Welcome to Horrorscope, a monthly column keeping horror nerds and initiates up to date on all the genre content coming to and leaving from your favorite streaming services. Here’s a guide to all the essential horror streaming in May 2021.
May is upon us boils and ghouls!
Depending on what hemisphere you live in, spring is bringing forth all kinds of floral delights. And wouldn’t you know it, the streaming services have been equally plentiful this month. We’ve got hotly-anticipated genre fare that caused a stir on the festival circuit. We’ve got new releases from Big Names who may or may not have ruffled feathers earlier this year with something that rhymes with “The Byder Cut.” And we’ve got old greats that are spicy blindspots to some and comfy rewatches for others.
Be sure to peruse the complete list below, calendar in hand, for a full picture of what horror flicks are coming and going from your favorite streaming services in May.
Pick of the Month: Saint Maud(2019)
Synopsis: There, but for the grace of God, goes Maud, a reclusive and newly devout hospice nurse, who becomes fixated on the idea of saving the soul of Amanda, a retired dancer whose body has become ravaged by cancer. As Maud’s obsession with saving the “degenerate” Amanda festers, Maud’s own less-than sanctimonious past threatens to snuff out the would-be saint’s fervent faith.
The debut feature of writer-director Rose Glass — which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 in the Midnight Madness program — is a chilling tale of belief, madness, and the blurry line in-between. Catholicism has long-served the horror genre and Saint Maud is a worthy new disciple, writhing in tandem with the likes of Mother Joan of the Angels and Carrie. Morfydd Clark‘s performance as Maud is as enthralling as it is disquieting, capturing that uncannily impressionable volatility that defines many of cinema’s more unsettling protagonists. The horror film does an unnervingly good job of muddying the waters of dogmatism and paranoia; slowly bringing the world of our misguided martyr to a boil of dread-filled malaise. All told: praise be, Saint Maud.
Available on Amazon Prime and Hulu starting May 13th.
The heckin’ best film about a girl and her interplanetary, limb-ripping nightmare alien
Synopsis: What’s the worst thing you could find buried in your backyard? A really big worm? The skeleton of an old pet? Well, when sibling duo Mimi and Luke go digging, they find something big, unexpected, and bloodthirsty: an evil ancient alien warlord who wants to destroy the universe. At first, it’s all fun and games and “using the magic pink amulet to force the evil alien to submit to their childish whims.” But after resurrecting the creature, who they nickname Psycho Goreman (or PG for short), the siblings accidentally send out a signal to space, alerting other, weirder, aliens of PG’s presence. Suddenly their small-town suburban home becomes a blood-soaked, intergalactic battlefield.
I know what you’re thinking: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial would have been infinitely better if that little alien was a homicidal maniac hellbent on taking over the galaxy. Enter: Psycho Goreman (2020), the latest fever dream from The Void writer-director Steven Kostanski. Unlike other “child befriends monster” flicks, Psycho Goreman doesn’t just deliver gore. It delivers “rip your body part off and fight you with it” gore. So what if it’s only May? Our own Rob Hunter has already declared this child-exploding, intergalactic gorefest the movie of the year.
A playful callback to a time before CGI came in and ruined everyone’s latex-fueled fun, Psycho Goreman is an absolute bloodbath of high-energy silliness that you’d be a fool to pass up. Plus, Nita-Josee Hanna’s performance as Mimi is arguably one of the most joyfully devious things you’re liable to see this year. You can’t help but grin.
Arriving on Shudder on May 20th
Zombie heist? Zombie heist.
Synopsis: An ex-military man is pulled out of retirement for one last job. Heard that one before? Just wait. This one has zombies. It’s the heist of the apocalypse! The target? A lucrative vault located beneath the Las Vegas strip. The catch? The city is in the thrall of an undead outbreak. Oh, right, and the government is going to nuke the entire city in thirty-two hours. But with that much cash and glory on the line, it’s a gamble worth taking.
Army of the Dead (2021) promises a blend of two genre film mainstays: a high-stakes heist and an undead horde. The embers have barely cooled on Zack Snyder‘s much-discussed four-hour long director’s cut of Justice League. But look, you can’t show me a zombified showgirl and not expect me to lose my mind. It gives a whole new meaning to the quote “there’s always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you.” Like, yeah, and she’ll probably rip out your Achilles tendons with her teeth!
Army of the Dead will be Snyder’s first foray outside the DC Extended Universe since 2011’s Sucker Punch. The horror film also marks an interesting return to form of sorts. Dawn of the Dead, a high-octane remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 classic, announced Snyder’s feature film debut all the way back in 2004. So here we are, nearly two decades later, back where it all began: zombies! Starring Dave Bautista in the lead role with guns-for-hire including the likes of Ella Purnell and Tig Notaro, Army of the Dead boasts a lesser-seen (zombified) side of Snyder, so color us intrigued!
Arriving on Netflix on May 21st
A vampiric throwback from a master of horror with a newly-announced project
Synopsis: After a motorcycle accident tears her body to shreds, Rose undergoes a radical, experimental surgical procedure. She emerges from the ordeal in one piece. In fact, she emerges with a few…extra pieces. Namely: a phallic, vampiric appendage in her armpit and an insatiable thirst for human blood. As Rose’s thirst begins to spread throughout Montreal, the powers that be fail to contain the mounting outbreak.
We capped off the month of April with the announcement that the boys (David Cronenberg and long-time collaborator Viggo Mortensen) are back in town. It’s been seven years since the release of Maps to the Stars and Canada’s purveying Baron of Blood is back in the saddle, baby. Not only that, but he’s returning to one of his old projects, Crimes of the Future, his second (almost) feature-length film. And if Cronenberg is going back to his old work, frankly, we should do the same.
