25 Best Horror Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

24. The Witch

Release Year: 2015

Written By: Robert Eggers

Directed By: Robert Eggers

Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson

There are lots of movies about witches. Hocus Pocus, The Craft, Practical Magic–just to rattle off a few heavy hitters. But you wouldn’t call any of those spellbinding ’90s comedies particularly horrific. Enter The Witch, 2015’s supernatural horror film with a period drama twist.

Set in New England in the 1600s, The Witch follows a family who leaves a Puritan plantation in favor of building their own farm to live on. Once they arrive in their forest abode off the beaten path, one of their children vanishes. They soon discover a forest-dwelling witch who torments the family until the shocking end.

Written and directed by newcomer Robert Eggers, The Witch wowed audiences and snagged the directing award at 2015’s Sundance Film Festival. The film is full of shocking and truly terrifying twists, turns, and horror imagery. And that’s not just a bunch of hocus pocus.