The best Amazon Prime horror movies aren’t for the faint of heart. Before you dive in, you need to ask yourself a few questions. Do you love things that go bump in the night? Does murder, mayhem, and mischief get your pulse pounding? Do you have a subscription to Amazon’s streaming service? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you’re in the right place because we’ve worked out exactly what the best horror movies are on the platform this month.
How did we do it? Well, let’s just say we’re experts when it comes to spooky movies and browsing the best streaming services around. So, with that in mind, we scoured Prime Video’s library of the best Amazon Prime movies to bring you the top scary contenders currently available for streaming. As a result, we’ve got everything from grounded thriller movies to terrifying slashers featuring killer clowns and time-traveling teens (yes, really).
So grab the nearest sofa cushion to hide behind and make sure your doors and windows are locked because these are the 10 best Amazon Prime horror movies that you can watch right now.
10. Nanny
Year: 2022
Director: Nikyatu Jusu
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US/UK
A haunting film about Aisha, a Senegalese woman who takes a job as a nanny in the hopes of earning enough money to bring her son to America, Nanny isn’t like other films on this list. There are no cruel killers or monsters from another world.
Instead, the horror comes from the exploitative nature of those who knowingly take advantage of Aisha for their ends. In that regard, this film is a powerful deconstruction of the uplifting immigrant stories. Still, there’s just enough sprinkling of mysticism and African folklore to keep those with a taste for the fantastical hooked and lends the film an eerie and uncanny atmosphere.
9. Totally Killer
Year: 2023
Director: Nahnatchka Khan
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US/UK
Part science fiction romp, part gory chiller, Totally Killer follows Jamie Hughes, a 16-year-old girl who travels back to the 1980s to save her mother from the Sweet 16 Killer. Original and boldly bonkers, this dark comedy is as sharp as a butcher’s knife and every bit as bloody without being grotesque.
While it might not slake the bloodthirst of certain horror hounds (don’t worry, we’ve plenty of gruesome scary movies to come), those who like films like Happy Death Day and the Scream movies will find plenty to love in this playful love letter to the slasher movies of old.
Want more from your Prime subscription? Read our list of the best shows on Amazon Prime to watch right now.
8. The Thing
Year: 1982
Director: John Carpenter
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US
Set on a secluded Antarctic base that has been infiltrated by a shapeshifting parasitic alien, The Thing is one of the best sci-fi horror movies ever made and a masterclass in paranoid cinema. It is up there with thrillers like All the President’s Men and The Conversation. So what makes it so good?
Well, it has four things going for it: John Carpenter’s confident and assured direction, an impressive cast, some of the most visceral practical effects ever put to celluloid, and finally, Ennio Morricone’s heart-pounding score. When you combine these four strands of DNA, you get an out-of-this-world horror that’s every bit as tense as it is horrifying.
Learn more about one of the best alien movies ever made with our The Thing review.
7. Hellraiser
Year: 1987
Director: Clive Barker
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US
Based on Clive Barker’s grisly novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser is a creepy cautionary tale about pursuing one’s desires at the expense of all else. Our hero is Kirsty Cotton, a young woman who suspects her stepmother is plotting dark deeds in the attic. Sadly, Kirsty’s suspicions are quickly proven right, and all Hell breaks lose. Gross and greasy, Hellraiser is an oddly beguiling film that manages to mix the eerie and the erotic.
Indeed, it’s probably this twisted sexuality that’s made this low-budget monster movie into a beloved genre classic the world over. Well, that and the Cenobites – hedonistic interdimensional ghouls who haunt Kirsty throughout the film. These bizarre creatures boast unforgettable designs, and their leader, Pinhead, has gone on to become a horror icon – it’s just a shame my favorite Butterball never got his day in the limelight. One day, my little piggy boy will get his due – one day.
Need more streaming scares? Check out our list of the best Netflix horror movies.
6. 10 Cloverfield Lane
Year: 2016
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US
A taut, claustrophobic thriller, 10 Cloverfield Lane tells the story of Michelle, a young woman who’s involved in a car accident after a fight with her boyfriend. When she wakes up, she finds herself trapped in an underground bunker with a man called Howard, who says aliens have invaded and that she must stay with him.
A grueling exercise in tension, Trachtenberg cleverly uses confined space and the distrust our main characters share to slowly ratchet up the anxiety until it pops like a malfunctioning pressure cooker. It’s like the worst Christmas at your in-laws imaginable, but with the added danger of aliens killing you. Jokes aside, the real star of the show is John Goodman, who plays against his normal affable type to deliver one of the scariest and most disturbed performances ever.
