Something wicked this way comes, and it's coming specifically for you.
The horror community has created a big tent, and the films on this list attack the genre across all fronts. From indie gems (Alice, Sweet Alice, 1976) and Oscar-winning blockbusters (Sinners, 2025), to foreign films (The Wailing, 2016) and dark satires (American Psycho, 2000), the characters in these movies have almost nothing in common except a zest for sowing discord, generating fear, and occasionally, engaging in some light murder.
If this sounds like a good time, no judgment here. Keep reading forEntertainment Weekly's list of the 17 best horror movies streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Alice, Sweet Alice(1976)
“No more dolls, no more toys, Alice only plays with bodies.” This quote from thetrailer ofAlice, Sweet Alicesets the tone for this 1976 horror film turned cult classic. On the day of her first communion, 9-year-old Karen Spages (Brooke Shields, making her film debut) is murdered in her church. The key suspect is her 12-year-old sister, Alice (Paula Sheppard), an antisocial pre-teen with violent tendencies.
Set in New Jersey in 1961, this psychological slasher leans heavy on Catholic iconography and gore, and meditates on themes of divorce trauma, familial separation, religious conceptions of punishment, and more.Alice, Sweet Alicewas well-received by critics, who were especially complimentary of Sheppard’s performance.—Ilana Gordon
Where to watchAlice, Sweet Alice: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Alfred Sole
Cast:Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard, Niles McMaster, Brooke Shields
American Psycho(2000)
Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 best-seller looks unrecognizable in Mary Harron’s cinematic adaptation of the controversial novel. StarringChristian Baleas Patrick Bateman, a yuppie investment banker whose only real passions are consumerism, dining out, and committing murder, this black comedy and horror fusion satirizes the mass-consumption and performative lifestyle that was a hallmark of the 1980s culture and economy.
Luckily for viewers, the film version ofAmerican Psychopresents the best aspects of the source material without luxuriating in book Bateman’s fevered misogyny.EW’s critic writesthat the film is elevated by Bale’s interpretation, noting, “He keeps Patrick lurching blindly toward humanity, until we see a self being born in a man who, paradoxically, was too selfish to have one.”—I.G.
Where to watchAmerican Psycho: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Director:Mary Harron
Cast:Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny
Black Christmas(1974)
This slasher classic still holds up as one of the most chilling horror films of all time. A group of sorority sisters' good tidings of comfort and joy are interrupted by repeated profane phone calls, leading to one of them being murdered in the attic. This kicks off a horrifying series of events as they try in vain to get the police to determine the source of the call while they are picked off one by one. There have been two attempts at remakingBlack Christmasin the 21st century, but neither has approached the level of paranoia and dread of the '70s original. —Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watchBlack Christmas: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Bob Clark
Cast:Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon
Carnival of Souls(1962)
After an accident pushes their car off the road, Mary (Candace Hilligoss) awakens on the banks of a river in Kansas with no memory of how she got there or of what happened to her friends. Puzzled and shaken, Mary proceeds with her plans to move to Salt Lake City, where she’s been hired as the new organist at a local church. But no matter where Mary goes, mysterious events, creepy people (including one played by the film’s director, Herk Harvey), and sinister spirits seem to follow.
None of the oddities that pepper the movie’s 78-minute runtime will prepare you for the twist at the end.An EW critic writes, “More than just scary, it’s arrestinglyodd, with a bats-in-the-belfry 3-a.m. loneliness that you plug into like a private dream.”—I.G.
Where to watchCarnival of Souls: Amazon Prime Video
EW grade:A–
Director:Herk Harvey
Cast:Candace Hilligoss, Sidney Berger
Companion(2025)
If you’re looking for a traditional romantic comedy,Companionis not your movie. The film introduces us to Josh and Iris (Jack Quaidand Sophie Thatcher), a couple headed to a lake house for a weekend away, which takes a turn when Iris learns she is Josh's robot companion and wrests herself free from his control. A dark comedy, horror, and sci-fi crime fusion, the script investigates issues around technology, masculinity, power dynamics, and relationships: think a darker and more toxically male spin on Spike Jonze’sHer(2013). Quaid and Thatcher's opposing energies create a unique chemistry here.EW’s critic promises“[Drew] Hancock's feature directorial debut is a hell of an invigorating revenge fantasy.”—I.G.
Where to watchCompanion: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
EW grade:B+
Director:Drew Hancock
Cast:Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum(2018)
YouTubers will do a lot of questionable things for views, but inGonjiam: Haunted Asylum, one channel's livestream ends with more of its participants dead than alive. A South Korean found footage horror film set in the Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital, the movie follows a web series creator and the six people he recruits to explore the abandoned building. Drawn to room 402, the former intensive care unit, the group encounters supernatural entities they can't explain and danger they can't escape.
