Editorials
Celebrating the 13 Most Famous Cars in Horror!
Last year Steven Spielberg crammed an insane number of pop culture nods and Easter eggs into Warner Bros. Ready Player One, and it included horror in major ways. Now, Warner Bros. is partnering with Mattel to bring a Hot Wheels live-action feature film to the big screen. Horror has no shortage of iconic vehicles; memorable cars and trucks that exude evil or simply exist as tools for terror. So, here’s to hoping that we may see some famous horror movie cars return to the big screen for the Hot Wheels feature film in the future. But in the meantime, here’s a look at the most dread-inducing, iconic cars the genre has to offer.
Christine – ’58 Plymouth Fury

Based on a Stephen King novel of the same name, and directed by John Carpenter, Christine features the most famous horror movie vehicle of all time. The malevolent Plymouth Fury that possesses her owner and has a serious jealousy streak even made a brief appearance in Ready Player One. But only briefly, so it’s not too much to ask for another, larger role in Hot Wheels, right?
Phantasm – ’71 Plymouth ‘Cuda

This stunning car didn’t just become famous for being a beauty, but also because it featured heavily in the entire franchise, especially as they took on a road trip format. Originally belonging to older brother Jody, ownership passed to hero Reggie Bannister, and the ‘Cuda became a major tool in the fight (or flight) against the Tall Man. The Phantasm ‘Cuda even has a website dedicated to it, as well as a famously angry rant by horror host Joe Bob Briggs dedicated to the car’s destruction in Phantasm II.
The Evil Dead series – ‘73 Oldsmobile Delta 88

The Delta, dubbed the “Classic”, is the car that Ash Williams and friends drove to that fateful cabin in the woods in Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead, and it’s never left Raimi’s side since. Whether abandoned cabin side, or used as Ash’s chariot in battle in Army of Darkness or Ash vs Evil Dead, the Delta is a staple of the series. And not just the Evil Dead franchise, but all of Raimi’s works – he sneaks it into every one of his films. So, the Delta is perfect for Easter egg appearances.
Death Proof – ’70 Chevy Nova

Stuntman Mike’s customized Chevy Nova, complete with a roll cage, makes the car death proof. But only for him. As for his victims, it’s a pretty vicious tool of destruction and dismemberment. It’s also a pretty slick looking ride with a great paint job, and that skull and lightning crossbones on the hood helps catapult it to instantly recognizable status. Mike might have revealed himself to be not such a tough guy in the end, but his Chevy Nova is still a badass.
Duel – ‘55 Peterbilt 281

Steven Spielberg’s feature debut presented one menacing villain in the form of a rundown 1955 Peterbilt 281 tractor unit. For David Mann, a traveling salesman, the lesson of being courteous on the road comes at a steep cost when he pisses off the wrong driver. In this case, it’s the unseen driver behind this massive truck. It then spends the rest of the film terrorizing David, trying to get revenge and run him down. Like Christine, this truck has a whole lot of evil personality.
Maximum Overdrive – Western Star 4800

Loosely inspired by the short story “Trucks”, this Stephen King film followed a group of survivors holed up at a truck stop when a comet causes all machines to become sentient and homicidal. The primary villain is the Western Star 4800 tractor unit, rendered identifiable by the massive Green Goblin mask on the grill, and the Happy Toyz logo against the black paint on the trailer.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – ‘72 Ford Club Wagon

The green van that takes Sally Hardesty, her paraplegic brother, Franklin, and friends Jerry, Kirk, and Pam, across Texas to check on the grave of Hardesty’s grandfather plays a major role in the horror that befalls them. The decision to pick up a hitchhiker leaves the van marked by blood the he smears along the side while exiting, a horror-filled experience for the group on its own. It only goes downhill from there once they pull into the gas station owned by the patriarch of the cannibalistic clan that will pick them off one by one. It may look like a hippie van, but this Club Wagon acted more like a hearse.
The Birds – ‘54 Aston Martin DB 2/4

