20 best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video to keep you up at night
Looking for something to keep you screaming streaming?
From thrillers and mysteries to slashers and ghost stories, Amazon Prime Video has a killer lineup of terrifying titles perfect for scaring up your movie night. Whether you're in the mood for a creepy comedy with some teeth, a menacing mystery with a twist ending, or an original nightmare not so easily described, Prime Video has tons of great horror movies included free with your subscription.
You have other options too, of course. Netflix has a ton of great horror movies to choose from. So does Hulu. If you have a streaming subscription in your life, you have a library of fright-filled scarefests that you might not even know about. Amazon Prime Video is just one more option in a long lineup of them.
But what battles should you brave first? To help you get started on your binge, here are the 20 best horror movies now streaming free on Amazon Prime Video.
20. The Village
M. Night Shyamalan's oft-maligned The Village is surprisingly spooky to revisit. Whether or not you're sold on this film's famously divisive ending, its atmosphere and committed cast (which includes Bryce Dallas Howard, Adrien Brody, and Joaquin Phoenix among others) create a believable world of terror that's fun to explore through a modern lens.
How to watch: The Village is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
19. Unsane
Steven Soderbergh's feature-length fright fest made on the iPhone 7 is claustrophobic in all the best ways. In Unsane, Claire Foy plays a woman plagued by a dangerous stalker. But when she seeks counseling for her trauma, she finds her sanity in question and her safety at risk. What follows is a nail-biting nightmare with a twist last act sure to get a big (if not entirely good) reaction out of you.
How to watch: Unsane is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
18. Suspiria (2018)
This 2018 Suspiria remake has been described by director Luca Guadagnino and star Tilda Swinton as a "cover" of Dario Argento's 1977 classic — exploring rather than mimicking Argento's perspective on supernatural horror. With this mission in mind, Suspiria is a gratifying watch that exemplifies how identical genre tropes can be employed for disparate emotional effects. Yes, it's all fear, but fear of different kinds that present an unsettling experience unto itself.
How to watch: Suspiria (2018) is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
17. Crawl
An action-packed PSA for emergency preparedness and... uh, not messing with alligators(?!), director Alexandre Aja's Crawl follows a competitive swimmer (Kaya Scodelario) as she ventures through extreme Florida weather to find her father (Barry Pepper). A surprisingly fun title in the legacy of Jaws, Crawl is a solid popcorn flick with enough smarts to keep you guessing.
How to watch: Crawl is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
16. Gretel & Hansel
It star Sophia Lillis leads in this fresh take on the Brothers Grimm fairytale from director Oz Perkins. Beautifully styled and bold in tone, Gretel & Hansel takes viewers back to the candy-covered cottage everyone knows, but tells a bitter new tale once inside. It's imperfect, but still a strong addition to the story's history that adds even more fear to the scary premise.
How to watch: Gretel and Hansel is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
15. The Love Witch
Scrolling past The Love Witch, it's easy to mistake writer-director Anna Biller's 2016 title with a forgotten gem of the 1960s. Designed to mirror the glamorous Hollywood of old, this story of a magical temptress looking for romance offers both camp and tragedy. Star Samantha Robinson shines as the bewitching Elaine, an understated icon of feminist horror well worth meeting.
How to watch: The Love Witch is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
14. Compliance
The Handmaid's Tale's Ann Dowd leads up this gut-wrenching dramatization of a real scam that rocked Kentucky in the '90s. Dreama Walker plays a fast-food cashier who gets accused of stealing by her manager, played by Dowd. But what begins as a high-production HR video soon spirals into a heinous game of domination and submission that turns its victims into perpetrators.
How to watch: Compliance is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
13. We Need To Talk About Kevin
We Need To Talk About Kevin is an exploration of warning signs and violence that's sure to leave many viewers feeling unsteady. Tilda Swinton and John C. Reilly lead as the parents of Kevin, a disturbed teenager played by Ezra Miller, who goes on an unexplained killing spree. More meditative than attention-grabbing, director Lynne Ramsay's psychological thriller asks you to make sense of the senseless, even as this tale's inescapably horrible conclusion looms large.
How to watch: We Need To Talk About Kevin is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
12. Come To Daddy
Top to bottom, director Ant Timpson's Come To Daddy is bonkers. In this comedic thriller with some serious gore, Elijah Wood portrays a son visiting his estranged father, played by Stephen McHattie, when he is unexpectedly confronted by his father's past. Full of some killer twists and turns — seriously, buckle up — this one is better left unspoiled.
