Olivia Telecky-
Throughout the past decade, streaming services have become the most popular way to view movies and TV shows. More and more people are ‘cutting the cord’ and ending their cable subscriptions. Currently, 99% of households in the US pay for at least one streaming service. On average, people pay for 2.9 streaming services. Among college-age students, ages 18-34, the most popular streaming services are Netflix, Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney+, with 70% of these young adults having access to Netflix, 55% having access to Max, 55% having access to Hulu, 53% having access to Amazon Prime, and 45% having access to Disney+. With the spooky season in full swing, we will review the best and worst movies on each of these platforms so you know what movies are a must-watch, and which ones not to waste your time on.
Netflix
Psycho (1960) is an oldie but a goodie. This tense horror mystery follows Marion Crane, a secretary from Phoenix, as she flees her job and begins her life on the run by visiting the creepy Bates Motel. This intriguing, genre-defining movie immediately hooks the audience with witty dialogue and characters with a large amount of depth. This movie also makes good use of movie ‘rules’, such as showing information to the audience instead of telling, and using strings throughout the score to sound similar to screams, causing the audience to feel tense even while watching seemingly mundane scenes.
Death Note (2017) is a Netflix original movie based on the popular anime of the same name. It follows Light “Turner” (his last name was Yagami in the anime/manga, but was changed for the 2017 adaptation) as he discovers a book that allows him to murder any person by writing their name and having their face in mind while doing so. However, as the police begin to investigate these murders, more evidence points to Light as the killer. This movie moves at a lightning pace, not allowing the audience to learn anything about Mia (named Misa in the original anime/manga), who is the main female character, or L, the main antagonist. It also presents incorrect information as being ingenious, such as suggesting that L is an amazing detective because the sugar in his candy allows him to go several days without feeling symptoms of sleep deprivation. The main conflict of the film is also nonsensical, as it is unclear how police discovering the Death Note would implicate Light in these crimes. Sure, it is suspicious that Light has a journal with the names of murder victims in it, but that doesn’t mean he did the murders. It also doesn’t explain away any of his strong alibis or give away a murder weapon.
Hulu
The Sixth Sense (1999) has more depth than any other movie on this list. While it does have plenty of thrilling scenes, with tense moments and great effects, it is better classified as a Halloween drama than as a horror movie. This film follows psychologist Vincent Gray as he works to help Cole Sear, a child with interesting psychic abilities. The logic of this movie was very consistent throughout, as there were many rules to how ghosts operate and how Cole sees them. The score is also both as bone-chilling as it is tear-jerking. The infamous “I see dead people” scene is portrayed beautifully, which is due to the amazing child acting of Haley Joel Osment. Even if you already know the plot twist, it is still a gripping watch and fun to put all the pieces together.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) is based on the book of the same name, which recontextualizes the Civil War as a fight between Lincoln and the vampires. According to this movie, slavery was a front for vampires to hunt, and the real members of Lincoln’s family who died from illness actually died from vampire bites. While the plot is nonsensical, so is the filmmaking itself. It switches from black and white to oversaturated seemingly at random, CGI was heavily used (including for shots of American flags), and quotes from both Abraham Lincoln and the Holy Bible were quoted incorrectly.
Max
Max has the largest selection of top-tier Halloween movies out of any other streaming service. From classics such as Beetlejuice, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, to newer hits like Barbarian and Midsommer, Max has something for everyone. The antithesis of this is the movie Scream (1996). Scream follows Sydney Prescott as she is hunted down by a mysterious killer one year after the murder of her own mother. This movie was revolutionary for its time and, as such, still holds up well today. Its comedic timing allows for a seamless blend between both horror and comedy genres, and the diversion of the horror movie formula makes it hard to predict. Even after several rewatches, the audience can find something new to focus on, as the world-building is quite in-depth without being confusing. The use of practical effects also allows for Scream to look just as good today as it did when it first premiered, as long as you don’t hit pause at the wrong time. Scream is the perfect blend of fun, thrilling, mysterious, and gory to satisfy any casual Halloween lover or hardcore horror fan.
Anaconda (1997) follows a group of documentary filmmakers, including Ice Cube, Jenifer Lopez, and Owen Wilson, as they explore the Amazon. The plot is as confusing as the characters are illogical, with constant motivation changes and morals that do a complete 180 for seemingly no reason. It is hard to follow what the movie is even trying to portray, which is made more difficult by the Rainforest Cafe quality of animatronics and CGI that looks like an old video game. Even when trying to listen to the unnatural dialogue, with lines such as “my cellular phone!” and “No! I’ve got the legs,” it is quite difficult as the sound mixing makes it impossible to hear anything other than the loud music playing above every scene.
Amazon Prime
The Silence of The Lambs (1991) follows Clarice Starling, a young FBI investigator, as she works with serial killer Hannibal Lecter to find the killer who went by the name of Buffalo Bill. This movie mixes an incredibly suspenseful plot with amazing acting and incredible cinematography to create an extremely chilling narrative. Specifically, the cinematography does a great job of portraying the ‘female gaze’, showing the audience the world through the perspective of a female character. Many shots are filmed with the camera pointing up at groups of male officers, showing how Starling was targeted and not trusted by her male colleagues. This perspective warp does a fantastic job of portraying the real terror women face in a world run by men, especially when killers target female victims.
Jack Frost (1997) portrays the story of serial killer Jack Frost as he turns into snow and attacks the officers who arrested him. The movie opens up with a young child asking for a ‘happy scary story’, and a grandfather seemingly traumatizing her with the story of Jack Frost killing people and putting them into pies, with the child screaming in the background and asking for him to stop. After this questionable opening, the audience is shown that Jack Frost was a real person who was supposed to be executed for his crimes when instead he was hit by a tank of ‘toxic chemicals’ and turned into the snow-controlling creature we know him as today. The dialogue of this movie fits the strange plot, including the line “Holy Moley, he just killed Billy!”. Jack Frost also overlays the horrible killing scenes with silly Spongebob-sounding music, which makes the tone of the movie hard to follow.
Disney+
Hocus Pocus (1993) is a fun Halloween comedy that will put a spell on people of all ages. It follows the story of Max Dennison as he spends his first Halloween in Salem and accidentally reincarnates the Sanderson Sisters, witches who had haunted Salem for decades, feasting on the souls of young children. The Sanderson Sisters are quite sinister and are blunt with their goals of capturing and ending the lives of every child in Salem to regain their youth, but they are also very humorous. Their amazing acting and chemistry allow each sister to stand out as their own person while also being able to play off of each other in a charming and engaging way. The idea of Max using modern technology to outsmart the witches allows them to regain their intellect, keeping tensions high, and shows Max’s cunning. It also leads to very creative scenes that are engaging and fun to watch.
Girl Vs. Monster (2012) follows the story of Skylar, a girl who has never felt fear before, as she discovers her parents are secretly monster hunters and accidentally releases all of their monsters, causing her to feel 15 years’ worth of fear all at once. This plot has the same ridiculousness that has been synonymous with Disney Channel movies, featuring a monster whose main goal is to ruin a Halloween party, acting by smirking, a noticeable lack of logic as no one believes in monsters even when they are running rampant, a showdown of spelling and song, and insults such as “Dorkenstein”.