Looking for a scream to stream?
If you're looking to stream some screams this Halloween, you're in luck. We've scoured the digital collective to dig up some of the best fright flicks out there just waiting for you to press play. Click through to see what lurks beneath the streaming library menus, ranked by how essential they are for horror enthusiasts. But beware the scares!
Long before The Walking Dead, there was another zombie movie about a guy who wakes up from his hospital bed to find that the world, as he knew it, is gone. This Danny Boyle film explores an apocalypse brought on by rage, a viral plague that all but destroys the human population -- and leaves uncontrollable monsters in its wake.
Watch it: on Starz (where its sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is also available)
This modern horror film is about more than just its gotcha scares and the creepiness of its eponymous baddie; the movie is also layered with metaphors about grief and depression as a mother tries to grapple with raising her difficult son while she wallows in the depths of despair.
Watch it: on Showtime
This holiday-happy horror pic is a classic for good reason; the film features a group of sorority girls who are haunted by a caller who warns that he'll kill them all and begins to make good on that promise. The film is a formative installment of the slasher subgenre, and while not universally appreciated in its own time, it has proven to be a major influence on some of the most important horror auteurs of all time.
Watch it: on Shudder
Found footage films may be a dime a dozen now, but when Blair Witch Project hit theaters back in 1999, no one knew what to expect. Despite its tiny budget, limited props, and dizzying shaky-cam effect, the movie still stands out for its cast's command of elemental fear.
Watch it: on Starz (where Blair Witch 2 is also available)
If there's one storyteller who's never been afraid to make kids really creepy, it's Stephen King. Carrie, Pet Cemetery, and Firestarter are but a few of his tales that turn tykes into terrors. With Children of the Corn, though, he took it a step further and introduced a whole village of villainous little ones who were stripped of almost all their humanity as they wreaked havoc on anyone who crossed their cornfields. If you want to develop a healthy fear of blonde-haired babes, well, this is the movie for you.
Watch it: on Shudder or Amazon Prime (for purchase)
You'll never look at a doll the same way again after watching this 1988 slasher about an infamous serial killer inhabiting the body of a boy's plaything. The sheer mercilessness of the character supersedes his tiny new form and makes this movie anything but Child's Play.
Watch it: on Hulu, Epix, or Amazon Prime (the second and third sequels are available at Cinemax)
The real-life ghost-hunting adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren are fascinating enough to hear about, but actually seeing the dramatic interpretation of their encounter with the Perron family's poltergeists in James Wan's The Conjuring is even more unsettling.
Watch it: on Netflix
The dark and dreary atmosphere of this film alone would be enough to make anyone feel claustrophobic, as its central group of women travel ever deeper into the series of tight cave passages. But on top of that, The Descent features a colony of sickly humanoid monsters for its heroines to contend with as they desperately fight for light and life -- with traumatic interludes about what they took for granted above coming into the picture to torment everyone even more.
Watch it: on Cinemax (where The Descent: Part 2 is also available)
In a rare case of the sequel being better than its predecessor, Rob Zombie's follow-up to his gross body horror film House of 1000 Corpses is much more effective at revealing the core depravity for its trio of maniacal villains. The Devil's Rejects takes the Firefly family out of their usual house of horrors and into the ordinary world wherein they somehow become even more sickening with their torture tactics. What results is not for the faint of heart, but for those horror junkies who love a good bad guy, this movie's triple the thrill.
Watch it: on Shudder
There are plenty of space crew disaster movies for sci-fi fans to choose from, but there's nothing else quite like this one. The 1997 thriller follows the crew of a ship as they attempt to make contact with a sister vessel which passed through a black hole and came back containing horrors untold. The searing imagery of this film alone will cost anyone some sleep because, yes, it's just that wicked.
