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Why not spend the long weekend with a scary flick?
Meara IsenbergWriter
Meara covers streaming service news for CNET. She recently graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where she wrote for her college newspaper, The Daily Texan, as well as for state and local magazines. When she's not writing, she likes to dote over her cat, sip black coffee and try out new horror movies.
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Meara Isenberg
3 min read
Prime Video has a lot to offer horror fans, from Ti West's Pearl to M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin. Ads are now a part of the streaming service, but if you'd prefer to watch your spooky content without commercial interruptions, you can pay an additional fee to remove them.
Here are some highly rated horror flicks to satisfy your cravings. Dim the lights, grab the popcorn and enjoy your creepy feature.
Prime Video currently offers Alfred Hitchco*ck's Psycho, which is a pretty big deal -- the black-and-white flick frequently cracks the top five on lists of the best horror films ever. If you've never seen the film, starring Janet Leigh as Marion Crane, it's best to go straight in without looking up details.
A prequel to Ti West's film X, Pearl stars Mia Goth as a younger version of the elderly villain in that flick. MaXXXine -- another addition to the series set after X and also starring Goth as the title character -- is scheduled to hit theaters this summer, on July 5.
Knock at the Cabin (2023)
M. Night Shyamalan's Knock at the Cabin is based on the novel The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul G. Tremblay. A family is vacationing at a remote cabin when a band of strangers shows up with an impossible demand: The three cabin-dwellers must choose to save humanity or their family.
Nanny (2022)
Nanny is an increasingly unnerving movie about a mother working in the US and separated from her son in Senegal, whom she hopes will soon join her. The powerful, chillingfilm -- led by a captivating Anna Diop -- takes viewers through her difficult, haunting wait.
Want to revisit the '80s? Kiernan Shipka time-travels to the decade and takes on a killer in this new Prime Video slasher comedy. Randall Park and Julie Bowen also make appearances.
Smile (2022)
An unnatural grin can be utterly terrifying. This recent release takes full advantage of that. Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon, actorand daughter of Kevin Bacon) goes on a horrific journey after she witnesses a traumatic incident involving a patient.
The Descent (2005)
In this British horror film from 2005, six young women go spelunking and rub up against terrifying humanoid cave dwellers. It's a race to evade the dark before becoming creature food. If you need another reason to descend, the flick's high user score on Metacritic suggests you'll be glad you went on this chilling expedition.
Candyman (2021)
Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta are at the helm of this gripping slasher. A sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, Candyman tackles issues such as gentrification and police brutality. Prepare for blood, swarming bees and people making the unfortunate decision to recite Candyman's name in front of a mirror. Candyman isavailable to watch for free with ads using Amazon Freevee.
Suspiria (2018)
If you like your horror films interspersed with a bit of contemporary dance (and who wouldn't!) then Suspiria is definitely the one for you. It tells the story of a supernatural dance academy run by a coven of witches and features themes like motherhood, guilt and abuse of power. An homage to the original 1977 film, Suspiria stars Dakota Johnson and Tilda Swinton.
Coherence (2014)
Coherence is a huge favorite here at CNETand it's a terrifying watch. Not necessarily in the traditional, gory, horrific sense but more in terms of the concepts. It's a multiverse movie released before multiverses were cool and it's not what you expect. Coherence is the kind of movie you'll finish and immediately rewatch to try and rewire your brain. It's a fantastic achievement. A must watch.
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Them: Covenant is a highly-anticipated limited anthology series for Amazon that centers around a Black family that moves from the rural American South to an all-white Los Angeles neighborhood in the 1950s as part of The Great Migration.
Plot. Set in 1953, THEM: Covenant follows a black family who move from North Carolina to an all-white neighborhood in East Compton during the Second Great Migration. The family's idyllic home slowly transforms into an epicenter of evil forces, next-door and otherworldly, that threaten to haunt, ravage and destroy them.
It's called untold. And according to this Netflix algorithm report, it says that 96% of all accounts. turn the movie off at exactly 9 minutes and 45 seconds.
Not very scary, either- although the part where Candyman slices off a young boy's genitalia and throws them in a toilet goes beyond any John Waters movie in the ugly bad taste department. This movie has a lot of good ideas, and the art direction is good, but the slow pacing and dull characters really hurt it.
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