This list is regularly updated as movies rotate on and off of Prime Video. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Who wants to be scared tonight? While there are fantastic streaming services dedicated to horror nuts, there’s also a wealth of genre hits and indie darlings on Prime Video. In fact, they have one of the most diverse arrays of horror hits, including films by vets like David Cronenberg and Paul W.S. Anderson, alongside newer films from indie studios. This regularly updated list will keep Prime Video subscribers in the know on what are the best horror movies they can watch right now. Turn the lights off and lock the doors.
The Blair Witch Project
Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 20m
Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
When this movie dropped at Sundance back in 1999, it felt like something entirely new. Two decades of found footage imitators has dulled some of its impact, but The Blair Witch Project remains the model for how to do this kind of DIY horror well. And it’s still pretty damn terrifying.
Candyman
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 31m
Director: Nia DaCosta
Too many people easily dismissed the Nia DaCosta remake of the 1992 classic about a boogeyman who terrorizes a Chicago community. Yes, it’s imperfect in its messaging, but it’s a spectacularly well-made film, including some excellent sound design and chilling compositions. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars in this film that was co-written by the insanely talented Jordan Peele.
Carnival of Souls
Year: 1962
Runtime: 1h 20m
Director: Herk Harvey
An independent filmmaker who had made his career doing industry safety videos just happened to direct one of the most essential horror flicks of all time in this absolute classic. Candace Hilligoss stars as Mary Henry, a woman who barely survives a car accident and starts seeing ghostly, zombie-like figures in the new city she’s trying to call home. As the figures draw her to an abandoned carnival, some of the best horror imagery of the 1960s surfaces in a film that didn’t get much attention on its release but has gone on to be recognized as a genre masterpiece.
Cube
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Vincenzo Natali
A true cult hit, this horror classic didn’t really make a dent at all until it was successful on VHS first and then DVD and Blu-ray. It’s a film with an undeniable premise as a group of people wake up in a facility that contains multiple, connected cubes. As they travel the labyrinth, they discover some cubes are safer than others. It’s a sharp, clever piece of genre filmmaking.
The Dead Zone
Year: 1983
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg and Stephen King joined forces on one of the best adaptations of the master of literary horror. Christopher Walken stars as a normal guy who discovers he has psychic powers, which lead him to a senator who could destroy the world. It’s a smart, tight piece of genre filmmaking by one of the best horror directors of all time.
The Descent
Year: 2006
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Neil Marshall
The claustrophobic need not apply to Neil Marshall’s breakthrough film, a movie wherein if the tight spaces won’t kill you then the monsters will. This smash hit tells the tale of six women who navigate an increasingly dangerous cave system only to find that there are things living underground that aren’t taught in most Biology classes. It’s one of the most popular and influential horror films of its era.
Event Horizon
Year: 1997
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1997 sci-fi/horror movie didn’t exactly set the world on fire when it was released – it didn’t even make back half its budget – but it’s become a cult hit over the years with some very loyal defenders. Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill star in the story of a crew of astronauts sent to figure what happened on a missing spaceship. It’s there that they discover, well, truly awful things. Merging the grandeur of space movies with something that’s more like a haunted house tale, this is Anderson’s best film, one that has influenced many imitators in the last two decades.
Get Out
Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Jordan Peele
This is the one that really changed the current state of horror, reminding studios how acclaimed and popular it could be if treated with the right respect. It also won its creator an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, launching one of the most interesting careers of the current era. It’s held up remarkably well, and it’s hardly ever available on streaming services, so take this chance while you can to rewatch a movie whose influence is still shaking the industry.
Hell House LLC
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 23m
Director: Stephen Cognetti
We’re all tired of found footage movies but this flick can be one of the exceptions. So popular that it spawned a franchise (there have already been two sequels), this is the story of a documentary crew that captures the creation of a Halloween haunted house that becomes all too real, ultimately killing 15 ticket buyers and staff. Structured both in a “what happened that night” and in-the-moment found footage doc, this is a truly clever indie horror film.
Hellraiser
Year: 1987
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director: Clive Barker
The horror author Clive Barker directed this adaptation of his own novella The Hellbound Heart and made genre movie history. Introducing the world to the iconic Pinhead, who would go on to appear in so many sequels, the original film here is still the best, the tale of a puzzle box that basically opens a portal to Hell. The sequels have kind of lost the thread, but the original is still incredibly powerful. It’s one of the few films from the ‘80s that would still shatter audiences if it were released today.
