This article has been updated to including a frightening number of additional movies.
Are you scared? You should be: It’s Halloween time, and your friends and loved ones are expecting you to pick the best, most crowd-pleasing horror films to watch during movie night this weekend! Oh no, it sounds like you maybe forgot that they were all coming over? Well, don’t worry — surely the corner store still has some acceptable treats left. (Can you trick everyone into thinking Tic Tacs are candy?) As for the movies selection, don’t be frightened: We’ve got your back. Here are some of the best horror movies across a bunch of different streaming services that you probably already pay for. Now all you have to do is figure out your costume!
Netflix
American Psycho
Year: 2000
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Mary Harron
Mary Harron’s adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel was instantly controversial but also instantly iconic. Christian Bale stepped into the role of the serial killer that had caused an uproar in the literary world and redefined the way we see psychopaths in cinema. His performance has been mimicked so many times just in the two decades since this unforgettable film was released.
The Babadook
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Jennifer Kent
One of the best horror films of the 2010s has not always been widely available for streaming subscribers so take the chance to watch it again while it’s on Netflix. Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut centers on a mother (Essie Davis) who struggles to raise her problem child alone after the death of her husband. Oh, and there’s also a real monster in the boy’s room.
Psycho
Year: 1960
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Often on lists of the best movies ever made, Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller undeniably changed the genre forever. With its drastic POV shift and stunning mid-film murder, no one had ever seen a movie that played with structure like Psycho before. It’s still a riveting piece of work, a movie in which one can find new tricks and joys with every single viewing.
*Saw
Year: 2004
Runtime: 1h 44m
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.
Scream (2022)
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 55m
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Eleven years after the last Wes Craven film, the saga of Ghostface was resurrected by Paramount in a film that was exclusively on their streamer for a couple years before now escaping to Netflix. Is it as good as the original? Not even close. But it’s fun to see characters like Sydney, Dewey, and Gale again, and the young cast clicks too, especially Kyle Gallner, Melissa Barrera, Mikey Madison, and Jenna Ortega.
Amazon 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.
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.
It Follows
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Horror favorite Maika Monroe stars in this 2014 indie horror breakthrough hit as a young woman who discovers that her recent sexual activity has cursed her with a supernatural force that will chase her until she passes it along to someone else. Stylish and striking, the movie felt like nothing else on the American horror market in 2014, helping usher in the era of what is now called “elevated horror.” Whatever you call it, It Follows is still an unforgettable genre flick.
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 Thing
Year: 1982
Runtime: 1h 45m
Director: John Carpenter
John Carpenter directed one of the greatest horror movies of all time in 1982’s The Thing, a sci-fi masterpiece about a group of American researchers at a remote base in Antarctica when, well, they’re visited by something. The real problem is that their alien visitor can take the form of anyone around them, leading to a great cinematic depiction of paranoia and distrust.
The Witch
Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Robert Eggers
Robert Eggers’ Sundance hit is a master class in sound design and limited perspective. Using testimony from the Salem Witch Trials, the concept of Eggers’ script is beautifully simple – what if one of those trials was about a legitimate witch? The sound of branches hitting each other from the wind, the sound of footsteps on the leafy ground: This is a movie that understands that horror is often sensory more than purely conveyed through storytelling.
Max
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Year: 1984
Runtime: 1h 32m
Director: Wes Craven
The world of horror changed forever with the introduction of Freddy Krueger, a terrifying variation on the boogeyman in the form of a creature who could kill you in your dreams. The first movie is an unqualified genre masterpiece, a movie that forever altered the landscape. (Note: The first four sequels, through The Dream Child, are also on Max.)
The Amityville Horror
Year: 1979
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
There have been dozens of movies that have capitalized on the allegedly true story at the center of this horror classic, a movie that spawned not just sequels but an entire brand of haunted house cinema. The first is still the best. The tale of a young couple (James Brolin & Margot Kidder) who buy a house with some very dark secrets.
Funny Games
Year: 1997
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director: Michel Haneke
Michael Haneke is one of the most daring filmmakers alive, willing to shock viewers to make a point. Perhaps his most divisive film remains this 1997 shocker about a family who are essentially held hostage in their vacation home in Austria. Over the course of the day, the criminals basically torture this family, and through fourth-wall breaks, Haneke interrogates why people would even want to watch something like this, illuminating what art can reveal about the dark side of humanity.
*It
Year: 2017
Runtime: 2h 15m
Director: Andy Muschietti
No one could have predicted how massive this film would be, one of the most successful R-rated horror films of all time. Based on one of Stephen King’s most famous novels, Muschietti divided the novel into two chapters, both of which are on Max. The first chapter is the tale of the youth of Derry, Maine known as the Losers’ Club and how they battle the terrifying force that takes the unforgettable form of Pennywise the Clown.
Scream
Year: 1996
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Wes Craven
The Ghostface killer came back in January 2022 with the release of Scream, the fifth film in this franchise and the first since the death of Wes Craven, and the fun continued with another sequel in 2023 (before the wheels came off in the pre-production of a seventh film). Even the makers of the new movies would suggest that fans go back and watch the original films to see how Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) got here. All four of the Craven films are available now on Max. The first movie is still a flat-out genre masterpiece.
Hulu
Barbarian
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Zach Cregger
Georgina Marshall plays a woman who discovers that her AirBnB has been double-booked when she arrives and finds someone already staying there—the excellent Bill Skarsgard. Despite her instincts, she decides to stay too, and then things go very sideways, but not in the way you expect them to. A truly odd movie, Barbarian was a massive hit, making ten times its budget and producing roughly a million WTF reaction TikToks.
