These days, most new horror movies with a modest budget and a unique, or even experimental, narrative structure fail to achieve Blumhouse-levels of attention. Indeed, there are many horror movie hidden gems that get lost in the shuffle among the latest installments of classic horror movie franchises or Stephen King adaptations, for instance, and struggle to find their audience. Sometimes, all it takes is a hardcore fan of the genre to point viewers like you in the direction of the best horror movies you might not have seen, such as these recent, underrated horror movies.
When Evil Lurks (2023)
Two brothers struggle to do the right thing to prevent an epidemic of demonic possession from going viral.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: At times, watching the protagonists of When Evil Lurks continuously worsen their situation with one mistake after another grows frustrating, but that is why this haunting brutal Spanish-language film from writer and director Demián Rugna also works as an effective commentary on how mankind responds to crises.
Stream When Evil Lurks on Hulu.
Rent or buy When Evil Lurks on Amazon.
Buy When Evil Lurks on Blu-ray on Amazon.
The Passenger (2023)
A young man (played by Johnny Berchtold) is forced to accompany his unstable co-worker (played by Kyle Gallner) on a violent killing spree.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Gallner (of The Walking Dead, 2022’s Scream, and Smile fame) continues to prove he is one of today’s finest horror movie actors with his chilling performance in The Passenger – director Carter Smith’s intense, Blumhouse-produced thriller that, unfortunately, never received a theatrical release.
Stream The Passenger on Amazon Prime.
Suitable Flesh (2023)
A psychiatrist (played by Heather Graham) discovers that her new, young patient’s problem is something much worse than anything therapy can solve.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Our own Eric Eisenberg praised director Joe Lynch’s Suitable Flesh as one of the best horror movies of 2023 for being a refreshingly provocative and unsettlingly dark adaption of H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep.”
Stream Suitable Flesh on Amazon with Shudder add-on.
Buy Suitable Flesh on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Satanic Hispanics (2022)
The sole survivor of a deadly occasion (played by Napoleon Dynamite’s Efren Ramirez) is brought in for questioning, where he instead recounts five terrifying tales he has witnessed.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro took to X to voice his approval of Satanic Hispanics – an anthology horror movie with stories each helmed by a different Latino filmmaker, including Gigi Saul Guerrero, The Blair Witch Project co-director Eduardo Sanchez, and When Evil Lurks filmmaker Demián Rugna.
Buy or rent Satanic Hispanics on Amazon.
Buy Satanic Hispanics on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Enys Men (2022)
A volunteer wildlife worker (played by Mary Woodvine) begins to question her reality while observing the activity of a rare flower on a remote island in 1973.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: The title of writer and director Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men (pronounced “ennis mane”) translates from Cornish to say, “stone island,” in reference to the setting of this persistently eerie, gorgeously shot meditation on loneliness.
Stream Enys Men on Hulu.
Rent or buy Enys Men on Amazon.
Buy Enys Men on DVD on Amazon.
Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022)
After her dream of becoming pregnant finally comes true, a woman (played by Natalia Solián) begins to suffer an unexplainable living nightmare.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Inspired by a terrifying legend of Mexican folklore, co-writer and director Michelle Garza Cervera’s Spanish-language thriller, Huesera: The Bone Woman, is one of the most intense horror movies about motherhood since Rosemary’s Baby.
Rent or buy Huesera: The Bone Woman on Amazon.
Buy Huesera: The Bone Woman on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Bad Things (2023)
After a young woman (played by Gayle Rankin) inherits a hotel, she, her girlfriend (played by Hari Neff), and two other friends (played by Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Rad Pereira) go there for a weekend that takes a bizarre, horrifying turn for the worse.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Writer and director Stewart Thorndike’s Bad Things is a recent LGBTQ+-themed horror movie that has drawn comparisons to The Shining for its setting and similarly unsettling atmosphere.
Rent or buy Bad Things on Amazon.
Buy Bad Things on DVD on Amazon.
El Conde (2023)
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) decides that, after 250 years of sucking blood and living in hiding, he is ready to die, which attracts the attention of his children.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Winner of Best Screenplay at the 80th Venice Film Festival, co-writer and director Pablo Lorraín’s Oscar-nominated, wild political satire, El Conde – also one of the best 2023 Netflix original movies – is unlike any vampire movie you have ever seen.
Willy’s Wonderland (2021)
While working as an overnight janitor for a rundown family entertainment center to pay off his car repair, a nameless, silent drifter (played by Nicolas Cage) discovers the goofy animatronics inside are alive and are not too friendly.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: While an official Five Nights at Freddy’s movie does exist, Willy’s Wonderland – a wonderfully zany low-budget horror-comedy clearly inspired by the video game franchise – is still worth a watch, especially for Cage’s badass performance.
