The 30 Best Ghost Movies Streaming Right Now
A good horror film makes us afraid of its ghosts. The Great One sees ghosts for what they are – ghosts of the past. This past can be terrifying, filled with darkness that we can never escape. Ghosts can also be seductive, taking us back to a past we should have outgrown, teasing us with the idea that we can visit long-dead people and abandoned places, if only in the shadows. We love ghost stories, perhaps because we like the idea that there is life beyond the grave and that the past never goes away. But the logic of history ensures that the gift of such reassurance comes at a price and reminds us to be careful what we wish for.
With the caveat that neither The Uninvited nor The Innocents , two of the best films in the genre, are streaming anywhere, here are some of the best and most interesting ghost stories.
Dead of Night (1945)
Structured as a series of stories told by a group of weary travelers, Dead of Night is perhaps best known for the segment about the ventriloquist and his dummy, Hugo, an episode that paved the way for any number of creepy dolls. This is the only moment that doesn’t involve any kind of ghost, as we deal with ghostly carriages, crying ghost children, a mirror haunted by the ghost of a murder it witnessed, and a golfing ghost looking for love from beyond the grave. There were surprisingly few serious ghost stories in the first few decades of cinema, but this British film gives us a few, all of them quite brilliant. The film is also justifiably famous for its witty twist ending, which hints at science fiction, but I won’t spoil that.
Where to stream: Kanopy, Screambox
Blissful Spirit (1945)
Although he later became known for such epics as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago , director David Lean here has created a playful adaptation of Noël Coward’s play, starring Rex Harrison as novelist Charles Condomine. When Charles invites a medium for research, she accidentally summons the spirit of his dead wife (Kay Hammond), who enjoys wreaking havoc in the lives of Charles and his new wife (Constance Cummings). If you’re more into a fun sex farce than straight-up horror this spooky season, this might be just what you’re looking for.
Where to watch: Max, Prime Video , The Criterion Channel, Tubi
Carnival of Souls (1962)
It’s shocking how easily accessible Carnival of Souls is, considering how it has been largely ignored in its history. When I first saw it, back in the DVD era, it was on an old VHS tape, because that’s all there was. Yes, it’s technically in the public domain, but even Criterion found room for the microbudget-independent story of a young woman who accidentally ends up at an incredibly atmospheric, existentially terrible fair full of sunken-eyed tourists who don’t always seem to be having so much fun. It’s a bit like a mixture of George Romero and David Lynch, but it predates the work of each of them.
Where to watch: Max, Tubi, The Criterion Channel, Shudder, Crackle, AMC+, Prime Video.
Ghosts (1963)
Based on Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House , the film starts with a fairly standard premise and builds to something unexpected. A scientist invites a disparate group of visitors to spend the night at the reputedly haunted House on the Hill, a beautiful but strangely designed structure. As in Jackson’s novel, director Robert Wise (of whom we don’t talk much) creates character drama from a terrifying night, exploring each character in turn but focusing on the shy and awkward Eleanor, who has spent much of her adult life caring for her. mother, recently deceased. It turns into a film about two lost souls who find what they were looking for in each other. Forever.
The book on which it is based has been adapted numerous times and inspired imitators such as the silly but fun The House on Haunted Hill . Almost all of them are worth watching in their own right, and the Mike Flanagan miniseries is important, although the 1999 remake is probably best avoided.
Where to watch: MGM+, digital rental.
Kwaidan (1964)
What looks like modern horror imagery (vengeful ghosts and demons in particular) has roots in Japanese culture that date back a long time: J-Horror was around long before we had a collective term for it—several centuries ago, in fact. . So it’s no surprise that some of the best ghost films come from Japanese directors.
Kwaidan , from the archaic form of the word ghost story, is an anthology film, and the horror genre very often works best when filmed in small chunks. The downside is that quality often has peaks and valleys. That’s not the case here: each of the four tales is very different, but brilliantly constructed, and also influential: horror fans will recognize some of the tropes here that have become iconic (like the first story: “Black Hair”). The film is also stunningly beautiful, with stunning use of color.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Kuroneko (1968)
A revenge story with surprisingly feminist themes, the stern and mean Kuroneko begins simply and grows increasingly complex before an impressive, if ambiguous, climax. Two women, a mother and daughter-in-law, are raped and killed by a band of traveling samurai. Vowing revenge and making a pact with the underworld, their spirits seduce wandering warriors and then mercilessly kill them. Eventually, the military hero is sent to deal with the deadly spirits. He is a samurai who soon learns that these two ghosts belong to his wife and mother.
Where to watch: Criterion Channel.