The First Omen
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Arkasha Stevenson
There’s no reason for The First Omen to be as good as it is. First off, most studio horror films don’t take anywhere near the kind of risks that this daring genre flick takes. Second, horror prequels are very rarely good. This one is great. Nell Tiger Free (Servant) plays an American novitiate in Rome who discovers a vile plan to bring the antichrist to life. With stunning use of practical effects and an incredible lead performance, this is one of the best horror films of the 2020s.
The Fly
Year: 1986
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: David Cronenberg
David Cronenberg delivered one of the best remakes of all time when he tackled the classic tale of a scientist who slowly becomes a fly after an experiment goes very wrong. Eschewing cheese for true body horror, Cronenberg pulled arguably the best performance of the career of Jeff Goldblum as the poor guy at the center of this waking nightmare. It’s gruesome and timeless.
Skinamarink
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Kyle Edward Ball
The little movie that could jumped from being a Shudder exclusive to Hulu after a brief stint in theaters that netted this five-figure movie over $1 million at the box office. Filming for almost nothing in his own childhood home, Ball taps into something primal — that feeling in the middle of the night when you wake up and can sense something is just wrong. Divisive in ways that always produce fascinating conversations, this is one of the essential horror movies of the 2020s.
Watcher
Year: 2022
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Chloe Okuno
One of the best films of 2022, this was a Shudder exclusive until recently. Inspired by ‘70s paranoia horror, Watcher stars Maika Monroe (It Follows) as a woman who has moved to Romania with her husband Francis (Karl Glusman). Without much to do and unable to speak the language, she starts to get paranoid that someone is watching her from across the courtyard. Stylish and riveting, it’s a must-see.
Paramount+
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Year: 1992
Runtime: 2h 7m
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola’s epic retelling of the classic novel is one of the most lavish and ambitious Hollywood productions of its era. Gary Oldman gives one of his best performances as the title character, but it’s Coppola’s incredible craftsmanship and unforgettable design that make this movie an underrated horror classic.
A Quiet Place
Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: John Krasinski
Who could have possibly guessed that Jim from The Office would be behind one of the most successful horror films of the ‘10s? You’ve probably already seen this story of a world in which silence is the only way to survive, but it’s worth another look to marvel at its tight, taut filmmaking and a stellar performance from Emily Blunt. Plus, Paramount+ recently added the sequel, so: double feature time!
Resident Evil
Year: 2002
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
It’s hard to believe that it’s been two decades since people started adapting the Capcom video games into feature films. Streamers often add random movies in this franchise, but Paramount has pulled the rare trick of only having the first flick. Luckily, it’s still the best.
Saint Maud
Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 24m
Director: Rose Glass
Rose Glass’s terrifying horror film is one of the best movies of 2021 and it’s already on Paramount+. Reminiscent of psychological nightmares of the ‘70s like Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby, this is the tale of a hospice nurse named Maud (a fearless performance from Morfydd Clark) who becomes obsessed with saving the soul of one of her patients (Jennifer Ehle). It’s unforgettable.
Shudder
Black Christmas
Year: 1974
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: Bob Clark
Forty-five years after the release of the original, a remake was dropped (also on Shudder), but it’s best to just stick with the influential 1974 film. Something to keep in mind is that this slasher classic about a group of sorority sisters hunted on Christmas (including Margot Kidder and Olivia Hussey) predates Halloween and Friday the 13th. In other words, it’s really one of the first slasher pics, a movie that shaped dozens of films to come.
Carnival of Souls
Year: 1962
Runtime: 1h 18m
Director: Herk Harvey
One of the best horror movies ever made, Herk Harvey’s 1962 film is an early cult classic, a film made for almost no money that became an influential masterpiece. Candace Hilligoss plays a woman who starts having terrifying visions after surviving a car accident. These visions lead her to an abandoned carnival. You can see this film’s DNA in hundreds of horror movies to follow, but it’s still wonderfully creepy when judged on its own terms.
Halloween
Year: 1978
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: John Carpenter
Maybe you’ve heard of it? It seems unlikely that anyone subscribing to a service called Shudder hasn’t seen John Carpenter’s game-changing masterpiece, but maybe it’s been a few years for you and you’re considering a revisit. You really should go back to Haddonfield and see where the saga of Michael Myers began. It’s the rare horror movie that can send chills up your spine every time you see it.
The Innkeepers
Year: 2011
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: Ti West
The director of X and Pearl delivered his most underrated work in this early 2010s ghost story about a pair of employees (Sara Paxton & Pat Healy) working the final stretch of open days for a haunted hotel. Trying to document the supernatural hauntings at the Yankee Pedlar before it closes leads to a wonderful slow burn that pays off with an unforgettable final act.
Late Night With the Devil
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 33m
Directors: Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes
A theatrical hit for IFC, the latest horror gem from the Cairnes landed on Shudder while it was still in some theaters. The wonderfully talented David Dastmalchian plays a ‘70s talk show host who has devised an unforgettable show for Halloween night, including a possessed girl as a guest. To say things go wrong would be an understatement. Stylish, funny, and original, this is one of the best horror films of 2024.
Night of the Living Dead
Year: 1968
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: George A. Romero
When a young man named George A. Romero got some buddies together to make a movie in Pittsburgh that had almost no budget, they couldn’t have possibly known that they were about to change movie history. Watching this classic a half-century after its release, one is struck by how much it holds up today, tackling issues and reshaping horror movie language in a way that will never grow old.
Ringu
Year: 1998
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Hideo Nakata
This is on the Mt. Rushmore of J-Horror, a film that really shook the entire the world. Most people know the tale by now: a cursed video tape will kill its viewer after seven days unless they can get someone else to watch it first. It’s an incredibly effective film, building in tension until its final reveal, one of the most terrifying moments in horror history.