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Image via Max
Spooky season definitely arrived earlier than expected. As audiences officially enter into the month of Halloween, streamers are tuning in to stream so much much-needed horror inspiration. From the creepy clown Pennywise in It Chapter Two, to the adorkable Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas, everyone’s embracing their inner scary. Plus, the new Salem’s Lot movie, which was supposed to be released in late 2022, finally rose from the coffin and flew its way to Max.
Check out the top 10 most streamed movies in the US. Each pick comes with a quick summary so you can keep up with what’s trending. With a variety of selections, ranging from family-friendly picks like Sing to the heart-pounding The Platform 2, there’s something for everyone.
Read more about the best movies available on streaming:
- The 8 Best R-Rated Scary Movies on Prime Video Right Now (October 2024)
- The 20 Best Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now (October 2024)
- The 31 Best Horror Movies on Shudder Right Now (October 2024)
Editor's Note: The Nielsen streaming data is delayed by four weeks, so this list reflects the top 10 from September 30 - October 6.
10 ‘The Mechanic’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 193,000,000
Image via Summit Entertainment Directors: Simon West | Cast: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland, Tony Goldwyn
Arthur Bishop (Statham) is the ultimate “mechanic” - an assassin who makes sure that each hit looks like a tragic accident. But when his mentor and only friend, Harry (Sutherland), ends up on the wrong end of a job, Bishop’s laser-sharp detachment shatters. Now fueled by revenge, he finds himself mentoring Harry’s son, Steve (Foster), a reckless hothead with a taste for vengeance.
Stuck with a deadly partnership, the two couldn’t be any more different. Bishop’s meticulous planning clashes with Steve’s unpredictable rage. As the pair hunts those responsible, the lines between mentor and mentee blur. Even the most precise of mechanics can find himself with a target on his back.
The Mechanic
Release Date January 28, 2011
TMDB User Rating 6 .513
Runtime 93 Minutes
9 ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’
Platform: Disney+ | Minutes Watched: 198,000,000
Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Directors: Henry Selick | Cast: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix
Halloween Town’s Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington, is restless in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Year after year spooks and scares have left him craving something jolly. When he stumbles upon Christmas Town, bursting with lights, cheer, and way too much snow, Jack is hooked. He decides to bring the Christmas spirit home and give Halloween Town a holly-jolly makeover.
But explaining “merriness” to a town full of goblins and ghosts is easier said than done. Before long, Halloween Town’s version of “jolly” turns a little more nightmare than nice. Jack’s well-meaning but misguided attempts to play Santa risk running Christmas for everyone. From enchanted toys gone rogue and a sinister Oogie Boogie on the loose, Jack must learn there’s no place like home.
Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home causes confusion.
Release Date October 9, 1993
Director Henry Selick
Runtime 76
8 ‘The Platform 2’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 206,000,000
Image via Netflix Directors: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia | Cast: Hovik Keuchkerian, Milena Smit
The nightmarish Pit is back and hungrier than ever in The Platform 2. This time in the sequel, the Vertical Self-Management Center has imposed new, sick rules: inmates can only eat the one dish they chose upon entering, a “fairness” rule that doesn’t sit well with many. Anyone daring enough to break the rules will experience brutal consequences.
As floors shuffle and desperation mounts, a new inmate sparks a fiery rebellion, challenging the cruel hierarchy in a desperate fight for real equity. Led by a mysterious enforcer who thrives on oppression, the prisoners descend into chaos, testing the limits of humanity - and just how far each person will go to survive.
The Platform 2
In The Platform 2, a new group of prisoners faces the harrowing vertical prison's structure, where a descending platform delivers dwindling food supplies. As they navigate shifting alliances and test the limits of human desperation, they seek unity and survival against mounting uncertainty, questioning the system's irreversible impact on their humanity.
Release Date October 1, 2024
Runtime 100 Minutes
7 ‘It Chapter Two’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 244,000,000
Image Via Warner Bros. Directors: Andy Muschietti | Cast: James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan
27 years have passed, but the trauma lingers in IT Chapter Two. The Losers Club is scattered across the country, each member haunted by shadowy memories of that fateful summer in Derry, Maine. But when a sinister phone call comes from their old friend Mike, the adults are dragged back to the town - and nightmare - they thought they’d escaped.
Pennywise, the monstrous, shape-shifting clown, has returned, stronger and hungrier than ever, feeding off fear and terrorizing Derry’s new generation. As the Losers reunite, they must confront their deepest fears, reclaim their courage, and end Pennywise’s horrific reign once and for all.
Twenty-seven years after their first encounter with the terrifying Pennywise, the Losers Club have grown up and moved away, until a devastating phone call brings them back.
Release Date September 6, 2019
Runtime 169 Minutes
Main Genre Horror
6 ‘Jailbreak: Love on the Run’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 249,000,000
Image via Netflix Directors: Dan Abrams | Cast: Joy Behar, Mike Blakely, Joyce Brawley
Jailbreak: Love on the Run is a documentary following Vicky White, a respected corrections officer in Alabama who lived by the rules - until she met Casey, a much younger inmate with a dangerous past. Known for her compassion and dedication at work, Vicky stunned her colleagues by risking it all to help him escape.
Suddenly, her impending retirement becomes a manhunt that’s become the talk of national news outlets. What starts as an ordinary day on the job becomes a scandalous tale of forbidden love, deception, and a daring jailbreak.
Vicky White, a well-respected corrections officer, becomes embroiled in a high-stakes escape plan with convicted felon Casey White, nearly twenty years her junior. Their forbidden romance sets off a national manhunt, culminating in a tragic end after 11 days on the run, spotlighting the intense media frenzy that followed their actions.
