HBO Max is making a mess.
HBO Max is out for blood. The prestige streamer choose violence by recently green-lighting a sixth entry in the impeccable Final Destination series, proving they’re not afraid to shed a little bit of flesh. In honor of this news, we’ve gone ahead and assembled the ten sickest, goriest and all together nastiest horror titles currently available to stream on HBO Max this month.
The first title I’m excited to get messy with for May is the Mary Harron-helmed American Psycho. This 2000 adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name stars Christian Bale in a career-defining role as Patrick Bateman, a New York City investment banker whose grip on reality quickly unravels. It’s a brutal exploration of sadism and perfection which is sure to leave even the most hardened horror fans a little … uneasy. Don’t blink or you’ll miss a legendary supporting performance by Reese Witherspoon as Evelyn, Patrick’s fiancé who he truly cannot stomach.
Not to purposefully stir the pot or anything, but the second selection from the following list I’d like to touch base with is last year’s extremely polarizing Halloween Kills. There are two couples who have brutal deaths in HK that I’d like to pay special homage to. Husband and wife pairing Marcus (Michael Smallwood) and Vanessa (Carmela McNeal) practically steal the first act of the film, while Sondra (Diva Tyler) and Phil (Lenny Clarke) help pack a brutal, heartbreaking punch into this film’s messy middle stretch. Sondra and Phil’s brutal death scene reminded me of Alice’s demise in Halloween II: scary, quiet and personal.
Here are the 10 most brutal horror movies available to stream on HBO Max:
- American Psycho
- Hostel
- House of 1000 Corpses
- The Devil’s Rejects
- Funny Games (1997)
- Halloween Kills
- The Ruins
- Friday the 13th (2009)
- Splinter
- Man Bites Dog
Another title from the above list I always revisit when presented the opportunity is the 2009 Platinum Dunes remake of Friday the 13th. Directed by Marcus Nispel—the madman behind the 2003 retooling of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—this especially nasty remake is never scared to make its kills hurt. One of the most unforgettable slayings in this entry is the sleeping bad murder from the opening sequence. Unlike the previous sleeping bag kills in the franchise, this time around Jason cooks a character alive in one of them. The way she screams and crackles over the open campfire is pure nightmare fuel. RIP babes.
And speaking of painful, none of the brutal movies on this list enact excruciating murders the same way Hostel does. Written and directed by genre bad boy Eli Roth, Hostel is a 2005 torture-happy carnage cornucopia executive produced by none other than Quentin Tarantino. For the uninitiated, Hostel concerns a shadowy for-profit cabal who capture, torture and murder tourists in Eastern Europe. It’s nasty, it’s mean, and it’s an absolute torture porn classic. No one who witnesses this mayhem will ever forget that painful Achilles tendon slice scene. Ouch.
Lastly, which of these gross-out titles will you be visiting on HBO Max this month of May? Also, are there any other titles that should have been added to this list but were rudely snubbed? Make sure to let me know over on Twitter via @joshkorngut. I’m always around to chat all things brutal horror!
