The Best Horror Films Featuring Strong Female Leads Streaming For Free On Crackle

We love free streaming services with impressive horror catalogs. Especially when they have a large collection of genre movies with women leading the action. So, of course, we are all over this Scary Strong Women On Crackle cheat sheet filled with movie suggestions to celebrate Women’s History Month. 

For those who don’t know, Crackle is one of the best apps you aren’t watching. You can download it or just head to the website and watch horror movies for weeks. Because it is free, it’s the gift that keeps on giving all year round. However, this month, the good people who run the streamer are specifically calling attention to titles where women kickass, solve mysteries, and disrupt your regularly scheduled dude programming. There are a lot of classic and underseen films to check out this month, so let us dive in already. 

Prom Night (1980)

A group of friends’ prom night coincides with the sixth anniversary of a young girl’s death, and someone is using the occasion to kill them one by one. This classic has Jamie Lee Curtis (HalloweenKnives Out) and Leslie Nielsen (Naked GunDracula: Dead and Loving It) in the cast, so it was destined for greatness. While the movie was panned by critics upon release, it has gone on to find a large fanbase and stand the test of time.

Monstrous (2022)

A woman with a 7-year-old son flees her abusive ex-husband and tries to settle into a new life at a remote lakeside farmhouse. Not nearly enough people have seen this Christina Ricci movie. So, I am happy Crackle is doing the good work of making it available for free. This is one of the few PG-13 horror movies that people are not kind to. However, it deserves the accolades given to other recent horror films navigating that rating.

Black Water: Abyss (2020)

A group of friends explore a cave in the forests of Australia during a tropical storm. As the land floods, they find themselves fighting for their lives against killer crocodiles. This movie feels like The Descent and Crawl had a baby, and I’m not mad at that. Whether it lives up to those two movies is a different story, and in the eye of the viewers though. All I know is I plan to hit play and see for myself. 

Starfish (2019)

Aubrey discovers mixtapes left by her deceased friend and unravels a mystery that could either save the world or end it. I love puzzles, so this sounds right up my alley. I am also here for the unreliable narrator, the frayed reality, and any chaos it may inspire. If nothing else, I am excited to finally cross this off my list because people have told me how good it is for years.

Hold Your Breath (2012)

Exploring a cemetery leads to the ghost of a notorious serial killer’s body jumping among a group of friends. This movie sounds chaotic, and I want it in front of my eyeballs right now. I do not understand why people go camping. However, I love horror movies where bad things happen to people who choose to unwind by practicing sketchy hygiene and choosing to sleep on the ground. I am rooting for the ghost. 

They Wait in the Dark (2022)

A woman and her son run from her abusive ex-girlfriend, but their past is not ready to let them go just yet. Because critics loved this movie, it has been on my radar for a moment. However, it is usually hard to find, so I am grateful that Crackle included it in their Scary Strong Women celebration. This streamer really gets me. 

Pernicious (2014)

A dream vacation in Thailand turns into a nightmare when a group of friends releases the ghost of a murdered child seeking revenge. Not going to lie, kids are inherently scary, so the thought of a ghost child on a mission is terrifying. I am also curious to see what Ciara Hanna (How I Met Your Father), Emily O’Brien (Days of Our Lives), and Jackie Moore (The Mindy Project) bring to the genre.

The Hike (2011)

A group of women on a camping trip are forced to rely on each other and strangers to make it out alive after one of their own goes missing. Again, I am not a camper and love horror movies that make me feel better about my stance on avoiding the outside. So, I am looking forward to getting my snacks together to watch them find out if their friend is still on this mortal coil. 

A Feral World (2019)

An orphaned kid befriends a grieving mother searching for her missing daughter in a post-apocalyptic world. Together they must face dangerous obstacles on a quest to find the people who are holding her daughter captive. Because we are basically living during an apocalypse now, all we can do with these types of movies is take notes. 

Doppelganger (1993)

A writer rents a room to a stranger whose alter-ego stalks her. This is one of the few Drew Barrymore (ScreamRiding In Cars With Boys) movies I have never heard of. The fact that it is in the genre makes it that much more curious. I am definitely heading to the app to fill this gap in my horror education. After all, no one was cooler than Drew in the early 90s, so I feel like I’ve been missing out this whole time. 

Solo (2013)

Camp counselor initiation requires a teen to complete a solo camping trip. However, she meets a stranger in the woods and ends up in a fight for survival. I imagine the only thing worse than camping is camping by yourself while in danger. It could never be me. This Canadian thriller stars Annie Clark (Degrassi: The Next Generation), so I am messaging the squad to get a virtual watch party together as you read this. 

Triangle (2009)

Five friends on a yacht find themselves in quite the conundrum when their boat is overturned, and another ship comes to rescue them. This movie broke my brain the first time I watched it. However, I am a huge Melissa George (30 Days Of NightThe Amityville Horror (2005)) fan, so I need to rewatch it. Luckily, Crackle is letting me do that this March.

Blood Honey (2017)

A woman plagued by traumatic childhood memories returns to her family’s hunting lodge, only to end up in a new nightmare. This Canadian thriller stars Shenae Grimes-Beech (Degrassi: The Next GenerationScream 4), Gil Bellows (The Shawshank RedemptionChasing Sleep), and Scott McCord (Common GroundFrom). So, it looks like a cozy Saturday mystery for me, and I love to see it. 


Let me know which of these women-led horror movies you are most excited to see on Crackle this month at @misssharai. Also, let me know if there are more Scary Strong Women on the app that did not make this list.

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