Over the years, Shudder has provided a low-cost (~$4 a month) streaming service that caters to the niche of horror fanatics. They have released gems, like Mayhem, Revenge, and Host. On the other end, they have released total stinkers (A Nightmare Wakes, anyone?), but who hasn't?
You can find movies from a variety of cultures and countries within Shudder. They even have a "Live TV" option if you have no idea what to watch, you just want it to be scary.
Wait it sounds great, why the hate?
- Let's start with the season of spooky. September and October. These months should be dedicated to the genre, especially if you are a horror-specific streaming app, like Shudder. For the past several years, it has been crickets as far as new adds or new movies during that time. Shudder relies heavily on series such as Joe Bob Briggs and Dragula that it lets film opportunities slip away.
- Shudder has historically allowed the three of us to stream simultaneously. As of last week, only one stream is allowed at a time per device. This is true regardless of if you are residing in the same household. No other streaming service limits to only one device at a time.
- Poor service. I had a billing issue and it took weeks for someone to get back to me.
- The app itself is buggy. It has issues with logging users out periodically (sometimes daily) and you have to go through the trouble of logging back in.
So, what are the options?
AMC+ mitigates many of the problems above and contains the entire Shudder collection at the same price. You also get access to the AMC series and movies which extend outside of the horror realm. Amazon Prime also allows you to add Shudder as a channel and you can stream it from Amazon directly. Both of these allow more than one viewer at a time!
Finally saying goodbye to Shudder after 6 years.
