If you’re like me and you like to consider yourself a cinephile than you also must know how hard it is to find a good movie to watch online. All those internationally popular streaming services and you still can sit back and watch the early work of Asghar Farhadi or Marco Tullio Giordana, what a bummer… To be fair, it’s not only the early work – a lot of the recent stuff is missing, too. A true movie lover appreciates every genre of cinema. It’s not just about a heartfelt story or amazing special effects of Hollywood blockbusters, there are other movies, too. Sure, watching Avatar for the first time was amazing, no one can say it wasn’t, but then again, watching Taraneh Alidoosti and Hedieh Tehrani in Fireworks Wednesday was an equally pleasant experience.
Problem is, you can watch Avatar or any of the other blockbusters wherever and wherever you want. All of the streaming services have them. Finding an independent movie on a streaming service is almost impossible. Well, to be honest, it’s impossible if you subscribe to one of the most popular ones. Sure, they have some of them, it’s not like they’re all missing. If they’ve achieved international fame or were nominated for an Academy Award, they’re up there somewhere. However, if you’re looking for something more unconventional and under the radar, you will not succeed. Unfortunately, it’s not like you can go to the movie festival and the cinema every other day. So, how do you manage to find and enjoy those movies from your own home? Well, to answer to that question, we’ve prepared a list of streaming services that are great for people that enjoy an underappreciated cinematic masterpiece.
1. MUBI
Source: techcrunch.com
MUBI is the absolute leader in the lesser-known world of streaming services. Once you enter and see the site’s library, you’ll feel like you’re browsing through a festival programme. The great thing about the site is, you will never waste time scrolling for hours to find something worth watching. There is absolutely nothing unnecessary on this platform. On the contrary, MUBI’s library consists of only 30 movies at a time. All of them are hand-picked by experts and cinephiles like you, so don’t worry, you won’t bump into Sharknado. While 30 titles might not seem as much, it’s because every day at midnight, the oldest movie from the library is removed and the new one is added. This keeps the list fresh, site clutter-free, while also giving you enough time to watch what you want.
Another thing great about this site is, if you’re from UK or Ireland, along with your subscription, every week, you get a free cinema ticket to the title that’s been selected for that week. Aside from that, the site allows you to comment on and rate movies, read the MUBI magazine and become a part of the cinephile community. It’s a streaming service every movie lover should be subscribed too.
2. IndieFlix – Movies for Independent Thinkers
Source: variety.com
As you can tell by the name of the streaming service, their ‘target audience’ is anyone courageous enough to enter the world of the independent cinema. However, their library is enormous so you might need a little help with deciding on a film you want to watch. However, there’s something we can do about that, too. If you’re indecisive or just looking for good advice on what movie to watch, you can find more details on it here. Also, the IndieFlix MIT has a blog their stuff writes so you can even check that out. It can help you out a lot.
A common practice for these kinds of streaming platforms is that they are usually very genre-oriented, however, that is not the case for this one. You can find essentially any genre on here. It doesn’t matter what you’re looking for, from horrors to documentaries – you can find whatever you want.
3. SnagFilms
Source: lifewire.com
This is a free streaming service, however, there will be some ads along the way, but hey, it’s free. What’s more important than a few of the annoying ads is that this site has a respectable library of various titles for a free streaming service. All of the movies are divided into categories so you can easily find what you’re looking for. There are a lot of good movies from recent years, some festival winners and probably a lot of movies you wish you had heard of earlier.
4. Docsville
Source: apkpure.com
As you can probably tell from the name, this is a streaming platform for all the documentary lovers. If you’re tired of the Netflix documentaries about nothing and everything, this could be just the right transition for you. One thing that this service has in common with the previously mentioned streaming giant, is that it’s really hard to find what you’re looking for. The documentaries aren’t necessarily divided into categories or adequately presented. If you can grasp what the documentary is about from the cover, then you’ll be golden. Otherwise, you might have to enjoy the unknown. Try and follow your instinct, you never know where it might lead you. One moment you’re aching to watch a documentary about the pyramids, next thing you know you’re learning about the life of the children in Africa.
5. SHUDDER
Source: concreteplayground.com
If you’re a sucker for a romantic comedy, well, this is not the place for you, sorry. Jokes aside, as you can probably tell by the name, this site is for the horror and thriller lovers. If you’re looking for suspenseful movies that keep you on the edge of your seat while you’re gripping the blanket tighter by the minute, look no further. This site has a pretty large collection of the chilling movies and TV series, so if this is your jam, you might spend a lot of time on this site. From award-winning thrillers to underground horrors, one thing is for certain, you will not sleep with the lights off for a while.
We’ve assembled this list to help you, movie lovers, out. We know how frustrating it is when you want to watch something but cannot find it online. Hopefully, this list can help you out in moments like those.
