By the time you open your mouth to scream, it’s already too late.

The 17 best horror movies on Amazon Prime Video for a scary good time

By the time you open your mouth to scream, it's already too late.

By Ilana Gordon,

Ilana Gordon is an entertainment, culture, and comedy writer originally from Connecticut. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

EW's editorial guidelines

Randall Colburn,

Randall Colburn

Randall Colburn is a writer and editor at **. His work has previously appeared on The A.V. Club, The Guardian, The Ringer, and many other publications.

EW's editorial guidelines

and Kevin Jacobsen

May 19, 2026 3:00 p.m. ET

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Michael B. Jordan as Elijah 'Smoke' Moore in 'Sinners'; Sophie Thatcher as Iris in 'Companion'; Eva Friedel (voice: Gara Takashima) in 'Memories'. Credit:

Eli Ade/Warner Bros.; Cara Howe; Madhouse

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 for **'s list of the 17 best horror movies streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

Paula Sheppard as Alice in 'Alice, Sweet Alice'.

“No more dolls, no more toys, Alice only plays with bodies.” This quote from the trailer of *Alice, Sweet Alice* sets 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 Alice* was well-received by critics, who were especially complimentary of Sheppard’s performance. *—Ilana Gordon*

Where to watch *Alice, Sweet Alice*: Amazon Prime Video

**Director:** Alfred Sole

**Cast:** Linda Miller, Mildred Clinton, Paula Sheppard, Niles McMaster, Brooke Shields

American Psycho (2000)

Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in 'American Psycho'.

Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 best-seller looks unrecognizable in Mary Harron’s cinematic adaptation of the controversial novel. Starring Christian Bale as 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 of *American Psycho* presents the best aspects of the source material without luxuriating in book Bateman’s fevered misogyny. EW’s critic writes that 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 watch *American Psycho*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

**Director: **Mary Harron

**Cast: **Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage, Chloë Sevigny

Black Christmas (1974)

Olivia Hussey as Jess Bradford in 'Black Christmas'.

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 remaking *Black Christmas* in the 21st century, but neither has approached the level of paranoia and dread of the '70s original. —*Kevin Jacobsen*

Where to watch *Black Christmas*: Amazon Prime Video

**Director: **Bob Clark

**Cast:** Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, John Saxon

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Candace Hilligoss as Mary Henry in 'Carnival of Souls'. Everett Collection

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 arrestingly *odd*, with a bats-in-the-belfry 3-a.m. loneliness that you plug into like a private dream.” *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Carnival of Souls*: Amazon Prime Video

**EW grade: **A–

**Director: **Herk Harvey

**Cast: **Candace Hilligoss, Sidney Berger

Companion (2025)

Sophie Thatcher as Iris in 'Companion'.

Cara Howe/Warner Bros.

If you’re looking for a traditional romantic comedy, *Companion* is not your movie. The film introduces us to Josh and Iris (Jack Quaid and 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’s *Her *(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 watch *Companion*: 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)

Park Ji-hyun as Ji-hyun in 'Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum'.

Well Go USA/Courtesy Everett Collection

YouTubers will do a lot of questionable things for views, but in *Gonjiam: 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 watch *Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum*: Amazon Prime Video******Director: **Jung Bum-shik******Cast: **Wi Ha-joon, Park Ji-hyun, Oh Ah-yeon, Moon Ye-won, Park Sung-hoon

Goodnight Mommy (2014)

Susanne Wuest as Mother in 'Goodnight Mommy'. Radius

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’s *Goodnight Mommy*, which premiered in 2014 at the Venice International Film Festival and was released theatrically a year later. A psychological horror story, *Goodnight Mommy* follows 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 watch *Goodnight Mommy*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

**EW grade: **A

**Directors: **Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

**Cast: **Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lukas Schwarz

Hell House LLC (2015)

Danny Bellini as Alex Taylor in 'Hell House LLC'.

