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There are times as horror fans that we crave films that aren’t widely praised or even known by a general audience. We tend to have a collector’s mind-set when it comes to our watch lists, and there’s a satisfaction that comes with embracing a film that feels overlooked. Every Halloween season, we start clamoring to add a new hidden gem.
Oftentimes, such films didn’t get wide releases in theaters, weren’t promoted that well, came out at the wrong time, or were simply not as recognized as they should be. Therefore, you have to stumble upon them yourself — or merely read a list like this one — to shift through the endless options. Thankfully, if there’s any platform that offers people underrated horror films, alongside more known titles, it’s Tubi. Out of all the streaming services available, you’d be hard-pressed to find one that offers the range of horror titles that Tubi offers. (Yes, Shudder is also a tremendous app for horror lovers to delight in. But Tubi is free.) The following are some of the many underrated horror films you can stream on Tubi right now.
Wicked City
Photo: Streamline Pictures
Year: 1987
Run time: 1hr, 22m
Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
A lot of body horror, sex, and nudity is what you’re in for with this neo-noir horror anime film that focuses on demons and humans trying to forge a peace treaty. The film delivers the unapologetic sleaze that often appeared in ’80s horror flicks. If this were to come out now, rather than back then when anime was a lot more niche, it would certainly have a larger fan base — especially because of its stellar animation style.
Pandorum
Photo: Overture Films/Everett Collection
Year: 2009
Run time: 1hr, 48m
Director: Christian Alvaret
Sci-fi horror action to the max is a pretty apt way to describe this film, produced by Resident Evil auteur Paul W. S. Anderson. Taking place on a colony ship full of cryo-sleeping humans, this movie plays psychological tricks with its audience. Everything is not quite what it seems, and Alvaret’s direction makes for an at-times disorienting experience. Throw it on if you enjoy guts, gore, and desperate people trying to escape a perilous situation.
Backcountry
Photo: IFC Films
Year: 2014
Run time: 1hr, 32m
Director: Adam MacDonald
The Canadian woods can be incredibly unforgiving, and if bear attacks are too stressful to think about, this film is not for you. The real-life 2005 story involving a Canadian couple who inspired this film is horrifying, and the movie does a great job of capturing the awfulness of being mauled by a bear. It’s not for the faint of heart, and there’s no silliness to chuckle about regarding the black bear, either.
Capture Kill Release
Photo: Midnight Releasing
Year: 2016
Run time: 1hr, 36m
Director: Nick McAnulty and Brian Allan Stewart
The couple who kills together doesn’t necessarily stay together, as this movie posits in a twisted fashion. It’s found footage that focuses on the disintegration of a relationship, a budding serial killer, and just how dysfunctional suburban lives can be, but it does something different from what people might be expecting, even with a very minimal plot.
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The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Photo: A24/Everett Collection
Year: 2015
Run time: 1hr, 33m
Director: Osgood Perkins
An empty boarding school in the snow is a scary enough setting as it is, but add young women wielding knives and being close to the devil, and you’ve got a recipe for a murderous disaster. Perkins knows exactly how to capture a specific mood in his films, and this one — his directorial debut — is a gorgeous example of that. The performances from Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, and Emma Roberts all add up to a top-notch women-led horror.
Hounds of Love
Photo: AMG Entertainment
Year: 2016
Run time: 1hr, 48m
Director: Ben Young
The horrors of real life can be even scarier than evil demons or men in masks chasing you with large knives. Serial killers kidnapping vulnerable young people isn’t just for the movies, and that’s part of what makes this Australian horror-crime thriller so uncomfortable to watch. The cast delivers in terms of performances, and Ashleigh Cummings sticks the landing as the protagonist who must turn her abductors against each other in order to get out alive.
Tragedy Girls (2017)
Photo: Gunpowder & Sky/Everett Collection
Year: 2017
Run time: 1hr, 38m
Director: Tyler McIntyre
A subtextually queer relationship, comedy horror high jinks, and buckets o’ blood are exactly what you get in this film. McIntyre tackles the satire of wannabe influencers in such a way that feels even more relevant now than in 2017. And the endearing chemistry between Alexandra Shipp and Brianna Hildebrand makes it all the better.
Mom and Dad (2017)
Photo: Momentum Pictures/Everett Collection
Year: 2017
Run time: 1hr, 26m
Director: Brian Taylor
Parents turning on their children and causing them harm is a gonzo nightmare in this relatively forgotten dark comedy-horror film. Nicolas Cage is fantastic in horror, and with Selma Blair alongside him, it makes for an increasingly entertaining watch. This is the type of film that’ll make you laugh, especially when you don’t think you should be. It’s a bloody ride that ends with our characters in quite the pickle.
Villains
Photo: unpowder & Sky/Everett Collection
Year: 2019
Run time: 1hr, 30m
Director: Dan Berk and Robert Olsen
A rebellious couple breaking into the house of a gleefully sadistic married couple is absolutely as bonkers as it sounds. Both Maika Monroe and Bill Skarsgård, as well as Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick, make for believable couples in the film, which only makes everything more enjoyable to watch. It’s one of those horror-comedies that makes you think a little more deeply about the complexity of people and what it means to be courageous without being a stereotypical hero.
Sissy
Photo: Shudder/Everett Collection
Year: 2022
Run time: 1hr, 42m
Director: Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes
We need more horror films involving a group of influencers on a disastrous bachelorette weekend that gets bloody. Barlow and Senes deliver a colorful, very queer, and memorable Australian comedy-horror gem that’s quietly a slasher film as well. Not to mention, Aisha Dee is such a delight as the film’s leading lady. She’ll make you feel for her character, even as she starts doing things you really shouldn’t be cheering on.
