It’s time to load up your watchlist with horror classics, cult favorites and a few stories that might keep you up at night all without spending a penny. We’ve got a spooky new selection of films on the best free streaming services landing over the next few days.
We usually mix things up with different genres, but this week it’s all about the scares. With Halloween fast approaching, free streaming services are rolling out a treasure trove of chilling movies to get you in the mood.
From clever slashers to eerie thrillers and a few nostalgic Halloween staples, here are five of the best free movies to stream right now on Plex, Pluto TV, Samsung TV Plus, Tubi, and more this week.
1) You’re Next (Plex)
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Release date: 2013
Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
Length: 94 minutes
Director: Adam Wingard
Main cast: Sharni Vinson, Nicholas Tucci, Wendy Glenn, A. J. Bowen, Joe Swanberg, Barbara Crampton, Rob Moran
You’re Next might seem like it has a familiar setup, think “family gathering gone wrong”. But this movie is incredibly smart and sharp, and easily one of the best horror films of the 2010s. It follows the story of a rich family that reunite at their countryside mansion when a group of masked intruders launch a brutal attack. But there’s a twist (look away now if you don’t like that sort of thing), one of the guests might not be as helpless as they seem.
It’s created by Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett (the duo behind The Guest and V/H/S), and it blends humor, a bunch of creative kills and a genuinely satisfying twist on the usual home invasion genre. It’s very gory, fast-paced and surprisingly funny at times.
2) Let Me In (Kanopy, Plex)
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Release date: 2010
Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
Length: 116 minutes
Director: Matt Reeves
Main cast: Alex Brunner, Simon Oakes, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Donna Gigliotti, John Nordling, Carl Molinder
It’s very rare that a remake lives up to the original. But Let Me In is one of the few rare exceptions. It’s a haunting reimagining of the hit Swedish film Let The Right One In. It follows the story of a lonely boy who befriends a mysterious young girl and she just so happens to be a vampire.
It’s directed by Matt Reeves (The Batman, Cloverfield) and this newer, US version trades a snowy Stockholm for a small town America instead. But it does manage to maintain the same eerie tenderness at its heart. It’s half horror story, half love story with some solid performances from Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz.
3) The Descent (Fawesome, Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex, Prime Video, Samsung TV Plus)
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Release date: 2006
Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%
Length: 100 minutes
Director: Neil Marshall
Main cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring
We’re going to warn you now, if you’re even slightly claustrophobic, this movie isn’t for you. Well, unless you want it to burrow straight into your nightmares. The Descent follows the story of a group of friends on a caving expedition that goes horribly, horribly wrong. That’s before they discover what else is lurking in the dark with them…
What makes The Descent such an enduring horror movie nearly 20 years on is how it layers the claustrophobic physical terror with incredible emotional tension. It’s not just about the creatures underground (yep, you heard that right, creatures). But the secrets and grief the women bring with them into the caves with them. It’s easily one of the best scary movies of the century.
4) The Addams Family (Pluto TV, Kanopy)
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Release date: 1991
Rotten Tomatoes score: 68%
Length: 99 minutes
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Main cast: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd
Before the Netflix show Wednesday, the 1991 movie The Addams Family gave us a look at life inside the ultimate gothic household. This delightfully macabre comedy brings Charles Addams’ famous cartoons to life with style, wit and a truly perfect cast led by Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia as Morticia and Gomez Addams.
It’s spooky and campy and endlessly quotable. It manages to be both ghoulish and heartwarming at the same time. So whether you grew up with it or you’re watching it for the first time, it’s the perfect family Halloween movie that’s more charming than chilling.
5) Scream (Hoopla, Kanopy, Pluto TV)
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Release date: 1996
Rotten Tomatoes score: 78%
Length: 111 minutes
Director: Wes Craven
Main cast: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Drew Barrymore
When Scream came out back in the 1990s, it reinvented the slasher movie genre. Directed by Wes Craven, it’s a horror masterpiece that follows the story of a group of teens who are stalked by a masked killer who knows all the rules of scary movies.
It’s self aware and funny at times, whilst also being genuinely terrifying. Scream manages to mock lots of horror clichés while delivering some of the best scares of the 90s. With its iconic Ghostface villain, we’d say that it’s still the blueprint for how to do modern horror well nearly 30 years later.
