Trying to figure out where to stream and rent horror movies can be one of the scariest things about spooky season. Thankfully, Tubi has a massive collection of terrifying films to watch for free. Here are the 15 best horror movies on Tubi, from classics to contemporary cult films.
Children of the Corn
An adaptation of the classic Stephen King short story from the late 1970s, Children of the Corn is a delightfully eerie film about a cult of creepy kids. This 1984 movie follows a couple traveling through the Midwest when their roadtrip is interrupted after they arrive at a small town populated only by children. This group of creepy kids comprise a cult that seeks to murder adults for a ritualistic sacrifice.
The premise itself makes this classic worth a watch. Like many King adaptations from the late 20th century, aspects of Children of the Corn are dated but in an endearing way that will likely evoke nostalgia. Many of horror’s most iconic villains are creepy children, and the cult of killer kids from this classic is the stuff of nightmares.
Coraline
Moving on from creepy kids to creepy stuff made for kids, let’s talk about Coraline. It became an instant classic when it released back in 2009. This stop-motion movie follows a young girl who finds access to another world within her home, where sinister entities disguised as her parents offer gifts to tempt her to stay for eternity.
Coraline is often compared to the films of Tim Burton. Like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline features a wonderfully stop-motion animated eerie aesthetic. It’s the perfect family-friendly film for young folks who love to get into the Halloween spirit. However, it also has enough unsettling imagery and intense scenes that adults are sure to get something out of if they pick it as one of the horror movies to watch on Tubi.
Hellraiser
Unlike the previous entry, Hellraiser is decidedly not family-friendly. However, it has all the charm of late ’80s horror. At times, it ranges from campy to unintentionally hilarious, and there are some genuinely freaky characters.
The film follows a family summoning and then trying to defend themselves from a group of demonic entities called Cenobites. This group, led by the iconic Pinhead, are sadist and masochistic extremists who chase the extremes of pain and pleasure. Needless to say, this is a supernatural horror where themes of temptation and sexual desire are explored to the extreme. While it can be a bit much at times and you may laugh at the movie a few times rather than with it, the Cenobites are some of the most visually interesting villains in horror history, and they alone make this classic worth a watch.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of the defining teen horror movies. This horror/mystery from the late ’90s has an iconic cast of young stars from the era, led by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. In the film, four friends are stalked by a hook-wielding slasher in their hometown after a letter arrives informing them a dark secret from their past has been uncovered.
Like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer is a self-aware slasher with some great kills and an awesome cast. While it’s not going to terrify viewers like modern elevated horror or more intense classic slashers, I Know What You Did Last Summer is still a great time to watch, especially with a good group of friends.
Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire is one of the most iconic horror movies available to stream on Tubi. This ’90s classic emulates the aesthetic and energy of many classic vampire films, like Dracula and Nosferatu. However, this film does so with much more depth and drama between its characters than the genre typically affords.
This film, based on the Annie Rice novel of the same name, follows the story of a centuries-old vampire as he’s interviewed by a biographer. And Interview with the Vampire has an incredible cast to play out its drama, including mega-stars like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.
It Follows
Among an admittedly rough decade for scary films, It Follows has stood the test of time and stands out as one of the best horror movies of the 2010s.
The premise of It Follows is just wild enough to work. A 19-year-old girl sleeps with her boyfriend for the first time, acquiring a fatal curse that is spread through sex. Death begins to appear in the lives of her and her friends, both as strangers and familiar faces. It Follows delivers on its wild premise and is especially well-shot compared to other movies with similarly small budgets. While it still holds up today, It Follows has gotten a second wind due to lead actress Maika Monroe’s rising stardom from her fantastic performance in Longlegs, one of the best horror movies of 2024.
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The Evil Dead
The original entry in the Evil Dead franchise is the stuff of magic. This extremely low-budget horror film has become a classic and spawned several sequels, thanks to Sam Raimi’s excellent direction and the film’s absolutely disgusting practical effects.
The Evil Dead, released in 1981, is the gold standard for the “Cabin in the Woods” horror trope. A group of college-age friends find themselves in what they think is an abandoned cabin, only to discover they have demonic company. The Evil Dead sees several possessions, each with more gnarly practical effects than the last. The appearances of this classic horror movie’s demons and the grotesque ways they go out make for some of the most impressive but hardest-to-look-at practical effects in the genre’s history.
While not as out there as Evil Dead II, the original still features Raimi’s wildly experimental filmmaking and some of Bruce Campbell’s effortless humor as Ash.
The Mist
The Mist is another adaptation of a Stephen King story and one of the horror movies viewers can experience on Tubi. This 2007 horror movie is brilliantly directed by the incredible Frank Darabont, who fans have to thank for classics like The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption.
The Mist is mostly set in a grocery store, where a father and his young son go to gather supplies after a massive storm. Shortly after their arrival, the grocery store is enclosed by a thick fog. However, the real terror comes from within, as the various townsfolk in the store conflict and are driven to panic by the unknown threat outside.
Fans of The Walking Dead will get even more out of this incredible King adaptation, as much of the cast from the series’ early seasons is present here, including Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, and Sam Witwer.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the most iconic slashers of all time and perhaps still the most horrifying of them all. Even younger horror fans who have yet to see the classic will surely recognize the film’s look and feel from later horror films like X, which took great inspiration from this mid-70s classic. In the original film, a group of young adults discovered a crazed group living next to their family’s old farmhouse. Our prospective survivors are hunted by a Chainsaw-Wielding murderer called Leatherface, who wears a mask made of human skin.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the defining OG slasher, with a simple premise, an instantly recognizable villain, and absolutely vicious kills with some really impressive practical gore. Still, this classic shows some restraint and never gets excessive with its violence, still putting focus on building a terrifying atmosphere.
Train to Busan
Train to Busan is an incredible new-age Zombie movie from South Korea. Ditching the shamblers from old-school George Romero films, Train to Busan features extremely fast-moving zombies that sprint after their prey. It takes place at the very beginning of a zombie outbreak, as a workaholic father tries to rebuild his relationship with his daughter. After becoming distant from her due to how much he travels for work, he takes her on the titular train.
This horror movie mostly takes place within the confined space of the train. It makes for an extremely tense film, as viewers will grow to love several members of the cast as they try to survive trapped on a high speed train with sprinting zombies. The few times the film leaves its main setting leads to some incredible set pieces and chaotic hordes of zombies with super-human movement.
In spite of its unforgettable action, Train to Busan still makes time for some incredible character work. Several other passengers are extremely likeable and easy to cheer for, upping the stakes of this zombie movies. The father-daughter drama at the core of the film also hits surprisingly hard given the genre. Ultimately, Train to Busan excels as both an action-packed zombie movie, a confined thriller, and a tear-jerking drama for an incredible horror movie all around.
And those are the 10 best horror movies to watch on Tubi.
Published: Oct 7, 2024 07:46 am