Horror? On Disney? Well, yes, and not just kid-friendly Halloween perennials, either. Here are our picks from Disney’s slate of slaughter.
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28 Weeks Later (2008)
Watch on Disney+Juan Carlos Fresnadillo takes over for this sequel, which sees the government trying to reclaim the UK from the infected, only for things to go haywire after children Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton) and Tammy (Imogen Poots) sneak out to try and find their mother (Catherine McCormack), who was left for dead by their dad (Robert Carlyle). Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Harold Perrineau and more are on hand to fill up the casualty list, and the whole exercise is a great example of organic world-building.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012)
Watch on Disney+The best of that odd crop of mash-up movies sees the career of Abraham Lincoln reimagined, as ol’ Honest Abe (Benjamin Walker) pursues a lifelong vendetta against the undead, while also steering the US through the Civil War and ending slavery. Poor taste? You betcha. But it never takes itself seriously for even a second, and director Timur Bekmambetov keeps things stoked to a fever pitch. At one point a horse is used as a melee weapon—it’s that sort of film.
Alien (1979)
Watch on Disney+Ridley Scott’s none-more-influential sci-fi horror sees a commercial spaceship stop to answer a distress signal, only for the titular Star Beast (as the original title went) to work its way through the crew one by one. Dank and dirty production design, a stunning creature pulled from the brain of H.R. Giger, and a great ensemble led by Sigourney Weaver are just some of the elements that make this a timeless classic.
Black Swan (2010)
Watch on Disney+Natalie Portman’s gifted but sheltered ballet dancer begins to crack up under the immense pressures placed on her in Darren Aronofsky’s transgressive psychological horror. It’s all in her head (probably) but that doesn’t make her harrowing experiences any less hard on the audience, especially when the film moves from into full-blown body horror for its mind-blowing climax.
A Cure For Wellness (2016)
Watch on Disney+Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski sends ambitious corporate functionary Dane DeHaan to retrieve his boss from a mysterious health spa in the Swiss Alps, and that’s probably the last we’ll see of him. Maybe half an hour too long, this is nonetheless a fun, exquisitely mounted remix of the first act of Dracula and any given David Cronenberg body horror, with added eels.
Dark Water (2005)
Watch on Disney+Walter Salles directs Jennifer Connolly in this English-language remake of Hideo Nakata’s 2002 Japanese film of the same name. After Connelly’s recently single mother and her five-year-old daughter move into a dilapidated apartment, it soon becomes apparent that the leaky ceiling isn’t just down to poor maintenance but presages a malevolent haunting. More concerned with atmosphere than plot, but whew, what atmosphere.
Day Watch (2006)
Watch on Disney+Sequel to Night Watch (which is weirdly absent here), this Russian urban horror from writer and director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) follows the exploits of Anton (Konstantin Khabensky), a reluctant member of the Night Watch, the secret organisation that polices Moscow’s hidden supernatural underworld. Essentially a kitchen sink fantasy à la Hellblazer or Neil Gaiman, rendered more intriguing by its strong Russian flavour.
Deep Rising (1998)
Watch on Disney+Gloriously pulpy B-movie in which Treat Williams’ cocky smuggler-for-hire finds himself trapped on a luxurious ocean liner with a stacked cast of character actors (Famke Janssen, Wes Studi, Anthony Heald, Djimon Hounsou, Jason Flemyng, Kevin. J O’Connor) and a horde of tentacle-y deep-sea monsters. Effectively The Poseidon Adventure meets Aliens, with director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) keeping things moving along at a rapid clip.
Devil’s Due (2014)
Watch on Disney+Honeymooning couple Allison Miller and Zach Gilford get blackout wasted on their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. She soon finds herself pregnant, but a series of inexplicable events indicate that the father may dwell in a place much hotter and lower down than the DR. It’s essentially a found footage riff on Rosemary’s Baby, complete with malevolent cultists waiting in the wings, and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett went on to Ready or Not and Scream.
