The Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

Looking for a good scare, but not sure where to start? The good news is Amazon Prime boasts quite a few quality horror films, even if the suggested title algorithm doesn’t always bring the cream of the crop to the forefront. Looking for something classic? Go for Blood and Lace or Night of the Living Dead? Seen those already and looking for something new? No problem, Amazon’s video service regularly updates with new favorites like Hereditary, Suspiria, and A Quiet Place. Whether you’re looking for zombies, witches, horror-comedy, and pretty much anything else across the board, there’s a lot to chose from.

Nobody likes to get lost in the infinite streaming scroll so we’re making it easy to separate the best from the rest with our regularly updated list of the best horror movies streaming on Amazon Prime right now. Get your popcorn ready, bust out the slanket, and settle in for some spookytimes. We’ll be updating and expanding this list regularly, so be sure to come back for the latest recommendations and newly added titles.

Still looking for something spooky, but didn’t find what you want? Be sure to check out our updated list of the Best Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now. For more streaming recommendations, head over to the Best Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now, Best TV Shows on Amazon Prime Right Now. Best Movies on Netflix Right Now, Best TV Shows on Netflix Right Now, and Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now.

Train to Busan



Image via Next Entertainment World

Director: Sang-ho Yeon

Writer: Joo-Suk Park, Sang-ho Yeon

Cast: Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jung

Writer-director Sang-Ho Yeon‘s Train to Busan takes a concept as reductive as “zombies on a train” and turns it into a propulsive, action-packed, and surprisingly touching spin on the burnt out zombie genre. The film follows a selfish businessman and his neglected daughter when she begs him to take her home to her mother for her birthday. They board the train just as the world is falling to the zombie apocalypse, and Yeon always makes it feel like there’s never a second to spare. One wrong step, one missed opportunity, and our characters become raging, contorted flesh-eaters. These zombies aren’t just fast; they’re rabid and remarkably infectious (and surprisingly, they pull off that zombie wave thing that was so ridiculous in World War Z). Along the way, they team up with a fantastic cast of secondary characters that you actually give a flying hoot about, especially Don Lee‘s Sang Hwa, a buff badass and father to be who’ll do whatever it takes to protect what he loves. The film gets a little heavy-handed with the “selfishness is bad” motif at points, but it’s never enough to drag down the breathless action or commanding characters, and the film is a well-needed shot in the ass to the genre that has largely floundered in the wake of The Walking Dead‘s mammoth popularity and weekly zombie action.— Haleigh Foutch

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon



Director: Scott Glosserman

Writers: Scott Glosserman, David J. Stieve

Cast: Nathan Baesel, Angela Goethals, Robert Englund, Scott Wilson, Zelda Rubenstein

Still a criminally underseen comedy/meta-horror, Behind the Mask is a pseudo-mockumentary that posits a world in which iconic horror villains (I’m talking Freddy, Jason, et. al), were very real serial killers. At the center of all of it is Leslie Vernon, a gushing obsessive whose  dream is to create a name for himself in the horror lexicon. Behind the Mask easily reveals its love for the horror genre, but there’s a sharp undercurrent of criticism that make this micro-budget horror incisive despite its minimal scope. Often funny and always impressive in its commitment to oddball world-building, it’s a film made for horror fans by horror fans, and if that’s not a ringing endorsement, I’m not sure what is. — Aubrey Page

The Lighthouse



Image via A24

Writer/Director: Robert Eggers

Cast: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe

The Witch filmmaker Robert Eggers earned a whole heap of critical acclaim, instantly held the attention of cinephiles, and helped cement the A24 horror brand with his debut movie. So how could he top it with his second? With an absolutely bonkers, brutal and bizarrely hilarious mythological tale of two men driven to madness on a tiny little island with only each other and their farts to keep them company. This one’s a little more horror-adjacent than an outright scarefest, but there are certainly enough moments of bleak, brutal and existentially terrifying throughlines to earn a spot here.

A two-hander with sublime performances from Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as its engine, The Lighthouse affirms Eggers as a singular voice and force of innovative formalist filmmaking that builds new nightmares from the technical tools of classical cinema. What a treat. Genuinely unique, surreal, and ballsy as hell from all involved, The Lighthouse is the pirate-talking, bean-snacking, gods and monsters isolationist nightmare of a movie nerd’s dreams. And once you’ve been thoroughly confounded, be sure to read Vinnie Mancuso’s excellent analysis of the wild ending. — Haleigh Foutch

Midsommar



Image via A24

Writer/Director: Ari Aster

Cast: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper, Vilhelm Blomgren, Will Poulter

There are few up-and-coming filmmakers out there who have delivered the technical mastery and emotional savagery that Ari Aster one-two punched with his first two films. First with Hereditary (see below) and now with Midsommar, his sun-drenched folk horror ode to classics like The Wickerman that sends the audience to gorgeous a summer solstice hellscape of grief, anxiety and codependence. Florence Pugh gives a knockout performance as a young woman dealing with an insurmountable tragedy when she journeys abroad with her checked-out boyfriend (Jack Reynor) and his friends, and winds up smack in the middle of a terrifying pagan ritual. Gorgeously shot, scored, staged, etc., etc., Midsommar isn’t just a deviously elegant spin on a classic horror subgenre, it also packs a wicked sense of humor and pitch-black comedy. — Haleigh Foutch

Overlord



Image via Paramount

Director: Julius Avery

Writers: Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith

Cast: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbæk, John Magaro, Ian De Caestecker, Jacob Anderson

