Best Shudder Original Horrors Of 2021
The streaming service Shudder is fast becoming a source of unmissable horror, as proven by their best 2021 movies and TV shows. Shudder may be only four years old, but the horror streaming service’s impressive original offerings prove that it is here to stay. Unlike competitors Netflix and Amazon Prime, Shudder focuses on horror content over a broader array of mainstream titles.
However, while Shudder may not be producing anything like Netflix’s Holiday Movie Universe any time soon, the streaming service’s success proves that its business model works well. Shudder now hosts both existing horrors and original productions, and many of its original movies and TV shows are among the horror genre’s most impressive output in 2021. The wide range of horror available on Shudder means that the service offers everything from gory slasher comedies to austere indie horror, but this versatility has been a boon to their critical reception.
Shudder released numerous original TV shows and movies in 2021. Some were continuations of existing shows while others were new projects, and many of the movies were imports distributed to a mainstream audience by the service. So, which are Shudder’s best 2021 movies and TV shows?
Slasher Season 4
Since it debuted in 2016, the Canadian horror anthology series Slasher has been as uneven as its more famous US competitor, American Horror Story. Like that Ryan Murphy hit, Slasher reuses recurring cast members in new roles each season, with each outing being a gory slice of slasher horror. Slasher season 1 was a brutal if overlong delight while season 2 was a crushing disappointment, ameliorated a little by the success of season 3. However, Slasher season 4 is a violent, blackly comedic murder mystery that proves the series needed its move to Shudder. Subtitled ‘Flesh and Blood,’ this fast-paced horror sees a family of callous blue bloods picked off one by one after their sadistic aging patriarch calls them to his secluded island home. Essentially Succession meets Friday the 13th, Slasher: Flesh & Blood is the best season the show has produced in years and a fun, gruesome thriller ride with a sharp satirical bite.
Creepshow Season 3
Despite bringing one of Stephen King’s favorite stories to gory animated life, 2020’s Creepshow Halloween special was a disappointing dud that signaled the Shudder anthology show’s critically successful two-season run could be at an end. Fortunately, Shudder season 3 proved naysayers wrong by delighting reviewers with even more gory, goofy comic book-inspired horror stories. Creepshow season 3 offers some unapologetically political satirical horror that pokes fun at everything from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic to the rise of far-right militias, all with tongue planted firmly in cheek and the next gory punchline never too far away.
The Boy Behind The Door
Maybe the most disturbing Shudder original of 2021, The Boy Behind The Door is definitely not for the faint of heart. However, anyone looking forward to the upcoming Ethan Hawke horror movie The Black Phone should enjoy enduring this bleak and brutal story of two small children working out how to escape their kidnappers in nail-biting real-time. Home Alone it isn’t, but for horror fans with strong stomachs and no aversions to triggering content, The Boy Behind The Door is an intense, uncomfortable, but undeniably effective and ultimately cathartic experience in horror.
Caveat
An Irish indie horror, Caveat’s small cast does not stop the movie from having a knotty, complex plot. An aimless amnesiac is offered the job of babysitting an erratic woman on a remote island home by an old acquaintance, but there’s a catch. For everyone’s safety, he’ll need to wear a harness that restricts how far he can roam around the rundown mansion. Like fellow island-set 2021 horror Midnight Mass, the twist in Caveat will split viewers, but those who enjoy clever mystery mixed into their pulse-pounding gothic horror will not be annoyed to find that this psychological thriller is not necessarily as supernatural as it initially seems.
Vicious Fun
Lighter than Caveat and The Boy Behind The Door, Vicious Fun is a goofy meta-horror that sees a likable horror critic land himself in hot water when he accidentally joins a serial killer support group. The ensuing comedy horror is as silly as that synopsis implies, but Vicious Fun manages to pack in some surprisingly gruesome moments despite its light-hearted premise. 2022’s upcoming Scream reboot is set to bring back self-referential meta-slashers in a big way, but until then, fans could do worse than seeking out this broader, but no less fun slice of horror-comedy.
Violation
For viewers who find Vicious Fun too fun, Violation offers a very different sort of horror. A character-driven mystery that eventually becomes a full-blown psychological horror, Violation is a deeply discomfiting watch that genre fans will nonetheless not want to miss. With a staggering central turn from star/co-director/co-writer Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Violation is an empathetic twist on one of the horror genre’s most infamously divisive sub-genres and a tastefully handled look at one woman’s breakdown in the face of an unspeakable betrayal. A tough, troubling watch, Violation remains essential viewing thanks to its superb lead performance.
Skull: The Mask
One of the only 2021 slasher movies with a body count higher than Halloween Kills, Skull: The Mask is a Brazilian horror movie that is heavy on explosive gore. Admittedly, the plot of this one—a detective attempts to track down a pagan God, embodied in the titular artifact, as it cuts a bloody swathe through Sao Paulo—is nothing groundbreaking. However, despite some budgetary limitations, the ultra-gruesome Skull: The Mask is gleefully gross and filled with memorable kills ideal for horror fans who want something less atmospheric and more impactful from the streaming service.
Martyrs Lane
On the polar opposite end of the horror spectrum from Skull: The Mask, Martyrs Lane is a slow, subtle horror about childhood, grief, and loss. Unspooling at a measured, slow-burn pace, the British horror tells the tale of a small girl visited by a strange, seemingly supernatural child who helps her understand a grave mystery. Deliberately obtuse, Martyrs Lane is a far cry from the “haunted child” horror of 2019’s Pet Sematary remake. However, the indie horror effectively evinces the confusion and terror of childhood and, while it may divide audiences as a result of its ambiguous plot, Martyrs Lane remains an admirable and interesting horror experiment from Shudder.
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