News
Is Shudder Worth My Money? (Plus a List of Available Titles)
Shudder, the new horror movie streaming service from AMC has been sending out invitations to its beta, and I’ve been lucky enough to get one fairly early. A lot of horror fans are no doubt wondering if the service will be worth their money once they have the option to subscribe. The short answer is probably.
Now let’s get to the long answer.
At the very least, it’s worth a free trial, which they’re offering up front. In fact, they’re giving those with access a 60-day free trial, which is twice as long as you’d get with most services, including Netflix. That’s a pretty good amount of time to get familiar with what Shudder has to offer.
Beyond the free trial, you can pay $4.99 a month or save $10 by paying $49.99 for a whole year. It’s only available in the U.S. to start, but will expand worldwide “soon”.
The biggest selling points for this service are going to be the titles offered, how they differ from those of competitors like Netflix and Hulu, how frequently new ones are added, and how easy it will be to watch these titles on the device of your choosing.
Considering that the service only just launched in beta, it’s doing pretty well in the titles department. See the end of the article for the full list of what’s available. There’s a pretty good selection across a broad range of sub-genres. There are classics, modern classics, not-so-classics and a lot of stuff in between. In the end, you’re likely to find some titles you’re interested in regardless of what kind of horror fan you are.
Still, it’s unclear how often it will be updated with new titles, and once the trial period wears off, that’s going to be a major point of consideration for those deciding whether or not to pay for this each month. Unless horror is the ONLY kind of movie you like, you’re not going to want to cancel your Netflix subscription and just use this, so if you are already use Netflix, you’re looking at an extra monthly bill, and there is a great deal of overlap between what’s available on both services. If Shudder can get more new releases on a fairly regular basis as well as some more obscure oldies, they’ll have a good shot at earning your hard earned money.
Another thing that could help, and which has certainly helped Netflix, would be adding high quality original content, not to mention TV shows in general. Despite this being an AMC product, for example, there’s no The Walking Dead (which is a huge hit on Netflix).
Shudder does offer users the ability to request titles. There’s a nice little form that lets you include a title and its director. They say they’ll use requests to shape their strategy for getting content. Obviously a request is no guarantee that they’ll get what you want, but it’s nice that they’re giving users the ability to weigh in.
There is an interesting Livestream feature that serves as a 24/7 running channel of horror content. I’ve glanced at it a couple of times to find things I didn’t recognize playing. Unfortunately, there was no information readily available telling me what I was seeing. I’m not sure how often people would use this feature, but I guess it could be fun for Twitter-based viewing parties.
The actual site’s usability could be a little better. There’s no search function, and it could really use the ability to save movies to a queue like Netflix. We must remember it’s still in beta, however, and everything about it is likely to improve. In fact, they already say the search feature is in development. For now, you can sort alphabetically, by release date or by those that have been watched/reviewed the most.
To find titles so far, I’ve just been clicking through the entire list and making my own list in a Google Doc of what I want to watch, just to keep track. They also have lists of specific types of movies so you can browse that way. These include things like “A-Horror,” “Psychos and Madmen,” “Identity Crisis,” Comedy of Terrors,” etc.
One thing that’s a little misleading and off-putting is that they’ll use images from movies that aren’t actually available to stream to represent categories. They use an image from Contracted to represent the body horror collection “Gross anatomy” for example, but don’t include that actual film. They use an image of Danny from The Shining for a documentary collection. I assumed that meant I’d find Room 237 in there, but this is not the case. This isn’t a huge deal. Just a minor annoyance. To add insult to injury, both Contracted and Room 237 are available on Netflix.
Overall, however, I’m quite pleased with Shudder. So far, I’ve watched two films (Asylum Blackout and Red, White & Blue – both of which I’d recommend, by the way), and I’ve been very happy with the service so far. Picture and audio quality have been non-issues, and I’ve experienced no playback issues whatsoever.
