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5 best horror movies on Hulu to watch this Halloween

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Hulu may not be the top streamer, but it has some of the best horror movies that you can stream. Apparently, the team at Hulu really took Huluween seriously when putting this lineup together, because this is just about everything that a horror lover could ask for.

Our picks include two films directed by horror maven James Wan, two indie horror flicks, and a Stephen King adaptation that was originally made for Hulu. These are the five best movies on Hulu to watch this Halloween.

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The Boogeyman (2023)

A young girl holding a lamp and looking scared in the movie The Boogeyman.
20th Century Studios / 20th Century Studios

The adaptation of Stephen King’s The Boogeyman was originally meant to go straight to Hulu. Instead, it got a theatrical release before coming to Hulu. Because King’s original story was so short, the film greatly expands upon and changes things up. In this retelling, Lester Billings (David Dastmalchian) tells his therapist, Will Harper (Chris Messina), that his entire family was killed by an evil creature that defies explanation.

Lester dies shortly thereafter, but the entity apparently moves on to Will and his family, who are already mourning the loss of Will’s wife. Will’s youngest daughter, Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair), is the first one to notice “the Boogeyman” in their house. But it’s not long before her older sister, Sadie (Sophie Thatcher), encounters this malevolent force as well.

Watch The Boogeyman on Hulu.

Saw (2004)

Cary Elwes in Saw.
Lionsgate

Director James Wan made his name in Hollywood with Saw, and it has spawned nine sequels to date. But the original film remains the best in part because it’s a much more restrained story than any of the sequels. Cary Elwes stars as Dr. Lawrence Gordon, a husband and a father who wakes up in a ruined bathroom chained to a wall alongside a stranger named Adam (Leigh Whannell).

Gordon realizes that the Jigsaw Killer (Tobin Bell) is behind this, and that he was once a suspect in the case. Now, Jigsaw is playing a game with the lives of Gordon’s family on the line. Gordon can save them if he murders Adam, and he only has a few hours to break free of his chains to make that happen.

Watch Saw on Hulu.

Malignant (2021)

Annabelle Wallis as Madison in Malignant.
Warner Bros. Pictures

Wan also directed the underrated Malignant, a one-off horror film that wasn’t meant to spawn a franchise. Annabelle Wallis stars as Madison Mitchell, a pregnant young woman who has struggled through previous miscarriages. After Madison’s husband, Derek Mitchell (Jake Abel), brutally attacks her, she has a nightmare about someone breaking in and killing him.

When Madison awakens, she discovers that Derek’s death wasn’t just a dream and the killer is still in the house with her. Madison loses her baby in the encounter, but soon realizes that she somehow shares a link to the killer as he strikes again and again. And she can’t run from him forever.

Watch Malignant on Hulu.

The Babadook (2014)

Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman in The Babadook.
Umbrella Entertainment

Forget all of the humorous memes you’ve seen of The Babadook. The creature in the original film is no laughing matter. The Babadook features Essie Davis as Amelia Vanek, a widowed mother in Australia who is struggling to raise her son, Samuel Vanek (Noah Wiseman). That would have been difficult even under the best of circumstances. But it’s even more complicated when Samuel becomes terrified of The Babadook, a menacing character in one of his books.

Or is it a character? Because the more Amelia learns about The Babadook, the more she’s convinced that it’s real and coming for her son.

Watch The Babadook on Hulu.

The Vigil (2019)

Dave Davis in The Vigil.
IFC Midnight

Would you watch over a dead body through the night for just a few hundred dollars? That’s a bargain that Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) makes in The Vigil — even after he’s left the Orthodox Jewish community behind. Yakov agrees to be the Shomer for Holocaust survivor Rubin Litvak (Ronald Cohen) to ward off evil spirits until Rubin’s body can be buried.

That may sound like easy cash, but Yakov is about to learn that Jewish myths about evil spirits aren’t actually myths. Rubin encountered an unspeakable evil when he was young, and now that entity is back and looking for a new host. The Vigil is our pick for the scariest movie on Hulu, and you may want to watch it with the lights on.

Watch The Vigil on Hulu.

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Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
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