Ten Noteworthy Horror Movies to Stream at Home in August 2023

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Where has time gone? August is officially here, bringing with it a slew of new titles arriving on streaming. This month also edges us even closer to the Halloween season, which means you can expect the horror programming to start ramping up in earnest.

August offers brand new streaming exclusives and recent releases that’ll give you a chance to catch up on 2022 and 2023 horror.

Here are ten noteworthy horror titles available for streaming in August 2023 on some of the most popular streaming services, along with when/where you can watch them.

Ghastly Brothers – SCREAMBOX

It’s Ghostbusters meets Beetlejuice in this gateway horror comedy. In the SCREAMBOX exclusive, “Lilith is sent to boarding school where she meets the Ghastly brothers, a pair of strange ghost hunters. Together, they need to rid the school of the demons who have made it their home!”

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead – Netflix (August 3)

Eiji Akaso as Akira in Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

In this feature length manga adaptation, “Akira Tendo (Eiji Akaso) works at an exploitative company where he suffers endless hours and harassment from his boss. Spending more days feeling dead than alive, he awakes to discover his town has been devastated and overtaken by zombies and suddenly feels excited at the prospect of not needing to go to the office anymore.”

You had us at zombie shark.

Bones and All – Prime Video (August 8)

Leave it to Suspiria director Luca Guadagnino and writer David Kajganich to spin an achingly tender and thoughtful coming-of-age romance between a pair of cannibals with an insatiable need to devour flesh. Bones and All, an adaptation of Camille DeAngelis‘s novel, uses the road trip format set in Reagan-era America as a provocative and macabre means of exploring the monstrous need for survival and human connection.

Enys Men – Hulu (August 9)

In the spring of 1973, The Volunteer (Mary Woodvine) spends each day on an uninhabited island of the British coast adhering to a specific routine. However, as the April days approach May, The Volunteer’s monotony gets upended by strange visions that increase with haunting regularity. The old, familiar adage defining insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result feels at home in writer/director Mark Jenkin’s abstract folk horror feature.

The Communion Girl – Shudder (August 11)

A Shudder Exclusive from director Victor Garcia (Return to House on Haunted Hill). “Spain, late 1980s. Newcomer Sara (Carla Campra) tries to fit in with the other teens in this tight-knit small town in the province of Tarragona. If only she were more like her extroverted best friend, Rebe (Aina Quiñones).They go out one night to a nightclub and on the way home they come upon a little girl holding a doll, dressed for her first communion. And that’s when the nightmare begins.”

Cocaine Bear – Prime Video (August 15)

A title like Cocaine Bear speaks for itself. It sums up the premise, but perhaps more importantly, it suggests an outrageous tone with energy to match. While drawing from the 1985 true crime account that left cocaine scattered across the wilderness and both a bear and the drug smuggler responsible dead, Cocaine Bear finds highly entertaining ways to fill in those story gaps with glorious violence, humor, and an incisive depiction of humanity at its best and worst.

Bad Things – Shudder (August 18)

Writer/Director Stewart Thorndike’s 2014 film Lyle introduced a contemporary riff on Rosemary’s Baby. Thorndike’s latest, Bad Things, continues the filmmaker’s horror explorations of motherhood, this time through the lens of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. “Glow” actor Gayle Rankin leads this snowy hotel weekend getaway with friends that devolves into a psychological tailspin and ends in a bloody nightmare.

Subject – SCREAMBOX (August 22)

From award-winning director Tristan Barr (Good Times), Subject follows a man ensnared in a sinister government experiment. On his way to prison, Willem is presented with an intriguing offer: take part in a shadowy government experiment and have his sentence commuted. But little does he know his isolation experiment may not be what it seems, casting doubt upon his perceived solitude and raising questions about his true state of aloneness.

Organ Trail – Paramount+ (August 24)

The horror western from Drop Dead Gorgeous director Michael Patrick Jann heads to Paramount+ later this month. “Abigale and her family fall victim to a ruthless gang while making their way across the Oregon Trail. As the only survivor, she will do whatever it takes to retrieve her one earthly possession, her family’s horse, from the clutches of the bloodthirsty bandits.”

RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop – SCREAMBOX (August 29)

Five years in the making, the RoboDoc: The Creation of RoboCop docuseries takes an in-depth look into the creation of the groundbreaking franchise and features new interviews with cast and crew, including Hollywood icons such as Peter Weller, Diane Robin, Ronny Cox, Nancy Allen, Ray Wise, director Paul Verhoeven & more. I’d buy that for a dollar!

Bonus: Virtually Heroes – Crackle (August 1)

This Crackle exclusive unleashes the “lost” Roger Corman action comedy Virtually Heroes starring Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Rob Baker (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Brent Chase (Bosch), and Katie Savoy (Sequestered). The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and afterward disappeared until acquired by Screen Media and given a limited theatrical and TVOD release late last year. The plot follows “two self-aware characters in a ‘Call of Duty’ style video game struggle with their screwy, frustrating existence.”

