Amazon Prime Video has developed into one of our favourite video streaming services. It offers loads of recent and classic movies and TV shows, and the rate at which new content is added continues to impress.
However, it does have more than its share of odd, obscure and downright bad content. We're here to help you dig out the best stuff.
In this article, we'll look at the best movies you can currently stream for free with a Prime subscription.
There are some classics, some newer releases and heady stuff along with some action blockbuster content that may top off a hard day of work rather nicely.
Remember, new members can try Prime for 30 days for free.
- For TV recommendations, check out our shortlist of the best Amazon Prime series
NOTE: the following is available on Amazon Prime Video in the UK. Please check your region for availability.
New release movies on Prime Video
Conclave
Who knew the appointing of a new pope could be this dramatic? Conclave charts what happens when a pope dies, and another has to be voted in. There’s backstabbing. There are ulterior motives, and the entire direction of the Catholic Church is at stake. Ralph Fiennes puts in a cracking performance as peace-maker father Lawrence, while Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow also tear up the screen. You’ll have to trust us, but this movie about papal procedure is a proper thrill ride.
Heretic
Hugh Grant as a dangerous psychopath isn’t the most obvious casting choice. But it works in Heretic, an atmospheric A24 horror-thriller in which a pair of young Mormon missionary women are held captive. It was made for peanuts, on the Hollywood scale, at $10 million. In return we get an immersive, and more thoughtful-than-most, genre smash that shows another side of a romcom icon.
Small Things Like These
A coal trader discovers the sins of the Church in an Irish town, putting unmarried women to work in indentured servitude. Cillian Murphy stars in this non-melodramatic drama that quietly seethes under the surface. It recounts the same historical wrongs as The Magdalene Sisters, a movie from 20-plus years earlier. But Small Things Like These is based on a historical fiction novel by Claire Keegan.
More of the best movies on Prime Video
Palm Springs
A wonderful timeloop movie that manages to find something fresh in what is now a well-worn plot point.
Adam Samberg is fantastic as the man stuck replaying the same day over and over which he hates - until someone comes into his life that unwittingly falls into the same predicament he finds himself in.
Sound of Metal
Riz Ahmed gives a career-defining performance as a drummer for a metal band who loses his hearing. The results are a gripping, tender study of the human psyche when it has to combat something that is life changing.
I Care A Lot
There is no better than Rosamund Pike to create a villain so evil but bloody persuasive that you nearly end up rooting for her. She did it in Gone Girl and has done it again in I Care A lot.
Here she is a con artist trying to grift retirees by becoming their legal guardians. What happens is jaw dropping and Pike is just fantastic to watch throughout.
Air
Ben Affleck both stars and directs this brilliant film about the Nike execs who wanted to sign a yet-unknown basketball player to their books. The player was Michael Jordan and the rest is history.
This one has only just finished in the cinema but because of its backing from Amazon Studios, it's now available to watch on Prime.
Vast of the Night
A nice ultra-low budget thriller that has one of the best tracking shots in it we have seen. In the 50s, a DJ and switchboard operator find an audio signal that could well change a town in New Mexico forever.
The movie keeps you guessing right up to the end. At times it feels like an extended Twilight Zone episode but it's all done so well.
The Report
The Watch is a gripping look at the true story of those trying to hold the government account for its 'enhanced interrogation' practises in the events after 9/11.
Adam Driver is superb as the senator looking into how the CIA conducted its business and the abnormalities in what they were doing, trying to uncover a level of brutality that nobody wanted the world to know about.
One Night In Miami
One Night In Miami is an understated movie and all the better for it. For the most part, it takes place in one room (a motel room) after Cassius Clay's big fight with Sonny Liston.
Within that time the worlds of Clay, Malcolm X, Jim Brown and Sam Cooke collide in a drama that is compelling to watch.
The Aeronauts
This escapist fantasy is unlikely to feature on many top 10 all-time film lists. But it is an absolute must-see in 2020, when we can all do with a break from the real world.
A pilot (Felicity Jones) and nerdy meteorologist (Eddie Redmayne) are an unlikely team in a record-breaking hot air balloon trip into the sky. Tune your brain into The Aeronauts frequency and you’re in for one of the most charming live action family movies in years. There are sofa-clenching sections too.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre
Guy Ritchie is back with a slice of what this iconic British director does best: action. And Operation Fortune also stars one of the greatest of the genre, Jason Statham.
While this movie may not pop quite as much as Ritchie classic Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, it's worth a watch if you regard this director's earliest films fondly.
The Zone of Interest
This Oscar-winning movie by Jonathan Glazer looks into the banality of evil. The spotlight is on Nazi officer Rudolf Höss and has family, living outside Auschwitz as he oversees the atrocities of the concentration camp during World War II.
Those horrors are off-screen, unseen, while others just get on with their lives. Based on a novel by Martin Amis.