If you dug the high-intensity immersive war drama of 1917, you’re gonna want to check out Overlord if for no other reason than the tremendous aerial opening sequence, which is an absolutely breathtaking, pulse-pounding intro. But you should definitely stick around after that too, because Julius Avery‘s Bad Robot sci-fi thriller drops US soldiers in a Nazi-occupied French village and goes full Twilight Zone when they discover the undead handiwork of one the SS’s mad scientists. It’s an exceptionally blended genre cocktail, delivering legit war drama thrills amidst a B-movie background of monsters, mayhem, and sci-fi insanity. In a more just world, we’d be eagerly awaiting the sequel to this underseen gem. — Haleigh Foutch

Climax



Image via Wild Bunch

Writer/Director: Gaspar Noe

Cast: Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile, Giselle Palmer, Thea Carla Schott

Gaspar Noe’s dance horror Climax is a drug-fueled trip straight to hell, packed with kinetic energy, unhinged performances, and dazzling technical showmanship. Climax follows a modern dance troupe in 1996, who hole up at a community center to rehearse and party through a winter night that transforms from a light-hearted dance-off to a hypnotic fight for survival after someone spikes the sangria with LSD. Noe starts off with a jubilant series of solo introductions for his dance troupe, before kicking things into high gear with a staggering group dance scene — impressive not only because of the physical feats on screen, but the way Noe captures them with his agile camera work and attention to detail. Then the night starts to boil as hallucinogens, paranoia, and lust overtake the evening, bringing everyone’s inner demons out to play. Climax is indulgent, as are most of Noe’s best works, but it’s captivating and propulsive, daring you to look away from the growing chaos as the rules of polite society devolve. Sofia Boutella taps into her pro-dance past to deliver a harrowing, peak-physical performance, and despite the color-saturated kaleidoscope of bleak reveals, Climax is easily one of Noe’s most accessible films and one of the best horror movies of the year so far. — Haleigh Foutch

Anna and the Apocalypse



Image via Orion Pictures

Director: John McPhail

Writers: Alan McDonald and Ryan McHenry

Cast: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Christopher Leveaux, Sarah Swire, Ben Wiggins, Marli Siu, Mark Benton, Paul Kaye

Few films have to satisfy as many genres as Anna and the Apocalypse, but this Scottish gem ticks all the boxes handily while singing and dancing through the heartfelt chaos. Part Christmas movie, part high school musical, and part zom-com, Anna and the Apocalypse is surprisingly great at being all three, bouncing between holiday spirit, teenage hormones, and laugh-out-loud horror-comedy (or sometimes, heartbreaking zombie drama) with such tonal precision director John McPhail makes it look deceptively easy. Sure, this is probably the only musical where you’ll see a zombie in a snowman suit get decapitated by a see-saw or watch a gang of singing teenagers dispatch the undead with watermelons and a PlayStation controller, but it’s also just a damn good musical to boot with earworm songs, great ensemble numbers, and — arguably the toughest to pull off of all — great (and hilarious) new Christmas songs you’ll immediately add to your yearly playlist. – Haleigh Foutch

Hereditary



Writer/Director: Ari Aster

Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Millie Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne

Ari Aster makes a walloping directorial debut with Hereditary, an exquisitely crafted trip down a rabbit hole of terror and torment, wherein one family on the brink of self-destruction is torn apart by a supernatural menace. Following the death of her mother, Annie Graham (Toni Collette) and her family wander into an inescapable nightmare of grief and agony, where every choice and circumstance brings them closer to their inevitable doom. Shot with tremendous precision, as carefully constructed as one of Annie’s miniatures, Hereditary drags you into the nightmare alongside the Grahams and features some of the most stunning technical filmmaking of the year, bar none. That includes the most breath-taking performance of Collette’s career (which is really saying something), not to mention a score and sound design that would give you nightmares even if you weren’t watching the screen. But Hereditary will keep your eyes glued to the madness, watching a family walk into a trap they help build themselves. It’s an intense, physical experience (“I can feel my face sweating,” I wrote in a note during my first screening) that sticks with you ages after you leave the theater. — Haleigh Foutch

The Reef



Image via Lightning Entertainment

Writer/Director: Andrew Traucki

Cast: Damian Walshe-Howling, Adrienne Pickering, Zoe Naylor, Gyton Grantley, Kiernan Darcy-Smith

The Reef is an impressive exercise in tension that does a lot with a little. The film follows four friends who set out to take in the sights of the Great Barrier Reef and find themselves stranded at sea when their boat capsizes. With the few supplies they salvage, they make the hard choice to swim out through shark-infested waters rather than wait around for the slim chance of rescue on their sinking ship. But once they’re in the water, a blood-thirsty great white catches their scent and hunts them down one-by-one.

Writer/director Andrew Traucki takes just enough time to lay some dramatic groundwork before he unleashes sickening tension with the crash and never lets up, staging a slow burn until the shark’s reveal, which is liable to take your breath away. The Reef was filmed with real sharks, and the first attack is a stunning, intensely anxious experience that will have you curling up your toes in fear. (No small thanks to the actors, who sell the terror with every guttural scream and ashen grimace.) There’s one egregiously foolish character and the ending is a bit abrupt and cruel, but overall, The Reef is a tense, technically accomplished survival thriller with one seriously scary shark. — Haleigh Foutch

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