15 Best Horror Movies On Amazon Prime

Summary

• Amazon Prime offers diverse, notable horror films spanning different subgenres for subscribers.
• Horror lovers can enjoy the mix of classic and contemporary titles on Amazon Prime Video.
• Standout movies like “Renfield,” “The Descent,” and “Rosemary’s Baby” enrich the horror selection.

The best horror movies on Amazon Prime match up well with most other streaming services, and there are some surprisingly great and award-winning horror films to watch for anyone who is subscribed to Prime. Amazon Prime offers a wide variety of movie selections, from their original content to existing movies. Among the extensive genres, several standout horror movies remain available on the streaming service that spans the early days of cinema right up to the most recent and notable horror releases.

Those looking for the right kind of scary stories for the season should check out the best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video right now. While the horror genre can sometimes be lumped together with anything that has jump scares and gore, there is a wide variety of horror movies for fans of all interests. From slasher movies to horror comedies to the recently elevated horror movement and some true classics of the genre, Amazon Prime offers something for everyone while guaranteeing chills and thrills.

15 Renfield (2023)

A Modern-Day Take On Vampire’s Familiar

Renfield brings a new look to the familiar for Count Dracula. In this movie, it’s Renfield who is the star, as he has been working at keeping Dracula alive for a century, and it seems there is no end in sight. However, when he finally decides to stand up for himself and try to be a better man, Dracula jealously targets him and anyone he cares about.

One of the movie’s producers is Robert Kirkman, the original creator of
The Walking Dead.

When Dracula enlists some gangsters to join his cause, Renfield needs all his remaining power to get out of this alive. What helps this stand out is Nicolas Cage playing Dracula in both a loving homage to the Bela Lugosi original and an over-the-top performance that Cage fans love.

There are scenes in the movie that Cage copied from the 1931 Dracula film, and he clearly has a great time playing the legendary Universal monster. Renfield also has great touches of humor thanks to Awkwafina and Nicholas Hoult, and it picked up five nominations at the Saturn Awards, with Cage winning Best Supporting Actor.

14 The Dead Zone (1983)

A Stephen King Adaptation Starring Christopher Walken

The Dead Zone was among Stephen King’s earliest novels, and the first movie adaptation is now on Prime Video for new fans to discover as Christopher Walken stars as Johnny Smith. Johnny almost died as a child in an accident, and he now possesses an almost unwanted power of touching people and seeing glimpses of the past and future. While he becomes a celebrity when he uses the power to stop a killer, he soon learns that a rising politician could cause a nuclear war, and he has to figure out how to stop him before it is too late.

Directed by David Cronenberg and featuring his signature style that is ideal for horror flicks, it remains a highlight of King’s early movies.

Directed by David Cronenberg and featuringhis signature style that is ideal for horror flicks, it remains a highlight of King’s early movies. There was also a television series that came later with Anthony Michael Hall that was extremely successful, but this specific version remains one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made, and a highlight of Cronenberg’s mainstream works.

13 Smile (2022)

A Horror Movie About A Demonic Presence That Appears Through Smiling

Released in 2022, Smile is a horror movie based on a short film, also directed by Parker Finn. The movie features Sosie Bacon as a therapist named Rose who watches a patient die by suicide, and then she ends up carrying on the same possession that the now-dead girl died to escape. The curse sees people with disturbing and creepy wide smiles, foreshadowing death and tragedy.

Smile picked up mostly positive reviews, as it is a movie that focuses on trauma and its aftereffects. The project was a huge success, making $217.4 million on a $17 million budget in 2022 and then going on to find a new life on streaming. Critics also appreciated the horror release, with a 79% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 77% audience score. It also earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Horror Film.

12 Evil Dead Rise (2023)

A New Generation Of Sam Raimi’s Beloved Franchise

In 1981, Sam Raimi made his name with the brilliant independently made horror movie The Evil Dead, and he followed that up with Evil Dead II, which sits high on many lists of the best horror movies ever made. Since then, there has been a sequel and a reboot, as well as a TV series that followed the story of the original three movies.

However, in 2023, Evil Dead Rise presented one of the scariest releases since the original twoand made it different by bringing the horrors to the city. Rather than following friends at a cabin in the woods, Evil Dead Rise follows a mother, her two kids, and her sister as the Deadites focus on this small family.

The idea of kids and parental figures being involved in the story made an already scary idea even more frightening. The movie was a box office success and has a high 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was such a success that a sequel is in the works, as the franchise has found new life for the next generation of horror fans.

