Last Updated on May 31, 2025 by Dolores Quintana
What do the Best Horror Movies Streaming have in store for you in May? If you guessed lots of screams and lots of scares, you are correct. Apple TV+ has a new series starring Alexander Skarsgรฅrd and David Dastmalchian called Murderbot, created by Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Chris and Paul Weitz. It will debut on Apple TV+ on May 16 and involves a murderbot, which sounds pretty scary.
Arrow has the Kazakhstan film Steppenwolf, about a dystopian future, the 4K release of the lost Corey Feldman film, The Birthday, a movie that is one of filmmaker Jordan Peele's favorites, and Castle Freak. The Criterion Channel brings scary movies from Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, and John Carpenter. Hulu's selections include a Nordic folk horror movie, the biggest anaconda we've ever seen, and monsters terrorizing a tower block in London.
Max gives you a double feature of Hannibal Lecter versus Clarice Starling, which makes it easy to do a binge watch from the serial killer series. Paramount+ highlights the contributions of two of the greatest South Korean filmmakers to horror with Oldboy and Parasite. Peacock is loaded with two films each from horror auteurs Jordan Peele and M. Night Shyamalan.
Screambox delivers films about Satanic cults, one that stars an actual Satanist, one unforgettable film from the magnificent English madman Ken Russell, screenlife movies, and cannibal tales about farms and an unfortunate trip to a cave that leads to a series of murders.
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Apple TV +
Image Credit: Apple TV+ Murderbot: Based on Martha Wellsโ bestselling Hugo and Nebula Award-winning book series, Murderbot is a sci-fi thriller/comedy about a self-hacking security construct horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. Murderbot must hide its free will and complete a dangerous assignment when all it wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.
Alexander Skarsgรฅrd, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, and Sabrina Wu star in this television series created by Chris and Paul Weitz.ยArrow
Image Credit: Arrow May 2:
Butt Boy: Chip, an engineer, sponsors a police detective's journey to sobriety. When Chip becomes the prime suspect in an investigation, the detective discovers that his sponsor has an addiction of his own.
Castle Freak (2020): An Albanian castle with bloodthirsty creatures is inherited by a young woman. Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton reunited for this film directed by Stuart Gordon, the director ofย Re-Animator, the breakthrough hit for all three.
May 16:
Image Credit: Arrow Paul Davis Selects:
Paul Davis, a writer/director on the Blumhouse horror series Into The Dark – (the episodes The Body and Uncanny Annie), and the documentary Beware The Moon – Remembering An American Werewolf in London, chooses his โslices of cinematic delightโ from the ARROW library.
“Iโm absolutely thrilled and humbled to be asked to join the esteemed company here on ARROW Selects, and hope you guys enjoy the titles I have put together for your viewing pleasure, essentially this would be my Arrow Desert Island Selects. Among those I ended up choosing are a collection of movies that have personally inspired me and my own work, and that I can revisit over and over again.”
Titles Include: A Pistol for Ringo, The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave, The Woman
Dachra: An investigation into witchcraft leads a trio of journalism students to a mysterious town marked by sinister rituals. The film was inspired by true events.
May 19:
The Demons Rook: The young Roscoe enters a mystical world through a magical portal; there he meets the old demon Dimwos, who introduces him to the mysterious power of magic; later, Roscoe accidentally unleashes three evil demons, but manages to escape.
May 21:
The Birthday: Highly praised byย Get Outย writer/director Jordan Peele, who championed the film, and featuring a lead performance from Feldman that The Guardian describes as โgenuinely greatโ, this is a chance for you to celebrate a neglected masterwork in all its quirky glory.
May 26:
Steppenwolf: Tamara (Anna Starchenko), a young lady consumed by trauma, searches for her missing son, Timka, in a small town dominated by riots and violence. In a desperate attempt to get him back, she teams up with an amoral former police investigator (Berik Aytzhanov) whose methods prove to be frequently cruel and sadistic. Quietly determined, Tamara decides to complete the mission with the nihilistic detective, no matter what the cost, as the pair embarks on a bloody and bullet-riddled road trip in their combined search for salvation.
Criterion Channel
Image Credit: IMDB The Fog: (1980): Director John Carpenter's beautiful and spooky tale of revenge on a small coastal town that stars Adrienne Barbeau, Hal Holbrook, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, and Janet Leigh. Local legend tells of a ship lured onto the rocks of Antonio Bay being enveloped by a supernatural cloud as it sank; the myth says that when this mysterious fog returns, the victims will rise from the depths seeking vengeance.
