HBO has produced some of the best tv shows ever, but how does it horror movie catalog hold up? After doing some research, I found that the HBO catalog consists of just over 80 horror movies, whereas a service like Shudder has over 600, but is this a situation where it’s quality over quantity? We’re about to find out.
Welcome in, if you’re seeking help in choosing what horror movie to watch tonight, you’re in the right place. I’m including a link to subscribe to Max in case any of these movies tickle your fancy. Let’s get into it.
The Host
The Host is a South Korean creature feature made by the same guy who directed Parasite and Snowpiercer, Bong Joon Ho, and it is one of my favorite horror films of all time. It came out back in 2006 and has had ebbs and flows of popularity throughout the years, and deservedly so.
In the host, an American pathologist orders his Korean assistant to dump over 100 bottles of formaldehyde down the drain, which eventually leads into the Han River. This contamination creates a giant, scary, mutated amphibious creature that decides one day to wreak havoc on the surrounding area.
Caught in the middle of this is the Park family, which consists of a man, his daughter, his father, and his brother and sister. Together he and his father run this little snack stand in the park, which is where the creature attacks. During the attack, the man’s daughter is captured by the creature and taken into the labyrynthian sewers surrounding the park.
The family must fight and break into the now restricted park area to retrieve his daughter while they still can.
The inspiration for this film actually stemmed from a real-life event that happened in 2000 where Americans commanded the disposal of formaldehyde down a drain leading to the Han River… Go America.
This is perfect for fans of creature features and Korean cinema; it’s not gonna let you down. The creature design gives Syfy Original at times, but the storytelling and drama more than make up for it.
Black Swan
Black Swan doesn’t get the recognition it deserves as a horror movie, but it is very much a psychological horror film. It is one of the best in existence. It maintains an 8.0 rating on IMDB, so critics and audiences alike revere this movie. It’s directed by Darren Arnofsky, who also directed movies like Requiem for a Dream and Mother!
Nina, played by Natalie Portman, is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina’s grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare. Basically, she wants to get this role in an upcoming production, and Mila Kunis comes in and rivals her, so Natalie Portman just feels this immense pressure to outperform Mila Kunis.
If you’re intrigued by a character’s struggle to exceed at their profession, a la Whiplash or The Wrestler, you’ll dig this one. Both Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis lost around 20 pounds to look more like ballerinas, which is troublesome in more ways than one, but it shows their dedication to the believability of the film and their characters.
Black Swan is a hauntingly beautiful outing by Aronofsky, the performances by both Portman and Kunis are perhaps the best in both of their careers. This is just one of those harrowing stories where you see the main character’s descent into madness.
If you’re not sold yet, you get to see Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis makeout, but you didn’t hear it from me…
Eraserhead
In case you live under a rock and haven’t heard, we lost one of the best creative minds to ever exist back in January in David Lynch. He was a unique director, he created Twin Peaks and made films like Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, and this horror classic, Eraserhead.
If you’re unfamiliar with Lynch’s work, you need to know that he is very heavy-handed in surrealism and there’s even a coined term in movie-making named after him. If something is Lynchian, it means it’s dark, ominous, and surreal. And a lot of times Lynch would bring about this crossroads of that surrealism with mundane, boring aspects of everyday life, which gave his work that unique characteristic.
That’s exactly what we get in Eraserhead, where we’re thrust into an industrial cityscape and introduced to Henry Spencer. Henry is a hard-working man who suddenly finds himself solely responsible for his girlfriend’s recently birthed deformed baby. It looks nothing like a human, so we’re unsure what it is exactly. This movie is Henry’s journey adapting to and dealing with his newfound father hood.
The movie combines hallmark visuals with an evocative aural landscape to make a delicious audio/visual salad. There are a lot of sexual themes throughout the movie, as well as the idea of taking control of your life rather than being passive and just letting things happen.
This movie is in black and white, and if you’ve never seen anything created by David Lynch, you’re in for a crazy ride.
There is a better Lynch film on MAx right now, Fire Walk With Me, but that requires viewing of the first two seasons of Twin Peaks, whereas with Eraserhead you can just jump in, which is why I included Eraserhead instead.
