Between Warner Bros., TCM, and the (recently acquired) A24 catalog, Max’s streaming library has more great horror movies to watch than ever before.
Of course, if you want to know true horror, all you have to do is watch a single episode of And Just Like That. But if you’d rather get scared the old fashioned way, here are the best horror movies currently available to stream on Max.
Hereditary
Hereditary is Ari Aster’s feature film debut and stars Toni Collette as an artist and mom navigating the loss of her mother—and the potential upheaval of her surviving family by a demonic force. The film is essentially a parable about grief, and how unresolved negative feelings rip families apart. Emotionally, in the real world, but more literally in this film. –Jack Doyle
The Strangers
Released in 2008, The Strangers is still one of the most unsettling horror films in contemporary cinema. Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman play a married couple whose relaxing getaway in a secluded family cabin is disrupted when a young woman in a mask knocks on their door and asks, “Is Tamara home?” It doesn’t take long before two more masked strangers arrive and begin stalking the couple in a nerve-wracking game of cat(s)-and-mouse. (While not as good, the 2018 sequel The Strangers: Prey at Night is also available on Max and features one of the most entertaining slasher sequences in recent memory.) –Britt Hayes
Malignant
Before M3GAN became That Girl, Akela Cooper wrote another totally bonkers horror movie: Malignant. This throwback to ’70s horror stars Annabelle Wallis as Madison, a woman plagued by visions from the POV of a brutal killer and unable to remember her mysterious childhood. The two are related, of course, but to say anything more would spoil this bananas movie, in which director James Wan proves he still has some fun tricks up his sleeve in the horror genre. –BH
Eraserhead
Eraserhead is a great entry point for newcomers to David Lynch. The filmmaker’s first feature, released in 1977, is a black-and-white odyssey through the anxious mind of Henry (Jack Nance). When a former fling turns up pregnant on his doorstep, Henry decides to commit to the relationship, but his anxieties grow increasingly surreal and nightmarish once the baby—which looks strange and inhuman—arrives. Believe me when I say that Eraserhead is easily one of Lynch’s most accessible movies. –BH
It Comes at Night
It Comes at Night takes a familiar genre narrative—a family living in isolation to avoid an apocalyptic plague—and gives it a little more depth with great performances from Joel Edgerton, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough, and Christopher Abbott. In his follow-up to the nerve-wracking Thanksgiving drama Krisha, Trey Edward Shults delivers a quietly elegant film about the horrors of humanity and our inability to avoid the inevitable. –BH
Body at Brighton Rock
If you love Christopher Pike’s teen horror novels, you’ll really dig Body at Brighton Rock. The 2019 film follows Wendy (Karina Fontes), a part-time state park worker who volunteers for one of the trickier trail assignments at the end of the summer. Determined as she is to prove herself to her friends, Wendy finds herself lost and without a working radio—and face to face with a dead body. Directed by Roxanne Benjamin (V/H/S, There’s Something Wrong With the Children), Body at Brighton Rock is a super effective and simple thriller with a satisfying conclusion. –BH
The Visit
Released in 2015, The Visit was viewed as M. Night Shyamalan’s scrappy comeback following a string of misfires we’re all better off not remembering. It’s a simple premise, presented as found footage: a couple of kids (Olivia DeJonge and Ed Oxenbould) are shipped off to stay with their grandparents—whom they’ve never met—for several days, during which time the elders begin acting a bit … strange. Shyamalan uses his audience’s skepticism (maybe the kids are just weirded out by old people?) as misdirection to pull off some pretty fun scares. –BH
The Lodge
You can follow It Comes at Night with The Lodge, and have yourself a little Riley Keough horror movie double feature. Keough plays Grace, a woman whose Christmas getaway with her fiancé (Richard Armitage) at his rural winter lodge takes a turn when he has to head back into town for work—and leaves Grace alone with her future stepchildren (Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh). As a blizzard rolls in, Grace’s past comes back to haunt her and things with the children grow increasingly tense. –BH
Midsommar
Ari Aster’s second feature sends Florence Pugh on a sun-soaked visceral odyssey of self-discovery and—dare I say—empowerment. Midsommar centers on Dani (Pugh), a grieving college student who invites herself to join her dirtbag boyfriend and his friends on a summer vacation in rural Sweden, ostensibly to study the community as it celebrates a festival that only happens once every 90 years. While the men are busy disrespecting the local culture, Dani is becoming acquainted with the concept of catharsis, which can be pretty brutal. –BH
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair
Casey (Anna Cobb) is a teen who, like many people in the modern digital age, feels disconnected and isolated despite the proliferation of social media. After participating in the viral “World’s Fair Challenge,” Casey becomes increasingly dissociative; she sleepwalks and behaves in disturbing ways, drawing concern from an older online friend. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair is part lo-fi psychological thriller, part coming-of-internet-age story that feels relatable for both teens and adults alike. –BH
The Witch
Directed by Robert Eggers, The Witch tells the story of a young Puritan girl (Anya Taylor-Joy) and her descent to the dark side. After being excommunicated from their village, a family of Puritans attempt to survive the brutal New England wilderness in the 1630s. When the family’s baby goes missing while under the eldest daughter’s care, the fanatically devout matriarch of the family begins to accuse her daughter of being a witch. She ain’t wrong, there is definitely a witch running around in them woods. The family is set upon by dark, supernatural forces that tear them apart and beckon to the eldest daughter to join them. –JD
The Conjuring
James Wan’s The Conjuring tells the story of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) who are called to help a family living in what they suspect to be a haunted lakeside manor. Thankfully, these ghost hunters are the REAL DEAL. One of them is a bonafide psychic! As the hauntings intensify, the couple has to figure out a way to quell the spirits of the restless dead before they really end up hurting someone. Because these spirits are trying REAL HARD. The Conjuring is especially good for those who enjoy spooky/scary films but aren’t into the excessive gore, violence, and death that comes with them. Don’t get me wrong, there are PLENTY of scares, but no one is getting hacked to pieces. –JD
Carrie
Stephen King adaptations are rarely good, but when a filmmaker gets it right, they really get it right. Such is the case with Brian De Palma’s Carrie, which was released in 1976—just two years after King’s debut novel hit shelves. Sissy Spacek gives an iconic performance as the eponymous teen, a shy, repressed high schooler bullied by her peers and abused by her religious zealot mother (the late Piper Laurie). Carrie soon discovers a burgeoning telekinetic ability that emerges in response to her suppressed rage, just as school heartthrob Tommy asks her to prom—as a prank.