Godzilla vs. Biollante: This Toho Pictures monster movie is the seventeenth film in the Godzilla series and was written and directed by Kazuki ลmori.ย Made desolate by the loss of his daughter, a geneticist creates a monstrous new mutation as he tries to deal with his grief. After Godzilla's defeat and imprisonment, the kaiju's DNA was to be used to relieve famine, but the experiment went horribly wrong.
The Keep:ย Nazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison in this scary movie from auteur director Michael Mann. Scott Glenn,ย Gabriel Byrne,ย Jรผrgen Prochnow,ย Alberta Watson,ย andย Ian McKellen star in this cult favorite scored by Tangerine Dream.
Shutter Island (2010): Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, withย Ben Kingsley,ย Max von Sydow,ย andย Michelle Williams star in legendary director Martin Scorsese's adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel. In it, two US marshals are sent to a mental institution on an inhospitable island in order to investigate the disappearance of a patient.
Hulu
Image Credit: IMDB May 1:
Anaconda: A National Geographic film crew is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who forces them along on his quest to capture the world's largest and deadliest snake. ย Jennifer Lopez,ย Ice Cube,ย Jon Voight,ย Eric Stoltz,ย Jonathan Hyde, andย Owen Wilson star in this cult classic, which has a large dollop of humor within the horror.
Attack the Block: The monster horror film set in London and written and directed by Joe Cornish, stars John Boyega,ย Jodie Whittaker, andย Nick Frost. A teen gang robs a nurse who lives in their neighborhood, and a tower block in South London, and end up defending their block from an alien invasion with her help.
May 4:
Insidious: The Red Door: The Lamberts must go deeper into The Further than ever before to put their demons to rest once and for all in this fifth entry in the Insidious series. This is the first film directed by series star Patrick Wilson and a direct sequel to Insidious: Chapter 2.
May 9:
The Damned:ย Thordur Palsson's folk horror film tells the story of a 19th-century widow has to make an impossible choice when, during an especially cruel winter, a foreign ship sinks off the coast of her Icelandic fishing village. Based on Nordic folklore, the film stars Odessa Young, Joe Cole, and Rory McCann.
May 30:
Into the Deep: Modern-day pirates on the hunt for sunken drugs kidnap a boat of tourists and force them to dive into shark-infested waters to retrieve the contraband. Richard Dreyfuss,ย Scout Taylor-Compton,ย Jon Seda,ย andย Stuart Townsend star in this movie about killer sharks.
Max
Image Credit: IMDB A Haunted House: Malcolm and Kisha move into their dream home in this comedic horror satire, and then learn that a demon also resides there. When Kisha becomes possessed, Malcolm turns to a priest, a psychic, and a ghostbusting team for help. Essence Atkins, Cedric the Entertainer, Nick Swardson, David Koechner, and Marlon Wayans star in this movie that has fun with the found footage subgenre.
A Haunted House 2: Having exorcised the demons of his ex, Malcolm is starting fresh with his new girlfriend and her two children. After moving into their dream home, however, Malcolm is once again plagued by bizarre paranormal events. ย Marlon Wayans,ย Jaime Pressly,ย Essence Atkins,ย Gabriel Iglesias, and Missi Pyle star in this comedy that references many different hit horror films.
Hannibal: Director Ridley Scott's sequel toย The Silence of the Lambsย stars Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta, Frankie R. Faison, Giancarlo Giannini, and Francesca Neri. It continues the story of Clarice Starling and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, with Dr. Hannibal Lecter living in exile.ย When Lecter tries to reconnect with the now disgraced F.B.I. Agent Clarice Starling finds himself a target of revenge from a powerful victim.
Kong: Skull Island: After the Vietnam War, a team of scientists explores an uncharted island in the Pacific, venturing into the domain of the mighty Kong and must fight to escape a primal Eden. This second film in the Monsterverse stars Tom Hiddleston,ย Samuel L. Jackson,ย John Goodman, and Brie Larson.
The Silence of the Lambs: The Academy Award-winning horror film based on the novel by Thomas Harris stars Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, Brooke Smith, Frankie Faison, and Kasi Lemmons. A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
Paramount+
Image Credit: IMDB The Addams Family (2019): In this animated film, the Addams family faces off against a crafty reality-TV host while also preparing for their extended family to arrive for a major celebration. ย Oscar Isaac,ย Charlize Theron,ย Chloรซ Grace Moretz,ย Finn Wolfhard,ย Nick Kroll,ย Snoop Dogg,ย Bette Midler, andย Allison Janney lend their voice talents to this spooky family film.
