Welcome to Horrorscope, a monthly column keeping horror nerds and initiates up to date on all the horror content coming to and leaving from your favorite streaming services. Here’s what to watch in April 2022:
Happy April dear readers, we’ve once again made it Spring once more. So, depending on your hemisphere of choice, the promising signs of brighter, greener days are on the horizon. But, while it may grow cheerier outside, horror fans will persist in their dedication to keeping things nice and spooky all year round.
Even though we’re halfway to Halloween, there are still plenty of genre goodies to be found this month. From returning streaming favorites to hard-to-find curios, there’s a little something for everyone, so buckle up and put the kettle on.
Be sure to peruse the complete list below, calendar in hand, for a full picture of what horror movies are coming and going from your favorite streaming services in April 2022. Keep in mind that all dates listed below may not apply to viewers outside the US.
April 2022 Horror Streaming Cheat Sheet
- There’s only a handful of horror content leaving The Criterion Channel — including one of our recommendations from a couple of months ago, the post-apocalyptic racial commentary The World, the Flesh, and the Devil starring Harry Belafonte.
- The entire Twilight franchise is coming to Hulu this month. It’s also leaving HBO Max at the end of April. So if you’ve been itching to revisit the early careers of two of our most talented working actors, this is the month to do it!
- If you want a reminder that death is coming for us all, the first two films in the Final Destination franchise are streaming for free on IMDb TV at the start of the month.
- Remember when Marvel made actual horror films? We do. The entire blood-soaked Blade trilogy is available on Netflix as of April 1st.
- New 2022 releases hitting streaming this month include The Sacred Spirit (ARROW: April 15); Choose or Die (Netflix: April 15); The Cellar (Shudder: April 15), and Virus 32 (Shudder: April 21).
- Shudder’s “Halfway to Halloween Hotline” is back every Friday in April from 3 pm – 4 pm ET. Call Shudder’s VP of programming for a personal horror movie recommendation! A new hotline phone number will be announced each Friday on Shudder’s social media platforms.
- Also on Shudder in April: the fourth season of The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs returns on Friday, April 29.
Horror Streaming Highlights for April 2022
Pick of the Month: The Passing (1983)
Synopsis: Two widowed World War II veterans live together on the crumbling outskirts of Baltimore. A young blue-collar family man is sentenced to death after accidentally killing his wife’s attacker. One of the veterans enrolls in a mysterious program that promises to place the psyches of the old in the bodies of the new. One hopeful participant, one unwilling victim … what could go wrong?
A passion project of director/writer/producer/co-star John Huckert, The Passing tackles its weighty themes (love, loneliness, the inevitability of death) with a shoestring budget and contagious devotion to its subjects. Criminally underseen since the first week of its theatrical release way back in the 1980s, the film straddles surrealist sci-fi-horror spaces with ease, offering a singular document of no-budget ambition and stomach-sinking identity horror. It’s like a rape-revenge film got in a car crash with 2001: A Space Odyssey. And if that piques your interest, you’d do best to seek this gem out.
Available on ARROW on April 4th.
A marvelous double bill of supernatural Blaxploitation
Synopsis: A whole swath of provocative Blaxploitation films are hitting Criterion Channel this month — boasting a solid mix of pulp classics and genre rarities. And two of that number are in the horror zone! So if you’re in the mood to learn more about a time in cinema history when Black artists behind and in front of the camera broke political and aesthetic boundaries (and you want to get your horror fix) look no further!
Released in 1974, Sugar Hill is the sole directorial effort of prolific producer Paul Maslansky (the man responsible for Jason and the Argonauts, Return to Oz, and Police Academy … talk about range!). The film follows Diana “Sugar” Hill (Marki Bey) who entreats a voodoo queen to summon Baron Samedi when her boyfriend is killed by gangsters. After selling her soul to the loa of the dead, Sugar is given a zombie army to take on her enemies. Meanwhile, Sugar’s old flame, Detective Valentine, is on the case.
As for the other half of the double bill, we’ve got 1976’s J.D.’s Revenge directed by Arthur Marks. The film follows a slain 1940s gangster named J.D. who returns from the dead to exact his titular revenge by possessing the body of a mild-mannered, Black law student. Steeped in a thick soup of New Orleans atmosphere, J.D.’s Revenge is a hypnosis-filled ride grounded featuring two above-the-board performances by Glynn Turman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and Louis Gossett Jr (Roots, Watchmen).