In terms of device compatibility, Shudder only works from the web browser for now, but that will change soon. They’ve already said they’ll have iOS, Android, and Roku compatibility in the future, though no timeline has been given to my knowledge. These (and other) platforms will be key for a lot of people.
Your best bet for watching Shudder content on your TV right now is to have a Chromecast. If you use one of these $35 devices, you can use Google’s Chrome web browser to watch Shudder on your television pretty easily. That doesn’t really help you if you want to watch stuff on your phone or tablet though.
Here’s a complete list of titles on Shudder as of the time of this writing:
A Tale of Two Sisters
The ABCs of Death
Absentia
Acolytes
An American Werewolf in London
Anamorph
And Now the Screaming Starts
Antichrist
Apartment 143
Area 407
Asylum
Asylum Blackout
Bad Biology
Baron Blood
A Bay of Blood
Before the Fall
Beyond the Black Rainbow
Birdemic
Black Death
Black Sabbath
Black Sunday
Blood Car
Bloody Birthday
Burke and Hare
Cadaver
Canniba! The Musical
Carnival of Souls
Castle Freak
Chaw
Choose
Citadel
City of the Living Dead
Class of Nuke ‘Em High
Cockneys vs Zombies
Cold Sweat
Combat Shock
Cropsey
Crowsnest
Dark Mirror
Dark Star
Day of the Dead
Dead & Buried
Deadgirl
Dead Hooker in a Trunk
Dead Snow
Deadly Blessing
Death Bell
Deathdream
Deep Red
The Disappeared
Discopath
Doghouse
Don’t Look Back
Don’t Torture a Duckling
Donkey Punch
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dream Home
Eaten Alive (Hooper)
Exam
Exorcismus
Faces of Death
Fascination
Fathers Day
Fears of the Dark
Fermat’s Room
Five Dolls for an August Moon
Frankenhooker
Frankenstein’s Army
Frightmare
Ganja & Hess
The Ghost Galleon
The Grapes of Death
Grotesque
Habit
Heartless
Hellgate
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
High Lane
Hobo with a Shotgun
Home Movie
Horror Express
How to Make a Monster
Hush
I Am a Ghost
I Saw the Devil
I Sell the Dead
Ichi the Killer
In Their Skin
In Their Sleep
Intruder
John Dies at the End
Jug Face
Julia’s Eyes
Ka-Boom
Kidnapped
Kill Baby Kill
Kill List
Leftbank
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Let the Right One In
Lisa and the Devil
Lost Soul
Lucky Bastard
The Machine Girl
Magic
Maniac
Maniac Cop
Marebito
Memento Mori
Monsters
Mother’s Day
Murder Party
Mutants
Night of the Living Dead
Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut
Nightmares in Red, White And Blue
Nosferatu
Nosferatu, The Vampyre
Occupant
Opera
Paintball
Penumbra
Piranha 3D
Playback
Pontypool
Prey
Puffball
Pulse
Puppet Master
PVC-1
Red, White & Blue
Requiem
Requiem For a Vampire
Return to Sleepaway Camp
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
Rites of Spring
Room of Death
S&Man
Saint
Santa Sangre
Sauna
Schizo
Septien
Severance
Shadow
Shakma
Sheitan
Shock Waves
Shrooms
Shutter
Shuttle
Sick Nurses
Simon Killer
Sleep Tight
Sleepaway Camp
Southern Gothic
Spider Baby
Spiderhole
Splinter
Stitches
Storage 24
Summer of Blood
Tetsuo the Iron Man
The Appeared
The Battery
The Beast Must Die
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
The Church
The Corridor
The Countess
The Crazies (Romero)
The Devil’s Rain
The Devil’s Rock
The Eclipse
The Evil Eye
The Golem
The Haunted Castle
The Horror Party Beach
The Host
The House of the Devil
The Housemaid
The Human Centipede
The Human Centipede 2
The Innkeepers
The Last Winter
The Living and the Dead
The Monkey’s Paw
The Moth Diaries
The Objective
The Pact
The Possession of David O’Reilly
The Shiver of the Vampires
The Shrine
The Silent House
The Skeptic
The Snowtown Murders
The Toolbox Murders
The Toxic Avenger
The Whip and the Body
Them
Timecrimes
Toad Road
Tokyo Gore Police
Tombs of the Blind Dead
Tormented
Tourist Trap
Trail of the Screaming Forehead
Troll Hunter
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
Two Evil Eyes
Undocumented
V/H/S
Vampires
Vampyres
Victim
We Are the Night
We Are What We Are
Werewolves on Wheels
Whispering Corridors
White Zombie
The Wild Man of the Navidad
Wishing Stairs
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Lists
Radio Silence Movies Ranked
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, and Chad Villella are all filmmakers under the collective label called Radio Silence. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are the primary directors under that moniker while Villella produces.
