Every Disturbing New Horror Title Hitting Amazon Prime This February
The post-holiday haze is always tough, though horror fans are perhaps better equipped than most to handle it. After all, January has already been a gift, what with the releases of both Skinamarink and Infinity Pool, news of the forthcoming Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, and, of course, that Scream 6 trailer. With the shift to February comes a whole new slate of horror offerings available on streaming. While Amazon Prime has never been the clear go-to for horror fare, largely on account of the sheer volume of titles available, many of which are of the “The Haunting of Spooky House Part 3: The Vengeful Wraith” variety (taking bets now as to whether that really exists), February looks to shake things up considerably.
With plenty of new content available, including the streaming premiere of George Miller’ fantasy Three Thousand Years of Longing, we’ve done the hard work for you. Across the many new titles premiering this month, here are five of the scariest standouts hitting Amazon Prime this month.
Halloween Ends
Perhaps the biggest (and strangest) title hitting Amazon Prime is the capstone to David Gordon Green’s new Halloween trilogy, Halloween Ends. While polarizing upon release, Halloween Ends, if nothing else, merits being revisited. While it’s odd to see the title landing on Prime after its day-and-date release stint on Peacock, it nonetheless gives fans both old and new the chance to check the title out. And truthfully, Halloween Ends is better than its reception last October made it seem. With some time to adjust expectations, now is as good a time as any to appreciate how boldly David Gordon Green made the Michael Myers mythos his own.
Smile
Handling of mental health aside, Smile was a remarkably accomplished 2022 horror debut. The biggest original horror movie of the year (yes, I also wish that honor went to Barbarian), Parker Finn’s Smile will finally be readily available to traumatize an entire generation of moviegoers. With a sensational monster at its core (again, actual implications of said monster aside), Smile is the rare modern horror movie that earns its scares. Susie Bacon stars in this The Ring redux about a psychologist cursed after witnessing a patient die by suicide. Resultantly, some unknown specter starts to plague her every waking moment, and she only has a week to break the curse before it’s too late.
From Justin to Kelly
You’ll know it when you see it.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Philip Kaufman’s remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers is arguably the greatest horror remake ever made. Adapted from Jack Finney’s perennial The Body Snatchers (see: The Invasion), Invasion of the Body Snatchers stars Donald Sutherland as Matthew Bennel, a health department employee whom begins to suspect a gelatinous race of pod creatures have been replacing human beings with exact replicas, slowly yet surely replacing the human race with doubles. While Invasion of the Body Snatchers is more pensive and patient when weighed against more modern offerings, it’s as existential and terrifying as alien invasion tales come.
Beast
Idris Elba fist fights a lion. Really. Baltasar Kormákur’s Beast arrived in theaters back in August with the simplest of premises—what if a handsome movie star fought a man-eating lion. Truthfully, that’s all there really is to it. While Beast gestures toward poaching and the undercurrent of economic circumstances that drive such choices, it is first a foremost a monster movie, and a pretty danged good one at that. With toothy tension, plenty of gore, and the aforementioned Elba and lion showdown, Beast is a non-assuming delight.
Scary Movie 4
An entire generation of kids in the early aughts can credit both Anna Faris and Regina Hall for their horror education. While the Scary Movie franchise went spectacularly off the rails with the release of Scary Movie 5 in 2013, the original quartet, all featuring Faris and Hall, were as funny and confident as they could come. With Scary Movie 4, directed David Zucker and writers Craig Mazin (of, yes, The Last of Us), Jim Abrahams, and Pat Proft spoof the likes of The Grudge, War of the Worlds, Saw, and The Village among others. While not every joke lands, it might well represent the true end of the bonafide theatrical horror spoof.
While those are some standouts, Amazon Prime has a few more treats available for horror hounds. Check out the full list of horror coming to Amazon Prime this February below!
February 1
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
The Call
I, Robot
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Jacob’s Ladder
Kevin Hart Let Me Explain
King Kong (1976)
Prophecy
Scary Movie 4
The Talented Mr. Ripley
February 7
Beast
February 14
Halloween Ends
February 17
Three Thousand Years of Longing
Carnival Row Season 2
February 19
A Simple Favor
February 21
Smile
