This article is updated frequently as titles leave and enter Max. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
Want a good scare tonight? Check out the haunted-and-stalked section of Max (the streaming service formerly known as HBO Max), which features a dense catalogue of genre films from all eras. From legit classics in the Criterion section through the hits of the ’80s and ’90s to today’s theatrical blockbusters, Max knows a thing or two about horror. Its selection is so rich that we will be rotating out entries in this horror guide regularly, so please check back often … if you dare.
*Child’s Play
Year: 1988
Runtime: 1h 28m
Director: Tom Holland
I’m Chucky, want to play!?!? Who could have guessed the industry that would spawn from this 1988 story of a boy who ends up playing with a doll that’s been cursed by the soul of a serial killer? Unforgettably voiced by Brad Dourif, Chucky came at the end of the era of horror icons like Freddy, Jason, and Michael Myers, carving out his own loyal fandom, one that’s so strong that Chucky products, like a new TV show are still being produced over three decades later.
Carnival of Souls
Year: 1962
Runtime: 1h 18m
Director: Herk Harvey
One of the best horror movies ever made, Herk Harvey’s film is an early cult classic, made for almost no money and 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.
Cronos
Year: 1993
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Long before winning awards for Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, the brilliant Guillermo del Toro made his directorial debut with this Mexican vampire film. A low-budget stunner, Cronos announced Del Toro as an instantly major voice in the genre and started his working relationship with Federico Luppi and Ron Perlman.
Diabolique
Year: 1955
Runtime: 1h 57m
Director: Henri-Georges Clouzot
Alfred Hitchcock reportedly made Psycho because he wanted to make a movie that scared him as much as Diabolique. Don’t you owe it to yourself to see a movie that can boast that trivia? The final act of Diabolique is a beauty, anchored by a wonderful horror movie twist that no one saw coming when it was released but has been copied dozens of times since, including by the masters of the form.
Evil Dead Rise
Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: Lee Cronin
A hit in theaters, Warner Brothers shuffled its horror smash over to Max, free for subscribers. Rebooting the Evil Dead series for the second time (after the successful 2013 iteration), this one moves the action to an L.A. apartment building where a single mother (the phenomenal Alyssa Sutherland) gets taken over by the same evil force that once terrorized poor Ash. Twisted and clever, this gruesome horror flick was so successful that it feels like a sixth film in the series won’t take a decade to rise from the dead.
Final Destination
Year: 2000
Runtime: 1h 38m
Director: James Wong
The streamers typically drop all of the films in this franchise at once, and Max has done exactly that, almost as a response to the trailer to the summer 2025 reboot that has the internet buzzing. Watch ‘em all! They’re the kind of fun, goofy gorefest films that Hollywood doesn’t make enough of anymore (and hopefully the new one changes that). In the first, Devon Sawa stars in the story of a kid who cheats death with a few of his classmates, only to learn that death never loses.
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.
The Host
Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h
Director: Bong Joon-ho
The success of Parasite brought an entirely new, larger audience to the work of Bong Joon-ho, and they probably loved this riveting genre piece about a giant monster living in the Han River. Parasite star Song Kang-ho plays the patriarch of a family that’s forced into action when the creature kidnaps his daughter. When it was released, it became the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time.
I Saw the TV Glow
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
One of the best films of 2024 is already exclusively on Max. Jane Schoenbrun’s sophomore effort is the tale of a young man, played perfectly by Justice Smith, who becomes obsessed with a fictional show called The Pink Opaque, which opens him up to a new understanding of the world and his place in it. Schoenbrun’s visual language is arguably the most striking of the year, announcing them as a major cinematic talent.
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. Also: take the rare occasion to not just watch the two halves of the recent version but the entire Tim Curry mini-series, also on Max.
It Follows
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 41m
Director: David Robert Mitchell
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, this felt like nothing else on the American horror market in 2014, really ushering in the era of what is now called “elevated horror.” Whatever you call it, It Follows is still an unforgettable genre flick.
The Lighthouse
Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 50m
Director: Robert Eggers
Is this the best COVID lockdown movie? Sure, it came out the year before, but a lot of people watched it on streaming while they were going crazy with people with whom they were stuck. Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe are fearless in Robert Eggers’ black-and-white nightmare about two people who learn that nothing is scarier than being trapped with someone unbearable. It’s a twisted gem.
Malignant
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 52m
Director: James Wan
This James Wan horror film is one of the weirdest major genre films of all time. How does one even capture this cuckoo bananas flick in a capsule? It’s about a girl who seems haunted by something malevolent only to learn the call is coming from inside the house. You need to see this just for the last half hour of absolute insanity.
Night of the Living Dead
Year: 1968
Runtime: 1h 37m
Director: George A. Romero
The movie that changed it all. It’s really hard to overstate the impact that George A. Romero’s classic black-and-white masterpiece had on not just the zombie genre but DIY microbudget horror filmmaking in general. So many people have been chasing that game-changing impact of Night of the Living Dead in the half-century since it came out, but it’s the original that’s passed the test of time.
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.
Sinister
Year: 2012
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: Scott Derrickson
Before Doctor Strange and The Black Phone, Scott Derrickson helmed this unforgettable tale of a true crime writer (Ethan Hawke) who discovers some terrifying Super 8 home movies in his attic. What’s on the film? Why just the ritual murders of previous residents of his new house. Hawke is fantastic here in a film that really gets under your skin.
The Strangers
Year: 2008
Runtime: 1h 26m
Director: Bryan Bertino
Loosely based on a true story, The Strangers is one of the best home invasion flicks of the modern era. It’s the terrifyingly relatable story of a couple, played by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, who are attacked in their vacation home in the middle of the night. Made for almost nothing, this tense film was a huge smash, tapping into something we all fear could happen when we hear a strange sound outside in the middle of the night.
Trap
Year: 2024
Runtime: 1h 46m
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
The master of the twist is back with what is arguably one of his most traditional thrillers. Anchored by a phenomenal performance from Josh Hartnett, Trap is the story of a serial killer who the authorities attempt to capture at a pop concert. Sure, some of it is ridiculous, but we need more creators like Night who are willing to bring their crazy original ideas to the big screen.
*X
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Ti West
Mia Goth has now appeared in three films with Ti West, 2021’s X, 2022’s Pearl and 2024’s MaXXXine, and all of them are on Max! Taken as a whole, it’s a fearless display of sociopathic behavior delivered with an unforgettable smile from Goth, giving one of the most iconic multi-film performances of the era.
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