Goodbye videocassettes and DVDs – thanks to today’s technology, the Internet offers us many video-on-demand services that provide countless hours of movies and series. Amazon Prime Video is one of the USA’s most popular online video stores and has been offering movies and series since 2014.
No matter what genre, there is something for everyone here. Romantic comedies, special children’s movies, interesting documentaries, exciting thrillers, and detective stories are only a small selection. And those who prefer it a little dark and scary don’t miss out either: Prime Video contains scary shockers and horror movies that will make you shiver with fear and freeze the blood in your veins. We present the 25 best horror movies available on Prime Video, which provide fear and terror.
1. Psycho (1960)
This psychological thriller by Alfred Hitchcock is about a psychologically disturbed man who first kills a woman and then a man. He is highly schizophrenic and, in the meantime, thinks he is his mother. Fearing the son will leave his mother, he kills a young woman whom he idolizes as the son’s personality.
With Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh in the cast, Alfred Hitchcock created a real shocker for the time on the subject of multiple personalities, which is still one of the classics today.
2. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Average thirty-something Shaun, played by Simon Pegg, works as a salesman in a TV store. He prefers to spend time with his friends, who are all losers, with his girlfriend Liz, played by Kate Ashfield. She is increasingly annoyed by him. While they duel each other in front of the Playstation, the world is overrun by zombies, causing them to find out far too late.
A slightly different horror film and funny scenes represent one of the most popular horror comedies.
3. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Also, in this classic by George A. Romero, people are haunted by zombies. A group of people barricades themselves in a Pennsylvania farmhouse to escape a zombie onslaught and thus save their skins.
The cast of Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea is perfectly chosen, and they bring the scary factor to your home.
4. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Johnny Depp is known for his outlandish roles, which he portrays with dedication and impressive performances. He also virtually lives his role in this fantasy horror film. In the movie, directed by Tim Burton, he plays Constable Ichabod Crane, a young criminologist from New York who is sent to solve a crime in the small and eerie hamlet called Sleepy Hollow.
Here the fear reigns because three corpses were found, all headless. According to a legend, a headless horseman’s ghost is making mischief. Crane believes in neither ghosts nor forced confessions and tries to solve the case purely scientifically, which soon brings him to his limits.
A film loaded with suspense that will captivate any viewer.
This thriller by John Carpenter with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence is a horror classic that takes place in the small American town of Haddonfield. On Halloween night in 1963, an unfathomable tragedy occurs when Michael Myers, a boy just six years old, kills his older sister with the help of a kitchen knife.
As a result, the boy is admitted to a psychiatric ward and is treated by psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis treats. The latter, however, can never really get through to him and therefore tries to have him committed for life. Michael Myers evolves into a serial killer and terrifies the local population over time.
One of the must-see horror classics.
6. Funny Games (1997)
In this Austrian horror film by Michael Haneke, two young men play the leading roles. A small family – including parents Georg and Anna and their young son Schorschi – plans a quiet break from the hustle and bustle at a lake. A young man named Peter appears at the door one day and asks for eggs. Here the family suspects no evil and gladly helps him out.
But a short time later, Peter’s friend Paul also gains access to the house, and the two play a wicked game with the young family, life and death at stake. The polite appearing Paul and Peter turn out to be torturers and harass the family most brutally.
7. The Tenant (1976)
Roman Polanski’s horror film is about a shy little clerk named Trelkovsky from Poland who applies for a run-down old apartment in the middle of Paris. The previous tenant threw herself out of the fourth-floor window moments earlier. Trevkosky gets the apartment, but his new neighbors are not pleased with the new housemate.
In this film, the focus is not on striking scares but irony coupled with subtle menace, representing a whole new breed of horror films.
8. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Drew Goddard’s horror comedy stars an all-star cast. Chris Hemsworth and Anna Hutchison in the main roles were perfectly chosen. The script comes from Avengers director Joss Whedon and corresponds at first glance to a normal horror film, which, however, provides horror through its dark parts.
Five college students travel to a remote cabin in the woods for a weekend trip. They are completely isolated from the outside world and left to their own devices. Already at the beginning, the front door opens by itself. The friends do not yet suspect what things they will encounter inside the cabin.
9. Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster’s horror drama is about a young woman, Annie, who inherits a dark fate after her mother dies. This becomes a danger for the entire family as supernatural things take their course. The cast of Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne is extremely authentically shot.
Annie is a gallery owner and lives a down-to-earth, tranquil life with her husband Steve and their two children. They live in a secluded house at the edge of the forest and feel comfortable in their surroundings. Annie’s mother, Ellen, is the undisputed head of the family. After her death, creepy and mysterious things happen around the family, which they must deal with. Little by little, it turns out that the family has a horrible fate. A family secret comes to light, and the race of time against the inherited fate begins.
A film that pulls you in and makes you think about higher powers yourself.
10. The Nine Gates (1999)
Another mystery thriller from Roman Polanski with a star-studded cast including Johnny Depp and Emmanuelle Seigner. The antiquarian Dean Corso receives an order from a rich collector named Boris Balkan. This leaves Dean Corso an occult book, which Mephisto himself supposedly wrote. Dean is to examine the book for its authenticity, for which he travels halfway around the world.
He makes his way through the USA and from there to Spain and France because the last three editions of the book are said to be there. During his comparison of the copies, mysterious and inexplicable incidents happen repeatedly. These regularly mislead the scientist. Another mystery: a young woman seems to have unexpected abilities because she can predict his every move.
This film is recommended for all horror fans because the excellent star cast also mentally brings the audience to their limits.