Malignant
Malignant is a real fun time, and it’s brought to us by James Wan, you might know him. He gave us masterpieces like Saw, The Conjuring… Furious 7. Malignant is nothing like those movies… but it’s still good.
Madison starts having these visions of people’s deaths, only to find out soon after that these people are really dying.
Why is she having these visions, and are they real? Are they connected to someone from her past? Did she take a few too many edibles and start tripping and these are just drug-induced hallucinations? I’m just kidding, that’s not what it is, but could you imagine?…
Madison states there’s this being that she refers to as the devil who is coming after her and that he’s getting closer after each of these visions, but will he ever catch up to her?
Malignant is truly one of the most unique horror movies in the past 20 years. The scares are on point, the visual effects are on point, and it’s a home run if you ask me.
Evil Dead Rise
Evil Dead Rise is the most recent entry into the evil dead universe standalone, so not related to the others. It was originally supposed to be streaming-only on HBO Max, but it did so well in screenings that they gave it a theatrical release, and I bet they’re glad they did that, because it brought in $147 million, making it the highest grossing of the franchise.
Okay, now that I’ve sold you on the vanity metrics, let’s get to the plot. Evil Dead Rise follows two estranged sisters who reunite, only to have their family time interrupted by the discovery of an ancient book that unleashes bloodthirsty demons. They live in this high-rise apartment building, hence the title, Rise, and so you can think of it like Evil Dead but in an apartment building.
So, the sisters must fight to survive against the evil forces, turning their home into a gory battleground. This movie is universally praised and even won a bunch of awards at the Chainsaw Awards hosted by Fangoria, so there’s a high chance you’ll enjoy it.
Carnival of Souls
Carnival of Souls was released in 1962, it’s in black and white, and it’s a psychological horror. I wouldn’t call this movie inherently scary, as it boasts more atmosphere than jump scares, but it’s an interesting look at how horror was in the 60’s. It took a while for this film to get any recognition and love, but it’s regarded as a classic today.
After a traumatic accident, a woman relocates to a small town to start fresh, but she soon finds herself drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival. She’s haunted by eerie figures and a mysterious man who seems to stalk her wherever she goes.
Carnival of Souls is for fans of Twilight Zone, the OG Night of the Living Dead, and even David Lynch’s surreal horror because of its dreamlike dread. It’s a low budget flick, and it proves that atmosphere can be just as effective as jump scares, and the incredible organ score contributes to that fact.
Complex magazine has it at number 39 on its list of the 50 scariest movies ever made. Slant magazine placed it at #32 oni ts 100 best horror movies of all time list. The film has also been named a precursor to the works of various filmmakers, including David Lynch, George A. Romero, and James Wan. There hasn’t been an attempt to remake this classic quite yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.
Sinister
Ethan Hawke is one of my favorite actors, and he brings his A-game in Sinister, which has some of the scariest scenes in a horror movie, ever. You’ve probably seen this one, but if not, shoot it to the top of your watchlist, and even if you have seen it, it’s time for a rewatch. Hawke plays a controversial true crime writer who finds a box of super 8 home movies in his new home, revealing that the murder case he’s currently researching could be the work of an unknown serial killer whose legacy dates back to the 1960’s.
So, the super 8 footage that he finds in his house kind of introduces the found footage subgenre into this movie, which I absolutely love. The scenes that we see from the super 8 movies are some of the scariest scenes that you’ll see in this movie. Some people think that the third act falls apart for them in this one, but I don’t think it really takes away from the quality of hte film. I think it was dubbed one of the scariest movies ever recently, so yeah it’s still highly worth a watch.
Yeah, Sinister is really going to just chill you to the bone and get under your skin. It’s not one you’ll soon forget.
The Strangers
The Strangers is a home invasion film that was perfect as it was, so of course America decided it needed a poorly done remake. Do not go watch The Strangers: Chapter 1. It’s dog shit, and you do not need to go see it. Watch the original Strangers over on Max right now. It stars Liv Tyler. She’s the main character, and it’s about her and her fiance, boyfriend? I think they might just be boyfriend and girlfriend because he’s planning to propose to her.
