The 20 best movies on Freevee

Amélie (2001)

This French language romantic comedy tells the story of a Parisian waitress (Audrey Tautou) whose life takes on new purpose after she discovers a box of childhood treasures under a floorboard in her apartment and reunites them with their owner (Maurice Bénichou). A whimsical, playful film that charmed French moviegoers, international audiences, and critics alike, Amélie the character ends up having much more depth than her Manic Pixie Dream Girl counterparts, and the movie itself is endlessly enjoyable. EW’s critic at the time writes, “While Amélie the plucky girl beguiles, Amélie the charming movie, already an international success, seduces.” —Ilana Gordon

Where to watch Amélie: Freevee

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Cast: Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Lorella Cravotta

Related content: Amelie: EW stage review

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

In 1994, three student filmmakers trekked through Maryland’s Black Hills Forest to shoot a documentary about a witch, only to disappear without a trace. A year later, their footage is discovered, offering insight into the events leading to their vanishing. When The Blair Witch Project was released in 1999, it helped redefine the horror genre by creating a market for found footage films, thanks to an online advertising campaign so believable that audiences assumed the actors to be truly dead. The film's premise — while terrifying — is ultimately superfluous. In true Hitchcockian form, the actual terror in The Blair Witch Project lies in the unseen and unexplained moments, inviting audiences to fill in the blanks. The film producers understood that the unknown is always the scariest option, and their film proves them right. —I.G.

Where to watch The Blair Witch Project: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez 

Cast: Heather Donahue, Michael Williams, Joshua Leonard 

Related content: The Blair Witch Project: 5 things you didn't know about the scariest low-budget horror movie ever

Candyman (2021)

Nobody knows how to subvert horror tropes and transform them into social commentary quite like Jordan Peele, who wrote the script for the urban legend slasher movie Candyman. A sequel to the 1992 version of the film and the fourth movie in the Candyman franchise, Peele’s take — directed by Nia DaCosta — centers the story in a quickly gentrifying area of Chicago, near the now shuttered low-income housing section called Cabrini-Green. The movie’s monster is Candyman, a killer with a hook for a hand who has terrorized the area for decades, and can be summoned by repeating his name five times in front of a mirror. When visual artist Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) learns the story behind the legend from a longtime Cabrini resident, he becomes obsessed with the killer, and his obsession overtakes both his artwork and sanity. A cult classic horror film adapted for modern audiences and peppered with the social and cultural criticism that distinguishes Peele’s work, Candyman will grab you with one hand and hook you with the other. —I.G.

Where to watch Candyman: Freevee

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Director: Nia DaCosta

Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo

Related content: Candyman sequel director releases animated short featuring iconic horror character

Charade (1963)

Stanley Donen's playful comedic thriller stars Audrey Hepburn as a widow pursued by the gang of violent thieves who murdered her husband. In the face of danger, she's aided by Cary Grant in prime late-era form. Often dismissed as a Hitchcock wannabe, Charade is, in reality, a very knowing and well-plotted nail-biter, featuring gorgeous international locations and some terrific chemistry between Hepburn and Grant. The film was remade in 2002 as The Truth About Charlie, with Mark Wahlberg in Grant's role and Thandiwe Newton standing in for Hepburn, though it doesn't hold a candle to the classic original work. —D.G.

Where to watch Charade: Freevee

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Stanley Donen

Cast: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, George Kennedy, James Coburn

Related content: Legacy: Audrey Hepburn

The Forever Purge (2021)

The most recent of the five movies in The Purge franchise, The Forever Purge is here to break all the rules. Set in Texas in 2048 after the titular tradition has been reinstated, the film follows the events surrounding the 2049 Purge, in which a group of masked killers intends to racially purify the country indefinitely. When the violence fails to stop after the formal Purge ends, two families must band together to escape the anarchists by crossing into Mexico, but with the United States under siege, surviving the Forever Purge will be much more difficult than just surviving the night. Creator James DeMonaco previously implied that this would be the final installment of the franchise, but he appears to have had a change of heart. But until a formal release date is announced, this horror movie is here to keep fans engaged and terrified. —I.G.

Where to watch The Forever Purge: Freevee

Director: Everardo Valerio Gout

Cast: Ana de la Reguera, Tenoch Huerta, Cassidy Freeman, Leven Rambin, Josh Lucas, Will Patton

Related content: Louisiana police department apologizes for using The Purge siren to signal curfew

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Adapted from James Baldwin’s book by the same name, If Beale Street Could Talk tells the story of Tish (KiKi Layne) and Fonny (Stephan James), a young couple living in Harlem in the 1970s. Fonny and Tish are in love, but their romance is tested after Fonny is falsely accused of committing a violent rape. Upon learning she is pregnant with his child, Tish and her family attempt to clear Fonny’s name and secure his release from prison before the baby arrives. Also starring Regina King, whose performance as Tish’s mother won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Beale Street is an affecting film, performed brilliantly by an ensemble cast. Writer-director Barry Jenkins tells EW that while putting the film together, he used the “lavish nature of [Baldwin’s] language as an inspiration when trying to visually translate the words as images.” And according to Baldwin’s family, he succeeded. —I.G.  