Cursed: Director and horror legend Wes Craven's take on the werewolf myth starsย A werewolf loose in Los Angeles changes the lives of three young adults who, after being mauled by the beast, learn they must kill it to avoid becoming werewolves themselves. Christina Ricci, Jesse Eisenberg, Joshua Jackson, Judy Greer, and Milo Ventimiglia star in this Kevin Williamson-penned movie.
The Mist: Frank Darabont's heartstopping adaptation of the Stephen King novella that caused a furor among audiences when it was released. King thought the changes to the story were a great idea, but viewers were shocked.ย Thomas Jane,ย Marcia Gay Harden,ย Laurie Holden,ย Andre Braugher, Toby Jones, and a whole lot of tentacled monsters star in this eerie classic.
Oldboy: South Korean director Park Chan-wook's disturbing tale of a man who finds himself released after being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years. The man, Oh Dae-Su, must find the man who imprisoned him, or the mysterious tormentor will kill him or the one person he loves in the world.
Parasite:ย Director Bong Joon-ho's Academy Award-winning film that shows the greed and class discrimination that threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan. There is a secret that is held within the family's mansion, which is an architectural marvel, that threatens them all.
Scary Movie 2: The sequel to the hit horror parody from director Keenan Ivory Wayans stars Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans, Tim Curry, Tori Spelling, Chris Elliott, Kathleen Robertson, David Cross, and James Woods. Four teens are tricked by a professor into visiting a haunted house for a school project in this movie that switches from parodying slasher films to doing the same for haunted house films.
Scary Movie 3: The third film in the series is the first without the involvement of the Wayans family and was directed by David Zucker and co-written by Craig Mazin (The Last of Us).ย Cindy must investigate mysterious crop circles and videotapes, and help the President in preventing an alien invasion. Series stars Anna Faris and Regina Hall return, along with Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Anthony Anderson, Kevin Hart, Queen Latifah, and Leslie Nielsen.
Spell: A man crash-lands in rural Appalachia and awakens in the attic of a traditional Hoodoo practitioner. He desperately tries to break free from her dark magic and save his family from a sinister ritual before the rise of the blood moon.
Peacock
Image Credit: IMDB Get Out: Director Jordan Peele's directorial debut starring ย Daniel Kaluuya,ย Allison Williams,ย Lil Rel Howery,ย LaKeith Stanfield,ย Bradley Whitford,ย Caleb Landry Jones,ย Stephen Root,ย Catherine Keener,ย andย Betty Gabriel caused a sensation when it was released in 2017. It is the story of a young African-American photographer who visits his white girlfriend's parents for the weekend, where his simmering uneasiness about their reception of him eventually reaches a boiling point.
Glass: Security guard David Dunn uses his supernatural abilities to track Kevin Wendell Crumb, a disturbed man who has twenty-four personalities in ย M. Night Shyamalan's third film in hisย Unbreakableย trilogy. It brings together actors from both of the previous films: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Spencer Treat Clark, Charlayne Woodard, James McAvoy, and Anya Taylor-Joy, and adds Sarah Paulson.
The Hunt:ย This satirical horror comedy stars Betty Gilpin,ย Hilary Swank,ย Ike Barinholtz, andย Emma Roberts, in which twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are or how they got there. They don't know they've been chosen for a very specific purpose, namely, The Hunt.
Lisa Frankenstein:ย Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse star in first-time director Zelda Williams's coming-of-age love story about a teenager and her crush, who happens to be a corpse. After a set of horrific circumstances brings him back to life, the two embark on a journey to find love, happiness, and a few missing body parts.
Nope:ย Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, and Keith David star in director Jordan Peele's second film, about siblings trying to keep their father's business, of training horses for Hollywood films, alive after their father's mysterious death amid the strange happenings near their ranch in the desert that may be an alien presence.
Split: The second film in director M. Night Shyamalan'sย Unbreakable trilogy. ย Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th alter ego starring James McAvoy,ย Anya Taylor-Joy, andย Betty Buckley.
Prime
Image Credit: IMDB The Exorcist (1973): One of the biggest horror hits in history, which stunned audiences in the United States when it was released the day after Christmas. People were fascinated by the film and terrified; some people ran from the theaters, fainted, or vomited, so strong were their reactions to the film's imagery and scary scenes. Ellen Burstyn,ย Max von Sydow,ย Jason Miller, andย Linda Blair starred in director William Friedkin's masterpiece of religious horror that kicked off the popularity of the possession subgenre.
Screambox
Image Credit: IMDB May 2:
Gothic: Oscar winner Ken Russell (The Devils) tells the tale of the drug-fueled night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein in Gothic. Gabriel Byrne (Hereditary), Julian Sands (Warlock), Natasha Richardson (The Parent Trap), and Timothy Spall (Harry Potter) star.
