10 underrated horror movies to watch right now

We’re right in the thick of Halloween season, which means you’re probably looking for a great horror movie to watch. While the classics and favorites are always good places to begin, you may want to try something new. The good news is there are plenty of underrated horror movies out there, from titles you’ve ignored on Netflix to a few hidden gems you may not have heard of before.

Check out some of our favorite spooky films that may be overlooked the first time or deserve more attention.

The Wailing

Well Go USA Entertainment

You can watch the following:Prime Video Peacock or Rent on Prime Video YouTube

The WailingThe story is about a string of murders which seem to be connected with the supernatural. Among the movie’s many harrowing scenes is a shamanistic exorcism that’s one of the most tense sequences in any movie on this list. Combining that with late-story revelations and The WailingIt’s a great look at the way traditional religious beliefs clash with those of modern society.

Lake Mungo

Mungo Productions

You can watch the following:You can rent Shudder or Prime Video on YouTube

This Australian found-footage gem has started getting a little more recognition, but it’s still criminally underseen. A family is followed by the film shortly after a member drowns tragically while swimming. Her ghostly apparition begins to appear around her house after her death. So her brother installs cameras in order to record the apparent haunting. This is a creepy and profound story about how people deal with grief, tragedy and extra-physical evidence left behind by the dead.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre – The Next Generation

Image: New Line Cinema via Everett Collection

What to WatchRent or buy Peacock from Prime Video and YouTube

One of the strangest horror sequels ever made, this third entry in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series stars pre-fame Matthew McConaughey and Renée Zellweger. McConaughey plays a murderous member of Leatherface’s family who discovers Zellweger and her teenage friends shortly after their car breaks down. The movie keeps all the signature creepiness of the Chainsaw franchise, but what’s truly disturbing is the way the second half descends into something completely unhinged. It seems that the film is so chaotic at times, the director has left the cameras on as the actors scream. It’s not exactly a good movie, but it’s absolutely one that’s worth watching with a rowdy room of people who can get on its level.

Winter’s Last Winter

IFC Films

What to WatchRent Shudder on Prime Video or YouTube

Winter’s Last Winter is one of the best climate change horror movies ever made, but it’s also just super scary. Strange occurrences begin to occur at the base, and the movie is about a scientist who was sent there to assess the effects of drilling for oil in the Arctic. As things get worse, and people start dying, the station’s chief (Ron Perlman) forces everyone to buckle down, making the situation even worse. There are many creepy scenes, a general sense of existential terror, and an unexpected ending to the movie.

God Told Me to

The Georgia Company

What to WatchRent Prime Video or Shudder on YouTube, Prime Video

It’s more like three films in one.God Told Me toThis is an epic supernatural, mystery, and crime movie. It opens with someone shooting at a crowd of people from the top a water tank, and other strange crimes being committed by random individuals. When each person is asked why they committed their atrocities, each says the same thing: “God told me to.” The detective in charge of the case (Tony Lo Bianco) eventually tracks things down to an enigmatic cult leader who claims to be far more than just a man. And that’s where the movie gets really weird. There’s no point in spoiling it here, but suffice it to say that God Told Me to is one of the strangest horror movies you’re likely to ever see — apologies for being That Person who only talks about this movie for the next year.

Creepy

Image: Shochiku

What to StreamKanopy is available for free (with a library card) or as a rental on Prime Video

This film is directed by Japanese horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawa but it’s much less famous than his other two masterpieces The PulseThe following are some examples of how to get started: Cure, Creepy Follows a retired police detective, who is dragged in to a cold-case about a family that has gone missing. As he gets deeper into the investigation his neighbor begins to act strangely and an unsettling series of events occur that appear like impossible coincidences. Creepy lives up to its name, but it’s also a twisty mystery movie that’s, by design, nearly impossible to unwind.

Eyes of Fire

Elysian Productions

What to WatchShudder

This is one of the rarest American horror films. Eyes of FireThe story is about an charismatic minister who escapes from a hanging after having a relationship with a woman in the locality. He then builds a tiny settlement deep into the forest. The group begins to have strange, supernatural events between attacks by local tribes. Though the preacher is undisturbed, it’s clear the rest of the group is getting weary, and that one of their members might have connections to witchcraft. Eyes of FireIt’s a beautifully staged film that grows in intensity and eeriness over its first two thirds before exploding into something totally out of this universe at the end. While certainly well-regarded, it’s still one of the most underseen horror classics of the ’80s.

Opera

Image: ADC Films, Courtesy Everett Collection

What to Watch” Shudder

The likes of Suspiria, Deep RedThe following are some examples of how to get started: Tenebrae, Italian horror master Dario Argento’s Opera is among his most disturbing-but-entertaining movies. The story follows a young woman who becomes the center of a series of attacks at an opera house that’s staging Verdi’s Macbeth. Even as the perpetrator, who is masked and hides behind a mask, continues to avoid detection, Argento’s attacks get more brutal. Argento’s score is a masterpiece, even compared with the classics. It was composed by Brian Eno (of the Goblin band, who often work together with Argento) and Bill Wyman from The Rolling Stones.

Wrong turn (2021)

Image: Saban Films

What to WatchParamount Plus and Showtime, or Prime Video (youtube),

It’s rare when the original creator of a series gets the chance to reboot it, but that’s exactly what happened with the unfortunately underseen Right Turn WrongThis is a movie from some years ago. This remarkably brutal, creepy film follows a bunch of backpacking teens who find a hidden society deep in the woods and become enemies with its members. The original Wrong Turn films were noted for their hillbilly violence, but the new reboot is far more innovative and disturbing.

The Dark and the Wicked

Image: RLJE Films/Shudder

What to WatchShudder

The Dark and the WickedThis movie is about a demonic being who moves into a farm. The movie is about two siblings who return to their family farm in order to take care of the ailing father. But things go wrong immediately. There’s no point in deflating the twists, but let’s just say there’s a demon here, and that all it seems to want is to cause infinite harm to anyone nearby. The Dark and the WickedIt is a slow burning dreadful film that explodes in shocking violence. The Dark and the Wicked also might be the bleakest movie of any on this list, and that’s no small feat.