Hit A24 Director’s Early Certified-Fresh Horror Films Now Available to Stream

Filmmaker Ti West kicked off a trilogy of horror movies in 2022 with X, which starred Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, and Jenna Ortega, an experience that scored 94% positive reviews on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Given that movie theaters operated at a reduced capacity due to the coronavirus pandemic and that major franchise films helped encourage fans to return to theaters, X‘s early 2022 release marked for a notable genre release that not only excited audiences, but also impressed critics. That paved the way for Pearl to hit theaters later that year, culminating in the release of MaXXXine earlier this summer. For fans looking to dive even deeper into impressive horror films from West, his movies The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers are both streaming on major platforms.

The House of the Devil, which can currently be streamed on Prime Video, AMC+, Shudder, Peacock, Hoopla, Tubi, Pluto, and Plex, was released in 2009 and marked West’s third feature film. The movie stars Jocelin Donahue as college student Samantha and is set during the Satanic panic era of the ’80s. Samantha is desperate to move off of her college campus and, when she finds the perfect apartment, takes a babysitting gig to earn the money to move. Upon her arrival at the job, she learns that it’s an unconventional opportunity to earn a lot more than she expected, though these unexpected duties come with an otherworldly threat.

The House of the Devil currently sits at 85% positive reviews from critics, with Rotten Tomatoes describing the critical consensus as, “Though its underlying themes are familiar, House of the Devil effectively sheds the loud and gory cliches of contemporary horror to deliver a tense, slowly building throwback to the fright flicks of decades past.”

West and his collaborators stayed at a hotel in Connecticut that was supposedly haunted while filming House of the Devil, which led him to develop his follow-up film The Innkeepers, which was filmed at the supposedly haunted location. 2011’s The Innkeepers, which is currently streaming on Prime Video, AMC+, Shudder, Peacock, Hoopla, Tubi, Pluto, Kanopy, Vudu, Screambox, and Plex, stars Sara Paxton and Pat Healy. 

The Innkeepers unfolds during the final weekend of operation for a local hotel, the Yankee Pedlar, with Claire (Paxton) and Luke (Healy) killing time by hunting for ghosts in the seemingly haunted locale. Despite their efforts never yielding any results, the last few guests arriving at the hotel may have kicked up some unexpected activity, or it could merely be their imaginations playing tricks on the pair.

Sitting at 80% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregator details the critical consensus, “It doesn’t break any rules of the genre, but The Innkeepers serves as additional proof that Ti West is a young director that discriminating horror fans can trust.”

While it doesn’t have quite as high of a score as his previous films, West’s 2013 horror movie The Sacrament is currently available on Peacock, The Roku Channel, Hoopla, Kanopy, Pluto, and Plex. The film unfolds as a mockumentary, lampooning the journalistic style of VICE specials, exploring a religious movement that echoes the events of the real-world cult led by Jim Jones in the late ’70s. 

Rotten Tomatoes calculates The Sacrament as having 64% positive reviews, with its critic consensus being, “While it may be a bit too slow for some, The Sacrament offers enough tense atmosphere and intriguing ideas to satisfy discerning horror buffs.”

For fans more interested in West’s more recent efforts, you can stream X on Hoopla, Pearl on Netflix, Fubo, and Hoopla, and MaXXXine is currently available to rent before it premieres on Max later this month.

Will you be checking out these movies? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!