The Empty Man (2020)
Watch on Disney+Ambitious and increasingly surreal folk horror sees a bereaved James Badge Dale investigate a disappearance that may be linked to the urban legend of The Empty Man, a kind of Bloody Mary/Slenderman/Candyman figure. But whether the spectre exists or not, the cult that worships him sure as heck does… to say more would spoil things, but of the recent crop of urban legend horror, this is one of the best.
The Fly (1986)
Watch on Disney+David Cronenberg reimagines the old Vincent Price classic as an intimate meditation on mortality and disease as Jeff Goldblum’s genius scientist slowly transforms into an insectile monster while Geena Davis, the woman who loves him, can only bear witness to his devolution. Yes, there’s plenty of gore and body horror, but the film is more emotionally devastating than anything else.
Fresh (2022)
Watch on Disney+Daisy Edgar-Jones’ dating woes seem like small potatoes when her latest meet-cute results in handsome Sebastian Stan locking her in his basement. He’s a connoisseur and a gourmand, you see, and his very select clientele have a taste for human flesh. This smart, nasty bit of social satire revels in skewering hook up culture and modern dating, but doesn’t skimp on the blood.
Fright Night (2011)
Watch on Disney+Fun update of the 1985 classic, wherein Anton Yelchin’s Las Vegas teen realises his new neighbour (Colin Farrell) is a vampire, and teams up with David Tennant’s egomaniacal stage magician to put him to the stake. Imogen Poots, Toni Collette, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse crop up in support, but this is Tennant and Farrell’s show.
The Good Son (1993)
Watch on Disney+Orphaned Elijah Wood goes to live with his aunt and uncle following his mother’s death, only to realise that his cousin, played by Macauley Culkin at the height of his pre-teen fame, is an evil sociopath. This update on the old The Bad Seed killer kid formula is pulpy, and arguably too cheesy to be really effective, but there’s fun to be had in watching Culkin as a Machiavellian mini-murderer, plus huge-eyed Wood becoming increasingly frantic as the plot progresses.
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
Watch on Disney+French horror specialist Andre Aja remakes Wes Craven’s 70s shocker, putting an all-American family on a road trip (Ted Levine, Aaron Stanford, Kathleen Quinlan, Vinessa Shaw, Emilie de Ravin, Dan Byrd) up against a clan of mutant cannibals in the New Mexico desert. Incredibly gory and nasty with a (possibly severed) tongue firmly in its cheek, this one is not for the faint of heart, but admirably commits to the bit.
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Watch on Disney+Megan Fox gets possessed by a demon after being the victim of a failed human sacrifice and sets about devouring her school’s roster of narcissistic hunks, forcing her best friend, Amanda Seyfried, to reign her in. Died a death on release, but writer Diablo Cody and director Karyn Kusama get maximum utility out of the scenario, offering us an angry, feminist horror parable that pulls few punches and leaves even fewer deserving victims alive.
Mirrors (2010)
Watch on Disney+Kiefer Sutherland’s night watchman gets a window into another, much more terrifying world when he discovers that the mirrors in the luxury department store he guards may be portals into another…place? Dimension? The afterlife? It’s up for grabs in Alexandre Aja’s pseudo-remake of the Korean film Into the Mirror, which drops much of the original in favour of uneasy atmospherics and the odd imaginative, bloody death.
The Night House (2021)
Watch on Disney+Creepy chiller in which Rebecca Hall’s grieving widow discovers her late husband was apparently building a replica of their gorgeous lake house deep in the woods. To what purpose? It’s hard to say, but an encounter with a woman who looks eerily similar to her, and who her husband clearly knew, indicate the house isn’t the only doppelgänger in play. A committed central turn from Hall anchors this one, which isn’t quite as clever as its convoluted plot thinks it is, but works a treat as a meditation on the grieving process.
The Omen (1976)
Watch on Disney+American politician abroad Gregory Peck swaps out his stillborn son for what he’s told is an orphan, only to find himself raising the Antichrist. Richard Donner’s horror procedural is a masterwork of pacing and tone, and the way it tracks Peck’s growing awareness of what is really going in is superb. A great supporting cast, including Lee Remick, David Warner (RIP), and Patrick Troughton show up to be killed in an impressive variety of ways, and it builds to one of the great final shots in horror cinema.
