Netflix still dominates as one of the most popular streaming services around, but its current slate of horror movies leaves a lot to desire. Nowadays, Prime Video touts one of the most robust slates, with an assortment of new and old horror films. It helps that Amazon also has the horror-centric streaming service Shudder as an add-on channel.
But for those who just have a standard Prime Video subscription, there are still plenty of great movies to choose from. The following list details five unnerving horror movies currently available to watch on the streamer. These are tense films that are meant to disturb, making it hard to shake them off once they're over.
Saint Maud (2019)
Saint Maud is a criminally underrated religious horror movie distributed by A24. It's always nice to see women behind the camera in this genre. Rose Glass made an extraordinary feature debut with this gripping psychological movie about a devout caretaker becoming fixated on saving her patient's soul.
The movie is excellent, with a significant part attributed to the unsettling lead performance from actress Morfydd Clark. Her transformative work as the character of Maud is what sells the film's most horrific moments. After failing to save one of her patients, Katie changes her name to Maud, devotes herself to Catholicism, and becomes a private nurse who believes God has sent her to save the soul of her atheist patient.
Men (2022)
Folk horror fans need to check out this 2022 movie from Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Annihilation, Ex Machina). Rory Kinnear plays multiple roles in this movie, and all strange and uncanny men populate a small village in the countryside.
When recently widowed Harper (Jessie Buckley) travels to the town to spend a holiday alone, she becomes immediately unnerved by how the men in the area act toward her. No matter where she goes, one of them is always watching her. And that's just the start of the oddities.
Lake Mungo (2008)
Part fictional documentary and part found-footage film, Lake Mungo is a disturbing Australian horror film about the aftermath of the tragic death of 16-year-old Alice, who drowned while swimming near a dam. Her family struggles to accept her death, their grief compounded by a series of strange supernatural occurrences that make some of them believe Alice could still be alive.
Throughout the film, viewers slowly learn about Alice's life, one surprisingly rife with secrets. Something was haunting Alice while she lived and it seems like it is continuing to haunt her family now that she's gone. Lake Mungo received positive reviews and has become a cult favorite in recent years. It can be slow to start, but I recommend watching this one in the dead of night. Truly embrace the eerie vibe.
Eden Lake (2008)
Eden Lake is a dark and grim horror movie about a romantic weekend getaway gone terribly wrong. This is one of those scary movies where the terror is unrelenting, and it's not very "fun," so to speak.
But the James Watkins-directed movie is very unnerving, so if watching a film that might leave you feeling profoundly uneasy and unable to sleep alone afterward is what you're in the mood for, you can't go wrong with this one. The British film starring Michael Fassbender, Kelly Reilly, and Jack O'Connell centers on a couple headed to a lakeside cabin for the weekend, but their lives will never be the same when they run into an aggressive group of teens.
We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
A Golden Globe-nominated psychological horror film, We Need to Talk About Kevin is often cited as one of the most disturbing movies of all time. Based on the book by Lionel Shriver, the movie grapples with the unthinkable question of what a mother is meant to do when her child turns out to be a psychopath.
Eva (Tilda Swinton) gives up her free-spirited lifestyle to have a baby with her husband (John C. Reilly), but when Kevin is born, Eva struggles to bond with him. Their turbulent relationship only gets worse as Kevin matures into an angsty teen and then commits a horrific act.