Horror movies shouldn’t make you feel relaxed and cozy—they should have you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails, loving every second of feeling anxious as hell. If you’re looking for some squirm-inducing entertainment that’s easily accessible through Prime Video (and Amazon’s Freevee), we’ve got you covered.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most influential horror films ever—often imitated, never duplicated—by watching it for the first or 50th time. The version streaming on Freevee is the 40th anniversary edition, so while there will be ads (boo), you’ll be treated to the 4k digital transfer and improved surround sound, all the better to enjoy meeting “a whole family of Draculas!” on the road trip of your nightmares. (Free with ads on Freevee)
Evil Dead Trap (1988)
The English-language title evokes a certain popular horror series (Evil Dead II was released just a year prior), but this Japanese slasher/ghost story/giallo is its own ghoulish beast. A TV crew investigating the filming location of what appears to be a snuff film finds something maliciously sinister waiting for them... and things get ever-squishier from there. (Free with ads on Freevee)
A Bay of Blood (1971)
Also known by a few other equally evocative titles, including Carnage and Twitch of the Death Nerve, this mega-violent giallo from Italian horror master Mario Bava helped set the template for slasher films that would become screamingly popular a few years later, especially the Friday the 13th series. Visual effects artist and future Oscar winner Carlo Rambaldi (Alien, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) made sure the film’s murders were as memorably grim as possible. (Free with ads on Freevee)
Us (2019)
Get Out won the Oscar and Nope certainly had its, uh, slurpy moments... but Jordan Peele’s most agonizing tale to date has got to be the doppelgänger horror of Us—in no small part thanks to its dueling leading ladies, both played by an extremely fine-tuned Lupita Nyong’o. We’re still mad the Academy didn’t recognize her performance in this one. (Streaming on Prime Video)
Squirm (1976)
Not to be confused with 1988's Slugs: The Movie, an equally heebie-jeebies-inducing affair, Squirm asks the eternal question: what if a whole lot of worms suddenly got jolted with a whole lot of rogue electricity? The answer is very bad news for the small town at the wriggling epicenter of this freak occurrence. (Streaming on Prime Video)
The Descent (2006)
You could argue that the toxic friendships in The Decent are as discomforting as its cave monsters. But the part of this modern classic that makes us sweat the most is—hands-down—its visceral depiction of someone realizing midway through trying to squeeze through a tunnel that the space is simply not big enough for them. (Streaming on Prime Video)
Terrifier (2016)
It’s rare when more people have seen the second part of a series than the first, but Terrifier 2 was such a breakout hit that might be the case for Damien Leone’s burgeoning franchise. Before your old pal Art the Clown returns to carve his way through the holidays this year in Terrifer 3, here’s your chance to revisit his very splattery earlier crimes.(Free with ads on Freevee, also streaming on Prime Video)
High Tension (2003)
The title certainly suggests you’ll be a nervous wreck watching this one by French director Alexandre Aja—and its story is laden with enough eye-popping gore and twisty WTF moments to make good on that promise. (Free with ads on Freevee)
Old (2021)
When io9 reviewed this M. Night Shyamalan release, we called it one of the director’s most visceral and intense movies to date. Now that a couple of years have passed, it might be time to declare Old his most visceral and intense movie ever. You can add that to its previous designation as being an extremely potent argument against taking beach vacations. (Free with ads on Freevee)
Dead Ringers (2023)
We’re cheating a bit with this final entry, since Dead Ringers–a riff on the 1988 David Cronenberg cult classic, and the story that inspired it—is actually a six-episode series, not a film. But if you seek a story that aims to make you cringe as much as possible, you can’t do better than this. Rachel Weisz is top-notch as the codependent doctor twins who anchor the story, but even with all the body horror baked into Dead Ringers’ medical drama, its wickedly satirical dinner-party scenes may be even more excruciating to watch. (Streaming free on Prime Video)
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