How to watch: Come to Daddy is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
11. You're Next
Most closely compared to the 2019 hit Ready or Not, You're Next introduces audiences to a stilted personal drama before revealing a more insidious plot at its core. Sharni Vinson stars as a date at a tense family dinner, opposite Nicholas Tucci and A.J. Bowen, who must find a way out when masked killers come ready to kill them all. Fun and fearless, You're Next is a true hidden gem.
How to watch: You're Next is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
10. Paranormal Activity 3
Easily the scariest of the Paranormal Activity movies, this prequel takes viewers back to the late '80s for a glimpse at the root of evil in this famed found footage franchise. Paranormal Activity 3 is really the last great installment this demonic premise had to offer, with a believable cast and a script that delivers enough emotion to keep you invested but not so much as to make matters melodramatic.
How to watch: Paranormal Activity 3 is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
9. Overlord
Director Julius Avery's Overlord delivers high-octane action against a backdrop of World War II-set zombie terror that's best described as just good old-fashioned fun. From leading man Jovan Adepo to Pilou Asbæk's captivating villain, this is one revisionist history lesson with sensational characters and a plot well-crafted enough to keep you onboard.
How to watch: Overlord is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
8. The Lighthouse
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson star in this absolutely baffling inquiry into sanity. Known for his feature-length debut The Witch, director Robert Eggers delivers intense atmosphere and explosive performances in this stark, black-and-white tale of a two men stationed at a remote lighthouse. (If at the end you're left wondering what it all means, don't worry — us too.)
How to watch: The Lighthouse is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
7. The Ring
Director Gore Verbinkski's The Ring doesn't hold up in all of the ways we'd like (the film's intentionally jarring narrative devices have aged more like continuity problems, tbh), but it remains a pivotal title in aughts horror history that's enough fun to merit a rewatch. Naomi Watts stars as an investigative journalist who stumbles across a VHS tape with a deadly history.
How to watch: The Ring is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
6. The Neon Demon
If Vogue released an issue in collaboration with the Necronimcon, its contents might resemble something like director Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon. Starring Elle Fanning as a doomed ingénue, this stylish fever dream explores the Los Angeles modeling scene for an indictment of western beauty standards and commercialization that's as captivating as it is biting.
How to watch: The Neon Demon is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
5. The Cabin in the Woods
Featuring one of the most talked about endings in horror history, The Cabin in the Woods expertly sends up genre tropes with its Scream-meets-sci-fi script and stellar ensemble cast. When five friends take off for a weekend trip, a conspiracy to ensure the group's demise is set in motion. What follows is one of the most straight-forwardly entertaining horror titles in recent memory.
How to watch: The Cabin in the Woods is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
4. Hellraiser
From the phenomenally twisted mind of Clive Barker, the original Hellraiser is as scary today as it ever was. Descend into this puzzling world of monstrous torture (see what I did there?) with genre icon Pinhead, played by Doug Bradley, facing off against protagonist Kirsty, played by Ashley Laurence. No matter where you stand on the most recent Hellraiser installments, it's hard to deny that this 1987 nightmare is an all-time great.
How to watch: Hellraiser is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
3. Midsommar
Following the critical success of Hereditary, writer-director Ari Aster returned to theaters with an eerie fairytale starring Florence Pugh. Midsommar is an atmospheric drama that turns the occult abduction formula inside out for a trippy meditation on acceptance and rejection that's more intense than terrifying. If you're looking for big, beautiful, haunting images accompanied by excellent characters and production design, this is your pick.
How to watch: Midsommar is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
2. Train to Busan
Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, Train to Busan imagines the end of the world as a screamingly entertaining explosion of zombie mayhem and societal commentary brought on by a chemical spill. Terrifying, funny, and consistently original, this apocalyptic adventure is one of those films worth watching every single time you think of it. Seriously, it never gets old.
How to watch: Train to Busan is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.
1. Night of the Living Dead
Visionary of the zombie apocalypse George A. Romero tops this list with his most iconic film: Night of the Living Dead. This 1968 classic makes for a great watch — not only as a standard-setting staple of cinema, but also as a vehicle for terror that gets under your skin and festers there. Expertly executed from start to finish, this bleak tale of strangers versus an army of the undead needles at you in a way that's still tough to shake more than 50 years later.
How to watch: Night of the Living Dead is now streaming free with Amazon Prime Video.