Report: Prime Video Leads Streamers with Most Horror Content Just in Time for Halloween
Report: Prime Video Leads Streamers with Most Horror Content Just in Time for Halloween
Across the United States, people are feverishly preparing for the Halloween weekend. Costumes are being finalized, decorations put up, and hulking bags of candy are being thrown into shopping carts to be distributed to neighborhood trick-or-treaters (if they aren’t eaten before the kids ring the doorbell).
One detail that can’t be missed to ensure the perfect party this weekend is a well-curated playlist of horror movies to have on in the background. Though your mind may jump to other services when it comes to the biggest library of horror content, like horror-focused streamer Shudder, research from Ampere Analysis suggests that Prime Video remains the clear winner in terms of the depth of terrifying content.
According to Ampere’s data, Prime Video accounts for nearly 30% of horror films currently available to U.S. streaming customers, boasting over 1,200 hours of content. For comparison, Shudder only hosts 655 hours of content, or 16% of the total horror hours available domestically. Prime Video also topped the list for horror and TV hours available in 2021.
The Amazon streamer is still the leader in horror, despite slashing the niche’s content hours by 75% from what was available on Halloween of 2020 as it attempts to focus on higher-quality content, as opposed to casting an ocean-sized net. Prime Video’s spot atop the leaderboard is even more impressive when considering the efforts of other streamers to spotlight their horror content, such as the “[Netflix and Chills]” promotion or “61 Days of Halloween” event at Shudder.
Focusing on the best and hardest-hitting horror films isn’t a bad strategy by Amazon, but it does carry a downside. One of the most entertaining aspects of horror films is the “so-bad-it’s-good” phenomenon. The genre has always been ripe for mockery, with groups of friends sitting around laughing at how bad the special effects are of a B-movie, how schlocky the dialogue is, or how the plot relies on massive logical holes to make it to the end.
Related: Best Horror Movies on Each Streaming Service: Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Hulu, Tubi, and More
Check below for a list of the best horror films currently available on Amazon.
Best Horror Movies on Prime Video
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Invasion of the Body Snatchers
February 5, 1956A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.
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Train to Busan
July 20, 2016Martial law is declared when a mysterious viral outbreak pushes Korea into a state of emergency. Those on an express train to Busan, a city that has successfully fended off the viral outbreak, must fight for their own survival…
This highly entertaining zombie adventure features Gong Yoo as a father trying to connect with his estranged daughter. He’d later appear in the breakthrough Netflix series “Squid Game” (2021).
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Let the Right One In
October 24, 2008Set in 1982 in the suburb of Blackeberg, Stockholm, 12-year-old Oskar is a lonely outsider, bullied at school by his classmates; at home, Oskar dreams of revenge against a trio of bullies. He befriends his 12-year-old, next-door neighbor Eli, who only appears at night in the snow-covered playground outside their building.
This film was later remade in English as “Let Me In.”
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Saint Maud
October 9, 2020Having recently found God, self-effacing young nurse Maud arrives at a plush home to care for Amanda, a hedonistic dancer left frail from a chronic illness. When a chance encounter with a former colleague throws up hints of a dark past, it becomes clear there is more to sweet Maud than meets the eye.
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Deep Red
March 7, 1975An English pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal murder of his psychic neighbor. With the help of a tenacious young reporter, he tries to discover the killer using very unconventional methods. The two are soon drawn into a shocking web of dementia and violence.
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The Blair Witch Project
July 14, 1999In October of 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary. A year later their footage was found.
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Don't Look Now
October 11, 1973While grieving a terrible loss, a married couple meet two mysterious sisters, one of whom gives them a message sent from the afterlife.
Prime Video
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