(Mickey Mouse voice) Ho ho! I'm going to murder you! Ho ho!
With the inclusion of Star on Disney+, it means that a lot more edgier content is available on the House of Mouse's streaming service.
While horrors are a little light on the ground on Disney+, the ones they've got really are worth checking. So, with the spooky season well and truly upon us, we're counting up some of the best horrors you can stream on Disney+. We kick things off with...
'Aliens'
James Cameron's classic sci-fi horror spectacular sees Sigourney Weaver back in action as Ellen Ripley, who barely survived the trauma of the first one and was left to float in space for nearly fifty years. Reawoken and without any hope for the future, Ripley's given a second chance when she's sent back to LV-426 to help guide a unit of Marines into a colony that's been established there. While it does have more action than 'Alien', it isn't lacking in substance or chills either. If anything, the presence of even more xenomorphs adds a new layer of terror to proceedings, and when you see that the Marines' weaponry is virtually useless against them, the fun really starts.
'The Omen'
Richard Donner's late '70s shocker was a gigantic hit, and it pretty much solidified the creepy child trope into horror with little Damien Thorn. The bizarre stuff about the EU being part of a Satanic prophecy aside (yeah, really), 'The Omen' still has a lot of charm to it and most of it is down to Gregory Peck's presence and gravitas being brought to bear on what could otherwise have been a cheap, schlocky thing. On top of that, Jerry Goldsmith's now iconic score helped to heighten the horror and the spectacle of a tiny child.
'28 Days Later'
Danny Boyle's grungy zombie (although it never uses the word) thriller sees London transformed into an empty landscape, and puts a young Cillian Murphy in the middle of it, bewildered and looking for answers. Shot using video and with some familiar faces turning up along the way, '28 Days Later' is a frightening examination of how tenuous the grip on society really is, and what happens in the aftermath of that loss. Murphy leads the cast, but it's Danny Boyle's sharp direction and Alex Garland's light script that elevates it to the tier of modern classic.
'The Fly'
The king of body horror, David Cronenberg, managed to turn a pretty cheap story about a genius scientist and experiment gone wrong into a grisly, gross meditation on love and ego with a powerhouse performance by Geena Davis and a star-making one for Jeff Goldblum. The sensitivity and seriousness with which Cronenberg treats the transformation is fascinating, especially as we now so readily associate Goldblum with lighter fare. Here, he's gregarious and charming, but even before he starts mutating, he's changing into a dangerous, violent being who can't comprehend why anyone would doubt him. Easily among Cronenberg's finest work, just remember to not watch it on a full stomach.
'Jennifer's Body'
Although Megan Fox seems to be never too far away from headlines of late due in part to her relationship with Machine Gun Kelly, 2008's comedy / horror vehicle 'Jennifer's Body' has taken on cult status in recent times. In the same way that 'Heathers' - a movie it heavily references, by the way - wasn't appreciated in its own time, 'Jennifer's Body' has now been the subject of a reappraisal. Written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama, 'Jennifer's Body' was ahead of the curve with its feminist leanings, frank appraisal of the male gaze, and how it highlighted the routine sexual harassment and body-shaming women experience. Of course, it also helps that it's still funny and gross in equal measure too.
'Predators'
Sadly overlooked on its release, Nimrod Antal's 'Predators' feels as close to John McTiernan's original movie as you can possibly get. The cast is wildly diverse - Adrien Brody in a horror-action movie? Topher Grace?! - but it's how they're all brought together because of their differences that makes it so intriguing. It's a slow build of horror and tension, not to mention some great fight sequences, and if you loved the original and was bitterly disappointed by the recent one with Boyd Holbrook, this is worth a revisit. And yes, 'Long Tall Sally' gets a blast in it too. Can't have a 'Predator' movie without it.