Cut the costs and watch these movies online for free right now
The streaming wars have a rising body count as streaming fans size up platforms each year to decide which keeper of content is worthy of a subscription. As our feeds tempt us with promises of limited series, crime docs, and classics (oh my!) we must read between the lines and answer the burning question: which content must I have?
After we bite the bullet and pony up the dough streaming services – those seemingly offering the best bang for our buck – we end up missing out on some great movies when we can’t find them for free through our subscriptions.
However, the web is full of free movies to watch online. If you’re sick of the subpar flicks clinging along with the subscription you bought to watch your latest series of choice, you’re in luck! We’ve compiled our favorite movies you can watch online for free. Close Netflix (say it with us) and check out what we found for your movie needs.
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Werner Herzog’s masterpiece Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans came to most millennials coming-of-age in 2009 through YouTube clips.
Crazy Nick Cage clips were all the rage in the late 2000s, from the Wickerman supercut to Cage’s Japanese pachinko commercials. Early Cage memeification had fans discovering Cage gems, none of which shine as bright as Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Herzog brings us a very loose remake of Abel Ferarra’s 1992 Bad Lieutenant in the heart of a real-life post-Katrina Louisiana with a cast boasting unexpectedly great performances from Val Kilmer, Eva Mendez, and Xzibit (yup).
Port of Call draws viewers in with the insane hilarious Nic Cage as a drug fueled corrupt cop, but they stay for the still life of Louisiana & manicured philosophy Herzog delivers with expertise. You can watch it online now on Tubi for free.
TL;DR – Nic Cage smokes crack and fights crime in this one.
Re-Animator
If you haven’t seen Re-Animator, do you even horror, bro? 1985’s H.P. Lovecraft story come-to-life is a cult horror classic for a reason – it rules.
Re-Animator follows the story of Herbert West, a medical student who’s hell-bent on reanimating dead bodies. The twisted med head ends up getting some successful results with a cat, but the real trouble comes when (you guessed it) he experiments with some human corpses.
One part Pet Sematary, one part Frankenstein, and all 80s kitchy horror fun, Re-Animator is one of the best free horror movies online. It’s on Tubi for free, and if you don’t know about the sex thing in this, you’re in for a fun ending.
Rock ‘n’ Roll High School
Phil Spector left us in early 2021, and his 2009 murder conviction has seemed to overshadow his career (as it often does!). However, Spector made some bangers in his day, none of which are more underrepresented than the singles making 1979’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School a hit and taking The Ramones to the next level.
Queens’s greatest punk band stars in the kitchy comedy-musical showcasing some of The Ramones’ most successful and best-produced singles. It’s basically Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets Hard Day’s Night with a Ramones soundtrack: ‘nuff said. Tubi is serving it up and it’s one of the best free music movies to watch online.
Wind River
Plenty of people saw the Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water in 2016, but it seems fewer fans came out for director Taylor Sheridan’s follow up Wind River in 2017.
Wind River harkens back to Hell or High Water with it’s neo-western setup, but places us in the silent, snow covered Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming for a very different story.
Sheridan put the focus on the real-life issue of the rape & murder of Native American women in areas like Wind River, as Jeremy Renner plays a hunter called on by the FBI to help solve the murder of an eighteen-year-old Native American girl.
Sheridan gives us a thriller with nuance & originality that at times is downright harrowing and not for the faint of heart. Wind River puts pulpy thrillers to shame and is one of the best thriller movies to watch for free online, now on Pluto TV for no charge.