11 The Descent (2005)

A Group Of Women Trapped In Caves With Monstrous Cannibals

The Descent was the follow-up to Neil Marshall’s critically acclaimed werewolf movie Dog Soldiers but it was everything that Dog Soldiers wasn’t. While that first film was praised for the visual effects of the werewolves and the scary outdoor scenes, Descent was about six women who went spelunking in an uncharted cave system only to find themselves getting lost and realizing there are cannibalistic creatures inside that begin tracking them with evil intentions in mind.

The Descent was a small box office success but soon became a cult classic and remains widely considered one of the best female-led horror movies in history. It finished the year on several top 10 lists for critics and horror movie sites and went on to pick up a sequel, although it failed to reach the level of the original release. It is also known for its alternate endings, which offer different outcomes for the survivor at the end, with the favored being that she never gets out alive.

10 Terrifier (2016)

One Of The Scariest Killer Clown Movies On Prime Video

Terrifier has developed a polarizing reputation thanks to its status as one of the creepiest and scariest killer clown movies ever made. The 2016 slasher movie was a low-budget horror movie that picked up a huge cult following thanks to its villain, Art the Clown. The film brought back the character of Art from the previous movie, All Hallows Eve, and created a bloody, ultra-violent horror flick that won over genre fans.

Thanks to its status as a modern-day cult favorite, it also picked up a sequel called Terrifier 2, which was released in 2022. The first movie was almost a niche horror film for genre fans, and it didn’t have a long box office life. However, the sequel showed how much fans loved the original movie by ending up as a huge box office success, making $15.7 million on a $250,000 budget.

9 Tucker And Dale Vs. Evil (2010)

A Horror-Comedy That Spoofs Cabin In The Woods Horror Movies

Blending horror and comedy is always difficult but when pulled off successfully, the result can be special, like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. It plays on the trope of the bloodthirsty mountain people in horror films like Wrong Turn and follows two brothers who live in the woods and get targeted by a group of teens who mistake them for cannibals. What results next is Tucker and Dale looking in shocked horror as the youngsters end up accidentally killing themselves in gruesome ways.

Tucker and Dale vs Evil is filled with horror movie references and homages that show the filmmaker’s affection for the genre while also managing to poke fun at it. It makes for a great mix of gore and laughs. The film only received a limited release in theaters, but it had a huge life on streaming, where it has since become a cult classic. It also helped Alan Tudyk continue his rise into a true genre icon.

8 Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Francis Ford Coppola’s Reimagining Of Dracula

In 1992, Francis Ford Coppola directed his reimagining of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a masterpiece that introduced the romantic melodrama to a new audience. Unlike earlier movies that presented Dracula as a monster or a force of evil, Coppola’s movie presents him as an aristocratic immortal who only wants to be reunited with his lost love, Elisabeta, who he believes was reincarnated as Mina Harker. Gary Oldman plays Dracula to perfection, both as the older vampire and the younger rejuvenated aristocrat.

There are some problems with the movie, including a miscast Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker, but Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a brilliant look at Dracula and is one of the most beautifully designed films ever made about the bloodsucker. It earned four Oscar nominations and won for Best Costume Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Makeup. The horror movie is certified fresh at Rotten Tomatoes with a 74% critics score and a 79% audience score.

7 Hellraiser (1987)

The Classic Clive Barker Horror Movie

This low-budget gore-fest from horror icon Clive Barker began a long-running franchise that’s still thrilling audiences today, with a new entry hitting Hulu in 2022. The original Hellraiser is, even by modern standards, a salacious trip into obscenity and lust, guided by a depraved soul who has incurred the wrath of a group of inter-dimensional beings who view hellishly gruesome torture as divine pleasure.

Their leader, who would come to be known simply as Pinhead, quickly became counted among the likes of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers. The movie is a sadomasochistic horror thriller where pain and pleasure combine, providing some of the most disturbing and brutal imagery in any horror film of its era. Based on Barker’s original novella, The Hellbound Heart, this release ended up changing everything about horror movies in a time when campy slashers ruled the day.

6 Bones And All (2022)

A Cannibal Love Story

Though the horror genre can sometimes be dismissed by critics, prestige takes in such stories as Bones and All have elevated the genre in recent years. Bones and All is based on a novel and follows a young girl who has become an outcast due to her cannibalistic cravings. As she ventures out into the world alone, she meets a young man (Timotheé Chalamet) who shares the same cravings as her.