The subpar sequels have somewhat sullied the reputation of Stephen Cognetti's *Hell House LLC*, a low-budget mockumentary about a haunted house attraction where tragedy strikes. That's too bad. *Hell House LLC* is 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 LLC* is 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 watch *Hell House LLC*: Amazon Prime Video

**Director: **Stephen Cognetti

**Cast: **Ryan Jennifer Jones, Danny Bellini, Gore Abrams, Jared Hacker, Adam Schneider

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Lake Mungo (2008)

Marcus Costello as Jason Whittle in 'Lake Mungo'.

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 film *Lake 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.

*Lake Mungo* begins 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 watch *Lake Mungo*: Amazon Prime Video******Director: **Joel Anderson ******Cast: **Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger

Memories (1995)

Eva Friedel (voice: Gara Takashima) in 'Memories'.

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. Titled *Magnetic Rose*, the 45-minute film tells the story of a space crew aboard a salvage freighter named *Corona*. 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 Rose *is considered *Memories’ *standout piece, but the film is also worth watching for *Stink Bomb* (40 minutes) and *Cannon 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 watch *Memories*: Amazon Prime Video

**Directors: **Kōji Morimoto, Tensai Okamura, Katsuhiro Otomo

**Cast: **Tsutomu Isobe, Shouzou Iizuka, Kouichi Yamadera, Shigeru Chiba, Ami Hasegawa

Nosferatu (2024)

Lily-Rose Depp stars as Ellen Hutter in 'Nosferatu'.

Courtesy of Focus Features

Robert Eggers finally got to direct the story he's always wanted to remake with this haunting gothic horror drama. Based on 1922's *Nosferatu*, which was itself an unofficial interpretation of Bram Stoker's *Dracula*, 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, *Nosferatu* is one of the most elegantly made horror films in recent years. —*K.J.*

Where to watch *Nosferatu*: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

**Director: **Robert Eggers

**Cast:** Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin

Sinners (2025)

Michael B. Jordan as Elijah 'Smoke' Moore in 'Sinners'.

Eli Adé/Warner Bros.

*Sinners *picked up a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations and came home with four well-deserved wins at the 2026 ceremony. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler*, Sinners* stars Michael B. Jordan in 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 watch *Sinners: *Amazon Prime Video

**Director: **Ryan Coogler

**Cast: **Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku

Sleepaway Camp (1983)

Felissa Rose as Angela Baker in 'Sleepaway Camp'. United Film Distribution Company

In the indie horror classic *Sleepaway 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 Camp *has 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 watch *Sleepaway Camp* is to go into the viewing with limited information. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Sleepaway Camp*: Amazon Prime Video

**Director: **Robert Hiltzik

**Cast: **Mike Kellin, Katherine Kamhi, Paul DeAngelo, Jonathan Tiersten, Felissa Rose

The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)

Jill Larson as Deborah Logan in 'The Taking of Deborah Logan'. Millennium Entertainment

Before helming horrors such as *Insidious: The Last Key* (2018) and *Escape 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 watch *The 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)

Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface in 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre'. Everett Collection

One of the forebears of the horror genre, *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* built the sadistic road map followed by many modern films — the *Saw* and *Hostel* franchises among them. A movie that prompted eight sequels, and inspired 2022's *X*, 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 calls *The Texas Chain Saw Massacre* the “template for modern horror.” As EW's critic writes, “What *Chain Saw* channeled, far more than any other horror film of its time, was the dementia, the terrifying insanity, of violence.” *—I.G.*

Where to watch *The 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)

Chun Woo-hee as Moo-myung in 'The Wailing'.

Well Go USA/Courtesy Everett

Don’t be scared by *The 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 Wailing *follows 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 watch *The 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)

Tilda Swinton as Eva and John C. Reilly as Franklin in 'We Need to Talk About Kevin'.

Everett Collection

Parenting is the ultimate horror story, and in the thriller *We 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 as *Rosemary’s Baby *had with the practical business with being pregnant.” *—I.G.*

Where to watch *We Need to Talk About Kevin*: Amazon Prime Video

**Director: **Lynne Ramsay

**Cast: **Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly, Ezra Miller

- Horror Movies

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Source: “EW Horror”