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

‘Scream 7’ – ‘Happy Death Day’ Filmmaker Christopher Landon Officially on Board to Direct

SCREAMBOX – August Highlights Include ‘RoboDoc’, MPI Classics, ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’, ‘Subject’, and a ‘Clue’ Documentary!

6 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ in Theaters!

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While much of the initial fanbase that helped turn Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into a pop culture phenomenon aged out following the original cartoon (1987-1996) and live action movies (1990-1993), the property has continued to flourish with reboots in TV, film, and comics every few years.

If the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has you interested in exploring various versions of TMNT, there’s no better place for a horror fan to start than Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series that aired for five seasons between 2012 and 2017.

While there’s an inherent connection to horror in the various mutants and monsters that pop up throughout the franchise, no rendition embraces the genre nearly as much as this one. In addition to references to classics like Alien, Friday the 13th, and The Evil Dead, the series employed several notable horror actors throughout its 124-episode run.

Here are 15 horror icons who lent their voices to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012.

1. Corey Feldman – Slash

Corey Feldman may not be synonymous with horror, but the pedigree of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, The Lost Boys, and Gremlins is more than enough to make him an icon of the genre. His TMNT legacy is even stronger, having voiced Donatello in the first and third live action films.

In animated form, Feldman play Slash, who was a villain in the original series but an ally in this version. He starts out as Raphael’s pet tortoise, Spike, before being accidentally mutated. He’s introduced in Season 2’s “Slash and Destroy” and appears in total of 12 episodes, culminating with the series finale, “The Big Blow Out.”

2. Kelly Hu – Karai

Feldman’s not the only Friday the 13th franchise alumnus on the show. Kelly Hu’s resume includes The Scorpion King, X2: X-Men United, and Arrow, but horror fans will recall her film debut as Eva in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.

Hu plays the integral TMNT role of Karai, a character that debuted in the comics in 1992 and previously appeared in the 2003 animated series. She’s in 31 episodes of TMNT 2012, from season 1’s “New Girl in Town” to season 5’s “The Foot Walks Again.”

In this incarnation, Karai starts out as a fierce, teenage Foot Clan member that was raised by the evil Shredder. She later aligns herself with the Turtles upon the revelation that she’s actually Master Splinter’s biological daughter from before he was mutated. In season 3, she’s exposed to a mutagen that gives her serpent-like abilities.

3. Cassandra Peterson – Ms. Campbell

Cassandra Peterson — beloved by all as horror host Elvira — is usually vivacious, but her part on TMNT required a more monotonous performance. She voices Ms. Campbell/Utrom Queen in six episodes, from season 1’s “The Alien Agenda” to season 5’s “When Worlds Collide.”

Ms. Campbell is introduced as a woman who takes an interest in April O’Neil before it’s revealed that she’s an evil robot sent by the evil Krang, armed with laser eyes and missile arms. When her human disguise is damaged in season 4’s “The War for Dimension X,” the Utom Queen’s true form is revealed.

4. Keith David – Sal Commander

Keith David achieved cult status for his roles in The Thing (which, incidentally, inspired TMNT’s season 3 episode “Burned Secrets”) and They Live, but his rich pipes have also earned him Emmy awards. His extensive voice work includes Gargoyles, Coraline, The Princess and the Frog, Spawn, and Rick and Morty.

On TMNT, he voices Sal Commander (also known as G’Throkka) for five episodes, from season 4’s “The Moons of Thalos 3” to season 5’s “When Worlds Collide Part 2.” An ally to the Turtles, Sal is the commander of the Salamandrians, an extraterrestrial species that resembles large, humanoid salamanders.

5. Jeffrey Combs – Rat King

Rat King is a villain that originated in the comics and appeared in both the 1987 and 2003 animated series. Re-Animator star Jeffrey Combs lends his voice to the character for four episodes of the 2012 rendition.

He debuts as Dr. Victor Falcon in season 1’s “Monkey Brains” and returns in “I, Monster,” in which his experiments yield him the ability to control rats, hence the Rat King moniker. Splinter defeats him and his army of giant rats in season 2’s “Of Rats and Men.” His final appearance is in season 4’s “Darkest Plight” as a hallucination to Splinter.

6. Ron Perlman – Armaggon

Ron Perlman has played and/or appeared alongside various creatures in the likes of Hellboy, Blade II, Alien: Resurrection, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Sleepwalkers. For three episodes in TMNT’s fourth season, he voiced the villainous Armaggon, an alien cyborg shark.

Armaggon debuts in “The Outlaw Armaggon” as a bounty hunter hired by crime lord Vringath Dregg (voiced by Peter Stormare) to capture the Turtles. He makes his final appearance in “The Evil of Dregg,” in which he’s defeated for good.

7. Chris Sarandon – Dracula

Over three decades after starring as Jerry Dandrige in Fright Night, Chris Sarandon returned to his vampiric roots to portray the ultimate blood sucker: Count Dracula. He plays an integral role in season 5’s four-part Monster & Mutants arc, first appearing (albeit without dialogue) in “The Curse of Savanti Romero.”

