These 25 horror movies you can stream now run from the silent era to the 2010s, from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) to Get Out (2017). If you only have time for one, start with Psycho: the American Film Institute ranks it first on its 100 Years…100 Thrills list. After that, pick by mood, because this list covers slow dread, monsters, sharks and outright gore.
Updated October 11, 2026.
A horror movie on a dark October night is a holiday tradition I keep every year. After a lot of those nights, I can tell you the scares that last are rarely the loud ones. The films that stay with me build dread slowly. Then they trust the audience to fill in the worst part.
Every one of these is a film I would hand to a friend who wants a real scare. They are in no particular order. Streaming services shuffle their catalogs every month, so look the title up on JustWatch before you get the popcorn going.
The Witch (2015)
Robert Eggers wrote and directed this story of a Puritan family that falls apart on the edge of a New England forest in the 1630s. A24 released it, and Box Office Mojo puts its gross at $25.1 million in North America and $40.9 million worldwide. It earns its place through patience. The long, quiet takes make every rustle in the trees land harder than a jump scare.
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
Georges Franju’s French classic follows a surgeon who abducts young women to rebuild the face of the daughter he disfigured. Édith Scob plays the daughter almost entirely behind a pale, expressionless mask. That mask is the reason to watch. It is calmer and stranger than any monster makeup on this list.
Freaks (1932)
Tod Browning cast real sideshow performers in this tale of a trapeze artist who marries a fellow performer for his money. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1994. The film sides with the performers. Its storm-soaked finale is still hard to watch.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George A. Romero’s low-budget film traps strangers in a Pennsylvania farmhouse while the dead walk outside. It joined the National Film Registry in 1999. Nearly every zombie story since has borrowed its rules.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Don Siegel’s small-town nightmare has a doctor realizing his neighbors are being replaced by emotionless copies grown from pods. It entered the National Film Registry in 1994. The horror here is social. Nobody believes Kevin McCarthy until it is far too late, and the film makes you feel that isolation.
Hereditary (2018)
Ari Aster’s first feature starts as a family grieving a grandmother and turns into something much worse. A24 released it, and Box Office Mojo lists $44.1 million in North America and $90.2 million worldwide. Toni Collette’s performance holds it together, and one scene halfway through is the most shocking moment on this list.
Aliens (1986)
James Cameron sent Ripley back with a unit of Colonial Marines and turned the first film’s haunted house into a siege. The Academy gave it seven nominations, including Best Actress for Sigourney Weaver, and it won for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. It is the rare sequel that changes genre and still works.
Let the Right One In (2008)
Tomas Alfredson’s Swedish film pairs a bullied 12-year-old boy with the new girl next door, who turns out to be a vampire. The snowy suburb and the quiet friendship make the violence feel sudden. It is a vampire film for people who think they are tired of vampire films.
Vampyr (1932)
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s early sound film follows a traveler who stumbles into a village under a vampire’s curse. Shadows move on their own and the plot drifts like a dream. Watch it for the images, especially the famous sequence filmed from inside a coffin.
Jaws (1975)
Steven Spielberg’s shark film grossed $260.7 million in North America in its original release, according to Box Office Mojo. It won three Oscars, including Original Score for John Williams, and was a Best Picture nominee. AFI ranks it second on its thrills list. The shark barely appears for the first hour, and that restraint is why the film still works.
It Follows (2015)
David Robert Mitchell’s film gives a teenager a curse that walks toward her, slowly and without end, wearing a different face each time. It grossed $14.7 million in North America through RADiUS-TWC. Its wide shots turn every stranger in the background into a possible threat.
Frankenstein (1931)
James Whale directed Colin Clive as the scientist and Boris Karloff as the creature he builds from the dead. It was among the films the National Film Registry added in 1991. Karloff’s flat-topped monster became the image most people picture today, and he plays it with more sadness than menace.
The Invisible Man (1933)
Whale again, this time with Claude Rains as a chemist whose invisibility formula drives him mad. The Registry added it in 2008. Rains is barely seen until the last scene, so the performance lives in his voice.
