At the end of October, Max is shedding horror films like they’re going out of style. Like every other streamer, Max loaded up on horror movies for Halloween, but now Max is acting like people don’t want to be scared in the other 11 months of the year.
Our list of the five best horror movies on Max to watch this Halloween are all leaving after October 31st. So start making your viewing plans now, or else you’ll miss your chance to revisit these scary movies before they head to some other streamer.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street launched one of the most popular horror franchises ever made. But unlike the wisecracking Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) of the sequels, this film’s take on Freddy is genuinely terrifying. Freddy preys upon the teenagers of Springwood, including Nancy Thompson (The Midnight Club‘s Heather Langenkamp), Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp), and Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) at their most vulnerable moments from within their own dreams.
Although Nancy survives her initial encounter with Freddy, her life becomes a waking nightmare as her friends meet gruesome ends in their sleep. It all comes back to the choices made by Nancy’s parents years ago when they killed Freddy. The parents had their reasons, but in death, Freddy is far more dangerous than when he was alive.
Watch A Nightmare on Elm Street on Max.
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
The Cabin in the Woods is like almost every other horror movie you’ve ever seen, both by design and as a plot point within the film itself. While Dana Polk (Kristen Connolly), Curt Vaughan (Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Chris Hemsworth), Jules Louden (Anna Hutchison), Marty Mikalski (Fran Kranz), and Holden McCrea (Jesse Williams) vacation together at a remote cabin, they are unaware that they are being monitored by The Facility from a hidden base directly below them.
At the command of The Director (Sigourney Weaver), Dana and her friends are unknowingly recruited to play horror story archetypes as they are preyed upon by monsters unleashed by The Facility. Unfortunately for The Director, the script is flipped when her victims discover how they’ve been manipulated.
Watch The Cabin in the Woods on Max.
The Exorcist (1973)
One of the all-time great horror films, The Exorcist, recently got a theatrical sequel, The Exorcist: Believer. Even if you skipped seeing that movie in theaters, it’s worth revisiting the original flick as a reminder of why it’s become so iconic. Linda Blair gives the performance of a lifetime as Regan MacNeil, a young girl whose body and soul fall prey to a demonic possession.
Regan’s mother, Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn), is so frightened by Regan’s transformation that she turns to the church for help. That’s why veteran exorcist, Father Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow), and Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller) are sent to confront the demon and drive it away from Regan’s body. However, the demon will not relinquish its hold on Regan so easily, and the priests may pay the price for daring to face it.
Watch The Exorcist on Max.
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
There aren’t a lot of horror comedy musicals, so take a moment to appreciate Little Shop of Horrors, which is based on the play by Little Mermaid composers Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, who were in turn inspired by Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors movie.
Rick Moranis stars as Seymour Krelborn, an employee at Mushnik’s Flower Shop who pines for his co-worker, Audrey (Ellen Greene). Seymour successfully draws business to the store with Audrey II (Levi Stubbs), an unusual plant he discovers that craves human blood. Just a few drops of blood help Audrey II grow, speak, and even sing. Yet Audrey II’s appetite can’t be contained for long. And it’s a good thing for Seymour that Audrey has a sadistic boyfriend, Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin), who no one is going to miss.
Watch Little Shop of Horrors on Max.
It (2017)
The Stephen King Renaissance began with It in 2017, which was one of the horror author’s most successful adaptations. Director Andy Muschietti tapped into something primal with his adaptation, which cast Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Skarsgård’s Pennywise even manages to be scarier than Tim Curry’s Pennywise from the TV adaptation decades before.
Following the death of his younger brother, Georgie, at the hands of Pennywise, Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) and his band of Losers realize that there’s something evil in their hometown. Since the adults won’t step up, Bill and his friends Ben Hanscom (Jeremy Ray Taylor), Beverly Marsh (Sophia Lillis), Richie Tozier (Finn Wolfhard), Stanley Uris (Wyatt Oleff), Mike Hanlon (Chosen Jacobs), and Eddie Kasprak (Jack Dylan Grazer), decide to kill Pennywise themselves…if they can.
Watch It on Max.