Primeval (2007)
Watch on Disney+Journalists Dominic Purcell and Brooke Langton hie off to Burundi to document an attempt to capture Gustave, a giant crocodile responsible for hundreds of deaths. Also responsible for a lot of death? The civil war raging in African nation, which complicates matters. In truth, Primeval focuses more on the war drama than the giant croc (based on a real critter!), but floats the idea that feasting on the corpses of war casualties is what gave Gustave his prodigious size and taste for man-flesh.
Ready Or Not (2019)
Watch on Disney+Samara Weaving marries very well but finds to her dismay that the wealthy clan of her husband (Mark O’Brien) plans to hunt and kill her on their palatial estate in a ritual meant to ensure their prosperity. Luckily, she’s a bit of a survivor, and soon steps up to the challenge of, if not eating the rich, certainly making them very sorry. A fun, class-conscious horror satire that punches well above its weight, and features game turns from Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Adam Brody, and Melanie Scrofano as the soulless scions of wealth.
Shutter (2008)
Watch on Disney+Japanese horror maestro Masayuki Ochiai (Parasite Eve) makes his English language debut with this remake of the 2004 Thai film of the same name. Joshua Jackson is an American photographer living in Japan with his wife (Australia’s Rachael Taylor) who, after hitting a girl in a car accident, starts to see strange lights appearing in his photos. That’s only the beginning of his troubles; as the haunting continues and the bodies begin to pile up, it’s clear that something from beyond the veil wants revenge, and not for the obvious reasons. A lesser light in the “Asian ghost story” craze of the time, but a fun one nonetheless.
The Sixth Sense (2000)
Watch on Disney+Bruce Willis is a child psychologist trying to help Hayley Joel Osment’s troubled tyke but, to paraphrase the film’s most famous line, the kid sees dead people, an issue not likely to be solved by some couch time. M. Night Shyamalan’s career-making film is famous for its twist—which we won’t reveal here—but is great because of its empathy for its characters, strong performances (Willis was never better) and consummate command of craft.
Stoker (2013)
Watch on Disney+Mia Wasikowska’s emotionally unstable teen has her world turned upside down when her sexy, louche uncle (Matthew Goode) moves in with her and her grieving mother (Nicole Kidman) after the death of her father. It all gets very psychosexual very quickly in Korean legend Park Chan-wook’s English language debut, a deliciously overcooked Gothic melodrama of family secrets, forbidden desires, and bloody-handed murder written by, of all people, Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller, who proves a dab hand at purple prose.
Underwater (2020)
Watch on Disney+Kristen Stewart, Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, John Gallagher Jr., Mamoudou Athie, and T.J. Miller are the crew of a deep sea drilling rig foundered by what appears to be a seaquake, only to find themselves trying to survive the water, the pressure, and the ravening monsters that have awakened. Formulaic but wonderfully claustrophobic, this is a fun entry in the underpopulated “oceanic horror” subgenre, and features a cameo from one of literature’s most famous monsters to boot.
Werewolf by Night (2022)
Watch on Disney+Venture into the darker corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the world’s best monster hunters gather after the death of the legendary Ulysses Bloodstone to compete to inherit his power. Unbeknownst to them, one of their number, Jack Russell (Gael García Bernal), is a lycanthrope, but don’t worry—he’s the hero. Composer Michael Giacchino directs, lensing the action in silvery black and white to give the proceedings a classical feel—and to soften the impact of the blood on the MCU’s core audience.
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Watch on Disney+Upper class couple Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer have a somewhat strained marriage, which isn’t helped by the latter becoming convinced that not only has their neighbour been murdered, but that she is being haunted by the dead woman. This slow-burn thriller sees director Robert Zemeckis paying homage to Alfred Hitchcock, constructing an icy, pitiless scenario of rising paranoia as we and Pfeiffer feel our grip on reality slipping inch by inch as the film progresses.