Stream Willy’s Wonderland on Hulu.
Stream Willy’s Wonderland on Tubi.
Rent or buy Willy’s Wonderland on Amazon.
Buy Willy’s Wonderland on Blu-ray on Amazon.
The Empty Man (2020)
The investigation of a friend’s missing daughter leads a former cop (played by James Badge Dale) to discover a cult tied to a terrifying urban legend.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Perhaps the most vastly underseen and underrated horror movie of 2020 was this mind-bending adaptation of the comic book The Empty Man from writer and director David Prior, who went on to helm one of the best episodes of Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, “The Autopsy.”
Stream The Empty Man on Fubo.
Buy The Empty Man on Amazon.
Watcher (2022)
A young woman (played by Maika Monroe) begins to have deadly suspicions about her voyeuristic neighbor.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Director Chloe Okuno makes a stunning feature-length debut with the startling Watcher, starring modern Scream Queen and It Follows star, Monroe.
Stream Watcher on Hulu.
Rent or buy Watcher on Amazon.
Buy Watcher on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Possum (2018)
A disturbed man (played by Sean Harris), accompanied by his unsettling puppet, returns to his childhood home to confront his traumatic past.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: In a recent wave of comedians-turned-horror masters (i.e. Jordan Peele, Barbarian’s Zach Cregger), one such filmmaker who deserves more notoriety for such an achievement is British comic Matthew Holness, whose feature-length directorial debut, Possum, is a hauntingly visceral and uniquely poignant nightmare.
Stream Possum on Tubi.
Stream Possum on Freevee through Amazon.
Buy Possum on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Hellbender (2022)
A sheltered young woman (played by Zelda Adams) discovers she has bizarre and dangerous abilities that her mother (played by Toby Poser) attempted to hide from her.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Real-life mother/daughter duo Adams and Poser deserve a place among the top horror movie Scream Queens after collaborating on Hellbender — an irresistibly inventive take on witchcraft lore — as co-directors and co-writers, along with Poser’s husband, John Adams.
Rent or buy Hellbender on Amazon.
Buy Hellbender on DVD on Amazon.
Soft & Quiet (2022)
A simple meeting between a group of women turns grim when its organizer, an elementary school teacher, encounters someone from her past.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Our own Eric Eisenberg named Soft & Quiet one of his favorite movies of 2022 without giving away much about the story, but horror junkies who have sought out writer and director Beth de Araújo’s feature-length debut have praised its bold, unapologetic brutality and inventive narrative structure.
Stream Soft & Quiet on Netflix.
Hatching (2022)
A young girl unwittingly puts her demanding family in danger by hiding and caring for a mysterious egg in her room.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: The horror fans who have sought out director Hannah Bergholm’s Finnish fantasy thriller Hatching have praised its bizarre, dreamlike imagery and clever symbolism.
Stream Hatching on Hulu.
Rent or buy Hatching on Amazon.
Buy Hatching on Blu-ray on Amazon.
We're All Going To The World's Fair (2022)
A lonely teenager (played by Anna Cobb) begins documenting the strange effect that an online role-playing game seems to have on her.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Writer and director Jane Schoenbrun’s quasi-found footage thriller, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, is a chilling and intriguing analysis of the internet’s recent obsession with the cryptic genre of analog horror and urban legends known as “Creepypastas.”
Stream We're All Going to the World's Fair on Max.
Rent or buy We're All Going to the World's Fair on Amazon.
Buy We’re All Going to the World’s Fair on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Deadstream (2022)
A disgraced Internet personality (Joseph Winter) attempts to win back his followers by live-streaming his experience in a supposedly haunted house.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: Co-written and co-directed by Winter with his wife, Jessica, Deadstream is my personal favorite found footage thriller release in 2022 and one of the most entertaining horror-comedy movies also available with a Shudder subscription.
Rent or buy Deadstream on Amazon.
Buy Deadstream on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Mad God (2022)
An exploration of an underground world of apocalyptic ruin inhabited by monstrous creatures, as seen through the eyes of a masked loner.
Why it is an under-the-radar horror flick worth your time: I would call Mad God one of the best horror movies on Shudder, but this kaleidoscope of grungy, unsettling, otherworldly imagery without any sense of a linear narrative from legendary stop-motion artist Phil Tibbett really transcends genre.
Rent or buy Mad God on Amazon.
Buy Mad God on Blu-ray on Amazon.
We have our severed fingers crossed that horror movie hidden gems like these still have a shot at becoming legendary classics.
