Like most streaming services, movies on Amazon Prime Video range from absolute classics to genuinely awful, with plenty of stuff in between. That means when you’re looking for something to watch on Prime, you can find yourself stuck trying to decipher whether your options are any good.
That’s why we’ve pulled together this list of three titles available on Prime Video that are well worth your time. Whether you’re looking for psychological horror or uproarious comedy, this list should have something for you.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, as well as the best shows on Netflix, best shows on Hulu, best shows on Amazon Prime Video, and best shows on Disney+.
Smile 2 (2024)
The original Smile was a surprisingly successful horror movie when it hit theaters in 2022, but Smile 2 ups the ante in all the right ways. As the haunting smile makes its way to a troubled pop star, she begins to experience the usual blend of terror and torment and realizes that she cannot trust any piece of her own reality.
The brilliance of Smile is the way it convinces its audience that this story could have a happy ending, only to pull you into a dark, sinister world. Although they have other kinds of scares, the Smile movies are about what it’s like to lose control of your own mind, and Smile 2 features an awe-inspiring performance from Naomi Scott at its center.
You can watch Smile 2 on Amazon Prime Video.
The Birdcage (1996)
Gene Hackman’s death has many revisiting some of his most iconic performances, but Hackman was never funnier than in The Birdcage. Hackman plays a conservative United States senator who slowly realizes that the boy his daughter is marrying was raised by two gay men. The Birdcage mines so much incredible comedy out of a relatively straightforward premise.
The Birdcage manages to be lightly political, even as it is also just one of the funniest movies ever made. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt to have Robin Williams, Nathan Lane, and Diane Wiest alongside Hackman.
You can watch The Birdcage on Amazon Prime Video.
Contagion (2011)
A movie that still feels a little haunting in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, Contagion is nonetheless a super effective story about what it’s like to live through a catastrophe.
Contagion follows the story of a fictional disease spread across the United States, told from several different perspectives. Contagion also strangely becomes a tribute to the competence of regular people whose job it is to manage unimaginable horrors. No one wants to live through a pandemic, but when one comes, you really want the right people in place to make sure it doesn’t kill us all.
You can watch Contagion on Amazon Prime Video.