The 5 Best Horror Films on Amazon Prime From Alien to Midsommar
- Eve Andrews
- May 9, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: May 12, 2022
In a swamp of cheap jumpscares and overdone clichés, good horror can be hard to come by. And even more so when searching on a streaming service with a catalogue as extensive as Amazon Prime. So to save our fellow horror fans the trouble, we’ve drawn up a quick starter list of some of the best horrors currently available on Amazon Prime.
A stifling, psychedelic folk horror, Midsommar follows a young girl named Dani and her dysfunctional relationship with her boyfriend, Christian. It seems as if their relationship is at the end of its tether. But when Dani suddenly suffers a horrific family tragedy, she finds herself being taken to a mutual friend’s Swedish commune. Idyllic at first glance, the commune’s customs soon become less than palatable - and that’s putting it lightly. If you feel a bit strange after watching this film, don’t worry; you’re not alone on that one.
South Korean cinema has always had a good knack for horror, with Train To Busan being a prime example. Trapped on a train during a sudden viral outbreak, the innocent outing of a father and daughter becomes a flat-out nightmare when they find themselves caught amid an apocalypse. Isolated on the bullet train with their fellow, frantic passengers, they fight to survive what would usually be a mundane journey from Seoul to Busan. Train To Busan was an immediate hit upon release, having said to be a much-needed refresher to the zombie-flick subgenre. Just don’t watch it during your train commute to work, unless you’re not afraid of jinxes.
Amazon Prime has been lucky enough to procure a true horror classic for their catalogue. Known for being one of very select few films to have won the infamous Big Four at the Oscar Awards, few movie fans aren’t familiar with the gruesome escapades of Hannibal Lecter. When a killer is so wily they have consistently eluded the FBI for an embarrassing length of time, Agent Clarice Starling is forced to seek the help of Dr Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and full-blown psychopath who is as brilliant as he is brutal. A mind so violent yet so fantastic is inevitably difficult to keep contained. This film plays on tension with its understated quietness, leaving its audience on the edge of their seats, waiting with bated breath for the next horrific blow to hit.
Another gem from the South Korean catalogue, The Wailing is sure to shake even the steadiest of nerves. Set in a rural village in South Korea, Detective Jong-goo finds himself amid one of the most surreal cases of his career; a series of brutal murders, each committed by a dazed individual with a mysterious rash. And if that wasn’t enough of a head-scratcher, Jong-goo’s life falls into utter disarray upon discovering that his daughter is displaying the same worrying symptoms. A skin-crawling blend of crime fiction, demonic folklore and body-horror, The Wailing has just about everything a horror fan could hope for.
Wrapping this up with another true classic, if you haven’t seen Alien, I strongly recommend you change that! A true staple of the horror genre, it follows Ellen Ripley and her crew on a mission into space to intercept a distress signal from a nearby planet. However, upon arrival, it’s not long before they discover the horrifying circumstances that lead to the distress signal being sent in the first place. What began as an investigation soon becomes a fight for survival as their own ship becomes infested with a strange and savagely aggressive pest.
Have you seen any of these? Which is your favourite horror film currently on Amazon Prime? Let us know your own top picks in the comment section below!
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