Where to watch If Beale Street Could Talk: Freevee

Director: Barry Jenkins 

Cast: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Dave Franco, Pedro Pascal, Brian Tyree Henry, Regina King  

Related content: Regina King on the heart behind her Oscar-nominated role

The Invisible Man (2020)

If you’re going to remake one of the most iconic, foundational horror movies (and novels) of all time, this is how to do it. Director Leigh Whannell, who’s come a long way from co-creating the Saw franchise that made him a household name, modernizes the premise to empathetically explore an abusive relationship and the ways in which the specter of a violent partner can resurface even after a split. Elisabeth Moss is fantastic as the ex of a monstrous tech mogul who can’t find rest until she knows he’s out of her life for good. “A lot of the story’s grip-hold is owed to Moss’s performance: raw, jittery, almost unbearably tense,” EW's critic writes. “She’s a woman whose own body is a prison, as long as her ex walks around without one.” Speaking to EW, Whannell also addresses the film’s most shocking scene, which unfolds where you’d least expect it. “I wanted something that felt very safe to the audience, so that when [it] happened, the audience would be knocked on their arse.” —Kathryn Vandervalk

Where to watch The Invisible Man: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Leigh Whannell

Cast: Elisabeth Moss, Aldis Hodge, Storm Reid, Harriet Dyer, Michael Dorman, Oliver Jackson-Cohen

Related content: Watch a deleted scene from The Invisible Man

Ip Man (2010)

Eight years before Donnie Yen portrayed a stoically deadly warrior in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Hong Kong superstar played the titular martial arts master most famous for teaching Bruce Lee. Ip Man takes place long before that, though, with Yen's Wing Chun master reluctantly proving his superior skills against rival martial arts schools, and, eventually, the invading Japanese. Playing loosely with the biography of the very real Ip Man, Wilson Yip's film is a jingoistic mix of anti-Japan sentiment and stunning action set pieces. Yen, already a global martial arts star, studied Wing Chun under fellow Hong Kong action star Sammo Hung, and makes the unassuming Ip Man a riveting blur of jackhammer punches and balletic movement whenever anyone proves unwise enough to disturb his quiet life. You might guess the outcome, but the spectacle of Yen's real-life prowess will still knock you on your heels. —Dennis Perkins

Where to watch Ip Man: Freevee

Director: Wilson Yip

Cast: Donnie Yen

Related content: Dave Bautista felt 'completely lost' while making Master Z: Ip Man Legacy

Lake Mungo (2010)

Given that everything natural on the continent is designed to kill you, Australia seems an ideal setting for a horror movie. But in the psychological horror film Lake Mungo — set in Ararat, Australia — the fear isn’t born from external foes, but rather from the terror required to succumb to the depths of human feeling. Lake Mungo begins with the accidental drowning of 16-year-old Alice Palmer. Upon returning home, her brother Matthew believes he sees Alice’s ghost, but further investigation from the Palmer family reveals that Alice was seeing premonitions of her death. Far from providing closure, the family begins to realize that the more they learn about Alice’s personal life, the less they understand about what happened to her. Shot in mockumentary style and incorporating elements of found footage, Lake Mungo is, at its core, a horror movie about human behavior and navigating grief. —I.G.

Where to watch Lake Mungo: Freevee

Director: Joel Anderson 

Cast: Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger

Related content: Stream and scream: 9 found-footage horror movies you can (and should) watch right now

The Last Five Years (2015)

Jason Robert Brown’s 2001 stage musical loosely based on his own failed marriage is notable for its use of time; the show tells a love story from two perspectives, with each starting from a different place in the narrative. The character of Jamie (played in the film by Jeremy Jordan) remembers the relationship chronologically, while Cathy (Anna Kendrick) tells the story starting from the ending and going in reverse; the two characters’ stories only intersect in the middle, during a song about their wedding. The film version of The Last Five Years adapts the source material with a light touch, allowing the show's structure and music, and the movie's two talented stars to take center stage. —I.G.