Co-starring Amy Irving, P.J. Soles, John Travolta, and Betty Buckley, Carrie culminates in a wildly satisfying climax followed by one of the great scares in cinema history. –BH
House
Released in 1977, the Japanese horror film House (a.k.a. Hausu) is totally out of its mind. Back in the ’70s, eager to produce a hit similar to Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster Jaws, Toho—the studio that gave us Godzilla—asked Nobuhiko Obayashi to write a script. Obayashi turned to his tween daughter for ideas, and House was born. The film follows a group of schoolgirls who travel with a friend to her mysterious aunt’s home only to be killed off by strange supernatural forces. Also, the house eats them. And there’s a really cute cat. House features some of the most surreal and unique imagery and effects ever put to screen, and makes for an excellent group-watch. –BH
Under the Skin
With The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer is now four for four; the guy hasn’t made a bad movie. 2013’s Under the Skin, Glazer’s third, stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien who uses a conventionally attractive human shell to lure men back to her home, where she turns them into husks and harvests their insides to feed the inhabitants of her planet. That description is misleading, in a sense, because Under the Skin has little to do with the basic premise. Glazer’s film is a harrowing study of what it means to be a human woman and all the attendant horrors that come with it. –BH
Men
Those just now discovering Civil War director Alex Garland’s previous film are probably experiencing a little whiplash—not only is Men wildly different from Garland’s latest, but this avant garde horror film is also something of an outlier in his filmography. Jessie Buckley plays Harper, a woman trying to recover from a recent tragedy in a picturesque cottage in the English countryside. As Harper explores her surroundings, she interacts with various men in the town—though they’re each unsettling and off-putting in different ways, they all look eerily identical. Rory Kinnear is incredible as each of the creepy men in this audacious work of folk horror with a truly bonkers ending. –BH
Orphan
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (before he made a bunch of Liam Neeson action-thrillers), Orphan stars Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard as a married couple whose recent miscarriage inspires them to adopt a young girl. When they bring Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) home to join their family, a series of disturbing events suggests that their precious little girl is not what she seems. Even if you’re familiar with the real-world case that sort of resembles the plot of this movie, Orphan is a total blast. –BH
Scream
You can’t go wrong with a classic. Wes Craven inspired a wave of postmodern slashers when he unleashed Scream in 1996, and we’re still seeing the ripple effect almost 30 years later. Set in the fictional town of Woodsboro, Scream follows a group of teen friends trying to stay alive when a masked serial killer with a horror-movie obsession begins picking people off one by one. –BH
Sisters
Sisters is somewhat lesser-known in Brian De Palma’s filmography, but it rules all the same. If you love David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers, folie à deux narratives (sans clowns), and classic psychological thrillers (including De Palma’s own Dressed to Kill), you should give Sisters a spin. Grace (Jennifer Salt) is a journalist who gets spooked when she sees her neighbor, a model named Danielle (Margot Kidder), murder someone. The police are no help (when are they ever?), so Grace hires a private detective to figure out what happened with Danielle—and why her apartment showed no signs of foul play despite the violent incident that occurred there. –BH
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Osgood Perkins—the director of the upcoming Longlegs—has quickly become one of my favorite genre filmmakers, and it started with The Blackcoat’s Daughter. (I still prefer the original, more vibe-y title, February.) Set in wintertime, Perkins’ directorial debut features two narratives on a slow-burn collision course: Emma Roberts plays a young woman who ditches a mental institution and begins making her way to a prep school, where two students—Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton—are being stalked by a sinister presence. –BH
(featured image: Toho / 20th Century Studios / A24)