Stone Tape (1972)
This British TV movie was so influential that it gave its name to a long-established idea in paranormal research that ghosts are not so much the souls of the dead, but rather reenactments of traumatic events that occurred in certain places. Here, a technology company goes to an old Victorian mansion to work on new developments in sound recording (circa 1972) and finds itself in the middle of something haunted that seems to involve a maid who worked in the house a century ago. . While trying to develop scientific data in hopes of applying it to their own research, the team soon discovers that there are older forces at work in the house. It’s no surprise that for a film set in the world of audio recording, it’s the sounds that are most frightening.
Where to watch: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.
Home (1977)
A flying disembodied head bites someone’s ass; girl gets eaten by piano: woman disappears into refrigerator. This is just a taste of the fundamental and deliberate weirdness of House (or Hausu ), the story of six friends invited to visit a creepy old house. It’s hard to discern any real themes or even part of the plot: the film is almost entirely a triumph of style over substance, but what style! The bright, sweet visuals of the early parts of the film only pave the way for the carnage to come. The whole experience is like a fever dream about a music video – not really scary, but unforgettable.
Where to watch: Max, The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Changeling (1980)
Once again, if you don’t like the idea of living in a horror movie, think twice about cheap real estate. In this case, it’s a gigantic and inherently creepy Victorian mansion that, for some reason (!), hasn’t been lived in for over ten years. George C. Scott doesn’t see the problem and, after the deaths of his wife and daughter in a car accident, decides that this place might represent just the change of pace he’s looking for. Of course, all the best haunted houses have at least as much to do with the baggage we bring into them as the events of their past, and Scott’s character has a lot to offer as he explores increasingly strange events in a house that most people would leave . even before unpacking.
It’s a cult classic for several reasons: Scott’s always solid performance, as well as the technical mastery of haunted house scares, are cornerstones of this particular genre.
Where to watch: Peacock, Tubi, Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.
Beetlejuice (1988)
Before his aesthetic became a brand, Tim Burton was truly one of the most original and transgressive directors of his generation, bringing a special kind of creepy, dark comedy to every project. Having created a single, extremely memorable ghost trucker in Pee-wee’s Big Adventure , he takes us on a full-on journey through Hell with Beetlejuice and, as with all of his early projects, goes out of his way to prove that to outsiders ( in this case, dead) is usually more fun.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
Pet Sematary (1989)
An extremely unsettling juxtaposition of heady themes and exploitation, director Mary Lambert’s Pet Sematary takes one of Stephen King’s most complex books and adds touches that border on camp (think Fred Gwynne’s “Aha!” neighbor Jude Crandall and his endlessly imitating Maine accent). None of it works on paper, but it’s full of unforgettable imagery (creepy cats, bloodthirsty babies, etc.) and has the real power to scare the crap out of us. You could argue that the reanimated corpses in the film don’t count as ghosts, but the narrative is built around dead runner Victor Pascoe, a bloody ghost who appears to warn Dale Midkiff’s Louis Creed to stay away from that damned pet cemetery. . If only he had listened.
Where to watch: digital rental
Candyman (1992)
Possessing all the trappings of a slasher film (including the very memorable slasher action of Tony Todd’s Daniel Robitaille), Candyman became a cult classic by challenging its genre conventions – not only by highlighting black characters, but also by incorporating gothic romance into its story about a vengeful ghost in the Chicago projects. Robitaille was killed because of his affair with a white woman, the evil and trauma of this and other similar events spanning decades. When his vengeful spirit encounters a woman who could be the reincarnation of his beloved Helen, Candyman pursues her to a tragic end. ’90s-era sequels aren’t all that important, but Nia DaCosta’s 2021 reboot-sequel is the best of them all.
Where to watch: Shudder, Peacock, AMC+, digital rental.
Phantom Watch (1992)
Back in 1992, with some War of the Worlds-style swagger, Phantom Watch descended on the unsuspecting British public by presenting itself as a live Halloween TV special at the location of a supposedly haunted house. There’s real-life TV presenter Sarah Greene, as well as comedian and Red Dwarf star Craig Charles, each playing themselves, and it looks like it’s going to be a night of spooky fun. This was before our presence, always referred to only as “The Trumpets”, made itself known and all hell broke loose, almost literally. It’s all based on the “true” story of the Enfield Poltergeist, which was also the subject of the second Conjuring film.
Where to watch: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.
Beloved (1998)
Audiences weren’t quite sure what to make of Beloved upon its release in 1998: Its director (Jonathan Demme) and stars (Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Thandiwe Newton) envisioned a prestige drama, but it was also very much a ghost story. and not a gentle one – the first scene leaves no doubt. The story involves Winfrey’s character, Sethe, who escaped slavery many years ago, but finds that the ghost (literally) of her enslaved life and the cruel, impossible choices she was forced to make haunt her.
