10 great Shudder originals/exclusives you may have forgotten about (or slept on)

Shudder has continuously added new original/exclusive horror films since they launched ten years ago. But ten years is a long time in the world of entertainment, and it may be that our readers may have never seen some of these movies...or meant to watch them, never did, and just forgot about them.

Now, we are not talking about films such as Revenge, Late Night with the Devil, or Good Boy, all of which are better known or newer. I dug into the Shudder vault of originals and exclusives, and also made sure my recommendations were still available to stream on my favorite horror platform.

The Advent Calendar - This is technically a holiday horror movie, but it is not at all warm and fuzzy. It gets pretty dark, and be warned: the dog dies. Eve was once a dancer, but she is now confined to a wheel chair, which she is pretty bitter about. When her friend Sophie shows up with the gift of a creepy wood advent calendar, Eve is given the chance to have her fondest wish granted. But first, she must work her way through the calendar, eating each piece of candy. For each candy, something happens - and these somethings are not always good, placing the lives of those she cares about in peril. The Advent Calendar is a French film, so be prepared for subtitles.

The Boy Behind the Door - David Charbonier and Justin Powell (The Djinn, Push) are responsible for this dark story of two young friends who are kidnapped while walking home through the woods. They wake up inside the trunk of a car, but Kevin is removed and taken inside the house, while Kevin is left in the trunk. He manages to get out, but instead of running away, he goes into the house upon hearing his friend screaming. What follows is intense and often shockingly brutal. Lonnie Chavis and Ezra Dewey both give brilliant performances, especially given their tender ages.

Blood Quantum - Jeff Barnaby wrote and directed this film, which was his second feature. It tells the story of the zombie apocalypse with a twist: indigenous people are immune to the plague. As the Red Crow Reservation fortifies itself to protect the residents, brothers Lysol and Joseph are at odds, with Lysol insisting that non-indigenous people not be allowed to seek refuge within the reservation. Of course, all goes horribly wrong, resulting in violence and chaos. Blood Quantum features a mostly indigenous cast, including Michael Greyeyes and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers (The Abandons), and Kiowa Gordon (Dark Winds).

The Cleansing Hour - In this unique possession tale, Father Max (Ryan Guzman) and his best friend Drew (Kyle Gallner) run a scam, setting up fake exorcisms for their very popular livestream show. When the actor they hired for their most recent exorcism fails to show up, Drew's fiancee Lane reluctantly agrees to step in. Shortly after the "exorcism" begins, it becomes clean that Lane is actually possessed, and Max must decide whether to continue on, building the number of viewers, or to figure out how to fix things. As good as Guzman and Gallner are, the real star of The Cleansing Hour is Alix Angeles, who is jaw-droppingly good as the possessed Lane.

Host - Rob Savage (Dashcam, The Boogeyman) directed and co-wrote this genius story, set and filmed during the COVID shutdown. A group of friends in London are bored and isolated during COVID, and decide to set up a Zoom seance, led by a medium. The medium gives them some instructions before beginning, but of course one of the young women doesn't follow the rules, and things get really scary. At a lean 56 minutes, Host is fast-paced and intense, and utilizes some pretty awesome practical effects (some of them inacted by the actors themselves, whose roles were filmed through a real Zoom meeting).

Impetigore - Indonesion horror is pretty great, and Impetogore is one of the best. Friends Maya and Dini work together as toll collectors, and one night, a man attacks Maya, calling her by a name that she recognizes from the back of a childhood photo of her and her parents. Maya convinces Dini to join her in locating the house in the photo, thinking she may be able to sell it. When the two arrive at the remote Harjosari village where the house is located, they notice that the cemetery is loaded with tombstones belonging to infants., and find that a curse has prevented any live births. And it only gets worse.

The Power - This British film is set in 1970s London, during a miners' strike that resulted in power rationing that involved scheduled blackouts. Val is a young, timid woman who is training to become a nurse, and begins her first shift at a very large, very old hospital. Most of the patients and staff were evacuated due to the scheduled blackout, leaving only four staff members, along with a few infants, a young girl named Saba, and comatose patients. As the night goes on, Val begins to see and hear things. The Power is a great, spooky story.

The Sadness - At first, The Sadness was mostly known for its extreme level of gore. But soon enough, the Taiwanese zombie flick quickly began to garner recognition for actually being a good movie. A virus known as Alvin has begun to concern people, but a violent and very bloody scene in a cafe lets us know that it's even worse than anyone could imagine. Couple Jim and Kat spend most of the movie trying to find one another, as chaos erupts all around them. Seriously, if you cannot handle extreme gore and very disturbing imagery, don't try to watch this one!

Scare Me - Josh Ruben (Heart Eyes, Werewolves Within) wrote, directed, starred in, and produced this very effective horror comedy. Too often, horror/comedy mashups focus too much on the comedy aspect, and not enough on the scary stuff...but Ruben manages to blend the two genres seamlessly. Struggling horror writer Fred (Ruben) takes a snowy mountain retreat in an attempt to focus fully on writing. While there, he runs into Fanny (Aya Cash), who is a very successful horror author. When the two are trapped in Fred's cabin due to a storm, their back and forth sparring leads to a contest, where each tries to create the scarier story. When they are joined by a pizza deliver man (Chris Redd), everything amps up, and some real scary events begin to build.

Violation - This recommendation comes with a trigger warning, because there is absolutely nothing funny or light-hearted about this rape revenge film. It was written and directed by Madeleine Sims-Fewer (Honeybunch), who also takes on the very harrowing lead role of Miriam. Miriam and her husband are visiting her sister Greta and husband Dylan, and after a night of drinking by the fire, Miriam is sexually assaulted by Dylan. He of course denies everything, and Miriam goes into a very violent and deadly spiral. Sims-Fewer is brilliant as Miriam, and her acting performance feels uncomfortably real. Please take heed of my trigger warning, because the sexual assault and Miriam's follow-up are very brutally and realistically portrayed.