It is quite surprising that a story about cannibals also makes for a rather beautiful and touching romance. The movie benefits from never backing down from the grotesque subject matter, and it ends up being an engrossing modern horror story. Critics praised the movie with an 81% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, calling it a movie that is hard to watch but thought-provoking and always interesting. It was the Golden Lion and Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival.

5 We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)

A Haunting True-To-Life Murder About School Shootings

Adapted from the novel of the same name by Lionel Shriver, We Need to Talk About Kevin revolves around the complex relationship between a mother and her worryingly antisocial son. Jumping back and forth through time, the most horrific reveals are saved for last, but the palpable sense of dread is kept high throughout. Tilda Swinton was amazing in her role as a grieving and confused mother, earning Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominations for her performance.

The film is a fearless exploration of postnatal feelings of anxiety, but they’re delivered in such a way that anyone can relate to them.

The audience knows early that Kevin’s actions have led to something truly unforgivable, with his deeds automatically reflecting on his mother. The film is a fearless exploration of postnatal feelings of anxiety, but they’re delivered in such a way that anyone can relate to them. In a society where school shootings have grown to a disturbing level, this is a film that shows how the horrors affect the family of the shooter in an unflinching manner.

4 Pearl (2022)

The Follow-Up To Ti West’s X

Ti West had a huge success story on his hands when he released X in 2022, a movie that was a throwback to the classic horror movies of the 70s and 80s, something that West has specialized in for most of his career. However, West then surprised fans when he revealed he already had the prequel shot, and released Pearl just five months later, both movies getting theatrical releases and both impressing critics and horror movie fans. Pearl tells the story of how an idealistic young woman became a serial killer.

The story has Pearl living with her parents on their Texas farm while her husband is away fighting in World War I. While he is away, she ends up having an affair with a projectionist at a theater, but she soon reveals her more sadistic ways, and by the time Howard is back from the war, she has become an unhinged killer. Like X, Pearl also received high critical reviews, sitting at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes and Mia Goth won the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Lead Performance.

3 Let The Right One In (2008)

The Brilliant Vampire Movie From Sweden

An eerily beautiful and chillingly sinister take on the tropes of vampire fiction, Let the Right One In mixes coming-of-age romance with intermittently brutal violence when a young boy forms a bond with a girl who harbors a dark secret. Though vampire movies are everywhere in the horror genre, Let the Right One In finds a fresh and emotionally engaging approach to breathing new life into this type of tale.

Both daring and original, this widely acclaimed Swedish film demonstrates the range of diversity that subscribers can expect from the best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video. There was an American remake in 2001 called Let Me In, and while moving the action to Reagan-era America created something uniquely different, it didn’t quite match up to the brilliance of this Swedish release. It won several awards from critics groups as the best foreign language film released in 2008.

2 The Wicker Man (1973)

The British Horror Classic Of A Pagan Island & Ritual Sacrifices

While the Nicolas Cage remake soured the reputation somewhat for the movie’s title, the original The Wicker Man remains one of the best horror movies and one of the greatest British horror films ever made. The movie stars Edward Woodward as Sergeant Neil Howie, a man who travels to the island of Summerisle to investigate the disappearance of a young girl.

What he finds there is a village of people who are more than welcoming but who turn out to be pagans who sacrifice innocents for their pagan god. Christopher Lee stars as Lord Summerisle, the main antagonist in the film. The Wicker Man has since become one of the landmark movies when it comes to folky pagan horror stories.

While it was a box office flop when released, it has become known as one of cinema’s best horror releases, and films like The Apostle, Midsommar, and Hot Fuzz owe their existence to this British horror release. Hot Fuzz even stars Wicker Man star Edward Woodward in a villainous role.

1 Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

One Of The Greatest Occult Movies Ever Made

In 1968, Roman Polanski directed what is widely considered the best occult horror movie ever made. Rosemary’s Baby stars Mia Farrow as Rosemary, a wife who moves into a New York City apartment building with her husband, Guy. When she becomes pregnant, she begins having visions and nightmares and comes to understand that something isn’t right.

Rosemary’s Baby
was a huge success, both at the box office and when it comes to critical and awards acclaim.

When people in her apartment building start taking an interest in her pregnancy, she realizes she is in great danger. Rosemary’s Baby was a huge success, both at the box office and when it comes to critical and awards acclaim. The movie grossed $33.4 million in 1968 on a $3.2 million budget. It has a 96% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and Polanski earned a screenplay nomination. The Library of Congress added Rosemary’s Baby to the National Film Registry in 2014, easily one of the best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video.