Watch it: on Hulu
The special effects of David Cronenberg's seminal thriller The Fly might not blow today's audiences away, but the science-fiction classic is still well worth revisiting for its original depiction of body horror and upsetting conceptual construct.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime (for purchase)
Jordan Peele's directorial debut was a smash hit, and for good reason. The film, which won Peele an Oscar for best original screenplay, follows a young black man as he visits his white girlfriend's family and has to confront their sordid secrets and his own difficult past. Get Out features killer performances by its cast, a tight script, and the kind of scathing social satire that gets way under your skin and stays there.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime (for purchase)
Few movies have had as much of an impact on horror films as John Carpenter's 1978 classic. Halloween introduced the world to one of cinema's most enduring villains in Michael Myers, the masked, seemingly indestructible killer who escaped the mental institution he had been in since childhood, and Halloween has never been the same since.
Watch it: on Shudder (Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch are also available on HBO, and the 2018 sequel Halloween can be seen on Hulu)
You'll lose your head over this disturbing horror film about a family who, after losing their secretive matriarch, discovers the dark legacy she leaves behind. Avoid the spoilers ahead of this one, and you're bound to be left gasping more than once.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime
In addition to subtly echoing Americans' discomfort at traveling abroad in the aftermath of 9/11, Eli Roth's Hostel also arrived as a masterpiece of the macabre. With its unique sense of inescapability for the victims and the unthinkable cruelty committed by its multitude of villains -- who disguise themselves as ordinary people in the regular course, no less -- Hostel makes for a hard watch because it feels way too possible.
Watch it: on Cinemax (where Hostel: Part II is also available)
Two years before The Haunting of Hill House, Mike Flanagan and Kate Siegel teamed up for Hush, a suspenseful home invasion thriller that transcended its formulaic premise with a strong performance by Siegel and her relentless attacker.
Watch it: on Netflix
This is more than just another haunted house story. This 2010 film centers on a family who discover that their child is specifically being targeted by the creepiest creatures of the netherworld. The father will have to go to hell and back -- literally speaking -- if he hopes to rescue his child from the demon who's captured him.
Watch it: on Netflix
In this seminal piece of sci-fi/horror (a remake of the black-and-white 1956 film), an alien species of flora takes over San Francisco and turns its residents into robotic versions of themselves who issue blood-curdling screams at the sight of the uninfected.
Watch it: on Epix
Andy Muschietti's 2017 adaptation of Stephen King's IT was a roaring box office success, and for good reason. The book had been given the celluloid treatment before in a 1991 TV mini-series that was similarly terrifying in its time, but that version's lackluster special effects haven't held up. The storyline, however, about a group of smalltown misfits who team up to conquer their fears and a child-eating clown, is still completely captivating. With a keen ear for dialogue, updated visual effects, and a few key surprises, the new It manages to recapture everything that made its literary version such a fun force of fright in the first place.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime (for purchase)
There's a lot to like about David Robert Mitchell's mood-charged 2014 vehicle It Follows, from the relentless pursuit of its many-faced killer to the originality of its purpose -- let's just say, it's a pretty good PSA for abstinence -- to the film's slick use of music and color, it all adds up to an experiential film that works. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the movie, though, is how it makes good on its name and follows you home long after it's over.
Watch it: on Shudder
Matt Reeves' Americanized remake of this vampiric thrillride, titled Let Me In, is fine, but the Swedish original Let the Right One In is worth the subtitles. The quiet and snowy scenery of the film offers a stark contrast to the lethal love story that blossoms between an ordinary boy and his bloodthirsty girlfriend.
Watch it: on Shudder and Amazon Prime (for purchase)
Fans of Darren Aronofsky know well enough not to go into one of his films expecting a light atmosphere (or even answers), but this movie reached all new levels of darkness for the director. It's considered by many to be an allegory for Biblical creation, and it can also be read as a statement on everything from climate change to toxic masculinity. At the end of the day though, the movie at its core is a weird vision of a woman whose happiness and very existence are being eaten away, both by strangers and by the person she trusts the most. It's the kind of movie that won't soon leave your memory, no matter how you interpret it.
Watch it: on Hulu
Another classic cinema villain who's bound to inspire a few terrible dreams is the knife-fisted Freddy Krueger, a madman who attacks people while they're fast asleep.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime (for purchase)
There's nothing quite like George A. Romero's original foray into zombieland to set the mood for a very creepy holiday season. The 1968 black-and-white suspense film set into motion a decades-long trend of undead attackers on the big and small screens, and while the special effects and pacing of these monsters have changed quite a bit in the litany of biter films to follow, Night of the Living Dead's subtle social statements still resonate to this day.