Where to watch: digital rental
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Time and two decades of M. Night Shyamalan’s only sporadically effective turns may have dulled its impact somewhat, but repeat viewings make one thing clear: there’s more to this movie than just the ending, and it retains its chilling atmosphere and effectiveness even on viewing. bearing in mind this well-known conclusion. Haley Joel Osment, who was somehow denied the lead role in The Phantom Menace , gives one of the best child performances in film history, and Bruce Willis has never been better.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
House on Haunted Hill (1999)
While The Sixth Sense back in 1999 made the first case for heightened horror, House on Haunted Hill was a bit of cheesy entertainment, placing Famke Janssen, Taye Diggs, Ali Larter, Bridget Wilson, Peter Gallagher and Chris Kattan to a former psychiatric center. an institution (for the criminally insane, naturally) where Geoffrey Rush offers a million dollars to anyone who can survive the night. If that’s not scary, it’s beautiful and fun, with some brilliantly gory effects from makeup masters Gregory Nicotero and Dick Smith (this would be Smith’s last credit). If the carnage is too much for you, there’s no rule against re-watching the Vincent Price-led 1958 original, which delivers the same kind of silly fun without as much gore.
Where to watch : Tubi, digital rental.
Others (2001)
There’s a twist ending that I won’t spoil, but what impresses me most about Alejandro Amenábar’s dark ghost drama is how rewatchable it is: the atmosphere is so unrelentingly scary that the jump scares still work even after you realize what you’ve been through destined to do this. look elsewhere. Nicole Kidman is excellent as a stolid but fragile mother of two in an isolated house in the Channel Islands, endlessly waiting for her husband (Christopher Eccleston) to return to war. The youngest child is extremely photosensitive to the point that he can never be exposed to direct daylight, which makes it possible to skillfully and conveniently ensure that large parts of the house remain dark at all times. What about the friendly but secretive servants (including the great Fionnula Flanagan) who mysteriously arrive out of nowhere? The mysteries build to a brutal yet satisfying climax.
Where to watch: digital rental
Spirited Away (2001)
Spirits don’t have to be scary, although that doesn’t mean they can’t be moody and a little dangerous. It’s no surprise that Hayao Miyazaki’s triumph is also one of the greatest animated films of all time: a week of stunning beauty and great care in every frame. It’s the story of headstrong Chihiro, who goes on an adventure into the spirit world to save her parents and reclaim her name.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
The Devil’s Backbone (2001)
Through the eyes of young Carlos, we are introduced to Spain circa 1939: the last year of the Spanish Civil War. General Franco rises through the ranks, and two left-wingers run a secret and remote orphanage, fully aware that they have thrown in their lot with the losing side. The ghost here, Santi, used to sleep in Carlos’ bed, and del Toro gets the conventions of ghost stories right – using a haunting and eerie spirit to experience the film’s living characters as they face the end of their world. His recent Crimson Peak is a very different ghost story, but no less effective.
Where to stream: Peacock, digital rental.
9th session (2001)
A true cult horror classic, Session 9 stars David Caruso as a member of an asbestos abatement team working in an abandoned mental hospital. Everything is going as expected. While the haunting setting seems perfect for all sorts of ghostly jump scares, the film has big ambitions – it’s deliberately confusing if you’re not paying attention. The crew begins to take on aspects of those who died in the asylum… or not? Are they all obsessed? Are they going crazy? Ultimately, this film is a psychological puzzle that rewards careful viewing.
Where to watch: digital rental
A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
This shocking film by Kim Ji-woon is visually stunning – a dark Shakespearean tale about a South Korean teenager who is reunited with his beloved sister after a stay in a mental hospital. Their father has a new wife who herself has a troubling relationship with the spirits present in the house, but there are even stranger, more terrifying and more absurd events that haunt the family in this non-linear narrative. Like some of the best horror films, it all comes back to the cruel family secrets that drove the sisters apart in the first place.
Where to stream: AMC+
Lake Mungo (2008)
This Australian import is a more subdued take on found footage horror, although the presentation is more documentary than shaky camera. Less interested in scares than exploring the hole left by death, the film follows a family trying to come to terms with the death of 15-year-old Alice. Her brother becomes convinced that he has seen her spirit and so sets up cameras to document what he believes is happening. A typical setup in some ways, but the film is much more interested in using the supernatural to explore grief and also, as Alice’s life is explored, the ways in which we create identities for those we love without always knowing them as well as We. think.
Where to watch: digital rental
Innkeepers (2011)
On their last weekend, Claire and Luke are working behind a desk at the former grand Yankee Pedlar Inn, mostly to turn off the lights. However, they are both ghost enthusiasts and realize that this is also their last chance to gather evidence of some long-known ghost activity surrounding their business. What begins as a series of slightly silly attempts by the staff to come up with examples of ghostly activity gradually escalates into something darker when the last guest checks in. I’m not sure the film breaks any new ground, but it’s incredibly good. -constructed example of the form: funny when it needs to be, but also smart and with some truly scary moments. Ghost stories often have an ending, and the story leads to something worthwhile.