They have gained popularity over the past 13 years and their films have become known as having a certain Radio Silence “signature.” They are bloody, usually contain monsters, and have breakneck action sequences. Their recent film Abigail exemplifies that signature and is perhaps their best film yet. They are currently working on a reboot of John Carpenter’s Escape From New York.
We thought we would go through the list of projects they have directed and rank them from high to low. None of the movies and shorts on this list are bad, they all have their merits. These rankings from top to bottom are just ones we felt showcased their talents the best.
We didn’t include movies they produced but didn’t direct.
Abigail
An update to the second film on this list, Abagail is the natural progression of Radio Silence’s love of lockdown horror. It follows in pretty much the same footsteps of Ready or Not, but manages to go one better — make it about vampires.
Ready or Not
This film put Radio Silence on the map. While not as successful at the box office as some of their other films, Ready or Not proved that the team could step outside their limited anthology space and create a fun, thrilling, and bloody adventure-length film.
Scream (2022)
While Scream will always be a polarizing franchise, this prequel, sequel, reboot — however you want to label it showed just how much Radio Silence knew the source material. It wasn’t lazy or cash-grabby, just a good time with legendary characters we love and new ones who grew on us.
Southbound (The Way Out)
Radio Silence tosses their found footage modus operandi for this anthology film. Responsible for the bookend stories, they create a terrifying world in their segment titled The Way Out, which involves strange floating beings and some sort of time loop. It’s kind of the first time we see their work without a shaky cam. If we were to rank this entire film, it would remain at this position on the list.
V/H/S (10/31/98)
The film that started it all for Radio Silence. Or should we say the segment that started it all. Even though this isn’t feature-length what they managed to do with the time they had was very good. Their chapter was titled 10/31/98, a found-footage short involving a group of friends who crash what they think is a staged exorcism only to learn not to assume things on Halloween night.
Scream VI
Cranking up the action, moving to the big city and letting Ghostface use a shotgun, Scream VI turned the franchise on its head. Like their first one, this film played with canon and managed to win over a lot of fans in its direction, but alienated others for coloring too far outside the lines of Wes Craven’s beloved series. If any sequel was showing how the trope was going stale it was Scream VI, but it managed to squeeze some fresh blood out of this nearly three-decade mainstay.
Devil’s Due
Fairly underrated, this, Radio Silence’s first feature-length film, is a sampler of things they took from V/H/S. It was filmed in an omnipresent found footage style, showcasing a form of possession, and features clueless men. Since this was their first bonafide major studio job it’s a wonderful touchstone to see how far they have come with their storytelling.
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News
Perhaps the Scariest, Most Disturbing Series of The Year
You may have never heard of Richard Gadd, but that will probably change after this month. His mini-series Baby Reindeer just hit Netflix and it’s a terrifying deep dive into abuse, addiction, and mental illness. What is even scarier is that it’s based on Gadd’s real-life hardships.
The crux of the story is about a man named Donny Dunn played by Gadd who wants to be a stand-up comedian, but it’s not working out so well thanks to stage fright stemming from his insecurity.