The idea that a movie about an evil mirror could be solid might seem a little ridiculous on its face, but Oculus is a surprisingly good time. The movie centers on a brother and sister who become vexed by the nefarious powers of their parents' antique and find themselves on a time- and reality-melting adventure that's downright chilling to behold.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime (for purchase)
Silence is golden in this inventive monster movie. Centering on a grieving family struggling to survive an apocalypse wherein creatures hunt by sound, the pic is daring and sad and terrifying as all get-out.
Watch it: on Hulu
If ancient cults give you the creeps, don't miss out on this eerie thriller about a group of friends who hike through the Scandanavian wilderness to honor a lost pal and end up smack dab in the middle of a waking nightmare.
Watch it: on Netflix
The psychological singe of Roman Polanski's vintage mystery makes it a classic worth revisiting. Rosemary's Baby sharply explores its central mother-to-be's greatest fears about the unknowns and isn't afraid to go there with a big payoff that lingers long after the credits roll.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime, Hulu, or Epix
Before torture porn became its own well-stocked sub genre of the horror realm, James Wan and Leigh Whannell's 2004 film Saw shocked the world with the introduction of Jigsaw and all of his terrible games. With artfully grim settings, creative terror traps, and a serial killer that breaks all the molds, it's no wonder this pic has spawned such a bevy of sequels that could only hope to recapture the intensity of the original.
Watch it: on Hulu (where Saw II, Saw VI, and Jigsaw are also available)
Communications technology has improved a lot since Wes Craven's 1996 thriller made the shrill bell note of a landline ringing send shivers down any teen's spine, but Scream still holds up. From its self-aware (and often comedic) commentary on the horror genre to the eerie ghostface slasher scenes themselves, queueing up a rewatch of Scream is a surefire way to scare yourself silly this Halloween.
Watch it: on Netflix (where sequels Scream 2 and Scream 3, as well as MTV's series are also available)
Stephen King may not have been a fan of Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, but the rest of the movie-loving world tends to appreciate this tension-ratcheting tale of a winter hotel custodian who descends into madness and traumatizes his own wife and son along the way. From Kubrick's sublime use of color and camera angles to the evocative acting of its cast, there's a reason so many of The Shining's scenes were so instantly iconic.
Watch it: on Amazon Prime (for purchase)
If you're looking for a somewhat schlocky but definitely shocking slasher pic, this movie has all the nightmare fodder you'll ever need. The title villain is a clown, but it's certainly not a campy one.
Watch it: on Netflix
Another John Carpenter classic that has withstood the test of time is this 1982 sci-fi/horror film about researchers in Antarctica who discover a parasitic life form that is not of this world. It's not just the body horrors of the movie that resonate; it's also a claustrophobic, paranoia-inducing experience that sticks with audiences long after the credits roll.
Watch it: on Starz
This isn't your ordinary zombie invasion flick. The South Korean movie presents a father and daughter pair who board a train in hopes of escaping the looming apocalypse at the only known safe zone, but they don't get very far before the dead catch up to them.
Watch it: on Netflix
It was the twist heard 'round the world. M. Night Shyamalan's breakthrough suspense-thriller might not earn quite so many gasps now that its ending has been thoroughly spoiled by time and infamy, but the movie is still exciting to revisit for its many emotional wallops and well-positioned jump scares.
Watch it: on Netflix
With a meticulous eye for historical detail, the crushing commitment of its cast, and a few moments of sheer surprise, Robert Eggers' The Witch is a slow burn that sticks. Colonial-era zealotry and paranoia about the occult might not be novel concepts, but the isolation and oppression experienced by this film's characters is transporative enough to make it feel all new -- even if the story is set in the early 17th century.
Watch it: on Netflix
You're not going to see this movie on too many best-of lists, but there's still something oddly satisfying about the way the characters -- unwitting participants in a very sinister little game -- conduct themselves as the terrible challenges mount.
Watch it: on Netflix