Arguably, there’s no bad time to watch horror movies. Everything from summer slashers to Silent Night, Deadly Night has its time and place. That said, Halloween season really is the best time to settle in with a good gory flick. Whether you’re planning to head to the theater to check out David Gordon Green’s Halloween, or to snuggle up on the couch and watch John Carpenter’s original Halloween, there’s no shortage of shriek-inducing titles just waiting to be watched. Especially if you’re working your way through the libraries of the big three streaming services. Before you spend several hours trying to figure out which movies to include in your next Halloween movie marathon, use this cheat sheet to quickly find the best horror movies currently streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.
The Witch (2015)
Robert Eggers made one of the most thought-provoking horror films in recent years with his directorial debut, which is part historical drama and part supernatural tale. In 1630s New England, a family is banished from the Puritan community they call home and finds refuge—and solitude—in the wilderness. But what they see as their salvation quickly turns into a nightmare when their infant son is snatched by a witch in broad daylight during a game of peekaboo with teenage daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy). The tight-knit family begins to fall apart as each member’s faith is tested and bizarre tragedies continue to befall them. It’s a bit of a slow burn, but Eggers’ talent for storytelling, visuals, and suspense-building rewards viewers’ patience.
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Amityville Horror (1979)
Stuart Rosenberg didn’t invent the haunted house genre, but he gave it new life in the late 1970s with this infamous “true” story of the Lutz family, who got a killer deal on a waterfront house in Long Island because it was formerly the scene of a mass murder. Seems like a fair trade-off … until strange things start happening to the Lutzes as soon as they move in. Though the real-life Amityville Horror story has been widely debunked for ages, none of that takes away from the film’s genuine scares. (Walls that bleed and a gateway to hell in the basement are never a good sign, no matter how far below market price you paid.)
Where to stream it: Hulu
The Conjuring (2013)
Speaking of which: The Amityville Horror might not have existed at without Ed and Lorraine Warren, the famed real-life paranormal investigators who among the first people to poke around the Lutzs’ property. The Warrens also happen to be at the center of The Conjuring; played here by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, they’re dispatched to help Roger (Ron Livingston) and Carolyn Perron (Lili Taylor), who live in an old Rhode Island farmhouse with their five daughters and one very smart dog (who refuses to even step paw in the place). Like in any good haunted house movie, the farmhouse witnessed some very bad things in the past, and the spirit that haunts it is more than willing to terrorize each member of the family in distinct ways. As Carolyn becomes the spirit’s prime target, the Warrens need an exorcism, but they need permission from the Catholic Church before they can get it … if Carolyn can wait that long. James Wan's film has led to a "Conjure-verse" series of sequels and spinoffs, including the Annabelle series and the recently released The Nun, but this remains the crown ghoul. Sorry, jewel. Crown jewel.
Where to stream it: Netflix
Carrie (1976)
Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) may not have much to say when she’s being pelted with tampons by her gym classmates or locked into a tiny closet by her loony mom (Piper Laurie), but don’t embarrass this girl in front of a crowd. Sure, she may look like she could be toppled over by a light wind, but when Carrie gets angry, her telekinetic powers come out—and all hell breaks loose. More than 40 years after its original release, Brian De Palma’s big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel, about a misfit teen who gets the ultimate revenge on high school bullies, still manages to resonate, even if you know what’s coming next.
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime
The Shining (1980)
Stephen King may be the literary world’s reigning master of horror, but when it comes to horror movies, he may need to have his head examined. Since its release in 1980, King has made no secret of his disdain for Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel, The Shining, about a young family—dad/writer Jack (Jack Nicholson), meek mom Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and psychic son Danny (Danny Lloyd)—that retreats to an otherwise abandoned hotel for the winter to serve as caretakers so that Jack can write the great American novel. In 1983, King told Playboy that he had “admired Kubrick for a long time and had great expectations for the project,” but that he “was deeply disappointed in the end result. Parts of the film are chilling, charged with a relentlessly claustrophobic terror, but others fell flat.” Another King insight: “Jack Nicholson, though a fine actor, was all wrong for the part.” With all due respect to King, we have to disagree … with every single part of that assessment. Yes, the movie deviates from King’s writing, but what audiences are left with is a powerful journey into one man’s madness, and the horror that isolation can wreak on its victims. (Not to mention that it spawned a legion of incredibly obsessed fans, who in turn spawned the incredible documentary Room 237.)