Repulsion: Catherine Deneuve stars as a withdrawn manicurist who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend and sinks into depression and experiences horrific visions of violence. The black and white psychological fright film is director Roman Polanski's second feature.
May 9:
The Devilโs Rain:ย A '70s supernatural horror ensemble includes William Shatner (Star Trek), Ernest Borgnine (Escape from New York), Tom Skerritt (Alien), Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, and John Travolta in his film debut. LaVey was hired as a Satanic technical advisor. The Devil's Rain is the story of a satanist cult leader is burned alive by the local church. He vows to come back to hunt down and enslave every descendant of his congregation, by the power of the book of blood contracts, in which they sold their souls to the devil.
Queen of Blood: In 1990, aliens contact Earth announcing their visit. Their ship crashes on Mars. A rescue team from Earth is dispatched to investigate the alien crash site. John Saxon,ย Basil Rathbone,ย Dennis Hopper, andย Judi Meredith star in cult film director Curtis Harrington's movie. Harrington had a career working in television and was a collaborator with filmmaker Kenneth Anger.
Scream of the Wolf: A big-game hunter comes out of retirement to help track down a killer wolf and begins to suspect that it isn't a wolf but an animal that can take human form. This television movie was directed by Dan Curtis, who worked mostly in television and was known for several shows and television movies in the horror genre that became classics, like Dark Shadows, The Night Stalker, The Trilogy of Terror, and Burnt Offerings.ย
May 16:
Creature from Black Lake: Cryptid fans should take note of this made-for-TV gem from 1976 about a Bigfoot-like creature called the Fouke Monster, aka The Boggy Creek monster. It is also one of the first projects lensed by Dean Cundey, John Carpenter's cinematographer and collaborator, who also worked as the DP on Jurassic Park.
The Day of the Triffids: After an unusual meteor shower leaves most of the human population blind, a merchant navy officer must find a way to fight tall, aggressive plants that are feeding on people and animals. An unusual monster in a film adapted from John Wyndham's novel is still creepy and stars Howard Keelย andย Nicole Maurey.
May 23:
Deadware: In this screenlife film, set in 1999, two friends use a webcam for the first time and stumble across a mysterious browser game that may be haunted. Director Isaac Rodriguez started the No Sleep film channel and has directed 12 screenlife films. Ali Alkhafaji, Christine Brown, and Sarah Froelich star as the unfortunate friends who find this mysterious and deadly online game.
Kill, Baby… Kill!: Italian horror maverick Mario Bava's (Black Sunday) film Kill, Babyโฆ Kill is not as well-known as the maestro's other films, but it is just as beautiful and artful as his other films, like Blood and Black Lace.ย The film is about a small village that is haunted by the ghost of a murderous young girl, which is said to have influenced Dario Argento's Suspiria.
Red Water: Lou Diamond Phillips, Kristy Swanson, and Coolio star in this movie about a group of oil workers being held hostage by a group of gangsters on a small oil rig are attacked by a freshwater bull shark.
The Severed Arm:ย Trapped in a cave, five men cut the arm off of another companion to ward off starvation. After they are saved, their victim seeks revenge on them one by one in a familiar and gruesome way. The Severed Armย marks the first screen appearance of Angus Scrimm and stars Deborah Walley, Paul Carr,ย andย John Crawford.
May 30:
Cannibal Farm: A family heads out on a camping trip, which is cut short after stumbling upon a farm where the farmer isn't farming animals, but is up to something much more disturbing.
God Told Me To:ย A New York detective investigates a series of mass murders committed by random New Yorkers who claim that “God told them to.”ย Tony Lo Bianco, Deborah Raffin, Sandy Dennis, and Sylvia Sidney star in director Larry Cohen's chilling film. Are the ordinary people who are commanded to kill doing so because of God or is it another sinister source causing the killings?
Hacked:ย Also, released asย The Den. While studying the habits of webcam chat users from the apparent safety of her own home, a young woman's life begins to spiral out of control after witnessing a grisly murder online. The film has elements of the screenlife and found footage genres, was directed by Zachary Donohue, and stars Melanie Papalia.
To the Devil a Daughter:ย An American occult novelist battles to save the soul of a young girl from a group of Satanists, led by an excommunicated priest, who plan on using her as the representative of the Devil on Earth. Richard Widmark,ย Christopher Lee,ย Honor Blackman,ย Nastassja Kinski, andย Denholm Elliott star in one of the last films produced by Hammer Studios in the 20th Century.
