The 8 Best Horror Movies to Stream on Amazon Prime Right Now

Streaming services offer a wide variety of movies, but sometimes, nothing else but horror will do. If you’ve gotten your fill of spooky content from Netflix, check out these films currently available on Amazon Prime that are guaranteed to send a chill down your spline.

1. World War Z (2013)

Brad Pitt dives into the zombie genre in this hit based on the Max Brooks book of the same name. As a former United Nations worker, Pitt races to trace the source of a virulent disease turning people feral. Pitt and producers originally imagined it as a trilogy, though that has yet to manifest.

2. Saint Maud (2019)

This slow-burn psychological chiller stars Morfydd Clark as a hospice nurse who believes it's her duty to save the soul of her patient—and commits to increasingly extreme methods of doing so. The most cooperative actor may have been Nancy, a cockroach that plays a prominent role: Insect trainer Grace Dickinson said Nancy regularly hit her marks. One scheduled three-hour block of cockroach filming needed just one hour to complete.

3. Oculus (2014)

Mike Flanagan directs this story about siblings (Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites) struggling to cope with a haunted mirror that has plagued their family for decades. Flanagan based the film on his own 2005 short of the same name, though he had to push back against suggestions that he turn it into a found footage feature.

4. The Collector (2009)

A simple heist goes awry when a burglar (Josh Stewart) picks the wrong house. Once inside, he's confronted with finishing the job or rescuing the victims of a maniac. Co-writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan wrote the script on spec: It was briefly considered as a possible Saw (2004) prequel. The idea was nixed, but Melton and Dunstan went on to write Saw IV, Saw V, and Saw VI.

5. Wishmaster (1997)

Andrew Divoff hams it up in this gory practical effects bonanza that mines black humor from its central conceit. After being unleashed, the Wishmaster (Divoff) makes wishes come true—in literal, and very painful ways. Listen closely for the voice of Angus Scrimm (from 1979's Phantasm) as the narrator.

6. Train to Busan (2016)

The road to salvation is paved through hell in this zombie thriller from South Korea. After a viral outbreak, a band of survivors boards a train that they hope will lead to safe territory. Gong Yoo (Squid Game) co-stars. A U.S. remake titled Last Train to New York is due in 2023.

7. Hellraiser (1987)

With Hellraiser, Clive Barker directs his own adaptation of his short story "The Hellbound Heart." A seemingly normal domestic family comes under the rule of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) after their uncle unleashes a particularly nasty corner of hell under their roof. Barker said he wanted to cast "real actors" in the roles, a sharp contrast to the '80s slashers of the era that put an emphasis on attractive teenagers being led to slaughter.

8. Trilogy of Terror (1975)

Disclaimer: Only one segment in this made-for-television anthology is worth watching, but it’s a killer. Karen Black stars in three stories, all penned by Richard Matheson (The Twilight Zone), with the third, “Amelia,” being the standout. As the title character, Black is a single woman under the thumb of an overbearing mother and hoping to further a relationship with a history professor. She buys an African artifact as a gift for him, then spends the next 25 minutes running for her life when it gains sentience. Some ABC affiliates considered the movie so scary that they opted to air it outside of primetime.

A version of this story ran in 2019; it has been updated for 2022.