Based on the real-life Gonjiam Psychiatric Hospital — a South Korean asylum that was considered one of the country's most haunted buildings before it was demolished in 2018 — the film starts off slow, but will have you lunging for the lights by the time the ending arrives.—I.G.Where to watchGonjiam: Haunted Asylum: Amazon Prime VideoDirector:Jung Bum-shikCast:Wi Ha-joon, Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, Moon Ye-won, Park Sung-hoon
Goodnight Mommy(2014)
There is no shortage of creepy twins in horror (“Come play with us, Danny!”), and the most terrifying example from recent memory is in Austria’sGoodnight Mommy, which premiered in 2014 at the Venice International Film Festival and was released theatrically a year later. A psychological horror story,Goodnight Mommyfollows twin 9-year-old boys who begin to question their mother’s identity after she returns from intensive cosmetic surgery as a seemingly different person than the parent they once knew. The boys commit to ousting the imposter and finding the location of their real mother, but their investigation leads to truths too horrifying to process. Feel free to watch both versions — there's a 2022 remake starring Naomi Watts, also on Amazon Prime Video — but definitely start with the original. —I.G.
Where to watchGoodnight Mommy: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Directors:Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Cast:Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lukas Schwarz
Hell House LLC(2015)
The subpar sequels have somewhat sullied the reputation of Stephen Cognetti'sHell House LLC, a low-budget mockumentary about a haunted house attraction where tragedy strikes. That's too bad.Hell House LLCis supremely creepy, centering on a group of friends who scoop up an old, abandoned hotel in the hopes of remaking it into a profitable haunt only to find out that something evil lurks in the basement.
Hell House LLCis indie horror at its best, eliding fireworks and burdensome lore in favor of subtle, peripheral scares that encourage rewatches (or, at the very least, lots of rewinding). Even customary scares, like a mannequin's head that turns when the camera's not looking, are rendered fresh in a setting that's clearly as eerie in real life as it is on film.—Randall Colburn
Where to watchHell House LLC: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Stephen Cognetti
Cast:Ryan Jennifer Jones, Danny Bellini, Gore Abrams, Jared Hacker, Adam Schneider
Lake Mungo(2008)
Given that everything natural on the continent is designed to kill you, Australia seems an ideal setting for a scary movie. But in the psychological horror filmLake Mungo— set in Ararat, Australia — the fear isn’t born from external foes, but rather from the terror required to succumb to the depths of human feeling.
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Lake Mungobegins with the accidental drowning of 16-year-old Alice Palmer. Upon returning home, her brother Matthew believes he sees Alice’s ghost, but further investigation from the Palmer family reveals that Alice was seeing premonitions of her death. Far from providing closure, the family begins to realize that the more they learn about Alice’s personal life, the less they understand about what happened to her.—I.G.
Where to watchLake Mungo: Amazon Prime VideoDirector:Joel AndersonCast:Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger
Memories(1995)
This Japanese animated science fiction anthology is composed of three shorts, the first of which is considered a master class in creating gothic, psychological sci-fi horror. TitledMagnetic Rose, the 45-minute film tells the story of a space crew aboard a salvage freighter namedCorona. The crew follows a distress signal to an abandoned space station where two of its members experience supernatural encounters with the previous owner, an opera star who disappeared after her husband was murdered.
Magnetic Roseis consideredMemories’standout piece, but the film is also worth watching forStink Bomb(40 minutes) andCannon Fodder(22 minutes). Both of these films skew more sci-fi than horror, but they’re all tonally dark and visually captivating.—I.G.
Where to watchMemories: Amazon Prime Video
Directors:Kōji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Otomo
Cast:Tsutomu Isobe, Shouzou Iizuka, Kouichi Yamadera, Shigeru Chiba, Ami Hasegawa
Nosferatu(2024)
Robert Eggers finally got to direct the story he's always wanted to remake with this haunting gothic horror drama. Based on 1922'sNosferatu, which was itself an unofficial interpretation of Bram Stoker'sDracula, the Victorian-set film follows a woman named Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) who has an abnormal psychic connection with a faraway vampire, Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård).
Things escalate when Ellen's husband, Thomas (Nicholas Hoult), accepts an opportunity to sell Count Orlok a manor in town, and the parasitic vampire's arrival spells doom for the townsfolk. Unsettling and graphic with an undeniably dark romantic draw,Nosferatuis one of the most elegantly made horror films in recent years. —K.J.
