Classic horror entries like The Thing, Alien, and even The Shining wield isolation as a weapon, trapping their protagonists in place and leaving them perilously vulnerable to threats- inhuman or otherwise – to evoke chills. It’s a simple tool that horror frequently exploits for maximum discomfort, whether physically, psychologically, or even socially. No matter how filmmakers insulate their characters, it results in despair and loneliness for the characters and chilling unease for the viewer. This week’s streaming picks center around isolation-based horror movies.
These titles showcase various forms of isolation, from remote settings to extreme quarantines, to leave you on the edge of your seat.
Here’s where you can watch them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Hush – AMC+, Shudder, Shout TV
Mike Flanagan mines palpable tension from isolation in his home invasion thriller. Kate Siegel stars as Maddie, a deaf and mute author who lives alone in the woods. Her self-imposed isolated existence gets violently interrupted by the arrival of a bloodthirsty maniac, setting in motion a suspenseful cat and mouse chase in the middle of the woods. It’s a good old-fashioned horror story elevated by the ingenious use of tension, sound design, and serious thrills. John Gallagher Jr., who often excels in the nice guy role, turns in a chilling performance as the ruthless killer.
Isolation – Crackle, Prime Video
As the title indicates, this claustrophobic creature feature captures a pervasive feeling of isolation. This Irish horror feature by writer/director Billy O’Brien takes place on a rural farm where a gruesome bio-genetics experiment with the cows is well underway. When one cow gives birth to a mutated calf, born with parasitic fetuses of her own, the place becomes ground zero for a terrifying bid not only to survive but to prevent the parasitic contagion from getting out into the populace. It stars Sean Harris (The Green Knight, Possum), Ruth Negga (“Preacher,” World War Z), and The Babadook’s Essie Davis in a supporting role.
Pulse (Kairo) – Criterion Channel, Hoopla, Max
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s supernatural chiller gives an unsettling spin on isolation via a paranormal apocalypse. A heavily overcrowded afterlife caused the dead to spill over into the world of the living to a chilling effect. They invade like a viral infection via technology, plunging the globe into hopeless despair, isolated loneliness, and, eventually, death. Kurosawa spins this tale through two distinct halves, as different groups of characters discover that ghosts are invading through the internet. The more methodical pacing allows the sense of unease to unfurl slowly, eventually stripping away any semblance of hope through terrifying spectral encounters and devastating loss.
REC – Tubi
Late-night reporter Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo, played by unseen actor Pablo Rosso, set out to cover the night shift of a local fire station for their television series “While You’re Sleeping.” A quiet, routine evening curdles into a harrowing nightmare when they get quarantined in an apartment building host to a lethal viral outbreak. Directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza make viewers active participants in the terror, delivering a contemporary found footage classic that shakes up the outbreak and zombie horror formula. It builds to one chilling conclusion. The entire quadrilogy is currently on Tubi.
Sweetheart – AMC+, Shudder
Kiersey Clemons stars as Jenn, a woman marooned on a small tropical island with few resources available for survival. As if that’s not dire enough, Jenn soon discovers that a strange, predatory creature emerges from the sea every night. It’s in the vein of Cast Away, centered largely around a single performance and light on dialogue, but with an unforgettable new movie monster designed by Neville Page (65, Goosebumps). Clemons earns easy rooting interest as the adaptable and resilient Jenn, while writer/director J.D. Dillard captures her isolation and survival bid with heartfelt emotion and stunning imagery – the first glimpse of the creature is an all-time movie moment.
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