High Tension
Year: 2005
Runtime: 1h 29m
Director: Alexandre Aja
This movie is bonkers. Directed by Alexandre Aja (and sometimes called Switchblade Romance) it stars Cecile de France and Maiwenn as two young woman who go to a secluded farmhouse, where they’re attached by a serial killer. The twist ending to this brutal film will likely either make it or break it for you. Note: Shudder also added a few other French Horror Wave films, including Inside and Martyrs — both essential for horror fans, neither for the faint of heart.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Year: 1978
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Philip Kaufman
There’s a reason that Hollywood keeps returning to Jack Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers—it strikes at a common fear that our neighbors and loved ones aren’t who they were yesterday. The best film version of Finney’s tale is the ‘70s one with Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy. A riveting unpacking of ‘70s paranoia, this is a truly terrifying movie.
A Knock at the Cabin
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
One of the most inventive directors of his era adapted a screenplay for the first time when he tackled Paul Tremblay’s stunning 2018 novel The Cabin at the End of the World. Shyalaman does some bad things to the final act, but this is still worth a look for its incredible craft and an excellent performance from Dave Bautista as the leader of a group of people who believe that a sacrifice must be made to stop a pending apocalypse.
Phantasm
Year: 1979
Runtime: 1h 29m
Director: Don Coscarelli
Another low-budget flick that produced an empire, Don Coscarelli’s totally bonkers 1979 film isn’t as much an influential genre classic as it is kind of unlike anything before or since. Who can forget the first time they saw Angus Scrimm as The Tall Man, one of the best horror characters of his era? The crazy plot here is secondary to the unforgettable imagery and style. There’s a reason it spawned four sequels and has a very loyal cult following 40 years later.
Saw
Year: 2004
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: James Wan
It’s hard to believe but Saw X was actually the most acclaimed film in this influential franchise. That’s right – ten movies in! Go back to where it all began in the first-and-still-best horror movie about two people who wake up in the middle of a dirty room with only one way to escape: a saw. Almost all of the Saw films are on Prime right now, actually, so you can have yourself a truly twisted marathon.
*Sleepy Hollow
Year: 1999
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Tim Burton
Tim Burton ended a phenomenally creative run in the ‘80s and ‘90s with his take on the classic Washington Irving story about a headless horseman. Burton’s muse, Johnny Depp, plays Ichabod Crane, a New Yorker sent to the titular town to investigate a series of murders reportedly committed by the supernatural villain. Dripping with style, it’s arguably Burton’s last great movie.
Smile
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 55m
Director: Parker Finn
Paramount has been regularly funneling some of their biggest theatrical hits to their streaming service for a small window of time before they roll over to Prime too. That was the case with Parker Finn’s debut feature film that was in theaters just last summer and made a fortune worldwide (over $200 million). One of the biggest commercial and critical horror hits of 2022, Smile is about a therapist who discovers something supernatural stalking her patients. It will get under your skin.
*The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Year: 1986
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Tobe Hooper
No one had any idea what to do with Tobe Hooper’s sequel to his breakthrough film when it was released. Why? Because it’s insane. More black comedy than horror, it’s almost a parody of the first film, featuring truly wild performances from Dennis Hopper, Bill Johnson, Bill Moseley, and more. Audiences were confused in the ‘80s but they’ve come around to view this as a cult classic.
Totally Killer
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: Nahnatchka Khan
What if Scream and Back to the Future had a baby? It would look a lot like this Prime Original thriller about a young woman (a fun Kiernan Shipka) who travels back in time and joins forces with the teenage version of her mother to stop a serial killer. Quirky and clever, it works as a mystery, slasher film, and an ‘80s comedy.
*What Lies Beneath
Year: 2000
Runtime: 2h 9m
Director: Rob Zemeckis
Before he disappeared into his own wormhole of 3D animated filmmaking, Robert Zemeckis made an underrated thriller starring Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer as a couple who may be living in a haunted house. It’s not a perfect movie, but Ford and Pfeiffer sell it and Zemeckis brings some character depth to a horror movie that could have been little more than a series of jump scares.
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