For many people, Halloween season is the best time of year. When ghosts and ghouls walk the earth each October, it’s a great time to celebrate all things scary and spooky in order to remind ourselves of the inescapable reality of death. That doesn’t mean Halloween has to be morbid and morose, though. Instead, celebrating death and fear can be a cathartic release that inspires celebrants to live life to its fullest.
One of the best ways to get a therapeutic scare is through the wide range of horror movies released each Halloween season. Scores of new horror films hit the theaters each October, and that can result in a ton of money spent on movie tickets or rental fees. A Halloween full of scary movies doesn’t have to frighten your bank account, though. The truth is that you can stream loads of the best horror movies online for free if you know where to look.
There are more options for streaming horror movies online than ever before. Some are free while others require subscriptions, but most subscription services offer free trials to get you going. If you time them right, you can enjoy a whole Halloween season of free trials. Here’s a rundown of some of the ways you can watch free scary movies online this Halloween.
[See: Cord-Cutters, Consider These Video-Streaming Services.]
Popcornflix
Popcornflix is an entirely free streaming service offering a diverse library of movies and TV shows. Rather than charging a subscription, Popcornflix offers its ad-based service for free. Popcornflix offers an entire “Horror” section featuring such scary movies as “Battle Royale,” “High Tension,” “Paranormal Activity 2,” and even classics like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Last Man on Earth.” Although much of them are lower-budget, smaller-release films, there are more than enough free scary movies on Popcornflix to get you through Halloween.
Crackle
Sony Crackle is another free streaming service supported by ads. Crackle is available as an app on a wide range of streaming devices, smart TVs and gaming consoles, or it can be watched over a web browser. Sony Crackle has a more limited library of horror films but features such titles as “Take Shelter,” “Insidious” and the Crackle original film “Buried Alive.”
[See: 10 Steps to Cut the Cable Cord.]
The Roku Channel
This streaming device and maker of smart TVs offers a streaming service known as The Roku Channel which offers a respectable library of movies and series completely subscription-free. The Roku Channel can offer you a whole Halloween season of scary movies to watch free with titles like “A Haunting in Connecticut,” “The Last Exorcism,” “Day of the Dead” and Stephen King’s “Riding the Bullet.” For a hassle-free fright night, The Roku Channel is a great option.
Shudder
Shudder is a great choice for a streaming service this scary movie season because Shudder is devoted exclusively to horror, suspense and thrillers. Shudder subscriptions start at just $3.99, but you can try it free for seven days. Shudder features original scary movies in addition to cult favorites like “The Blair Witch Project,” “Hellboy,” “House of 1000 Corpses” and “Evil Dead.” If you’re into international horror, Shudder features an amazing array of foreign scary movies like “Oldboy” and “The Quiet Earth.” Shudder even has streaming channels for a TV-like experience, including the free Shudder TV channel.
Huluween
Every year, Hulu celebrates October with Huluween, a 31-night celebration of fright and delight, bringing a bingeable selection of some of the best scary films to Hulu. Titles this year include “American Psycho,” “The Others,” “The Blair Witch Project,” “Child’s Play” and Tim Burton’s masterpiece “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” There are more than 200 horror titles in this year’s Huluween library, which can be sorted according to fright level. Check out a free trial and see why Hulu is a great go-to for streaming scary movies each October.
Netflix
Netflix remains one of the most popular streaming services around, thanks to its low cost and constantly rotating library of award-winning original and licensed content. This October, Netflix is bringing out a huge selection of scary streaming content just in time for Halloween. Some of the standouts this year are “Creeped Out,” an anthology of creepy tales told by a masked “story collector” known as The Curious. Speaking of curiosity, Netflix is also debuting “The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell,” a cooking and arts show that is part Martha Stewart, part Tim Burton, and features creations by the Jim Henson Company.
[See: 6 Ways to Treat Yourself on a Budget.]
Amazon Prime
If you’re an Amazon Prime member and aren’t taking advantage of the library of streaming video Amazon offers, this Halloween is a great time to start. Amazon is bringing out a great selection of horror films this year like “Afflicted,” “The Amityville Horror,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “Daybreakers” and Stephen King’s classic “Carrie.” If you’re feeling brave, you can even watch Darren Aronofsky’s creepy and unsettling “Mother!”
There’s no reason to spend a fortune getting frightened this year. With the huge selection of scary movies available to stream for free, or for less than the price of a movie ticket, you can enjoy an entire Halloween season of scary movies online from the privacy of your own couch. Pick one of the free streaming services above and start the scares without a subscription, or choose one of the paid services and sign up for a free trial to get streaming.
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7 Ways to Stream Scary Movies for Free This Halloween originally appeared on usnews.com
