October is prime season for horror fans, and Tubi added a massive collection of 186 new movies and shows to sift through this month. Wading through hundreds of ad-supported options isn't anyone's idea of a fun time, which is why I'm here to shout out the best horror heavyweights you can stream for free (with ads!) right now.
Whether you're looking for found footage horror with '70s flair, an unhinged Technicolor nightmare, or sun-drenched folk dread, Tubi has you covered. So you can skip the endless scrolling, because these three modern horror masterpieces boast 80% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes and are available to stream completely free.
'Late Night With The Devil' (2023)
I missed “Late Night with the Devil” in theaters, but its 97% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and all the good things I heard about David Dastmalchian's lead performance convinced me to watch it on streaming. Now it's one of my favorite horror movies from the past five years. “Late Night with the Devil” breathes new life (and plenty of scares) into the well-trodden found-footage horror genre with some '70s flair. Framed as a documentary about a fictional '70s late-night talk show, it follows one night's infamous broadcast that took a supernatural turn.
David Dastmalchian stars as Jack Delroy, a Johnny Carson wannabe behind the struggling chat show named “Night Owls. In a desperate attempt to boost ratings, he brings a supposedly possessed girl onto the show. As you might expect, all hell breaks loose. What sets “Late Night with the Devil” apart is its inventive use of the talk show format, both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, to gradually build tension, culminating in a truly chilling finale.
Watch "Late Night With The Devil" on Tubi for free (with ads) now
'Pearl' (2022)
"Pearl" is the horror movie I recommend most to people by a country mile. It's technically the middle entry in Ti West's "X" trilogy, but it also works as a standalone story, and "The Odyssey's" Mia Goth give the performance of a lifetime. She stars as Pearl, a young woman with her sights set on Hollywood — if she can get out from under the thumb of her overbearing mother (Tandi Wright) long enough to shoot her shot.
When her wealthy sister-in-law lets her know about a troupe in town auditioning new dancers to take on the road, Pearl sees it as her ticket to finally get off the farm. But when her chances at stardom crumble right before her eyes, she doesn't handle it well. And I mean at all. This unsettling psychological horror owes much of its success to Goth, who kills it as a hungry starlet who'll stop at nothing for her moment in the spotlight, and Wright, whose monologue about a "festering malevolence" she sees inside her daughter never fails to give me chills.
Watch "Pearl" on Tubi for free (with ads) now
'Midsommar' (2019)
Ari Aster's "Midsommar" is another frequent recommendation. I was underwhelmed by the supernatural bent his first big horror film, "Hereditary," took, but "Midsommar" is much more grounded — and its central metaphor is all the more devastating for that. Florence Pugh stars opposite Jack Reynor as one-half of a young American couple who travels to the remote, fictional commune of Hårga to check out Sweden's midsummer festival.
The festivities quickly give way to bloody ceremonies that leave the Americans scrambling to leave and questioning what exactly they have gotten themselves into. "Midsommar" polarized audiences when it came out in 2019, but I've yet to see another horror film so expertly weave unsettling scares together with a poignant message about grief and escaping what no longer serves us. It's the kind of movie that sticks with you, and I wish I could go back and watch it again for the first time; it's that good.
Watch "Midsommar" on Tubi for free (with ads) now
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