Not all video streaming services try to appeal to all audiences. Screambox, for example, is a fan-created horror-centric platform that offers a scary good value specifically for fans of the genre. The service features an on-demand library of terror flicks available for viewing on various devices without ads. You won’t find any well-known titles among its offerings and the original programming choices are thin, but devoted horror fans may still get a kick out of the movies on the platform.
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. There are also five free video series available for nonsubscribers.
After you sign up for an account, you get access to all the content on the site, including titles that are only on Screambox like The Domicile or Devil’s Acid. As mentioned before, you won’t find any well-known movies here, including those in our roundup of the best horror films. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any notable or good movies in the library, it just means you won’t find any blockbusters or well-loved classics.
Currently, there are only 12 exclusive movies on Screambox, which is indicative of the platform’s major drawback: selection. While some other services have thousands of movies to browse, Screambox’s library includes far fewer movies in fewer categories. Screambox does offer documentaries that fall under the horror genre like Gibtown and Something to Scream About.
Other movie streaming services offer a better selection of films for horror fans. The Criterion Channel, for example, has a ton of classic horror titles. Shudder offers an expansive movie library of exclusive and popular horror entries, too. While they are not horror films in the strictest sense, Peacock‘s library offers many of the Hitchcock thrillers. More importantly, Peacock offers a vast collection of the Universal Classic Monsters movies, the first cinematic universe. The original Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolf Man movies are there (not to mention The Invisible Man, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and many others), as well as many of their sequels and crossovers.
Screambox also offers TV series like Welcome to Daisyland. 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.
There are also 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 is the first film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic horror tale.
How Much Does Screambox Cost?
Screambox costs $4.99 per month, but you can save money with the $35.88-per-year annual plan. The price is lower than niche competitor Shudder, but both services offer streaming without ads. Screambox costs the same as Apple TV+, another service with a limited catalog.
There are plenty of other on-demand video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but they both cost more (starting at $8.99 per month). You also get a larger selection of mainstream movies and shows, as well as top-quality original productions. Subscription services like HBO Max ($14.99 per month) and Showtime ($10.99 per month) are also more expensive than Screambox.
Screambox may be a good value for you if you love niche horror films, specifically niche horror films with lower budgets or foreign-language films. If you are just looking for some spooks during the Halloween season and want to find something you’ve never seen before, the slightly higher-priced Shudder is probably a better choice. 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 (iOS and Android) and media streaming devices (Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku). You can also watch Screambox via a web browser. Right now, Screambox does not offer an app for gaming consoles.
The Screambox Web Interface
You can sign up for Screambox either on its website or via one of the apps. All you need is an email address, password, and payment method. There is a seven-day free trial, but you have to add a valid credit card to their system, which is standard practice for most video streaming sites and services.
Screambox’s interface is red, black, and white, reflecting the horror content you’re signing up to watch. It’s easy enough to navigate the site. At the top of the page, just click the Browse tab to explore the collections on the site 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 among Screambox’s interesting lineup. You can add movies and shows to your Watch List for later viewing by mousing over the title image and clicking in the top right-hand corner of the image. There’s no way to sort the content added to the list; it stays in the order you assigned it when you first added it to the list. I would appreciate the option to shift movies around in my playlist and sort movies by category.
The My Account area allows you to update your name, website, and password, as well as add a photo. You can also update your billing information and easily renew or cancel your subscription right from the site; there is no need to call customer service or email anyone.
Screambox’s homepage highlights featured content at the top of the page with a sliding image carousel. Below that is the “Continue Watching” bar, which appears when you haven’t finished a movie or show, and lets you pick right up where you left off with the content. Under that area is your Watch List, followed by curated collections such as 13 Screams to Halloween and sub-genre categories including Supernatural, Killers, and Psychological.
To see a movie’s or show’s description, hover over the title or thumbnail image. Simply click on a thumbnail to begin playback. The player page is pretty bare, with just the description and share boxes included. There is no way to rate the movies you’ve watched or to comment on them. Especially since Screambox’s films are not well-known, I think both these options would help improve the discoverability of its titles. Shudder and Mubi both allow subscribers to add reviews.
