It’s October, and we’re gearing up for Halloween, at last some TV viewers are getting in the mood by watching horror or thriller films guaranteed to offer a shiver or two. The streaming service Max has some classic examples of those fright flicks as well as a variety of films in every genre, for every taste. (Max also streams plenty of good series, too, of course. These are the 25 highest-rated shows to watch on Max right now.)
To determine the best movies to stream on Max this October, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of early October 2023, weighting all ratings equally. We considered only movies with at least 5,000 audience votes on either IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes, and ruled out documentaries. Data on streaming availability, also current as of early October, comes from the streaming guide Reelgood. Directorial credits are from IMDb.
True horror fans will want to tune into George A. Romero’s seminal zombie movie “Night of the Living Dead” and/or “The Silence of the Lambs,” featuring an Oscar-winning performance by Anthony Hopkins as cinema’s most sinister cannibal. In keeping with the horror theme, there’s also Mel Brooks’s send-up of the monster-movie genre, “Young Frankenstein.”
Speaking of comedies, two other possibilities are BIlly Wilder’s gender-bending classic “Some Like It Hot” – dubbed the funniest movie ever by BBC Culture – and Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall,” which won four Academy Awards. Allen’s film is one of 17 movies on this list to have won at least one Oscar. The films of the Lord of the Rings trilogy are other examples. (Here’s a list, on Max and elsewhere, of Best Picture nominees and winners you can stream right now.)
As a measure of the breadth of offerings on Max this month, besides seven films by cinematic master Charles Chaplin, Max is offering the Costa-Gavras political thriller “Z,” the Beatles in “A Hard Day’s Night,” and “Parasite,” the first foreign language film to win a Best Picture Oscar.
25. Annie Hall (1977)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (258,110 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (153,824 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (84 reviews)
> Directed by: Woody Allen
24. Limelight (1952)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (19,395 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (7,303 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (35 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
23. Paris, Texas (1984)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (112,195 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (24,479 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (51 reviews)
> Directed by: Wim Wenders
22. Z (1969)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (30,319 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 92% (6,578 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (50 reviews)
> Directed by: Costa-Gavras
21. The Terminator (1984)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (820,969 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89% (776,923 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (65 reviews)
> Directed by: James Cameron
20. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
> IMDb user rating: 8.9/10 (1,710,236 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 86% (34,679,773 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (275 reviews)
> Directed by: Peter Jackson
19. Safety Last! (1923)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (19,650 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (3,761 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (35 reviews)
> Directed by: Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor
18. The Circus (1928)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (32,235 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (6,739 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (28 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
17. Spotlight (2015)
> IMDb user rating: 8.1/10 (473,059 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (70,627 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (375 reviews)
> Directed by: Tom McCarthy
16. Some Like It Hot (1959)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (254,537 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (82,393 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (65 reviews)
> Directed by: Billy Wilder
15. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (33,747 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (6,029 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (47 reviews)
> Directed by: Ernst Lubitsch
14. Princess Mononoke (1997)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (364,905 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (222,309 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (112 reviews)
> Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
13. The Great Dictator (1940)
> IMDb user rating: 8.4/10 (213,266 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (43,757 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (45 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
12. Le Samouraï (1967)
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (52,470 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (10,000 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (33 reviews)
> Directed by: Jean-Pierre Melville
11. Parasite (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (810,722 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 90% (5,000 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 99% (475 reviews)
> Directed by: Bong Joon Ho
10. The Gold Rush (1925)
> IMDb user rating: 8.2/10 (106,473 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 93% (20,591 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (50 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10 (1,731,527 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (1,355,751 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (235 reviews)
> Directed by: Peter Jackson
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10 (1,332,128 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (847,443 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 96% (104 reviews)
> Directed by: Jonathan Demme
7. The Kid (1921)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (120,168 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (15,470 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (48 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
6. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (228,668 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (138,714 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 100% (67 reviews)
> Directed by: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10 (1,546,188 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (1,341,428 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 95% (255 reviews)
> Directed by: Peter Jackson
4. Modern Times (1936)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (228,754 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 95% (40,314 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (108 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
3. Pulp Fiction (1994)
> IMDb user rating: 8.9/10 (1,909,111 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (1,128,444 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 92% (108 reviews)
> Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
2. City Lights (1931)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10 (176,008 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 96% (27,144 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 98% (54 reviews)
> Directed by: Charles Chaplin
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10 (2,419,864 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 94% (1,831,566 reviews)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 94% (345 reviews)
> Directed by: Christopher Nolan