Where to stream it: Netflix
Veronica (2017)
The media went a little bit crazy when Paco Plaza’s Veronica dropped on Netflix earlier this year. The Spanish supernatural horror film about a teenage girl who uses an Ouija board to communicate with her recently deceased father during a secret schooltime séance with her friends was repeatedly dubbed the scariest movie you’d ever see and much was made about how many viewers were too frightened to even watch it all the way through. There’s no need to go into it with a defibrillator next to your popcorn, but it is pretty damn creepy—especially when an evil spirit begins following Veronica’s every move.
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Though repeated viewings don't pack quite the same punch, M. Night Shyamalan was clever enough to make sure his script didn’t rely solely on the film’s famous twist to make it compelling. An impressive roster of actors manages to keep the film fresh, including then-10-year-old Haley Joel Osment as the little boy who famously utters “I see dead people,” the always-excellent Toni Collette as a mother at the end of her rope, and an unusually subdued Bruce Willis as a child psychologist who attempts to help Osment fulfill his destiny. The film was nominated for six Oscars in 2000, including Best Picture—a rarity for a horror movie.
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Fly (1986)
While you might be tempted to classify this David Cronenberg classic as strictly sci-fi, one glimpse of Jeff Goldblum losing a body part or puking fly vomit all over himself is all it takes to reconsider that categorization. Goldblum may be one of Hollywood’s most effortlessly charming actors and human beings, but as Seth Brundle—a scientist who slowly morphs into a fly after an experiment goes wrong—he’s, well, gross. But the film is far more than an exercise in seeing just how far you can go to thoroughly nauseate an audience; it’s also a love story, with Geena Davis playing Goldblum’s science journalist girlfriend. It’s smart and disgusting and well-acted enough that you actually care about this insect-man. (Fun bonus fact: Mel Brooks produced the film, but left his name off so that no one went in expecting farting cowboys or singing, dancing Frankenstein’s monsters.)
Where to stream it: Hulu
Teeth (2007)
Though it was a hit with critics when it premiered at Sundance in 2007, Teeth flew largely under the radar when it was released in theaters. But now seems like the perfect time to revisit this horror-comedy, in which local good girl Dawn O’Keefe (Jess Weixler), spokesperson for her local Christian abstinence group, begins to suspect that there’s something not quite right with her ladyparts. It only takes a visit to a creepy gynecologist, who attempts to assault her during an examination, to realize that she’s right: her vagina has teeth. Understandably terrified, Dawn eventually discovers that only non-consensual encounters cause her nether-region fangs to react—and harnesses that power to exact revenge on all the terrible men around her.
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Evil Dead (1981)
Sam Raimi was barely old enough to buy a case of beer when he turned the “attractive youngsters in a cabin in the woods” trope on its head and launched his beloved franchise. Originally shot as Within the Woods, a 1978 short that helped the director raise money for a feature, The Evil Dead managed to mix horror, comedy, and the supernatural into one uproariously entertaining feature. Five college students, including Ash (Bruce Campbell, Raimi’s childhood friend who also starred in Within the Woods) and his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), rent a cabin in the middle of nowhere, only to discover a basement full of creepy artifacts belonging to the archaeologist who once owned the place. Among the goodies is the Necronomicon, aka The Book of the Dead, which is … well, you can imagine. Look out, kids!
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime (With Shudder)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s microbudget found-footage phenom proved that creativity can trump money and an A-list cast of actors every time. Three film students head off into the woods (where else?) to investigate The Blair Witch, a local legend believed to haunt the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland. The wannabe documentarians, of course, think that the stories are a hoax … until they find themselves stranded in said woods. While The Blair Witch Project didn’t invent the found-footage subgenre, it certainly created a trend—and after it duped moviegoers into believing that the footage was real, it spawned a legacy of viral marketing campaigns that haunts the horror industry to this very day.