Director Ti West based the film on the also supposedly haunted real-life Yankee Pedlar. The exterior and several scenes were filmed there, and the hotel itself sank just a couple of years later. Was this a ghostly curse? Are the spirits of the Peddler offended that they became the hero of a horror film? Or have attempts to inflate the business into a Best Western failed? You decide. (Probably the last one.)
Where to watch: Peacock, Shudder, Tubi, AMC+, Prime Video.
The Conjuring (2013)
James Wan and company kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of horror with this old-school haunted house thriller. You might not like every damn movie made from it, but there’s a reason The Conjuring was so successful: after a decade of horror that relied on either found footage or dank basement torture, this creepy ghost thriller (based on a true story) story lol) was a welcome return. Smart and effective, and honestly the best performance in the careers of professional con artist Lorraine Warren and her sex pest Ed.
Where to watch : Max, digital rental.
Personal Shopper (2016)
Starting out as a simpler ghost story, Personal Shopper evolves into something completely unique: the story of a personal shopper who is also something of a medium trying to make contact with his dead brother. The mysterious text messages she begins receiving could be messages from the other world or evidence of a stalker, and the disconcertingly fragmented nature of the film’s structure helps maintain a tone that’s both quirky and playful. The Buyer is a continuation of Stewart’s previous collaboration with director Olivier Assayas, the highly acclaimed Clouds of Sils Maria , and this film is even better.
Where to watch: The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
Ghost Story (2017)
David Lowery is one of our most impressive modern visual stylists (as anyone who’s seen his recent The Green Knight will know), which perhaps begins to explain how a film in which a man on a sheet plays a ghost can be so memorable and entertaining . . The story of a man who dies unexpectedly but is still left with the property he and his wife shared. The story is more haunting than scary, in the sense that the exploration of love and loss continues past the end credits. The design of the leaf, which in other hands might seem silly, turns the ghost into a figure we can easily identify.
Where to stream: Max, digital rental
La Llorona (2019)
Oddly enough, this is not The Curse of La Llorona , the American film adjacent to The Conjuring, also released in 2019. This movie is okay, but not very memorable. This Guatemalan film (directed by Jairo Bustamante) does something much more interesting with the legendary crying woman, connecting her to the very real story of the genocide of the indigenous Mayan people, which reached its most horrifying depths in the early 1980s. In the film, the fictional version of Guatemala’s former president has only recently escaped prosecution for his crimes, secluded in his luxurious home among a divided family. They are soon joined by a new housekeeper, Alma, whose name means “spirit”—not subtle, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Typical frightening thrillers are largely absent here, giving way to the atmosphere and chilling reality of the horrors it depicts.
Where to watch: Shudder, The Criterion Channel, digital rental.
His house (2020)
Good horror frightens us; the great horror remains with us, reminding us that the worst lives beyond the panels of the television or movie screen. In writer-director Remi Weekes’ thriller, a refugee couple escapes war in South Sudan only to discover an evil barely hidden beneath the surface of an English town that doesn’t necessarily want them there. His House acts both as an effective chiller for the story of a house haunted by evil, but also as a powerful and disturbing story about survivor’s guilt and the refugee experience in general.
Where to watch: Netflix
I Was a Simple Man (2021)
Not scary, but definitely haunting, The Common Man finds Masao Matsuyoshi (Steve Iwamoto) at the end of his life as the ghosts of his past appear before him and haunt the countryside. First and most famous is his wife Grace (Constance Wu), who died in 1959, the night America took Hawaii as a state, but she is followed by ghosts, both literal and figurative, that trace Oahu’s development over the decades. for better and worse. and explore Masao’s identity as Hawaiian, Japanese, and American. What’s more, it’s a touching and deeply compelling look at the idea that our loved ones are alive in every sense, at least until we join them.
Where to watch: Tubi, digital rental.
Deadstream (2022)
One of the most inventive horror comedies of recent years, Deadstream cleverly references the original Evil Dead with its mixture of goofy good humor, surprisingly gross practical effects and real-life scares. Director and star Joseph Winter plays Sean, a once-popular YouTube character working on a comeback (one of the film’s cleverest schemes is to trick you into loving a character who, it’s increasingly clear, doesn’t deserve your love). Favorite for his outrageous stunts, he hosts a late-night live broadcast while locking himself in a supposedly haunted house. You can certainly see where this is going, but Winter and company create a film that is exceptionally entertaining and also manages to dig a little deeper into our toxic social media environment.
Where to watch: Shudder, AMC+, digital rental.