The Babadook (2014)
Jennifer Kent’s Australian debut follows a widowed mother and her son after a pop-up book about a top-hatted figure appears in the house. Essie Davis carries it. The monster works as a stand-in for grief. That is why it lingers.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Roman Polanski’s film puts Mia Farrow in a Manhattan apartment building with very friendly neighbors and a pregnancy that feels wrong. Ruth Gordon won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress as the nosiest of them. AFI ranks it ninth on its thrills list, and the Registry added it in 2014. Almost nothing supernatural is shown on screen, and it is scarier for that.
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Charles Laughton directed Robert Mitchum as a fake preacher hunting two children who know where their father hid stolen money. The Registry added it in 1992. Mitchum’s tattooed knuckles and his hymn drifting across a field at night are hard to forget.
Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott’s crew of tired space haulers answers a distress call and brings something back on board. The film won the Oscar for Visual Effects, shared by a team that included designer H.R. Giger, and AFI ranks it sixth on its thrills list. It is a haunted-house film set in a ship, and the slow first act makes the payoff hit harder.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Whale’s sequel brings back Karloff and Clive and adds Ernest Thesiger as a scientist who wants a mate for the monster. The Registry added it in 1998. It is funnier and odder than the original. Elsa Lanchester’s few minutes as the bride have been copied ever since.
Repulsion (1965)
Polanski’s first English-language film leaves Catherine Deneuve alone in a London apartment while her sister is away. Her grip on reality slips one room at a time. The cracking walls and the rotting food on the counter do more work than any special effect.
Nosferatu (1922)
F.W. Murnau’s silent film turned Dracula into Count Orlok, played by Max Schreck with rat teeth and long, curled fingers. The shadow climbing the staircase is still the most famous shot in vampire cinema. Robert Eggers’s remake, released by Focus Features on December 25, 2024, starts from this one.
King Kong (1933)
Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack sent a film crew to a remote island and brought back a giant ape. AFI ranks it 12th on its thrills list, and it was in the Registry’s 1991 class. The stop-motion ape still has weight. The ending on the Empire State Building is pure tragedy.
Psycho (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock’s motel story is number one on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills, and the Registry added it in 1992. Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins lead it. It broke the rules of its time by removing its apparent star early, which is why first-time viewers still gasp.
A Quiet Place (2018)
John Krasinski and Emily Blunt play parents keeping their children silent on a farm hunted by creatures that track sound. Paramount released it, and Box Office Mojo lists $188.0 million in North America and $341.0 million worldwide. Watch it in a dark room. The silence is the scare.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Robert Wiene’s German silent film premiered on February 26, 1920. Werner Krauss plays a carnival showman and Conrad Veidt the sleepwalker he controls. The painted sets, all slanted walls and jagged streets, look like a nightmare drawn by hand. Later horror films borrowed that look for decades.
Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele’s debut sends Daniel Kaluuya to meet his girlfriend’s parents for a weekend that goes very wrong. It earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and Peele won for Original Screenplay. Box Office Mojo puts its gross at $176.2 million in North America and $255.8 million worldwide. It is funny, sharp and frightening at once.
Horror movies to stream: common questions
What is the scariest classic horror movie to stream?
Psycho is the safest answer, since the American Film Institute ranks it first on its 100 Years…100 Thrills list. For something older and stranger, try Nosferatu from 1922 or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1920. Both are silent, both are short, and both still unsettle viewers who expect old films to feel tame.
Which horror movies have won Oscars?
Several on this list have. Get Out won Original Screenplay for Jordan Peele, and Rosemary’s Baby won Best Supporting Actress for Ruth Gordon. Jaws won three, including Original Score. Alien won for Visual Effects, and Aliens won two, for Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. Get Out and Jaws were also Best Picture nominees.
What is a good modern horror movie for beginners?
A Quiet Place is a good place to start. It has a simple idea and very little gore. It was also a major hit, earning $341.0 million worldwide according to Box Office Mojo. Get Out is another easy entry, since it mixes comedy with its scares. Save Hereditary for when you want something much heavier.
Where can I find these horror movies streaming?
Streaming catalogs rotate every month, so a film on one service in October may move by November. A free tracker such as JustWatch shows which subscription, free or rental service carries each title in your country. Search the exact title and year, since several films here share names with remakes.
Looking for more? See the best horror documentaries for Halloween, our list of Halloween movies you can stream now and great psychological thrillers.