Where to watchNosferatu: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
Director:Robert Eggers
Cast:Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin
Sinners(2025)
Sinnerspicked up a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations and came home withfour well-deserved winsat the 2026 ceremony. Written and directed byRyan Coogler, SinnersstarsMichael B. Jordanin dual roles as twin brothers, nicknamed Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown in the Mississippi Delta to create a juke joint for the Black community. But when the spot’s music is powerful enough to summon supernatural forces to its door, the bar’s patrons struggle to survive their night of revelry.
Set in 1932, the first half of the movie is a compelling drama about gangster brothers returning to the South and confronting their past. The second half — a bacchanalian, gore-filled night of singing, dancing, and fighting — is both gripping and terrifying.—I.G.
Where to watchSinners:Amazon Prime Video
Director:Ryan Coogler
Cast:Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku
Sleepaway Camp(1983)
In the indie horror classicSleepaway Camp,camp is established in both setting and tone. A film known for its out of left field final plot twist, this low-budget slasher follows an unknown killer as they terrorize the young occupants of a summer camp in upstate New York in the 1970s.
The film was derided by critics upon its release, but in the decades since,Sleepaway Camphas been given its flowers and is recognized as a cult classic. Modern viewers have debated the effectiveness of the movie’s queer themes, but genre enthusiasts agree that the best way to watchSleepaway Campis to go into the viewing with limited information.—I.G.
Where to watchSleepaway Camp: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Robert Hiltzik
Cast:Mike Kellin, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Jonathan Tiersten, Felissa Rose
The Taking of Deborah Logan(2014)
Before helming horrors such asInsidious: The Last Key(2018) andEscape Room(2019), Adam Robitel poured his heart into his directorial debut, a film that quietly first dropped on Netflix sans any marketing or hype, yet swiftly attracted a million viewers in its opening weekend. The top half of this found-footage horror forces you to confront your own mortality when meeting Deborah Logan (Jill Larson) — worn down by Alzheimer's disease and unable to care for herself — and her attentive daughter (Anne Ramsey) through the investigative lens of aspiring documentarians.
However, as the film sinks its teeth into the second act, the filmmakers uncover something far more sinister lurking beyond Deborah's condition. Marked by a heart-rending yet horrifying performance from Larson, the film crafts a story where characters and their struggles feel achingly real.—James Mercadante
Where to watchThe Taking of Deborah Logan: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Adam Robitel
Cast:Jill Larson, Anne Ramsay, Michelle Ang, Ryan Cutrona
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre(1974)
One of the forebears of the horror genre,The Texas Chain Saw Massacrebuilt the sadistic road map followed by many modern films — theSawandHostelfranchises among them. A movie that prompted eight sequels, and inspired 2022'sX, this ‘70s torture film only needs a chainsaw and a face mask sewn from human skin to drive its viewers into spasms of terror.
Following a group of young hippies who visit an old family farmhouse and end up encountering the home’s murderous next-door neighbors,EW callsThe Texas Chain Saw Massacrethe “template for modern horror.” As EW's critic writes, “WhatChain Sawchanneled, far more than any other horror film of its time, was the dementia, the terrifying insanity, of violence.”—I.G.
Where to watchThe Texas Chain Saw Massacre: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Tobe Hooper
Cast:Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen
The Wailing(2016)
Don’t be scared byThe Wailing’s runtime: At two hours and 36 minutes, this prestige horror film is epically long, but each of those minutes is well-earned. A supernatural whodunnit out of South Korea,The Wailingfollows a cop (Kwak Do-won) as he investigates the source of a mysterious illness affecting rural villagers and turning them violent — including his own daughter.
From writer-director Na Hong-jin, this exorcism movie mixes familiar Eastern and Western ideas and imagery around possessions, exorcisms, and demons, and manages to emerge with a story that looks and feels completely new.—I.G.
Where to watchThe Wailing: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)
EW grade:B+
Director:Na Hong-jin
Cast:Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Jun Kunimura
We Need to Talk About Kevin(2011)
Parenting is the ultimate horror story, and in the thrillerWe Need to Talk About Kevin, a writer named Eva (Tilda Swinton) reflects on how raising her psychopathic son Kevin (Ezra Miller) ruined her life. Kevin and Eva’s relationship is fraught from birth, but as Eva struggles to get her husband (John C. Reilly) to recognize their child’s emotional issues, Kevin’s urges become increasingly more violent.In a 2011 conversation with EW, Swinton says the film “has as much to do with the business of bringing up children asRosemary’s Babyhad with the practical business with being pregnant.”—I.G.
Where to watchWe Need to Talk About Kevin: Amazon Prime Video
Director:Lynne Ramsay
Cast:Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller
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