Pros & Cons
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- Many low-budget and foreign-language flicks
- 24/7 horror broadcasts
- Free, ad-supported plan
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- Relatively small movie and TV show catalog
- Missing popular and classic horror films
- Lacks parental controls
Screambox Specs
| Ads | |
| Concurrent Streams | 3 |
| On-Demand Movies and TV Shows | |
| Original Programming | |
| Starting Price | $6.99 per month |
Not all video streaming services aim for mainstream appeal. Screambox is one such example. It's a fan-created horror platform that offers good value for genre fans via an on-demand library, 24/7 broadcasts, and zero ads. You won't find well-known titles in Screambox's offerings, and the original programming choices are limited, but devoted horror fans may still enjoy the creepy content. However, you'll get a heaping helping of horror, along with more mainstream fare, with Editors' Choice winner Netflix.
Plans and Prices
Screambox's ad-free premium plan costs $6.99 per month, but you can save money with the $59.99-per-year annual plan. The price is lower than that of horror-focused competitor Shudder ($8.99 per month). Likewise, Screambox costs less than Apple TV+ ($12.99 per month), another streaming platform with a limited horror catalog. Screambox also offers a free, ad-supported plan, but signing up for it means losing access to the majority of the movies and shows that comprise the library. Tubi, our top choice for free streaming, has a significantly wider selection of horror content.
There are other on-demand video streaming services with scary movies and TV, such as Netflix and Prime Video, but you must pay more money to remove ads (the prices start at $11.99 per month and $17.99 per month, respectively). However, you get a larger selection of mainstream movies and shows, as well as top-quality original productions. HBO Max ($16.99 per month) and Paramount+ ($7.99 per month) are also more expensive than Screambox.
Screambox is a worthwhile subscription if you love niche horror films, specifically niche ones (think low-budget or foreign-language flicks). However, if you are looking for spooks during the Halloween season, the slightly higher-priced Shudder is probably a better choice. Shudder's library offers a broader selection of high-quality, frightful fare. For more, check out Shudder vs. Screambox: Which Streamer Delivers Bigger Scares? If you’re looking for familiar movies and shows, stick with Hulu, Netflix, or Prime Video.
You can download the Screambox app on mobile platforms (Android, iOS), video game consoles (PlayStation and Xbox), and media streaming devices (Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku). You can also watch Screambox via a web browser.
(Credit: Screambox/PCMag)What Can You Watch on Screambox?
Screambox's tagline is "Discover horror you won’t find anywhere else," and the service lives up to its promise with an eclectic film lineup. You can start by browsing the selections without having to sign up for a subscription.
After you sign up for an account, you gain access to all the content on the site, including Screambox-exclusive titles like Terrifier or When the Screaming Starts. Screambox also features documentaries that fall under the horror genre, such as Gibtown and Something to Scream About.
As mentioned earlier, you won't find many well-known movies here, including those in our best horror films roundup. That doesn't mean there aren't any notable or good movies in the library; it just means you won;t find many blockbusters or well-loved classics. While other services offer thousands of movies, Screambox's library features a significantly smaller selection, comprising only a few hundred titles.
(Credit: Screambox/PCMag)Other horror streaming services offer a more extensive selection of films for fans of scary movies. The Criterion Channel, for example, has many classic horror titles from master filmmakers, like The Fly and In the Mouth of Madness. Shudder offers an expansive movie library of exclusive and popular horror entries, too, like Evil Dead and 28 Weeks Later. Although they are not horror films in the strictest sense, Peacock's library contains many Hitchcock thrillers.
More importantly, Peacock offers a vast collection of the Universal Classic Monsters movies, the first cinematic universe. The original Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man movies are there (not to mention The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, and many others), as well as many of their sequels and crossovers. For something more family-friendly, Apple TV+ has exclusive rights to It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Screambox also offers TV series, such as 13 Nights of Elvira. It has a "live TV" service, similar to Shout Factory TV, that broadcasts content 24/7. Shudder is a better destination for original and exclusive horror series. For horror TV show suggestions, check out our list of the best original horror shows.
