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, you can always rent or buy a digital copy directly from Amazon.
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.
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.
Conclave
Watch Conclave on Amazon Prime Video
Conclave recently saw a resurge in popularity after the death of Pope Francis, and it’s no wonder. This gripping film delves into the highly secretive process of selecting the new head of the Roman Catholic Church. This is led by Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), who soon discovers many deep secrets that could change everything.
Challengers
Watch Challengers on Amazon Prime Video
Luca Guadagnino’s heated take on the world of pro tennis made headlines earlier this year. Art Donaldson (Mike Faist) and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) have been best friends since they were 12, but they’re also former doubles partners. After they both fall for the formidable Tashi (Zendaya), a long-spanning competition begins between the two both on and off the court.
Les Misérables
Watch Les Misérables on Amazon Prime Video
The movie adaptation of the musical Les Misérables will stay with you, with an absolutely spell-binding cast including Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried. The film follows prisoner Jean Valjean, who is freed after 19 years. However, the guard who lets him go continues to haunt him throughout his troubled life.
Red, White and Royal Blue
Watch Red, White and Royal Blue on Amazon Prime Video
Red, White and Royal Blue is an adaptation of the hugely popular YA novel by Casey McQuiston. His Royal Highness Prince Henry and Alex Claremont Diaz, the first son of the President of the United States have a long-standing feud, but when they get to know each other, their romance blossoms.
Amazon
Sound of Metal
Watch Sound of Metal on Amazon Prime Video
This Oscar-winning film from Darius Marder follows drummer Ruben Stone, played by Riz Ahmed. He plays in a metal band, but soon discovers that he’s losing his hearing. He must learn how to navigate his life and identity, and accept a future filled with silence.
Vertigo Films
Suspiria
Watch Suspiria on Amazon Prime Video
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.
Amazon
The Babadook
Watch The Babadook on Amazon Prime Video
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, the effects of grief, motherhood, and mental health issues 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 Video
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.
Amazon
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 an aristocratic circle when he befriends Felix Catton. He spends a summer at the family estate, Saltburn – but soon, his friendship turns into an obsession.
Arsène Wenger: Invincible
Watch Arsène Wenger: Invincible on Amazon Prime Video
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.
Federation Entertainment
Assault on Precinct 13
Watch Assault on Precinct 13 on Amazon Prime Video
Skip the iffy Ethan Hawke 2005 remake 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.
Amazon
The Green Knight
Watch The Green Knight on Amazon Prime Video
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.
Amazon
Palm Springs
Watch Palm Springs on Amazon Prime Video
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 time loop who accidentally drags the bride’s sister – Cristin Milioti (The Penguin) – into the same mess.
Palm Springs is very silly, impressively clever, and surprisingly heartfelt.
Sundance Institute
The Zone of Interest
Watch The Zone of Interest on Prime Video
Jonathan Glazer’s War World II psychological drama is one of the most acclaimed films of 2023. It tells the story of Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, who lives with his family in a household beside the camp. The movie follows Rudolf’s wife, Hedwig, and their children, who live a peaceful life, ignoring the atrocities on the other side of the Auschwitz wall.
Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes, Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor
As Tech Advisor's Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She's also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she's written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.