Dawn of the Dead: Argento Cut
The Argento cut of Dawn Of The Dead is an intriguing one. It's pretty much the Dawn Of The Dead you know and love but the soundtrack has way more Goblin.
This is the cut that most of Europe has seen and it's a much faster-paced version of the movie than you might have seen. Okay, so it's not the purest version of Romero's movie but it is still well worth a watch. And if you don't fancy it, then both the theatrical cut and Cannes' cut are available to watch on Prime, too.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
It’s by no means a perfect movie but the Borat sequel strikes a much-needed political cord with its look at Borat and his daughter making their way to America once more to make fun of the ignorant.
While the ‘story’ is wafer thin, it was a genius idea to bring his daughter along for the ride as she can do everything Borat would do but nobody recognises her - and her scene with one of the most famous people in America caught with his hands down his pants is just brilliant.
I’m Your Woman
Rachel Brosnahan (of Prime Video's The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) is fantastic in this '70s-based drama about a housewife that becomes embroiled in a life of crime.
While the first half of the movie is the best, it's a caustic look at what life was like for women in the Seventies with a nice mix of crime thrills.
My Old Ass
How's this for a high-concept premise? A teenage Elliott takes magic mushrooms, and the ensuing trip sees her meet her future 39-year-old self, played by Aubrey Plaza. But the performance of new star Maisy Stella, the 18-year-old Elliott, is what really keeps My Old Ass ablaze.
This coming-of-age comedy has a real sense of authenticity, thanks to Stella and the strong writing of writer-director Megan Park.
The Iron Claw
A movie about professional wrestlers starring Zac Efron sounds like the stuff of comedy. The Iron Claw is an affecting, and really quite sad, drama, though.
It's the real story of the Von Erichs, a family of wrestlers pushed to the spotlight and tragedy by a father driving his sons to success. Also stars Jeremy Allen White as one of the brothers.
Civil War
This Alex Garland film is set in a near future where the US has been torn apart by, yup, civil war.
Kirsten Dunst stars as a photojournalist who wants to make it to the capital before the rebels reach the White House. It’s an engaging thriller-dram in which you’re never quite sure which faction people are rooting for.
Watch out for Jesse Plemons’s scenes, in which he owns the screen.
Saltburn
Acting Superstar Barry Keoghan is Oliver Quick, a student at Oxford University who works his way into the social circles of rich and entitled young folks.
After being invited over to a friend’s family estate, all hell breaks loose. Saltburn may not be the deepest and most meaningful of films, but it sure is a whole lot of stylish fun.
Kneecap
This story of the creation of Irish rap group Kneecap stars Michael Fassbender as one of the group’s founding members. But that’s one of the least notable things about this corker of a film.
It’s based on a true story, and the in-film members of the group are actual members of the real-world rap group Kneecap, which are rapidly becoming a bit of a cultural phenomenon. They put in an incredible performance, making this into a real awards magnet.
Totally Killer
Here’s a good option if you want a flat-out good time with a horror twist. A serial killer returns after a 35-year hiatus, and Jamie has to travel back in time to stop the killings from happening in the first place.
There’s slasher action, time travel and a bit of mother-daughter Back to the Future’ing. Totally Killer has a similar feel to Happy Death Day or Freaky, and comes totally recommended.
Being The Ricardos
This Aaron Sorkin drama features a nearly unrecognisable Nicole Kidman as Lucille Ball, focusing on her time on the hit show I Love Lucy.
Javier Bardem is the other half of the power couple and we see the goings on of their lives through the course of filming an I Love Lucy episode - from script read to performance. Both the acting and the script here are fantastic, as you would expect with the talent on show.
You’re Cordially Invited
Rom coms often seem not to make it into cinemas these days, but You’re Cordially Invited has the air of a bit of a hit from a couple of decades past.
It stars Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon as the father and sister of two separate wedding parties. And they find out their venue has been double booked, right as they both arrive at the venue.
It’s funny and largely good-natured, largely propelled by two thoroughly watchable performances from those iconic leads.
Challengers
Who knew tennis could be this raunchy? This time period hopping sports drama sees Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist play a trio of tennis players who meet as teens. But the relationship turns into a fierce rivalry both on and off the court.
Challengers comes from director Luca Guadagnino, who also made Call Me by Your Name and the Suspiria remake, offering clues as to the stylistic sensibilities on show here.
Terrifier 2
The third Terrifier film was one of the big box office stories of 2024. A huge success, given how cheap it was to make, and how flat-out nasty these movies are. The second is still largely considered the highlight of the series so far, though.
Should you watch it? That’s up for debate. This is a gory film that delights in pushing boundaries, in a way some will find juvenile and distasteful. But if you’re wondering what all the fuss was about, Prime Video can supply the goods.
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