Why You Can Trust CNET
Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement
Check out Prey, The Monkey or Barbarian.
Meara covers streaming service news for CNET. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in journalism. When she’s not writing, she likes to dote over her cat, sip black coffee and try out new horror movies.
Hulu is packed with great horror films. Before we list the streaming service’s absolute best options, let’s cover some worthy alternatives.
Hulu is home to all the films in the Alien franchise (plus the TV series Alien: Earth). There’s also the post-apocalyptic horror flick 28 Weeks Later (2007), slasher Thanksgiving (2023) and romance-gone-wrong Fresh (2022). Finally, you should check out The Cabin in the Woods (2011), The Sixth Sense (1999) and Bone Tomahawk (2015), starring Kurt Russell.
Watch this: Why Christmas Movies Don’t Feel the Same Anymore I How it Hits
05:13
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
Now, on to a roundup of the best horror movies on Hulu.
Hulu If you count incredibly capable, invisible killing machines as scary, you may be watching some of the scenes in Prey through your fingers. This addition to the Predator franchise takes place in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago and centers on a young warrior named Naru. Watch this one for a compelling underdog story about a human determinedly fighting against a powerful alien.
Director: Dan TrachtenbergStars: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegroRuntime: 99 mins Umbrella Entertainment A possessed girl is a special guest on a 1977 talk show in this horror flick that gradually gets more intense. The film stars David Dastmalchian as Jack Delroy, a charismatic host who wants to boost his ratings. If you’re craving supernatural horror, stay seated for this terrifying Halloween special.
Directors: Colin Cairnes, Cameron CairnesStars: David Dastmalchian, Ingrid Torelli, Laura GordonRuntime: 95 mins Neon This horror comedy adapts a Stephen King short story and revolves around estranged twin brothers (both played by White Lotus star Theo James) and an evil toy monkey. Directed by Osgood Perkins (Longlegs), the flick sees brutal deaths occur when the unsettling, drum-playing primate is around.
Director: Osgood PerkinsStars: Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, Christian ConveryRuntime: 98 mins A teenage girl is viciously bullied at a local pool and then happens upon a stranger abducting her three tormentors. This gripping, Spanish-language movie is based on a short film and stars Laura Galán.
Director: Carlota Pereda
Stars: Laura Galán, Richard Holmes, Claudia SalasRuntime: 99 mins A seemingly made-up monster creeps more and more into the lives of a single mother and her young son in this critically acclaimed movie. The horror escalates after a haunting storybook turns up. The film is written and directed by Jennifer Kent, who also wrote and directed the 2018 thriller The Nightingale.
Director: Jennifer KentStars: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Daniel HenshallRuntime: 94 mins Neon This bleak thriller — the second film on this list from writer-director Osgood Perkins — delivers twists, haunting visuals and a highly unsettling villain. The flick follows a young FBI agent looking into multiple baffling family murders. Nicolas Cage stars as the sufficiently startling titular character.
Director: Osgood PerkinsStars: Nicolas Cage, Maika Monroe, Blair UnderwoodRuntime: 101 mins Video screenshot by Meara Isenberg/CNET A young woman travels to Detroit for a job interview and discovers her Airbnb has been double-booked. That may be how this engrossing horror film starts, but it soon descends into complete chaos. With twists in the story and superb acting all around, Barbarian is freaky, five-star horror fare.
Director: Zach CreggerStars: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin LongRuntime: 102 mins Video screenshot by Meara Isenberg/CNET Reserve your seat for this surreal psychological horror movie about a talented ballerina’s unraveling. Natalie Portman’s character Nina feels pressure to embody not only the innocent and elegant White Swan but the dark and sensual Black Swan for the leading part in a production of Swan Lake. But she doesn’t fit the latter swan’s mold as much as newcomer Lily (Mila Kunis). The film follows her obsessive hunt for perfection.
Director: Darren AronofskyStars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent CasselRuntime: 108 mins
