The 11 best new movies to check out on Hulu this October

In Daybreakers, Ethan Hawke plays a hematologist vampire living in an alternate 2019 when there are more vampires than humans, prompting a bloodsucker corporation to try to farm the remaining people for food. This underrated horror film with an interesting twist on vampire mythos is directed by twin brothers Michael and Peter Spierig, and also stars Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill.

As we wait patiently for season two of the AMC series Interview With The Vampire, check out the 1994 movie of the same name based on Anne Rice’s novel. Neil Jordan’s gothic horror movie stars Brad Pitt as Louis, a man turned into a vampire by Lestat (Tom Cruise) in New Orleans circa 1791. Kirsten Dunst stands out as Claudia, the child vampire seen as an abomination by other vampires. The movie was a box office hit and despite initial protests by Rice about the casting of Cruise, the Vampire Chronicles author sang his praises after seeing him bring Lestat to the big screen.

There’s nothing wrong with some genuine comedy as a side dish to a zombie-movie main course ... if you cook it right. Horror and laughs can be an uneasy mixture, but Edgar Wright’s Shaun Of The Dead hits it on the head. In the movie, Simon Pegg plays the titular character, a struggling electronics store worker so detached from life that he fails to notice the zombie apocalypse beginning around him. Shaun Of The Dead stars Nick Frost, Bill Nighy, Kate Ashfield, and Lucy Davis. It is the first film in Wright’s so-called Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by Hot Fuzz and The World’s End.

Attention body-horror fans: Appendage is about a young fashion designer (Hadley Robinson) who struggles with self-doubt, which manifests as a hideous growth on her body. The appendage exacerbates her anxiety and puts a strain on her personal and professional relationships as her health continues to decline in this movie directed by Anna Zlokovic. It also stars Emily Hampshire, Brandon Smith, and Kausar Mohammed.

The Boogeyman is a supernatural horror film based on the Stephen King short story of the same name. Sisters Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) try to convince their father (Chris Messina) that a sinister presence has manifested itself in their house after the death of the girls’ mother. The A.V. Club’s Leigh Monson writes, “Tense, vicious, and sometimes just a little bit mean, this is a perfect film to watch with the lights off.”

When two people unleash an ancient curse after watching a forbidden film reel, they must track down a notorious filmmaker for help as a zombie apocalypse threatens the planet in Zombie Town. Peter Lepeniotis directed this horror-comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase in their first film together since 1991's Nothing But Trouble.

Ben Kingsley and Ezra Miller each play surrealist artist Salvador Dalí at different ages in the biographical drama Dalíland directed by Mary Harron. In a press release, Harron says of the movie, “I had such a powerful image of Sir Ben in Sexy Beast I thought he might be too overwhelming. Dalí had the power of a genius but he was also a coward. As absurd as it sounds, I happened to see Sir Ben in Iron Man 3 where he plays the double role of a frightening terrorist and a sniveling, hilarious coward, and it became clear to me that an actor like Sir Ben can do anything. He’s universal in his reach and he’s also a great comic actor, which wouldn’t seem obvious from roles like Gandhi.”

In this month’s second horror movie about a fashion designer, Eva Green plays one who suffers from a bizarre illness that challenges her doctors and frustrates her husband in Nocebo. The A.V. Club’s Luke Y. Thompson notes that “Green, frequently known for playing characters who use their good looks to their advantage, sheds all of that to look constantly worn out and traumatized. Without many outstanding traits to latch on to, she generates sympathy mainly by enduring a level of omnipresent stress to which no human should be subjected.”

You’ll know after watching the viral trailer for Slotherhouse if this sort of campy horror-comedy is your jam or not. Matthew Goodhue directed this unique creature feature about a murderous three-toed sloth that wreaks havoc on a sorority house. The A.V. Club’s Matt Schimkowitz writes, “Alpha the sloth isn’t your typical sloth. This thing can kill sorority girls and use the Internet. Yeah, this sloth is online. Of course, the sloth needs to be crafty because, as we all know, they move painfully slowly. However, Alpha can infiltrate the sorority and sate her bloodlust thanks to her razor-sharp claws and cute, unassuming demeanor. Frankly, it looks like a whole lot of dumb fun, and maybe it will be.”

In Cobweb, Peter is an eight-year-old boy who becomes suspicious of his parents (Lizzy Caplan and Antony Starr) after they try to minimize the tap-tap-tapping behind his bedroom wall. As Peter’s trust deteriorates, he starts to think that Mom and Dad are hiding a terrible secret from him. This atmospheric horror film directed by Samuel Bodin arrives just in time for Halloween movie marathons.

Master Gardener is a crime thriller directed by Paul Schrader about a horticulturist (Joel Edgerton) who tends the property of—and panders to—a wealthy dowager (Sigourney Weaver). Writes The A.V. Club’s Murtada Elfadl, “Edgerton plays Narvel Roth as meticulous and orderly in his appearance and mannerisms as the gardens he tends. His clothes and his room are extremely tidy and organized, even the way he walks and talks is precise. This is a man who disappears within an organized life, trying to give away nothing. Yet something is off, judging by the nightmarish flashes from his past he keeps experiencing. Enter Maya (Quintessa Swindell), the grand niece of his haughty and imperious employer Mrs. Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver), who becomes the catalyst that unravels his careful existence.”