James Bond doesn’t hog the market on cinematic Aston Martins. Tippi Hendren also made it look like a stylish accessory in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Her character, Melanie, drives into the town of Bodega Bay for the weekend to visit love interest Mitch, but finds herself ominously followed and attacked by birds. In this film, her Aston Martin constantly dangles salvation in her face, only for the swarming birds to take it away again. Sometimes being rich gets you nowhere.
Halloween – ‘77 Chevy Monte Carlo

John Carpenter’s Halloween doesn’t usually pop up in conversations surrounding iconic cars in horror movies, but the debate about how Michael Myers’ ability to drive still rages on 40 years later. So, it’s only appropriate that it make the cut. The most memorable car in the film isn’t one that Myers drives, but one he uses as a setting for the brutal death of Annie Brackett – he strangles her from the backseat of her own car just as she’s about to leave to go pick up her boyfriend.
The Car – ‘71 Lincoln Continental Mark III

Like Christine, this cult horror film features an evil car with a mind of its own. Unlike Christine, though, this evil black car has no driver in which to possess, just a serious taste for homicide. It’s up to a local town sheriff to outwit and stop the car from slaughtering more. The 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III in the film was customized.
Cujo – ’78 Ford Pinto

This Pinto is memorable for being one of the most unreliable in horror history. For Donna Trenton and her young son Tad, the car becomes their only form of shelter, or prison, against a very rabid St. Bernard when the alternator goes out. Between the vicious dog and the scorching sun, this car earns a spot on the list for being a memorable death trap for the lead protagonists. Luckily, the film has a much happier ending than Stephen King’s source novel.
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark – ‘59 Ford Thunderbird 76A

The film’s story begins with the horror hostess road tripping from L.A. to Massachusetts, and of course, she’d do it in style. Enter her Macabre Mobile, a decked out, customized Ford Thunderbird convertible that Cassandra Peterson knew fit Elvira’s personality the moment she saw it. The tricked out car has every bit of Elvira’s personality on display, and Peterson fell for it so hard she eventually bought it back from the person who purchased it after filming, put a lot of work into restoring it, and even put it on display in a museum. In Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, her Thunderbird is just as much of a sidekick as pet poodle, Algonquin.
Ghostbusters – ‘59 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance/hearse conversion

The Ecto-1 is just as much of an icon as the four central characters that start up a successful ghost removal business. In the film, Dr. Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) finds the car shortly after mortgaging his mother’s house to buy the fire station. For just under $5,000 he repaired and customized the vehicle to store all of the ghostbusting equipment, and added an eye-catching logo to boot. Nothing says Ghostbusters quite like the Ecto-1.
Editorials
The 10 Best Horror Movies Streaming on Tubi [July 2026]
A new month means a new guide as titles are added (and dropped) from streaming services. Let’s unpack the most exciting titles that are available to watch on Tubi in July 2026.
New to Tubi July Horror Films
Deep Blue Sea (1999)

- Premise: Searching for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease, a group of scientists on an isolated research facility become the prey as a trio of intelligent sharks fight back.
- Why Watch It? Let’s be frank: Director Renny Harlin has made some absolute dogs in the last few years (the less said about The Strangers trilogy the better, though this year’s Deep Water was actually ok). Deep Blue Sea remains one of the Finnish director’s best contemporary efforts, though. Between the great cast (Samuel L. Jackson, Saffron Burrows, Stellan Skarsgård, Michael Rapaport, LL Cool J, Thomas Jane, and Jane’s sleeveless wetsuit), the ridiculous premise, and that damn/dumb song (“My hat is like a shark’s fin”), you basically can’t go wrong with Deep Blue Sea. It’s one of two great shark films gliding onto Tubi this month, so why not stay out of the water and watch this instead?
- Streaming: July 1
Exorcist II: Heretic (1977)

- Premise: Reagan (Linda Blair), a girl once possessed by a demon, finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, Father Lamont (Richard Burton) investigates the death of the priest who performed her exorcism.
- Why Watch It? August sees the release of documentary Boorman and the Devil, which is about the troubled production of this sequel. The notoriety surrounding Heretic has undoubtedly kept plenty of horror fans away from the sequel, but this truly is a “seeing is believing” kind of film. Real talk: it’s undeniably a disaster, but the John Boorman film has also become a minor cult film. Don’t you want to see it to make up your own mind?
- Streaming: July 1
Hostel: Part III (2011)