11. Cloverfield (2008)
The film, directed by Matt Reeves, stars Lizzy Caplan and Jessica Lucas. Young Rob gets a tempting job offer from New York, after which he will leave New York. His friends surprise him with a big farewell party, captured and documented by his brother Jason with a digital camera throughout the evening.
The party is going like clockwork, and the guests are in high spirits – until the moment when the celebratory mood quickly evaporates. Violent explosions shake the city, and gradually it becomes known that the town has been attacked by a monster that terrifies the population.
Through the combination of horror and science fiction, every fantasy fan will get his money’s worth, and for fans of this genre a must-see!
12. World War Z (2013)
In the science fiction film by Marc Forster, zombies star alongside Brad Pitt and Mireille Enos. On earth, an inexplicable pandemic breaks out. This turns people into zombies and spreads rapidly among the population. Gerry Lane, a U.N.-Employee, is in New York City at this time, along with his entire family, as the deadly pandemic continues to spread. Unimaginable chaos arises in the city, and Gerry tries, by all means, to escape from the city with his family and bring them all to safety.
A shocker that makes us think for ourselves and ponders whether the impossible might not be so far-fetched after all.
13. Insidious (2010)
In James Wan’s horror film, a young boy is haunted by demons. The child’s parents, Josh Lambert and his wife Renai (played by Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) move into an idyllic family home with their two other children. But after only a short time, mysterious things start happening that terrify the family. Footsteps can be heard in the attic. Objects move independently, and especially the son Dalton can feel the dark forces. After an accident in which little Dalton is seriously injured and falls into a coma, the parents increasingly think the house is cursed.
A psychological thriller will make the blood run cold in the veins of any viewer.
14. Suspiria (2018)
In Luca Guadagnino’s Italian horror film, a young woman named Susie Bannion, played by Dakota Johnson, moves from Ohio to West Berlin in the 1970s after her mother’s death. She applies to a prestigious dance school and actually gets in. Almost simultaneously, the dance school is looking for the young dance student Patricia, who mysteriously disappeared.
The circumstances remain unexplained for the time being. While investigating, another dance student named Sara makes a strange discovery. Again and again, dancers disappear, and the school is faced with a mystery that is additionally underlined by dark forces. Madame Blanc, the dance school director, does everything she can to maintain the facade of the dance school, but it gradually begins to crumble.
A film that is both highly suspenseful and mysterious due to various conspiracies.
The ghost movie by James Watkins stars Daniel Radcliffe as a young man who unwillingly encounters a vengeful ghost. A young lawyer named Arthur Kipps makes his way in the 19 century to a lonely and remote village. There he is supposed to take care of the inheritance of a recently deceased woman, for which he needs the necessary documents for the administration of the estate.
These are in the mansion of the deceased. When he arrives there, mysterious things start happening little by little. He is blamed for the village’s children’s deaths, so the inhabitants want to get rid of him immediately. At the same time, a creepy woman appears on the estate. The acquaintance becomes his undoing and brings him closer and closer to horror. Alongside Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds plays one of the main roles.
A must-see for any fan of ghost movies that gets the adrenaline pumping with its suspense and creepiness factor.
16. Sinister (2012)
In Scott Derrickson’s scary movie, author Ethan Hawke investigates a murder. This happened some time ago in his house, which arouses his curiosity. He conjures up sinister beings with the research, which provide a proper creepy factor.
17. Santa Sangre (1989)
The horror film Santa Sangre is about a boy who grows up in a circus family. After watching his father cut off both of his mother’s arms with throwing knives and end his own life, the boy is sent to a psychiatric ward, where he is visited by his mother years later. He manages to escape, but from now on, he is forced to carry out countless murders in his mother’s name. He is haunted and tormented by nightmares and hallucinations.
Horror paired with psycho gives this film its very own character and gives us goosebumps all over the body, not only once.
18. The House That Jack Built (2018)
This Danish horror film by Lars von Trier, starring Matt Dillon and Bruno Ganz, is about personality development. This shows the changes Matt Dillon goes through as he becomes more and more of a mentally ill serial killer.
Suspense, action, scares – this film production has everything a good horror movie should have.
19. The Invitation (2015)
Karyn Kusama’s horror film features a slow-building thriller that initially deals with a marital crisis. After the death of their child together, Will and Eden separated. Sometime later, Will receives an unexpected dinner invitation from his ex-girlfriend, which wants to introduce her new husband, David. Will remains skeptical, and at the latest, when the game “truth or dare” is played, he wonders what the real plan behind the mysterious invitation is.
A suspense-filled and creepy film that stirs your imagination.
20. The Crazies (2010)
The thriller, directed by Breck Eisner and starring Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell, is a new remake. In the movie, the two main characters have to get to safety from a zombie invasion. The small town of Ogden Mash is experiencing far-reaching consequences after an airplane crashed. A biological agent poisons the city’s water resources on board the plane. After this succeeds by the drinking water into the bodies of the population, they begin to commit indiscriminate murders. A group of last non-infected people joins forces to protect the city from the monsters in people’s bodies.
Also, with this film, science fiction fans get their money’s worth through the elaborate animation paired with bloody shockers.
21. Truth Or Dare (2018)
22. The Hole in the Ground (2019)
23. Side Effects (2013)
24. Anna and the Apocalypse (2018)
25. Resolution (2012)
As you can see, Amazon Prime Video has something for everyone. Whether horror comedy, science fiction horror, fantasy horror, or even psychological thriller and horror – the selection is large and leaves nothing to be desired. Grab a pack of chips and a cozy blanket, and get ready to be creeped out!