Anyway, they get home from having a really bad argument, and then Liv Tyler finds out that this guy was going to propose to her. Yeah, theese three masked strangers just show up at the house and terrorize them for the rest of the evening. It’s a very simple, straightforward plot, but the way that it’s done, it just brings to light a terrifying, real possibility, which is what makes this film so scary is that it could really happen. I’m sure it has happened.
There’s really not much else to say about this film. It came out back in 2008. Like I said, it’s super simple, great performances by Liv Tyler and everyone else in it. The mystery and intrigue behind why these masked intruders are picking them that night is just kind of the big crux of the movie. Yeah, so many parts of this work really well, and it’s a great movie to watch. Just make sure to lock all of your doors before hitting play.
Splice
Splice is kind of my wild card that I’m throwing in here, and only because I recently realized that it has the same director as the best horror movie ever made, Cube. The movie is also absolutely insane, and yes, I’m well aware that this movie gets a lot of hate.
Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play two brilliant scientists who are willing to do anything for a scientific breakthrough. Their research team is working with splicing together different animal DNA to create hybrid animals. Of course, once they find success with that, these two want to take it a step further and add human DNA into the mix. Their higher ups forbid them from doing so, and of course naturally they don’t listen and go through with it anyway, creating this hybrid humanoid that they then take care of, let’s just say that.
Think of it as a mixture of the body horror classic The Fly and oft-forgotten sci fi horror Species from 1995. It combines that idea of altering human DNA with the sexual undertones that lay beneath the surface of Species. Or maybe not even beneath the surface. That was a pretty horny movie. Anyway, beside the point… Throw in a little bit of Ex Machina in there because of the moral dilemmas the characters go through, and out pops Splice.
This movie holds nothing back, especially in its third act, and whether you love it or hate it, it’s one that will stick with you for a long time.
Similar to Eraserhead, Splice is kind of a bringing to light fears of parenthood through a horror lens.
Troll Hunter
Troll Hunter is a PG-13 Norwegian horror flick, and it’s by the same director who did The Autopsy of Jane Doe, Scary Stories To Tell In the Dark, and The Last Voyage of Demeter. It’s found footage (woop woop) and it’s about a group of film students who set out to investigate a string of mysterious bear killings, only to stumble upon a much bigger secret — trolls are real, baby.
They run into a grizzled government-employed troll hunter who allows them to film him on his journey to killing one of these trolls. As you can tell, the plot is a little bonkers, and I’m gonna say it’s like throwing Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and Rare Exports in a blender and seeing what comes out the other end.
I love how they interweave Scandinavian mythology with government conspiracy, environmental themes, and of course a bit of deadpan comedy. It feels like a fresh take on the found footage genre, even though it’s 14 years old at this point, and the trolls themselves are massive and terrifying.
The Purge: Election Year
This selection seems fitting for the current political climate, as the message behind these movies is becoming more and more relevant as the years pass. Election Year sits in the middle of the Purge franchise. It’s third in a series of five movies.
In this Purge flick, there is a female presidential candidate who is trying to get rid of the purge. She witnessed her entire family get murdered as a child on Purge night, which is her entire reasoning for doing so.
Former Police Sergeant Barnes, who is returning from Purge: Anarchy, played by Frank Grillo, becomes head of security for the senator. She’s now a huge target for the upcoming Purge night because of her attempts of ending it.
We also follow a deli owner, named Joe, whose main goal on Purge night is protecting his store since he has no insurance.
Don’t expect a horror masterpiece going into this, but if you want something with a heavy political theme and lots of action in your horror, give this one a try.
There you go fellow horror movie lovers, 11 top horror movies streaming on Max currently. Let me know if you’ve seen ‘em, if you love ‘em, if you hate ‘em, or if you’re about to watch for the first time.
I gotta say, Max really packs a punch for their limited selection of horror movies. It’s not my first choice when choosing a streaming service as a horror fan (that would be Shudder), but sometimes you just gotta make do.
Cameron | Nonstop Horror
