Are you a Prime Video subscriber? These are the films to watch

Prime Video is one of the biggest rivals to Netflix when it comes to TV series, but many people don’t realise that when it comes to movies, Amazon has the big N beat hands-down.

Amazon’s library is bigger but also better, with a wide array of blockbusters bolstered by Oscar favourites and a genuinely fantastic line-up of indie and arthouse fare too – some of the best films of the last few years have boasted an Amazon Original logo.

Every single one of the films we’ve picked out here is currently included for free as part of the Prime subscription service, but if you’re not a subscriber then you can always rent or buy a digital copy directly from Amazon too.

If you’re looking for more inspiration you might also want to consider subscribing to one of the Amazon Prime Channels: these are add-on subscriptions for your Prime account that give you access to films from rival apps like Mubi or BFI Player, along with other films selected from distributors like Arrow Entertainment or MGM, which you can then watch from within the Amazon Prime interface and apps.

Got a favourite we didn’t include? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll be updating this piece regularly as the Amazon Prime film library changes.

Don’t have Prime? Take a look at our complete guide to Amazon Prime to find out more about the service and how to sign up. Keep in mind that ads are now part of the service, so you’ll have to pay extra if you don’t want them.

La La Land

Watch La La Land on Amazon Prime

2016 musical hit La La Land shows how achieving the Hollywood dream often means making compromises. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as actress Mia and jazz pianist Sebastian, who fall in love. As they both begin to gain success, their careers become at odds with their relationship.

Suspiria

Watch Suspiria on Amazon Prime

After the runaway success of Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino could have made almost any film he wanted – so he did an about turn from that sweet, hesitant romance and straight into abject horror. His remake of ’70s giallo classic Suspiria is nothing like the original – which is also on Amazon right now – but is a moody, meditative horror that uses a hypnotic Thom Yorke soundtrack to lull you into an almost trance-like state – before jolting you out with some striking moments of violence.

The Babadook

Watch The Babadook on Amazon Prime

This low-budget Aussie horror became an online sensation, and for good reason. Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut centres around the children’s book of your nightmares, but it’s not really about the book or the Babadook that haunts it. Instead grief, motherhood, and mental health run rampant in a film that’s almost as stressful when its monster is off the screen as when it creeps onto it.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Watch Borat Subsequent Moviefilm on Amazon Prime

Amazon probably spent a lot to secure exclusive rights to Borat 2, released just ahead of the 2020 US presidential election as Sacha Baron-Cohen’s not-exactly-Kazakh reporter Borat returns to the States to explore life in the time of coronavirus. It’s not quite up there with the original, but it’s damn close, and more cutting in its politics than ever before.

Look out for the follow-up mini-series, Borat Supplemental Reportings Retrieved From Floor of Stable Containing Editing Machine, containing outtakes and deleted scenes from the film.

Saltburn

Watch Saltburn on Amazon Prime Video

Saltburn is one of the most divisive films right now, with grotesque and shocking scenes that will certainly leave you talking (and never hearing Murder on the Dance Floor the same way again).

Oxford undergrad Oliver Quick is drawn into the aristocrat world when he befriends Felix Catton. He spends a summer at the family estate, Saltburn – but soon, his friendship turns into an obsession.

Dawn of the Dead

Watch Dawn of the Dead on Amazon Prime

Night of the Living Dead may have come first, but Dawn of the Dead is surely Romero’s zombie magnum opus. A darkly comedic attack on consumerism – and its use to placate society – the film as much horror as social commentary, something slightly lost in Zack Snyder’s otherwise fun remake a few decades later.

If you enjoy the movie, you can even watch it all over again – right now Amazon Prime also offers the film’s extended cut with extra footage, and the European cut edited by none other than horror legend Dario Argento – who just happened to direct the original Suspiria.

Arsène Wenger: Invincible

Watch Arsène Wenger: Invincible on Amazon Prime

An unexpectedly moving portrayal of the French football manager famous for presiding over Arsenal during the club’s most successful spell, including a still-unmatched season when the team went undefeated for an entire Premier League season.

Arsène himself is interviewed extensively, along with various players from that Invincible season and even Wenger’s great rival, Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson, begrudgingly acknowledging the Frenchman’s utterly unique achievement.

Assault on Precinct 13

Watch Assault on Precinct 13 on Amazon Prime

Skip the iffy Ethan Hawke 2005 remake – though it’s on Netflix UK right now if you really insist – and instead head to Amazon for John Carpenter’s moody ’70s classic. Cops, criminals, and civilians find themselves under siege together in a near-abandoned precinct, and things understandably get a little heated.

Like most early Carpenter, the score is worth the price of admission alone, but fine performances and tense plotting make it a must-watch.

The Green Knight

Watch The Green Knight on Amazon Prime

The Green Knight may be based on an Arthurian legend, but don’t expect a rollicking adventure. Instead, this is an arthouse take on the tale of a young knight sent out on a doomed quest in the name of honour. Immaculately shot and perfectly cast, this is the round table as you’ve never seen it before.

Lady Bird

Watch Lady Bird on Amazon Prime

Greta Gerwig may now be best known for Barbie, but Lady Bird was the film that truly catapulted her into the spotlight. A strong-willed teenager is in her senior year of high school, and during this time she’s trying to navigate her turbulent relationship with her mother who is keeping the family afloat after her husband lost his job.

The Big Sick

Watch The Big Sick on Amazon Prime

Kumail Nanjiani stars in this rom-com adapted from his own life, which sees a relationship in its early stages shaken by serious illness. You just have to look at Nanjiani’s real-life marriage to know the film has a happy ending, but along the way it’s a smart comedy that’s refreshingly honest and free from the standard Hollywood cliches.

Palm Springs

Watch Palm Springs on Amazon Prime

Groundhog Day has had a lot of imitators over the years, but Palm Springs is almost certainly the best of them. Andy Samberg (Brooklyn 99) is a wedding guest stuck in a timeloop who accidentally drags the bride’s sister – Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother) – into the same mess.

Palm Springs is very silly, impressively clever, and surprisingly heartfelt. 

Dunkirk

Watch Dunkirk on Amazon Prime

Chris Nolan’s wartime epic Dunkirk is an immersive and spectacular retelling of one of the most famous battles in UK history.

British and allied troupes are stuck on the beach of Dunkirk when Germany invades France. Private Tommy struggles to stay alive as the troupes are gradually evacuated from an enemy that is closing in.

The Wailing

Watch The Wailing on Amazon Prime

If you like straightforward scares and thrills from your horror, then The Wailing might not be up your street. After a string of murders rock a small town, some suspicions turn to the recently arrived Japanese stranger, while others turn to superstition to explain the violence. This Korean thriller is dense with ambiguity to the bitter end, denying the audience any easy answers or comforting resolution, but once it grabs your attention it refuses to let go.

Zoolander

Watch Zoolander on Amazon Prime

If you’re looking for a bit of silly fun, then Zoolander will fit the bill perfectly. Derek Zoolander is one of the most famous male models of all time, despite competition from his rival, Hansel. However, the pair must team up when they become aware of an assassination plot in the fashion world.