Release Date September 25, 2024
Runtime 88 Minutes
Main Genre Documentary
5 ‘Escape Plan’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 259,000,000
Image via Summit Entertainment Directors: Mikael Håfström | Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, Vinnie Jones
In Escape Plan, Ray Breslin is the best in the business at breaking out of prisons - a master of security whose job is to find flaws in so-called “escape-proof facilities. But when a mysterious CIA agent offers him $5 million to test a top-secret, high-security fortress known only as “The Tomb”, Ray soon realizes he’s not just testing the system, he’s trapped in it.
Double-crossed and locked in with the world’s worst criminals, Ray faces a sadistic warden and ruthless guards determined to keep him inside forever. But he’s not alone: Emil Rottmayer, a cunning fellow inmate, becomes an unlikely ally. Together, they hatch a daring plan to escape the unbreakable prison and expose the traitor who set Ray up.
Release Date October 10, 2013
Runtime 116minutes
Writers Jason Keller
4 ‘The Garfield Movie’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 323,000,000
Image via Sony Pictures Director: Mark Dindal | Cast: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult
The Garfield Movie shows how everyone’s favorite lasagna-loving orange furball got his start. When a tiny, rain-soaked kitten with a big personality wanders the dirty alleyways and crosses a busy street, little does it realize that it’s about to meet its future owner. Jon Arbuckle (Hoult), is about to munch on a pizza at a local eater when fate (and a serious case of kitty eyes) arrives on his window.
One look at Garfield, and Jon’s a goner, eventually taking the drenched kitten home. Fast-forward a few years: Garfield’s not just a house cat - he’s king of the caste. With a larger-than-life personality and an even bigger appetite, he’s living the sweet life with his trusty dog buddy Odie. But when Garfield’s scrappy, long-lost dad, Vic (Jackson), shows up with a scheme, the duo’s comfy life spirals into a fur-flying heist.
Garfield is about to go on a wild outdoor adventure. After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father - the cat Vic - Garfield and Odie are forced to abandon their pampered life to join Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.
Release Date May 24, 2024
Director Mark Dindal
Writers jim davis , Paul A. Kaplan , David Reynolds
3 ‘Salem's Lot’
Platform: Max | Minutes Watched: 327,000,000
Image via Max Directors: Gary Dauberman | Cast: Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Alfre Woodard, John Benjamin Hickey
When writer Ben Mears (Pullman) heads back to his sleepy hometown of Jerusalem’s Lot, he’s hoping for a little inspiration - maybe even a spark for his next bestseller. But instead of nostalgia, he’s met with an eerie silence and a darkness seeping through every creak and shadow.
A vampire has taken up residence, transforming the quaint town into a haunted hunting ground where familiar faces turn to fangs overnight. Determined to root out the evil infecting his home, Ben assembles a ragtag group of townsfolk - each with a score to settle - to wage war against the ancient creature. As dawn inches closer in Salem’s Lot, their lives - and souls - are on the line.
In Salem's Lot (2024), writer Ben Mears returns to his childhood town to craft a novel, only to find that its residents are being transformed into vampires. As the sinister forces grow, Ben and a group of allies must confront the malevolent presence threatening to consume the entire community.
Release Date September 25, 2024
Director Gary Dauberman
Runtime 113 Minutes
2 ‘Sing’
Platform: Netflix | Minutes Watched: 347,000,000
Image via Universal Directors: Garth Jennings | Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson
In the bustling animal metropolis of Sing, Buster Moon, an eternally optimistic - and slightly desperate - koala, is clinging to the last thread of his once-glorious theater. Determined to revive his failing stage, he cooks up a wild idea: a singing competition to bring in the crowds. But thanks to a flyer mix-up, the prize is mistakenly set at a whopping $100,000, turning Buster’s modest event into the talk of the town.
Soon, an eclectic cast of dreamers - from a shy elephant with a powerhouse voice to a hustling street musician mouse - flock to his doors, hoping to change their lives. As tensions rise and passions soar, Buster and his contestants discover that the power of music and a little courage might just save more than a theater.
Release Date November 23, 2016
Runtime 110
1 ‘Inside Out 2’
Platform: Disney+ | Minutes Watched: 908,000,000
Image via Pixar Directors: Kelsey Mann | Cast: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Liza Lapira, Tony Hale
Riley and her emotions are back in Inside Out 2. Nobody said growing up is easy, and Riley definitely knows what it feels like. Officially entering middle school, Riley’s teenage years are in full swing. It’s not just her who’s freaking about her new changes - emotional HQ is about to face its biggest crisis yet. Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, have been through a lot, but they’ve never dealt with with new emotions in the building.
Out of nowhere, Anxiety pops up in HQ, a.k.a. The overbearing newcomer who swoops in to keep Riley “safe” by micromanaging her every move, and totally wrecking her social life in the process. As if Anxiety isn’t enough, HQ unwillingly welcomes an entourage of less-than-favorable emotions: Envy (Edebiri), Embarrassment (Hauser), and Ennui (Exarchopoulos). Get ready for some hard-hitting teen angst - HQ is clearly in for some high-octane hormonal mayhem.
Inside Out 2 follows the emotional journey of a now-teenage Riley as she encounters new challenges and emotions. As her mind expands, so does the complexity of her inner world, where new emotions must collaborate with old ones to guide her through adolescence, creating dynamic and heartfelt experiences.
Release Date June 14, 2024
Director Kelsey Mann
Runtime 96 Minutes
English (US) ·