There are two sides to the Rabid (1977) coin. The first has to do with its unavoidable controversy. The horror film was, in many ways, a direct and defiant response to the criticism and censorship that Cronenberg encountered with his first commercial film, Shivers. If the media wanted to call his films pornographic, why not cast former porn actress Marilyn Chambers as the sympathetic lead? The other side of the coin (not unrelated to the first), is that it would be a mistake to dismiss Rabid as “the armpit penis movie.” Rabid is, fundamentally, about government-like institutions failing to contain and manage a public health crisis. So for all its queasy violence and psycho-sexual imagery, the film’s representation of inaction during an outbreak is truly its more stomach-churning legacy
Arriving on HBO Max on May 1st
Streamable Horror Incoming This Month
Fresh blood: A list of all the horror content coming to streaming services in May 2021.| Streaming Service | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Prime Video | Alien: Resurrection (1997) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | Alien 3 (1992) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | Aliens (1986) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | Priest (2011) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | Resident Evil (2002) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | The Sixth Sense (1999) | May 1 |
| Amazon Prime Video | Saint Maud (2019) | May 13 |
| ARROW | Threshold (2020) | May 3 |
| ARROW | Versus (2000) | May 3 |
| ARROW | Zombie Nightmare (1987) | May 14 |
| ARROW | The Reflecting Skin (1990) | May 14 |
| The Criterion Channel | The Fall (2019) | May 25 |
| HBO Max | Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) | May 1 |
| HBO Max | Anaconda (1997) | May 1 |
| HBO Max | Cursed (2005) | May 1 |
| HBO Max | Rabid (1977) | May 1 |
| HBO Max | The Witches Of Eastwick (1987) | May 1 |
| Hulu | The Crazies (2010) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Goodnight Mommy (2014) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Hannibal Rising (2007) | May 1 |
| Hulu | The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia (2013) | May 1 |
| Hulu | I Am Legend (2007) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Train to Busan (2016) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) | May 1 |
| Hulu | The Wailing (2016) | May 1 |
| Hulu | Saint Maud (2019) |
May 13 |
| Hulu | The Vigil (2021) | May 21 |
| IMDb TV | Alien (1979) | May 1 |
| IMDb TV | Beloved (1998) | May 1 |
| IMDb TV | Legion (2010) | May 1 |
| IMDb TV | Warm Bodies (2013) | May 1 |
| Netflix | Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) | May 1 |
| Netflix | Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) | May 1 |
| Netflix | Zombieland (2009) | May 1 |
| Netflix | The Darkest Hour (2011) | May 1 |
| Netflix | The Strange House (2021) | May 14 |
| Netflix | Army of the Dead (2021) | May 21 |
| Shudder | The Wicker Man (1973) | May 1 |
| Shudder | House on Haunted Hill (1959) | May 1 |
| Shudder | House on Haunted Hill (1999) | May 1 |
| Shudder | 13 Ghosts (1960) | May 1 |
| Shudder | Curse of the Demon (1958) | May 1 |
| Shudder | Frankenhooker (1990) | May 4 |
| Shudder | Fried Barry (2021) | May 7 |
| Shudder | Sator (2019) | May 10 |
| Shudder | Climate of the Hunter (2019) | May 10 |
| Shudder | The Funeral Home (2020) | May 10 |
| Shudder | Trickster (2020) - full season | May 13 |
| Shudder | The Reckoning (2021) | May 13 |
| Shudder | American Mary (2012) | May 17 |
| Shudder | Time Lapse (2014) | May 17 |
| Shudder | Found (2012) | May 17 |
| Shudder | Def by Temptation (1990) | May 18 |
| Shudder | Black Roses (1988) | May 18 |
| Shudder | PG: Psycho Goreman (2021) | May 20 |
| Shudder | Werewolf (2019) | May 24 |
| Shudder | The Machine (2013) | May 24 |
| Shudder | The Windmill (2016) | May 24 |
| Shudder | Skull: The Mask (2021) | May 27 |
| Tubi | Warm Bodies (2013) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Curve (2015) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Darkness Falls (2019) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Grace: The Possession (2014) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Hostel: Part III (2011) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Rosewood Lane (2011) | May 1 |
| Tubi | The Crazies (2010) | May 1 |
| Tubi | The Descent (2005) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) | May 1 |
| Tubi | Astral (2018) | May 15 |
| Tubi | The Blair Witch Project (1999) | May 21 |
Horror Titles Expiring from Streaming Soon
| Streaming Service | Movie | Date |
|---|---|---|
| HBO Max | Annabelle Comes Home (2019) | May 16 |
| HBO Max | Black Christmas (2019) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Book Of Shadows: The Blair Witch 2 (2000) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | The Dead Don’t Die (2019) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Death Becomes Her (1992) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Jaws (1975) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Jaws 2 (1978) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Misery (1990) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Scream (1996) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Scream 2 (1997) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Scream 3 (2000) | May 31 |
| HBO Max | Shaun Of The Dead (2004) | May 31 |
| Hulu | Victor Frankenstein (2015) | May 1 |
| Hulu | 28 Weeks Later (2007) | May 31 |
| Hulu | Bug (1975) | May 31 |
| Hulu | Phase IV (1974) | May 31 |
| Hulu | So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993) | May 31 |
| Hulu | The Descent (2006) | May 31 |
| Hulu | The Gift (2000) | May 31 |
| Hulu | The Tenant (1976) | May 31 |
| Hulu | Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) | May 31 |
| Hulu | Young Frankenstein (1974) | May 31 |
| Netflix | House at the End of the Street (2012) | May 7 |
| Netflix | The Blair Witch Project (1999) | May 31 |
| Netflix | The Boy (2016} | May 31 |
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