Kino Cult
This free, ad-supported service from boutique film distribution label Kino Lorber launched Oct. 1 with apps for Roku, Apple TV, Google TV, and Amazon Fire TV, and seems destined to become a haven for fans of eclectic classic and contemporary cinema. At launch, their totally free lineup includes a wide range of critical favorites and decidedly more obscure fare, including the recent Iranian art house horror flick A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, vintage “Drive-In Favorites” like Astro Zombies and The Nude Vampire, and a whole bunch of obscure ‘70s and ‘80s horror. TO help you zero in on your particular flavor of weird, films are neatly sorted by theme, from “Artsploitation” to roundups of films from influential creators like Mario Bava. My personal pick? The zany 2009 French stop-motion animated film A Town Called Panic, in which a pair of toys named Cowboy and Indian try to find the perfect birthday gift for their friend Horse.
Cost: $0
Night Flight
Sprung from the titular cult late-night TV 1980s series that aired on the then-nascent USA Network, Night Flight is the streaming equivalent of a back-alley curio shop run by an introverted weirdo, and the sort of thing the internet was made for. It houses all sorts of weird video, from cult films, to extremely specific documentaries (The Sacred Triangle: Bowie, Iggy and Lou, 1971-1973), to fringe music videos and a hell of a lot more. The highly curated lineup (which The AV Club likened to a pop culture fever dream) offers something for… well, not for everyone, and it’s definitely not all for anyone, but that’s pretty great.
Cost: $4.99/month or $39.99 annually, 7-day free trial
Shout Factory TV
The name says TV, but this streaming offshoot from the beloved boutique DVD label includes lots of movies too. Of course, their crown jewel combines them both: This is where you’ll find streaming episodes of the legendary bad-movie mocking series Mystery Science Theater 3000. But there are also a ton of great movies, most of which the company has also released on DVD, from fantasy schlock like 1982’s Sorceress to my personal favorite animated movie of all time, The Last Unicorn.
Cost: $2.99/month, 7-day free trial