Whether you're planning a Halloween movie night or just an anytime-of-the-year fright fest, there's something special about sitting down to watch a classic horror movie. And, in the age of streaming, there's something even more special about avoiding the real-life horror of leaving your house (or couch, for that matter) to get said movie. Here are some of the best scary movies on Amazon Prime.
1. 'A Quiet Place'
Starring: Emily Blunt and John Krasinski
Why it's terrifying: Think silence is golden, or at least not objectively horrifying? Well, think again. A Quiet Place will remind you just how impossible a truly silent existence would be and how quickly the noise-sensitive killer alien monsters would get you.
2. 'Rosemary's Baby'
Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, and Ralph Bellamy.
Why it's terrifying: Because the prospect of parenthood is scary enough without throwing in worries that you're carrying actual demon spawn in your womb, right?
3. 'Night of the Living Dead"
Starring: Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, and Keith Wayne.
Why it's terrifying: Zombies. Hoards and hoards of brain-hungry zombies.
4. 'Carrie'
Starring: Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, and Piper Laurie.
Why it's terrifying: Because high school was hard enough even without a psycho mom and raging psychic powers.
5. 'Nosferatu'
Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schröder, Alexander Granach, Ruth Landshoff, and Wolfgang Heinz.
Why it's terrifying: This ol- school vampire flick will still haunt your nightmares, almost a hundred years after its release.
6. 'An American Werewolf in London'
Starring: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, and John Woodvine.
Why it's terrifying: You'll think of this movie (and the *very real* possibility of becoming a shapeshifting monster) every time you travel for the rest of your life.
7. 'Sleepy Hollow'
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Christopher Walken, and Jeffrey Jones.
Why it's terrifying: First of all, it's classic Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, so there's that. And then there's Christopher Walken and his sharp, spiky teeth which have been low-key still haunting my brain since 1999.
8. 'mother!'
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Why it's terrifying: This trippy, divisive horror/mystery/drama will leave your head spinning and stay with you long after you watch it.
9. 'Unsane'
Starring: Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, and Amy Irving.
Why it's terrifying: The premise—a young woman maybe, possibly being wrongly committed to a mental institution—is the kind of "but wait that COULD happen to me" set-up that will make you afraid of ever talking to a doctor again.
10. 'The Most Dangerous Game'
Starring: Joel McCrea, Fay Wray, Leslie Banks, and Robert Armstrong.
Why it's terrifying: Um, it's about hunting PEOPLE.
11. 'Jigsaw'
Starring: Matt Passmore, Callum Keith Rennie, Clé Bennett, and Hannah Emily Anderson.
Why it's terrifying: Every movie in the Saw franchise is a mind trip, but this one might take the cake.
12. 'Child's Play'
Starring: Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon.
Why it's terrifying: You'll never look at an "innocent" doll the same way again.
13. 'Hereditary'
Starring: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, and Gabriel Byrne.
Why it's terrifying: It will make you question if your parents have passed down curses and horror in addition to whatever "bad" genes you got from them.
14. 'Slender Man'
Starring: Joey King, Julia Goldani Telles, Jaz Sinclair, Annalise Basso, Alex Fitzalan, Taylor Richardson, and Javier Botet.
Why it's terrifying: The Slender Man is an internet urban legend and inspired a real-life murder, so the horror is grounded in some reality.
15. 'Rings'
Starring: Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Aimee Teegarden, Bonnie Morgan, and Vincent D'Onofrio.
Why it's terrifying: Wait, streaming a video can kill you? Will streaming this trailer kill you? Will reading a list about this movie kill you? Cue anxiety spirals.
...
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Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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