Hulu has plenty of scares on offer.
Tis the season to be over-consuming horror films and the good news is Hulu is stuffed with options. The problem comes when there are too many options and choice paralysis sets in. That’s where we come in with recommendations ranging from new releases in 2026 to some of the true horror classics that set the tone.
Whether you want a “Hokum” or “Signs,” straight scares or a bit of humor, there is plenty on offer and these are what you should move to the front of your list.
Send Help
Sam Raimi returned to theaters this year with a survival horror film. If that alone doesn’t get you to queue up the film on Hulu, it’s unclear what will. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien star as two co-workers stranded on an island while dealing with shifting power dynamics. The film has all of Raimi’s hallmarks: it’s disgusting, it’s brutal and it’s funny. Whether you’re a diehard horror fan or you’ve never sampled the director’s work outside his “Spider-Man” films, “Send Help” is a great choice for a watch or rewatch.
Scream
A film that set out to be a commentary on the slasher horror classics of the ’80s became itself a classic slasher movie. Such is life. “Scream” has spawned its own mega franchise as the Ghostface Killer mantle manages to be picked up time and again to make creepy phone calls and wield a butcher knife for the killing. The original – but really all of them – have continued in the long horror tradition of blending scares with laughs, which make for an even more satisfying watch whether you’re a diehard horror fan or someone who is skittish around them. Dive back into one of the ’90s greats.
Hokum
“Hokum” may not have made the same splash in the horror genre in 2026 like “Obsession” or “Backrooms” did, but it might just be the scariest of the bunch. The film follows Adam Scott as a tortured writer who travels to Ireland to visit the out-of-the-way hotel his late parents spent their honeymoon in. Unfortunately, there are a number of different dark things happening at the weird hotel, and the writer finds himself wrapped up in them when he’s locked in the supposedly haunted honeymoon suite. If you have a soft spot for “1408,” then “Hokum” is going to do a lot for you while providing twice the number of scares.
Ready or Not 2: Here I Come
“Ready or Not” landed back in 2019 and became a cult classic about a woman playing a deadly version of hide-and-seek with her new husband’s crazy family. It introduced the larger world to Samara Weaving and earned praise for its bloody “Home Alone” cat-and-mouse vibe. Credits rolled, and everyone figured that was that. In 2026, the sequel came out, which meant more bloody and creative kills and the introduction of the always great Kathryn Newton as Weaving’s little sister into the mix. It’s more of the same for the now-franchise’s second entry, and that’s not a bad thing.
Longlegs
“Longlegs” will make you feel uneasy from the opening moments right through the credits – and that is a much more potent type of horror. Sure, there are jump scares and horrific imagery in Oz Perkins’ “Silence of the Lambs”-like film of an FBI agent assigned to an unsolved serial killer case with occult trappings – but it’s the dread in the buildup of it all that seeps into you and makes the rare jump scares all the more potent.
Sinister
According to actual science, “Sinister” is apparently the scariest movie ever made – and who wants to argue with science? The film stars Ethan Hawke, who plays, you guessed it, a writer who moves his family into a new house. One of the first discoveries he makes is a series of home movies that appear to be a variety of snuff films. Weird s–t ensues. While the main plot offers more than enough scares to make “Sinister” worthy of this list, it’s the various home videos that are shown that really steal the show. They’re treated almost like horror short stories spliced into the larger film, and they are stomach-dropping in how upsetting they are. Because of them, “Sinister” more than earned its scientific honor of scariest movie of all time.
Alien
“Alien” has been scaring horror fans and horror naysayers alike for decades. It has become a tentpole horror film and as the years add up it continues to hold up. Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley fights for survival against a brutal new organism aboard her spaceship as the rest of her crew is picked off one by one.
Few horror movies nail their sense of place and aesthetic like “Alien” did. Its once futuristic look has become a retro-futuristic vibe that has become the staple for the franchise. The film clearly has a lasting legacy and is always deserving of a watch or rewatch.
Hereditary
Is “Hereditary” the best modern horror movie? The questions were asked right after Ari Aster’s film landed in 2018 and, by now, most are in agreement that yeah, it probably is. The film just weighs on you from the moment it starts until its brutal end. There are few true jump scares in “Hereditary” – instead it goes for a suffocating bleakness – but when it decides to turn up the volume on those scares, it’s extremely effective and unsettling. And Toni Collette? She should have been showered in far more awards and praise than she got for her role in the film.
Signs
“Signs” certainly left an impact on the first generation to experience it. It is hard for movies that aren’t “Alien” that feature aliens to truly crack into the scariest movies category, but “Signs” is one of the rare few. The birthday party footage that plays on the news revealing the first grainy look of the extraterrestrials is burned into the image of everyone who sat down to watch the film a bit too early in life. The argument is easy to make that it’s M. Night Shyamalan’s best film and a quick rewatch could reconfirm that.