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime, Hulu
Paranormal Activity (2007)
If The Blair Witch Project popularized the found-footage genre, Paranormal Activity is where it reached its apex—and is one of the few films to actually give a plausible reason for why a camera would be capturing every moment of a couple’s otherwise mundane life at home. In this case, it’s because strange things are happening in the new home of young couple Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat). Katie immediately suspects it’s the evil spirit that has followed her since childhood, which isn’t typically the kind of thing you tell someone on a first date. Rather than run the hell away like a normal person, Micah is fascinated and sets up cameras around the house to capture what happens while they’re sleeping. What they see is sometimes boring, sometimes spooky, and sometimes downright terrifying—to them as much as the audience. Though they managed to squeeze a few decent sequels out of the concept, quality inevitably went downhill with each installment and there hasn’t been a new one since 2015.
Where to stream it: Hulu
High Tension (2003)
Before Hollywood roped him into directing big-budget remakes of The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha, Alexandre Aja was at the forefront of the “New French Extremity” movement (aka “torture porn”). Gal pals Marie and Alex are headed to the country house of Alex’s parents for the weekend in order to do some cramming for school. After a friendly family dinner, everyone goes to bed … until a serial killer comes knocking, and drives off with Marie and Alex in his truck. From there, things just get stranger, and somehow more violent. For those who like their horror movies like a Trump steak—well-done and grisly—it all adds up to a satisfying experience. (Except for the dubbing.)
Where to stream it: Amazon Prime (with Shudder)
The Host (2006)
When South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho imagined what would happen if Seoul’s Han River was polluted with formaldehyde, the answer was simple: the birth of an enormous sea monster with a healthy appetite for human flesh. Expertly crafted, the movie has plenty of scares, but is balanced out with a truly funny script (co-written by Joon-ho, Jun-won Ha, and Chul-hyun Baek) that sees one dysfunctional family doing all it can to remain together amidst the chaos engulfing their city. The film became the highest-grossing movie of all time in South Korea, and held tight to that title for a full eight years.
Where to stream it: Amazon (with Shudder), Hulu
Let the Right One In (2008)
Not to be confused with Matt Reeves’ 2010 US remake Let Me In, this Swedish film stands out among 2008’s blood-soaked sea of vampire productions (True Blood, Twilight, and more) because it treats its bloodsucker angle as secondary. The character-driven drama is really about the relationship that grows between bullied Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) and his mysterious neighbor Eli (Lina Leandersson), two tweens who share a sense of isolation—and a desire to kill. Its angsty, sweet tale of outsiders who find a place within each other makes for one fiercely compelling film.
Where to stream it: Amazon (with Shudder), Hulu
It Follows (2014)
It Follows is a prime example of the current wave of smart, terrifying independent horror. It starts out simply enough: Jay (Maika Monroe) and her new boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) see a movie, then get freaky in a car. Emphasis on freaky: Hugh’s post-coital moves include knocking Jay out with chloroform, tying her to a wheelchair, and informing her that he’s "infected" her with a supernatural spirit that will follow her around until it kills her or she passes it on. While some have reduced the story to a cautionary tale about unsafe sex, that doesn’t give enough credit to writer/director David Robert Mitchell—or to Monroe, who subverts the genre’s "final girl" archetype in some fascinating, counterintuitive ways.
Where to stream it: Netflix
The Invitation (2015)
After two years without any contact, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) and his new girlfriend Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi) are invited to a dinner party in the Hollywood Hills thrown by his ex-wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard) and her new husband (The Haunting of Hill House’s Michiel Huisman), who she met through a grief support group following the death of Will and Eden’s son. The nostalgia is thick, but something seems off to Will; as the night progresses, so does his paranoia. The tension, palpable to begin with, only builds as the movie progresses. You know something’s going to happen, and sort of know what it might be, but a great script and cast—plus perfectly nuanced direction by Karyn Kusama—keep you guessing all along.
Where to stream it: Netflix