Watching Screambox on Mobile Devices
I tested Screambox’s mobile app on an iPhone XS running iOS 13.7 and had no issue logging into my account. You can’t manage your subscription from the app itself; you need to log in to the service’s website to make changes.
The app supports background audio playback, so you can keep your movie running while you check other apps. It also lets you choose to autoplay the next video on your list. It has a light theme that contrasts with the dark content on offer, and most importantly, it allows you to download movies to your iPhone or iPad. This is great for when you want to watch movies in a place without Wi-Fi or with limited service.
You can watch content within 30 days of downloading, and you have 48 hours to finish watching a movie you’ve started before you need to get back to an Internet connection and obtain a new DRM license. Non-DRM content does not expire. You can only view content via the app though, you can’t store it on external devices. The ability to download movies and other content is where Screambox shines over niche competitors, such as Shudder, which doesn’t allow offline access via apps. Most mainstream video streaming services support offline downloads on mobile devices, including Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max.
Playback Experience
Not all Screambox’s content is available in 1080p, but as I mentioned, the service does feature silent films like Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, which was released in 1922, so the lack of quality for films like that can be forgiven. Most of the content I watched was 1080p with a few movies capped at 720p. Screambox says it hopes to have 4K offerings soon. Many other on-demand video streaming services offer 4K streams, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, but when competing in its niche category against the likes of Shudder, Screambox fares well with its many 1080p videos. I also appreciate the absence of ads when viewing content.
During testing, Screambox titles loaded quickly. You get the usual playback, volume, and progress bar controls on the now playing 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 deliver jump scares in the horror genre.
Screambox supports three simultaneous streams, which is about average. BritBox is notable in that it allows subscribers to stream on up to five devices at the same time.
I tested Screambox’s streaming efforts with an Ethernet connection rated at 1Gbps (download) and a Wi-Fi connection on mobile with max speeds of 450Mbps (download). I enjoyed What the Waters Left Behind on my desktop without any problems and switched halfway through to my iPhone to resume playback. I was able to pick right up where I left off, though I had to reselect the subtitles option.
Accessibility and Parental Controls
Screambox provides closed captioning for all the content I viewed, but you can’t change the appearance or size of 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, there are no parental control features on Screambox, even though the content ratings for most of its movies are designed to exclude younger viewers. Some genres may be extremely violent and gory, so parents may want to let their children watch films under supervision or not at all. Larger platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and HBO Max provide extensive parental control options. It may be a good idea for Screambox and Shudder to allow different users to create profiles under the same account, so kids can watch the silent films while parents enjoy the slasher flicks.
Screambox and VPN
A VPN is an excellent tool for protecting your privacy online, but their ability to spoof your location poses some problems for video streaming services with geographically restricted content. You can access Screambox’s website from anywhere in the world, but some movies and other videos are not available for viewing in all countries.
I connected my desktop PC and iPhone to ProtonVPN servers to test how Screambox handles VPN traffic. I didn’t encounter any playback issues after connecting my devices to a US-based server, but I wasn’t able to play videos after I switched 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. 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, instead of choosing based on which streaming services currently support it.
Horror on a Budget
Screambox is a cheap service that delivers shoestring new films and older movies on a no-frills platform. That may not be enough streaming luxury for many viewers, but if you are a hardcore horror fan who is tired of mainstream movies, Screambox is a service worth considering. Another way to look at its offering would be to say that the platform offers a small but solid selection of horror movies that span hundreds of years, without ads, for not much money. Screambox lets you download individual titles to stream offline too, which sets it apart from some of its competitors.
If you’re looking for a dedicated horror streamer with a bigger library and a better UI, Shudder is a good bet. Meanwhile, Netflix remains our Editors’ Choice winner for video streaming services due to its incredible original programming and unparalleled streaming features. If you are looking to replace cable with a live TV streaming service, our top picks are Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV because of their excellent channel lineups and useful DVR capabilities. Note that both Netflix and Hulu also have extensive horror movie collections.