Available on The Criterion Channel on April 1st.
A gem of “boy, I love to feel bad” cinema
Synopsis: Desperate for money, an asbestos removal owner named Gordon offers to remove the toxic material from an abandoned psych ward in just one week. As the cleanup crew arrives, their already fragile psyches are put to the test as tensions rise during the rush job and old wounds begin to rip open.
Session 9 has picked up something of a cult status over the years, and with good reason. Brad Anderson‘s 2001 film is a chilling film brimming with a thoroughly ominous atmosphere and a rock-solid ensemble cast comprised of the “competent middle-aged average joe” types that rarely populate horror features. Awash in ambiguity and privy to one of the bleakest endings in horror history, Session 9 is a disorienting and criminally underseen gem best watched with all the lights on as far away from derelict buildings as humanly possible.
Available on Shudder on April 1st.
You got your werewolf movie in my erotic thriller! You got your erotic thriller in my werewolf movie!
Synopsis: Late one night, mild-mannered editor Will Randall is bitten by a wolf. After securing a tetanus shot, Will soon finds that his senses are heightened, his sleep patterns are erratic, he’s an animal in the sack, and overall, he’s feeling like a new man. While Will tries to suss out whether his transformation is a blessing or a curse, a bigger, more deadly struggle emerges. Namely: corporate drama at his publishing house.
Mike Nichols‘ feature film debut was 1966’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Thirty years later, audiences had to answer the question: who’s afraid of Mike Nichols’ Wolf? The answer, as it happens was “nobody” because, for all its bark, this bad boy has zero bite in the thrills and chills department. But don’t hold that against Wolf. This is a mess. But oh what a mess.
You’ve got all the elemental pieces of an erotic thriller: James Spader is out here stealing people’s wives. An indifferent elder statesman (Christopher Plummer) plays god with the job/entire deal of our protagonist (Jack Nicholson). A femme fatale (Michelle Pfeiffer) sulks in the background with a dangling cigarette and nary a lick of self-preservation. Then the film goes and throws its not-werewolf werewolf mythology into the mix. Taken on its own ridiculously goofy terms, Wolf will have you hooting, hollering, and who knows, howling.
Available on Hulu and Tubi on April 1st.
Streamable Horror Incoming This Month
Fresh blood: A list of all the horror content coming to streaming services in April 2022.Streaming Service | Movie | Date |
---|---|---|
ARROW | The Face at the Window (1939) | April 1 |
ARROW | The Passing (1983) | April 4 |
ARROW | Battle for the Lost Planet (1986) | April 4 |
ARROW | Mutant War (1988) | April 4 |
ARROW | The Sacred Spirit (2022) | April 15 |
ARROW | Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine (1974) | April 15 |
ARROW | Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986) | April 18 |
The Criterion Channel | Daughters of Darkness (1971) | April 1 |
The Criterion Channel | J.D.’s Revenge (1976) | April 1 |
The Criterion Channel | Sugar Hill (1974) | April 1 |
HBO Max | Annabelle (2014) | April 1 |
HBO Max | Beetlejuice (1988) | April 1 |
HBO Max | Children of the Damned (1964) | April 1 |
HBO Max | Insidious (2010) | April 1 |
HBO Max | The Relic (1997) | April 1 |
HBO Max | The Night House (2021) | April 8 |
HBO Max | The Blair Witch Project (1999) | April 30 |
HBO Max | House of 1,000 Corpses (2003) | April 30 |
HBO Max | The Devil's Rejects (2005) | April 30 |
Hulu | Casper (1995) | April 1 |
Hulu | Eyes Wide Shut (1999) | April 1 |
Hulu | Insomnium (2017) | April 1 |
Hulu | John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998) | April 1 |
Hulu | Practical Magic (1998) | April 1 |
Hulu | Twilight (2008) | April 1 |
Hulu | The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | April 1 |
Hulu | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) | April 1 |
Hulu | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011) | April 1 |
Hulu | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (2012) | April 1 |
Hulu | Wolf (1994) | April 1 |