Where to watch The Last Five Years: Freevee

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Cast: Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan

Related content: Anna Kendrick serenades Jeremy Jordan in The Last Five Years clip

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Edgar Wright takes viewers on an aesthetic, murderous journey through England's swinging ‘60s in his psychological thriller, Last Night in Soho. When aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) moves to London for school, she finds herself fixated on Sandie (Anya Taylor-Joy), a blonde bombshell she meets in her dreams. But the more time Eloise spends asleep and observing Sandie’s glamorous nightclub life, the more she finds herself thrown into a decades-old mystery that has her questioning her own sanity. A stylistic caper featuring Diana Rigg's final role before her death, EW’s critic says, “An original Avenger and former Bond Girl, she might have actually come closest to embodying the mad, mod world Wright so lovingly recreates here on screen.” —I.G.   

Where to watch Last Night in Soho: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Edgar Wright 

Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg

Related content: How Edgar Wright's '60s playlist conjured the 'lucid dream' of Last Night in Soho

Lion (2016)

Finding your way home is impossible when you don’t realize you’re lost, as is the case for Saroo (Sunny Pawar). Raised in Tasmania by adoptive parents who found him as a 5-year-old in Calcutta, twentysomething Saroo (Dev Patel) has a revelation: He was discovered there after being separated from his biological mother and brother. This prompts him to embark on a journey to locate his birthplace and reunite with his long-lost relatives. Based on the autobiography by Saroo Brierley — the author’s birth name, Sheru, translates to "lion" — the film offers outstanding, compassionate performances from its cast, coupled with a visually captivating odyssey. Described by EW's critic as "a complicated true story has been airbrushed into a postmodern legend," Lion is praised as "a celebration of global citizenship." —Sammi Burke

Where to watch Lion: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Garth Davis

Cast: Dev Patel, Sunny Pawar, Rooney Mara, David Wenham, Nicole Kidman, Abhishek Bharate, Divian Ladwa, Keshav Jadhav, Priyanka Bose 

Related content: Lion: How Nicole Kidman's own experience with adoption informed her performance

Margin Call (2011)

Set in a fictional Wall Street firm and transpiring over a 24-hour period, Margin Call offers a fast-moving, high-stakes retrospective into the 2008 financial crisis as told by the perpetrators who enkindled it. Stanley Tucci plays the company’s risk assessment manager who, after suffering a layoff, passes a zip drive containing an unfinished project along to his co-worker (Zachary Quinto). The information on that drive is enough to incite a panic, driving the firm’s key players back into the office as they strategize late into the night, plotting a way to save the company from bankruptcy — moral and economic implications be damned. Also featuring Demi Moore, Paul Bettany, and Jeremy Irons, and showcasing an impressive debut from writer/director J. C. Chandor, Margin Call offers up an ensemble cast “at the top of their game,” EW’s critic writes, capturing “with a reality that can’t be shaken off, how our financial institutions became secret havens to a selfishness so undiluted it was sociopathic.” The movie is all the more impressive when you consider the turnaround: Principal photography began in June of 2010, less than two years after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September of 2008. —I.G.

Where to watch Margin Call: Freeve

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: J.C. Chandor

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci

Related content: Stanley Tucci's Margin Call monologue: Watch here!

The Mist (2007)

The average reader doesn’t open a Stephen King book expecting a whimsical romp, but even the most emotionally impenetrable of King fans will find themselves sucker punched by the ending to 2007’s film adaptation of The Mist. Starring an ensemble cast that includes standouts Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden, The Mist follows the residents of a small town in Maine as they resupply on groceries after a storm, only to find themselves trapped inside the store as a supernatural mist — and whatever’s lurking inside — descends upon them. Distinguishing The Mist from your standard meat and potatoes sci-fi fare is the thematic suggestion that religious fanaticism is as dangerous of a threat as mutant creatures. Per director Frank Darabont’s preference (he also helmed stellar King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile), the film was shot in black and white, but released in color for theatrical audiences. It’s a King film that is not to be missed — but enter into The Mist at your own peril. —I.G.

Where to watch The Mist: Freevee

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Frank Darabont

Cast: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Alexa Davalos

Related content: Audiences — and Marcia Gay Harden's husband — REALLY wanted her character to die in The Mist

Out of the Furnace (2013)

Life in the rust-belt after the recession and end of the Iraq War is desolate, but the one thing folks in Braddock, Pa., have going for them is a love of family and a thirst for justice. Such is the case for steel worker and ex-convict Russell Baze (Christian Bale) whose Iraq War vet brother Rodney goes missing after an illegal bare knuckle fight. A crime thriller that pits a sociopathic drug dealer (Woody Harrelson) against a man with nothing left to lose, Out of the Furnace is violent, vengeful, and completely intoxicating. While the film made EW critic Chris Nashawaty’s list of the 10 best movies of 2013, Out of the Furnace slipped under the radar for most people, but remains a dominant achievement. As noted in the review, “All of the actors (including Zoe Saldaña as Bale’s ex) are remarkable. But it’s Bale, and his almost biblical quest for justice, who burns his way into your soul.” — I.G. 