- Premise: Four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas fall prey to the Elite Hunting Club, who are hosting a gruesome game show of torture.
- Why Watch It? What does Hostel look like without Eli Roth? Part III kinda answers the question. Technically Roth is still a writer, but he hands over the directorial reins to Scott Spiegel (best known for acting in Evil Dead films). The result is a film with a terrible pedigree; it’s also the first (and last) entry to skip theatres before the franchise was permanently shelved (until that TV show with Paul Giamatti shows up?). For some horror fans, however, there’s something exciting about a bad low-budget sequel. Just bear in mind that the Hostel: Part III‘s biggest star is Kip Pardue…so adjust your expectations accordingly before hitting play.
- Streaming: July 1
Insidious 1-3 (2010/2013/2015)

- Premise: A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.
- Why Watch It? It’s hard to believe that the sixth (!) Insidious movie is coming out in a month and a half, but James Wan and Leigh Whannell‘s other horror franchise has been steadily chugging along for sixteen years. It’s a shame that Tubi doesn’t have all five films available to watch, but in terms of quality, you can do far worse than the original trio. The first film is iconic, and the second is basically an extended coda (with some admittedly problematic stuff going on). I’ll go to bat for Whannell’s 2015 directorial debut, though: there’s a few banger sequences in that film that people slept on.
- Streaming: July 1
Man Finds Tape (2025)

- Premise: After finding mysterious video clips, siblings investigate the strange recordings and uncover a disturbing secret spreading through their Texas town.
- Why Watch It? Writer/directors Paul Gandersman and Peter S. Hall‘s well-received found footage film did an extensive tour of the festival circuit, so now is a great time to check out one of the most contemporary titles debuting on Tubi this month. Surely a title that hails from producers Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring and The Endless) is worth a free look?
- Streaming: July 2
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

- Premise: A depressed musician Adam (Tom Hiddleston) reunites with his lover Eve (Tilda Swinton). However, their romance, which has already endured several centuries, is disrupted by the arrival of her uncontrollable younger sister Ava (Mia Wasikowska).
- Why Watch It? This beautiful, melancholy vampire film is courtesy of writer/director Jim Jarmusch, who doesn’t often dabble in genre fare. As always, some will quibble if this artsy drama qualifies as horror, but the existential ennui of an eternal life certainly qualifies (bonus: there’s also something inherently sexy about watching Hiddleston and Swinton just lay about). Plus: if Leviticus has you hankering for more Wasikowska, this is an under the radar pick.
- Streaming: July 1
The Shallows (2016)

- Premise:A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
- Why Watch It? What better time to watch a shark movie than July? The temperatures are soaring and the idea of escaping into the water is so tantalizing. This tight, contained thriller features a great performance by Lively (and that damn seagull!), but it’s the direction from genre fave Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan; the House of Wax remake) that keeps the movie clicking along like clockwork. At 86 minutes, this is a perfect summer flick.
- Streaming: July 1
Vacancy (2007)

- Premise: Stranded in an isolated motel, a couple (Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale) become the unsuspecting subjects of a snuff film.
- Why Watch It? I’m not going to pretend that this Nimród Antal-directed home invasion film is high art, but it is a good time. You’ll likely wish there were deeper characterizations for Wilson and Beckinsale’s David and Amy in Mark L. Smith‘s screenplay, but this mid-aughts thriller is tense, exciting, and just the right amount of grimy. Plus: another short runtime, clocking in at an expeditious 85 minutes!
- Streaming: July 1
July Tubi Originals

The One Next Door (2026)
- Premise: When a mysterious stranger moves in next door to Robert and Tabitha, boundaries are tested, loyalty is questioned, and danger comes for all.
- Streaming: July 10
I Know Where You Live (2026)
- Premise: Sarah thinks she’s found “the one” until his flaws emerge. When she pulls away, chilling threats suggest he’s watching her from inside her own home.
- Streaming: July 24
What’s your favorite from the list above? Will you check out the new Original? Sound off in the comments below
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