Hulu | Let the Right One In (2008) | April 8 |
Hulu | Black Death (2010) | April 15 |
IMDb TV | Final Destination (2000) | April 1 |
IMDb TV | Final Destination 2 (2003) | April 1 |
Netflix | Blade (1998) | April 1 |
Netflix | Blade II (2002) | April 1 |
Netflix | Blade: Trinity (2004) | April 1 |
Netflix | The Rental (2020) | April 1 |
Netflix | The Ring (2002) | April 1 |
Netflix | Choose or Die (2022) | April 15 |
Netflix | Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) | April 16 |
Paramount+ | Addams Family Values (1993) | April 1 |
Paramount+ | The Believers (1987) | April 1 |
Paramount+ | The Fly (unclear which version) | April 1 |
Paramount+ | Carrie (unclear which version) | April 4 |
Peacock | The Purge: Anarchy (2014) | April 1 |
Prime Video | The Sixth Sense (1999) | April 1 |
Prime Video | Young Frankenstein (1974) | April 1 |
Prime Video | Jeepers Creepers 2 (2002) | April 1 |
Prime Video | Carrie (1976) | April 1 |
Prime Video | Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) | April 1 |
Prime Video | District 9 (2009) | April 1 |
Shudder | Candyman (1992) | April 1 |
Shudder | The Evil Dead (1981) | April 1 |
Shudder | Evil Dead II (1987) | April 1 |
Shudder | The Fog (unclear which version) | April 1 |
Shudder | Near Dark (1987) | April 1 |
Shudder | The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) | April 1 |
Shudder | Session 9 (2001) | April 1 |
Shudder | The Funhouse (1981) | April 1 |
Shudder | The Devils (1971) | April 1 |
Shudder | Trick ‘r Treat (2007) | April 1 |
Shudder | Ritual (2002) | April 4 |
Shudder | Summer of 84 (2018) | April 4 |
Shudder | See For Me (2021) | April 7 |
Shudder | Rocktober Blood (1984) | April 11 |
Shudder | Puppet Master (1989) | April 11 |
Shudder | Puppet Master II (1990) | April 11 |
Shudder | Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991) | April 11 |
Shudder | Subspecies (1991) | April 12 |
Shudder | The Pit and the Pendulum (unclear which version) | April 12 |
Shudder | Intruder (2019) | April 12 |
Shudder | The Cellar (2022) | April 15 |
Shudder | Virus 32 (2022) | April 21 |
Shudder | Jamie Marks is Dead (2014) | April 25 |
Tubi | Pride + Prejudice + Zombies (2016) | April 1 |
Tubi | Beetlejuice (1988) | April 1 |
Tubi | Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) | April 1 |
Tubi | Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) | April 1 |
Tubi | Leprechaun (1993) | April 1 |
Tubi | Oculus (2013) | April 1 |
Tubi | Quarantine (2008) | April 1 |
Tubi | Salem’s Lot (1979) | April 1 |
Tubi | The Grudge 3 (2009) | April 1 |
Tubi | The Village (2004) | April 1 |
Tubi | Urban Legend (1998) | April 1 |
Tubi | Urban Legends: The Final Cut (2000) | April 1 |
Tubi | Psycho (1960) | April 1 |
Tubi | Wolf (1994) | April 1 |
Tubi | Alien (1979) | April 1 |
Tubi | District 9 (2009) | April 1 |
Horror Titles Expiring from Streaming Soon
Streaming Service | Movie | Date |
---|---|---|
The Criterion Channel | Collective: Unconscious | April 30 |
The Criterion Channel | Butter on the Latch | April 30 |
The Criterion Channel | The World The Flesh and The Devil | April 30 |
HBO Max | Cursed (2005) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Darkness (2004) | April 30 |
HBO Max | House (2008) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Poltergeist II: the Other Side (1986) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Poltergeist III (1988) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Stigmata (1999) | April 30 |
HBO Max | House of the Dead (2003) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Lake Placid (1999) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Mirrors (2008) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2005) | April 30 |
HBO Max | Twilight (2008) | April 30 |
HBO Max | The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) | April 30 |
HBO Max | The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) | April 30 |
HBO Max | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011) | April 30 |
HBO Max | The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (2012) | April 30 |
Netflix | Truth or Dare (2018) | April 2 |
Netflix | The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) | April 4 |
Netflix | House of the Witch (2017) | April 8 |