One day at his day job he meets a woman named Martha, played to unhinged perfection by Jessica Gunning, who is instantly charmed by Donny’s kindness and good looks. It doesn’t take long before she nicknames him “Baby Reindeer” and begins to relentlessly stalk him. But that is just the apex of Donny’s problems, he has his own incredibly disturbing issues.
This mini-series should come with a lot of triggers, so just be warned it is not for the faint of heart. The horrors here don’t come from blood and gore, but from physical and mental abuse that go beyond any physiological thriller you may have ever seen.
“It’s very emotionally true, obviously: I was severely stalked and severely abused,” Gadd said to People, explaining why he changed some aspects of the story. “But we wanted it to exist in the sphere of art, as well as protect the people it’s based on.”
The series has gained momentum thanks to positive word-of-mouth, and Gadd is getting used to the notoriety.
“It’s clearly struck a chord,” he told The Guardian. “I really did believe in it, but it’s taken off so quickly that I do feel a bit windswept.”
You can stream Baby Reindeer on Netflix right now.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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Movies
The Original ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel Had an Interesting Location
Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s sequels to hit movies weren’t as linear as they are today. It was more like “let’s re-do the situation but in a different location.” Remember Speed 2, or National Lampoon’s European Vacation? Even Aliens, as good as it is, follows a lot of the plot points of the original; people stuck on a ship, an android, a little girl in peril instead of a cat. So it makes sense that one of the most popular supernatural comedies of all time, Beetlejuice would follow the same pattern.
In 1991 Tim Burton was interested in doing a sequel to his 1988 original, it was called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian:
“The Deetz family moves to Hawaii to develop a resort. Construction begins, and it’s quickly discovered that the hotel will be sitting on top of an ancient burial ground. Beetlejuice comes in to save the day.”
Burton liked the script but wanted some re-writes so he asked then-hot screenwriter Daniel Waters who had just got done contributing to Heathers. He passed on the opportunity so producer David Geffen offered it to Troop Beverly Hills scribe Pamela Norris to no avail.
Eventually, Warner Bros. asked Kevin Smith to punch up Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian, he scoffed at the idea, saying, “Didn’t we say all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?”
Nine years later the sequel was killed. The studio said Winona Ryder was now too old for the part and an entire re-cast needed to happen. But Burton never gave up, there were a lot of directions he wanted to take his characters, including a Disney crossover.
“We talked about lots of different things,” the director said in Entertainment Weekly. “That was early on when we were going, Beetlejuice and the Haunted Mansion, Beetlejuice Goes West, whatever. Lots of things came up.”
Fast-forward to 2011 when another script was pitched for a sequel. This time the writer of Burton’s Dark Shadows, Seth Grahame-Smith was hired and he wanted to make sure the story wasn’t a cash-grabbing remake or reboot. Four years later, in 2015, a script was approved with both Ryder and Keaton saying they would return to their respective roles. In 2017 that script was revamped and then eventually shelved in 2019.
During the time the sequel script was being tossed around in Hollywood, in 2016 an artist named Alex Murillo posted what looked like one-sheets for a Beetlejuice sequel. Although they were fabricated and had no affiliation with Warner Bros. people thought they were real.
Perhaps the virality of the artwork sparked interest in a Beetlejuice sequel once again, and finally, it was confirmed in 2022 Beetlejuice 2 had a green light from a script written by Wednesday writers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. The star of that series Jenna Ortega signed on to the new movie with filming starting in 2023. It was also confirmed that Danny Elfman would return to do the score.
Burton and Keaton agreed that the new film titled Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice wouldn’t rely on CGI or other other forms of technology. They wanted the film to feel “handmade.” The film wrapped in November 2023.
It’s been over three decades to come up with a sequel to Beetlejuice. Hopefully, since they said aloha to Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian there has been enough time and creativity to ensure Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice will not only honor the characters, but fans of the original.
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice will open theatrically on September 6.
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