Read our 10 Cloverfield Lane review for more details!
5. Suspiria
Year: 1977
Director: Dario Argento
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US/UK
After she’s accepted into Tanz Akademie, a prestigious and snooty dance academy, American ballet student Suzy Bannion thinks her dreams have come true. Sadly, Suzy’s dreams soon become a nightmare after she uncovers the school’s dark history.
While Suspiria’s colorful and surreal charms split critics on release, this dark and beguiling film about the intoxicating power of the occult has cast a spell over horror fans worldwide and become a cult classic. Arguably, though, what makes this film so scary isn’t the violence on display or Luciano Tovoli’s spectacular cinematography that gives the film a certain ethereal quality as though we’re spying on Suzy’s nightmares; it’s the incredible score, composed by Argento himself and rock band Goblin.
4. Saint Maud
Year: 2019
Director: Rose Glass
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US
One of the most impressive horror movies of the last decade, Saint Maud is an unsettling and atmospheric meditation on faith, obsession, and loneliness. The film follows Maud, a former nurse turned carer who becomes convinced she’s on a mission from god to save the soul of her current client, Amanda.
Unlike other films on this list, which revel in gory spectacles and creatures or killers that defy our understanding, Saint Maud is an understated and creepy journey into madness through the lens of a tragically lonely woman. Of course, it’s not all sad scenes of melancholy or Maud talking to herself (even the most pretentious of film fans would get bored of that). There’s some genuinely unnerving body horror for those who are so inclined, and it features an ending so bleak it’ll have you howling to the heavens for blessed relief.
For more information on this modern gem, read our Saint Maud review.
3. Terrifier
Year: 2016
Director: Damien Leone
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US/UK
The terrifying (pun intended) answer to the question, ‘Could Pennywise be scarier?’ Terrifier is a brutal and blood-soaked sonnet dedicated to murder and mayhem. The film follows two partygoers who are being tormented by the murderous Art the Clown. Honestly, the story’s as threadbare as a goth’s favorite skinny jeans, but you’ll be too shocked by the vicious and outlandish violence to care much.
Still, Terrifier’s secret weapon isn’t the gore. It’s David Howard Thornton, the man under Art’s white grease paint, who manages to give an outrageously funny performance even while covered in chunks of human detritus. Without him, these films just wouldn’t have worked, and he’s helped make Art into a horror icon in the same league as Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface.
Once you finish watching this one, dive into the latest flick in the series with our Terrifier 3 review.
2. Hell House LLC
Year: 2015
Director: Stephen Cognetti
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US
Horror fans can get a bit sniffy about found footage movies, but you shouldn’t dismiss the genre out of hand; otherwise, you’d miss out on chilling gems like Hell House LLC. This fake documentary investigates the opening of the ‘Hell House’ Halloween attraction and the tragic fate that befell the staff on opening night.
While Hellhouse LLC might not reach the hallowed heights of films like The Blair Witch, it’s still an engaging and eerie thriller that will delight fans of other blink-and-you-’ll-miss-it horrors like Ghostwatch and Grave Encounters. Oh, and if you’re afraid of clowns, well, there’s a certain mannequin who’s so horrifying he makes Pennywise look like Ronald McDonald (if you know, you know).
If you are a fan of hauntings and villains, you can check out our list of the best monster movies of all time.
1. The Silence of the Lambs
Year: 1991
Director: Jonathan Demme
Available on: Amazon Prime Video US
Silence of the Lambs broke through the genre glass ceiling, becoming the first horror movie ever to bag a Best Picture Oscar, and it’s easy to see why. Demme’s confident but subtle direction turns Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel from an airport page-turner about a young FBI agent turning to a notorious cannibal in the hopes of tracking down a serial killer into a dark gothic psychological thriller.
This is all complemented (like a good chianti with a human liver) by two powerhouse performances courtesy of Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. While it’s usually Hopkins who gets the rump of the accolades for his chilling take on Hannibal Lecter, Foster has the real meaty role of having to be both fragile yet strong and smart but gullible. It’s a tricky line to walk, but she does it with marvelous grace.
For more streaming picks head over to our lists of the best Netflix movies and the best movies on Disney Plus. Or, for more gore and guts, we also have a handy guide on all the upcoming horror movies on the near horizon to look forward to.