Where to watch Out of the Furnace: Freevee

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Scott Cooper

Cast: Christian Bale, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe, Zoe Saldaña, Sam Shepard

Related content: Christian Bale seeks justice in Out of the Furnace trailer

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Eight gangsters walk into a Los Angeles diner and argue over appropriate tipping etiquette. So begins Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature film, Reservoir Dogs, one of the all-time great independent movies and a film student favorite. The thriller follows colorfully-named crooks who pull a diamond heist, only for the job to go sideways. With some members of the crew missing, and some presumed dead, the remaining thieves must determine whether or not they were set up — and which of their number betrayed them. Even with Tarantino’s career still in its infancy, his gifts as a writer and director are on full display here. Also visible in their inchoate form are Tarantino’s dexterity with dialogue and subversive delight in folding comedic nuggets into even the most violent of scenes. While the settings and production value give a slight nod to the film’s low budget, the high concept premise and impressive execution make it a must-see, even for the Tarantino averse. —I.G.    

Where to watch Reservoir Dogs: Freevee

EW grade: A (read the review) 

Director: Quentin Tarantino 

Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Edward Bunker, Quentin Tarantino

Related content: Reservoir Dogs soundtrack

Secretary (2002)

In recent years, Secretary’s marketing campaign (or whatever you call it 20 years later) has rebranded it as the original Fifty Shades of Grey. Unfortunately, that is both a hack assessment and a wholly accurate one. The difference is that Secretary has crackling dialogue, is gorgeously shot, and actually works as a story. You care about the two lost souls — James Spader as the deviant boss literally named Mr. Grey, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as his willingly submissive assistant — at the center, and root for them to connect rather than wonder if you should call the authorities to report what you’re seeing. It’s kinky, but it isn’t empty. —D.G.

Where to watch Secretary: Freevee

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Steven Shainberg

Cast: James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Lesley Ann Warren, Jeremy Davies, Amy Locane

Related content: Pushing the envelope

Stillwater (2021)

If Taken was written as an ethically nuanced thriller instead of a campy action movie, it would be Stillwater. The drama from Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy follows an Oklahoma father who moves to France to reconnect with his estranged daughter, Allison — and to attempt to spring her from prison where she is serving a murder sentence for a crime she claims she did not commit. A story reminiscent of Amanda Knox’s cursed study abroad experience — Knox does not approve, by the way — Stillwater benefits from the performances of its cast, led by Matt Damon in the role of Allison’s tortured father, Bill Baker. EW’s reviewer writes the film is a “slow-churn character study of a man who is arguably more lost than the incarcerated daughter he's so desperate to free will ever be.” —I.G.

Where to watch Stillwater: Freevee

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Tom McCarthy

Cast: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin

Related content: Matt Damon on the surprising life lessons he learned shadowing roughnecks for Stillwater

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

One of the forebears of the horror genre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre built the sadistic road map followed by many modern films — the Saw and Hostel franchises among them. A movie that inspired nine sequels, the most recent being 2022's X, this ‘70s torture film only needs a chainsaw and a leather facemask sewn from human skin to drive its viewers into spasms of terror. Following a group of young hippies who visit an old family farmhouse and end up encountering the home’s murderous next-door neighbors, EW deems The Texas Chainsaw Massacre the “template for modern horror.” As EW's critic writes, “What Chainsaw channeled, far more than any other horror film of its time, was the dementia, the terrifying insanity, of violence. It made you feel like you were really experiencing what it was like to be murdered.” —I.G.

Where to watch The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Freevee

Director: Tobe Hooper

Cast: Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, Gunnar Hansen

Related content: John Larroquette was paid in weed to narrate The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: 'It was a favor'

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

Zero Dark Thirty isn’t a historically accurate account of the era during which Osama bin Laden was hunted and killed, but it is an unquestionably gripping thriller. Written by Mark Boal and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the film’s release prompted controversy on all sides, with some arguing that it propagandized the Obama administration and others claiming it glorified the CIA’s use of torture tactics. The one thing all sides can agree on is that Jessica Chastain delivers a standout performance as Maya, a CIA analyst tasked with finding bin Laden. While the character serves as a composite of the many people who contributed to the terrorist’s capture and killing, Chastain plays her with a restrained, obsessive fervor. —I.G.

Where to watch Zero Dark Thirty: Freevee

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Joel Edgerton

Related content: The real voices in Zero Dark Thirty: Families upset over usage in film