” one that just ends up being scarier.

Prey

Yes, it’s more part of a classic sci-fi franchise, but it can also count for horror too. It helps that it’s the best Predator movie since the 1987 original. Amber Midthunder is a Native American woman in the 18th century who tries to prove herself as a warrior. She gets the chance to take part in a hunt…only for the hunters to become the prey for one of the camouflaged alien Predators.

As the various hunters fall, Midthunder engages in a dark battle against that alien. It’s fantastic seeing this no-tech woman taking on the advanced Predator, using her wits for some gripping action. It can be scary, especially the ending and why this series has always worked as horror as well as sci-fi.

Hatching

Trying to describe this 2022 Finnish movie is wild enough. Try watching it. A young gymnast is pushed by her mother to always have the right body image. After killing a crow, she takes its egg home to raise. So far, it sounds like a nice family film. That’s until the egg grows and hatches a bizarre bird-like figure who becomes the girl’s unlikely friend.

It gets darker as the “pet” starts going extreme to protect the girl, including taking out her rivals and a brutal attack on her mother. It amps up as it goes into a crazy horror flick, yet it works as an analogy for body issues and how parental pressure can lead to some dark moves.

Barbarian

Zach Cregger made a sensational debut writing and directing this 2022 thriller. The setup looks like a Hallmark Channel rom-com as two people find they’ve rented the same house and share it. The fun ends early as the woman is attacked by a mysterious stalker. It gets darker as the house’s owner is fired over his own behavior and returns home to discover the same intruder.

Soon, all three are held captive and find the dark history behind the house. Rather than uniting to escape, the trio are fighting among themselves and the sharp dialogue sparks the scares. It was a good sleeper hit and shows how there’s a new generation ready to make horror movies more fun.

Bad Hair

To mix some laughs with the scares, this 2020 film is terrific. Elle Lorraine is a woman who gets a fantastic hairdo that makes her a hit at the local salon. It doesn’t take her long to realize the hair is somehow demonically possessed to kill anyone it feels threatens its owner. Yes, it’s nutty but it’s also freaky to watch.

The movie has some sharp satire on culture and what it takes to looking so good. The scenes of the hair going on its rampages while Lorraine freaks out are both horrifying and beautifully hilarious and it comes together to a movie that will weigh on you on your next haircut.

The Menu

A terrific cast backs up this wonderful dark comedy that takes a sinister turn. Anya Taylor-Joy is among the guests journeying to an island where chef Ralph Fiennes is planning an exclusive meal. There’s some good clashes between the rich guests before Fiennes starts exposing their dark secrets and they realize too late they can’t leave.

The film is nicely structured as each “course” ramps up the tension and things get more grisly. Taylor-Joy is a highlight but the cast with Nicholas Hoult and others enhance the madness. It comes to a brutal final “desert,” as this movie offers a lot of gore with its fun meals for a sharp experience.

Malignant

James Wan directs this wicked 2021 hit that delivers one of the best horror experiences of recent years. Annabelle Wallis is a young woman affected by visions of brutal murders that somehow become a reality. The search for answers leads to a dark road into her own past and its secrets.

The build to the reveal is expertly done and the final revelation is a shocker. The ending may be wild but it fits as it’s a moody experience that has to be enjoyed for a film that will make your skin crawl long after it’s done.

Tucker & Dale Vs Evil

It’s time to get silly here in this beloved 2010 cult classic. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are the title characters, a pair of forest-dwelling hillbillies who are nice and friendly (if thick-headed) guys. When they find a teenaged girl separated from her friends, they try to help. But, having been brought up on horror movies, the rest of the teens think these guys are psychopaths and try to “rescue” their friend.

All this does is lead to the teens accidentally killing themselves in brutally funny ways while Tucker and Dale think they’re the ones targeted. The movie amps it up to a great ending in a wonderful satire of the slasher genre and funny in its own right.

Seven

To wrap it up, here’s David Fincher’s 1995 masterpiece of thrills. Morgan Freeman is an aged detective and Brad Pitt his younger partner tracking a serial killer who models his victims after the Seven Deadly Sins. Each kill is darker than the other as the cops wonder if they’re dealing with something more than human.

Instead, when Kevin Spacey shows up as John Doe, his very banality is more terrifying than any demon. It pays off in the now infamous climax with Pitt, Freeman, Spacey and Gwenyth Paltrow aiding Finicher in showing how human beings can often be the greatest horror of them all.

Which of these horror movies will you be checking out on Hulu for a night of thrills? Did we miss any great scary movies streaming on Hulu?