The service also has a fair number of silent films from the early 20th century, like Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror and 1925's Phantom of the Opera. Film fans will be intrigued by the silent-era gem Frankenstein, from 1910. The film was produced by Thomas Edison, and it's the first film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Gothic novel. It's essential to remember that streaming libraries are constantly evolving over time.
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Screambox on the Web and Mobile
Screambox's interface features a red, black, and white color scheme, reflecting the horror content you’re signing up to watch. Navigating the site is easy enough. Click the Browse tab to explore the site's collections or the Search tab to look for something specific. You can search by typing in titles, descriptive words, or subgenres, making it easy to find something new to watch. You can add movies and shows to your Watchlist for later viewing.
(Credit: Screambox/PCMag)The homepage features content highlights via a sliding image carousel. Below that is the Continue Watching bar, which appears when you haven't finished a movie or show, allowing you to pick up right where you left off. Under that area is your Watch List, followed by curated collections and sub-genre categories, including Anthologies, J-Horror, and Slashers. The video player page includes a description, links to similar content, and the ability to give a film a thumbs up or thumbs down.
We tested Screambox’s mobile app on an iPhone, and had no issue logging into our account. You can't manage your subscription within the app; instead, you must log into the service's website to make changes. The app supports background audio playback, allowing you to keep a stream running while checking other apps. It also lets you choose to autoplay the next video on your list. Unfortunately, Screambox no longer offers mobile downloads for offline viewing.
(Credit: Screambox/PCMag)Playback Experience
Most of the Screambox content we watched was 1080p resolution, with a few movies capped at 720p. Many other on-demand video streaming services, including Netflix and Prime Video, offer 4K streams. However, compared with Shudder, Screambox fares well with its many 1080p videos.
During testing, Screambox titles loaded quickly. You get the usual playback, volume, and progress bar controls on the video screen. Fast forward and rewind buttons are missing, but it’s not hard to scrub forward or backward to find what you want to see (or to skip over some of the gore). The audio quality was crisp and robust, which is key to delivering jump scares.
Screambox supports three simultaneous streams, which is about average. BritBox is notable for letting you stream to five devices simultaneously. We tested Screambox’s streaming capabilities using an Ethernet connection rated at 1Gbps (download) and a Wi-Fi connection on mobile, with maximum speeds of 450Mbps (download). We enjoyed What the Waters Left Behind on a desktop without any problems and switched halfway through to an iPhone to resume playback. We picked up right where we left off, though we had to reselect the subtitles option.
Accessibility and Parental Controls
Screambox provides closed captioning for all the content we viewed; however, you can't change the appearance or size of the text, and English is the only language available. This smaller platform also does not provide Audio Descriptions for its on-demand content. Disney+, Netflix, and Prime Video all offer Audio Descriptions for at least some of their on-demand content.
Like its rival, Shudder, Screambox lacks parental control features, despite the content ratings for most of its movies being designed to exclude younger viewers. Some genres may be extremely violent and gory, so parents may want to consider supervising their children's viewing of films or avoid them altogether. Larger platforms, such as HBO Max, Netflix, and Prime Video, provide extensive parental control options. It may be a good idea for Screambox and Shudder to let different users create profiles under the same account, so kids can watch the silent films while parents enjoy the slasher flicks.
Can You Watch Screambox With a VPN?
A VPN is an excellent tool for protecting your online privacy, but its ability to spoof your location poses some challenges for video streaming services with geographically restricted content. You can access Screambox’s website from anywhere in the world; however, some movies and other videos may not be available for viewing in all countries.
We connected a desktop PC and an iPhone to Proton VPN servers to test how Screambox handles VPN traffic. We didn’t encounter any playback issues after connecting the devices to a US-based server; however, we were unable to play videos after switching to a server in Finland.
Keep in mind that if you find a VPN that works with your service now, it may not continue to work in the future. Streaming websites often shut down VPN traffic to their sites. It’s a good idea to choose a VPN based on privacy concerns, security, and speed, rather than selecting one based solely on which streaming services currently support it.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: Screambox)
Screambox
The wallet-friendly Screambox lets you stream scary movies you won’t find anywhere else, but it's missing horror's heavy hitters.