Dracula is one of the creatures recruited by time-traveling sorcerer Savanti Romero to take over the world, along with Frankenstein’s Monster, Vulko the werewolf, and The Pharaoh mummy. Dracula plans to betray Savanti, but Michelangelo destroys him before he has the chance.

8. Dana DeLorenzo – Esmeralda

No stranger to being surrounded by monsters after three seasons of Ash vs Evil Dead, Dana DeLorenzo can be heard alongside Sarandon in “The Crypt of Dracula.” She plays Esmeralda, the daughter of Vulko the werewolf. The Romanian traveler shares her knowledge of monsters with the Turtles.

DeLorenzo’s Ash vs Evil Dead co-star Lucy Lawless voices Daagon supreme ruler Hiidrala in season 4’s “The Cosmic Ocean.”

9. Danny Trejo – Newtralizer

Machete don’t text, but he does voices. Genre favorite Danny Trejo plays Newtralizer (also known as K’Vathrak), a Salamandrian bounty hunter who will stop at nothing to eradicate the Kraang — even if that means taking out innocent humans and the Turtles.

The character first appears in Season 1’s “Operation: Break Out,” in which he breaks out of his cell and Donnie gives him his nickname. Trejo came in to play him in season 2’s “Newtralized,” briefly teaming up with Feldman’s Slash in an episode loaded with Star Wars references, and later returning in season 5’s two-part “When Worlds Collide,” where he has the newfound ability to wield electricity.

10. James Hong – Ho Chan

James Hong has over 600 credits — from Blade Runner to Seinfeld to Kung Fu Panda to Everything Everywhere All at Once — but horror fans will always associate him with Lo Pan from Big Trouble in Little China. He plays a similar role in TMNT’s Big Trouble homage, “A Chinatown Ghost Story,” in Season 2.

Hong voices the villainous Ho Chan, an ancient ghost sorcerer who even borrows a line from ol’ Jack Burton, “It’s all in the reflexes.” While the Turtles ultimately defeat him, he vows to return at the end of the episode. He does so in season 5’s “End Times,” but this time around Splinter ensures it’s the last of him.

11. Robert Englund – Dire Beaver / Dread Beaver

Robert Englund is, of course, best known for his work in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. When TMNT drew inspiration from the horror classic for season 5’s “In Dreams,” they called on Freddy Krueger himself to provide a voice.

Englund voices Dire Beaver and Dread Beaver, two of the four interdimensional Dream Beavers that trap the Turtles in their dreams. The episode features several nods to Freddy, including the beavers’ long claws, a musical cue reminiscent of the Elm Street theme, and a nightmare involving a furnace.

12. John Kassir – Dark Beaver / Dave Beaver

Along with Englund in “In Dreams,” the other two Dream Beavers — Dark Beaver and Dave Beaver — are played by John Kassir. He has over 250 credits to his name, the majority of which are voice roles, but his unmistakable pipes are best known for Tales from the Crypt‘s ghoulish host, the Crypt Keeper.

13. Bill Moseley – Bernie

Would you believe there’s a third horror icon in “In Dreams?” Bill Moseley — known for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2, House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, and Night of the Living Dead — plays Bernie in the same episode.

A physicist-turned-grocer, Bernie has stayed awake for decades to prevent the Dream Beavers from attacking our world. His weapon of choice is a chainsaw with “The Saw is Family” engraved on the blade, in reference to Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.

The character later makes a photo cameo later in season 3 in “Dinosaur Seen in Sewers,” where he’s featured on a tabloid with the headline “Man did not sleep for 40 years.”

14. Lance Henriksen – Zog

With credits including The Terminator, Aliens, Near Dark, Scream 3, and Pumpkinhead, Lance Henriksen is an undisputed genre legend. He lends his talents to TMNT as Zog, a character that was originally created for the comics and previously appeared in the 2003 animated series.

Zog appears in season 3’s “Dinosaur Seen in Sewers” as a scout who plans to signal his fellow Triceratons to attack the Earth in order to destroy the Kraang – until the Turtles get involved, that is. He refuses Raphael’s attempt to save his life, instead opting to plummet to his death.

15. Michael Ironside – Emperor Zanmoran

Michael Ironside brings a signature gravitas to all of his projects, from Total Recall, Starship Troopers, and Scanners to Terminator Salvation, Turbo Kid, and TMNT, in which he plays Emperor Zanmoran.

Although he only appears in one episode – Season 4’s “The Arena of Carnage” – Zanmoran is a pivotal foe whose presence can be felt throughout the season’s space arc. Zanmoran serves as the sadistic leader of the Triceraton Empire and commander of their armada.

Some of the many other recognizable voices that pop up throughout the series include Sean Astin as Raphael, Seth Green as Leonardo, Clancy Brown as Rahzar, David Tennant as The Fugitoid, Mark Hamill as Kavaxas, Jesse Ventura as The Finger, Paul Reubens as Sir Malachi, and TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman as Ice Cream Kitty.

Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Series is available on DVD. Select seasons are streaming Netflix and Paramount+.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opens in theaters on August 2 via Paramount.