Movies, Shows, and More
The horror genre has a long history of churning out slasher flicks with anemic budgets, and Shudder offers a lot of them. From well-known and beloved favorites like the original Friday the 13th to cult classics like Shakma, Shudder has all the jump scares and final girls you can handle. These older films coexist alongside newer films on the platform, such as Arcadian, Baghead, and Late Night With the Devil.
There are also original horror series and films on Shudder, but not all of them are scary. The Boulet Brothers' Dragula: Resurrection is a Halloween-themed drag competition where the contestants are equal parts ghoulish and glamorous. There's also a wide variety of comedy offerings that include Prevenge and Scare Package.
(Credit: PCMag)Competitor Screambox has horror movies you won't see anywhere else. It has Thomas Edison's Frankenstein and the silent The Phantom of the Opera. It also features Il Demonio and other subtitled foreign language thrillers. Don't bother looking for many well-known classics on Screambox—it's a service for the horror fan looking for obscure films and short interviews with creators.
Like Shudder, Screambox has exclusive content, including the terrifying clown film It's Here. For fans of blood and gore, there's the Extreme category that features bloodletting and otherwise disturbing content that you won't find on other platforms. Screambox's library is highly curated and smaller than most other video streaming platforms.
Winner: Shudder
Pricing and Platforms
Shudder costs $6.99 per month, with a discounted $71.88-per-year annual subscription option. Screambox slightly undercuts that price with a $6.99-per-month option that drops to $59.99 per year with an annual plan. Screambox also has a free streaming tier, but it doesn't include all the premium content. Shudder is ad-free, while Screambox only shows ads on its free tier.
In addition to watching Shudder on the web, you can download a dedicated Shudder app on mobile platforms (Android and iOS), streaming devices (Apple TV, Fire TV, and Roku), Chromecast, select smart TVs, and the Xbox. You can also watch Shudder via a web browser. Missing from this list are Nintendo and PlayStation consoles. Screambox offers an app for mobile platforms (Android, iOS), game consoles (PlayStation and Xbox), and media streaming devices (Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku). Your decision may come down to which service supports the devices you own.
Winner: Screambox
Viewing Experience
Both services have all the basics: the ability to stream movies from a phone or TV in HD quality, movies divided up by genre and sorted into collections for easy binge-watching, and the ability to search for titles. Screambox also adopted Netflix's Continue Watching feature, which is incredibly helpful for keeping track of your scary movies when you need to pause and take a break from the terror.
(Credit: Screambox/PCMag)Both services allow you to stream movies from your phone but lack mobile downloads for offline viewing. Screambox supports three simultaneous streams, whereas Shudder does not allow concurrent streams from the same account.
The closed captioning system for both services is limited to English-language options, and you can't change the color or font like you can on other platforms. Both services also lack parental control features, which may be a big issue for some viewers. Amazon Prime Video, Max, and Netflix provide extensive parental control options. An ability to create separate user profiles for family members on the services would go a long way to helping parents keep an eye on the horror programming their kids are viewing.
Winner: Screambox
Extra Features
Shudder and Screambox both offer platform-exclusive content and original content. Shudder has ShudderTV, a 24/7 streaming channel dedicated to horror content. You can also view channels like Slashics, which highlights slasher flicks, and others that offer premium curated content to watch around the clock. Screambox now offers a similar "live TV" feature that broadcasts content all day.
(Credit: Shudder/PCMag)Shudder also features horror podcasts on its platform, which is a cool addition. You can watch or listen to these podcasts just like you would watch movies on your TV or mobile phone.
Winner: Shudder