The 20 Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Video

November 27, 2024

How We Pick Our Films

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes about movies and TV every day. To curate this list, he dives into Amazon Prime Video’s catalogue every month to surface terrifying horror titles — using his taste and a lifetime of cinema study as his guide, instead of whatever the algorithm happens to be pushing. After triple-checking to make sure they’re still available, he watches each and writes his recommendation. We highlight more than just the crowdpleasers: Filmmakers can use horror to craft spine-tingling moods, keep audiences on their toes, and comment on culture. Read on to find something to watch.

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.

The Blair Witch Project watch on prime video

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.

Candyman watch on prime video

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.

Carnival of Souls Watch on prime video

*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.

Cube watch on prime video

*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 Dead Zone watch on prime video

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.

Hell House LLC Watch on prime video

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.

Hellraiser Watch on prime video

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.

High Tension watch on prime video

Hostel

Year: 2006
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Eli Roth

In the mid-‘00s, horror delivered a subgenre that would be sometimes called torture porn: ultra-violent films about actual violence that tried to push the shock meter in ways that major genre films are rarely allowed to do. This Eli Roth film is really the centerpiece of that subgenre, an underrated cautionary tale about how naïve American travelers can be. Note: The sequel is also on Prime Video.

Hostel watch on prime video

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.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers watch on prime video

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.

A Knock at the Cabin watch on prime video

Murder Party

Year: 2007
Runtime: 1h 19m
Director: Jeremy Saulnier

Not exactly horror but just gory and twisted enough to qualify, this is Jeremy Saulnier’s super-low-budget debut. From the beginning of his career, it’s easy to see the sense of space and pacing that would make him famous in films like Green Room and Hold the Dark (as well as directing the recent season of True Detective). This one is wonderfully simple – a loner finds an invite to a Halloween party and decides to go. Big mistake. That’s all you need to know.

Murder Party watch on prime video

Nope

Year: 2022
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Jordan Peele

The genius behind Get Out and Us delivered his most controversial film in 2022, a story that blends an alien invasion with a commentary on movie-watching and spectacle in general. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer are fantastic in this story of people beset upon by an alien species that likes to watch. Brilliantly structured and gorgeously shot, Nope is blockbuster horror filmmaking at its finest.

Nope watch on prime video

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.

Phantasm watch on prime video

*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.

Saw watch on prime video

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: André Øvredal

Guillermo del Toro produced this clever adaptation of the short story collections by Alvin Schwartz that warped an entire generation or two. Several of the most beloved stories work their way into a story that takes place on Halloween in 1968 in a Midwest town. Some of the big stuff about a magical book is a little silly, but there are unforgettable little horror vignettes that give this movie its strength.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark watch on prime video

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.

Smile watch on prime video

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.

Totally Killer Watch on prime video

*Us

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 56m
Director: Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele followed up his Oscar-winning debut with one of the best horror films of the last decade, a stunning story of doppelgangers and the divided history of this country. Lupita Nyong’o is simply amazing as a woman who discovers the hard way that violent doubles of everyone are coming up from underground to claim their place above it. Visually striking and thematically fascinating, Us is one of the best films of 2019.

Us watch on prime video

X

Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: Ti West

Mia Goth is a force of nature in dual roles as Maxine and the elderly Pearl, who it turns out likes to kill folks. Maxine is a part of a group of people who rent a property in Texas to make a porno, but Pearl gets in the way. Co-starring Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, and Brittany Snow, X launched a franchise with the same-year Pearl and the upcoming MaXXXine.

X watch on prime video

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