Tis Christmastime, the time to be generous, to curl up against our loved ones and, of course, to binge on as many movies as we can while it’s snowing outside. Of course, we’d understand if you’d rather head out to dance under the snow while listening to Danny Elfman’s Ice Dance (a personal favourite) or just have an old-fashioned snowball fight. However, being film buffs and all, we thought we’d share a gift that just keeps on giving: the Internet. By which I mean, the third-millennium way to share the history of the world, a new age kind of folk wisdom and, most importantly, the largest film library in the world.
You may have your favourite ways to get your hands on film -legally, of course. Amazon Prime, Apple TV, iTunes, and Netflix (which has an insane collection of classic films, by the way) are our go-to websites, and you don’t have to pay much to see great flicks. BlinkBox is also quite a cheap alternative.
Now, here are websites where you can get great films for free.
The Internet Archive
The Internet Archive has got plenty of historical gems: Chaplin features, Roger Corman exploitation films, some early Hitchcock movies and even -wait for it- the one and only Plan 9 From Outer Space, by worst-director-of-all-time Ed Wood. Get browsing and find your new favourites.
SnagFilms
SnagFilms is powered on most of our devices (iOS, Android, Xbox One, etc…) In its own philanthropic way, this platform has categories like most of these platforms, and also awesome ones such as “Rockumentaries” and “Films with purpose”, which are certain to hit a soft spot with us indie filmmakers. It also boasts over 10,000 features, so you’re bound to find your bliss (and forget there’s even such a thing as “outside”).
Big Five Glories
Are you fascinated by early films? Your creativity thrives on black-and-white films? You think films are better when they’re silent? When you find a Buster Keaton film right next to D.W. Griffith epic, you’re going to love this platform.
OpenCulture
Classics, indies, film noir, documentaries and other films, created by some of our greatest actors, actresses and directors, this collection has 725 public domain movies: Hitchcock films (classics and lost gems alike), westerns (mostly starring John Wayne), documentaries that are bound to arouse new passions and awesome noir films, even Tarkovsky features (if you have a soft spot for Soviet cinema).
Now doesn’t all this make your head turn? Merry Christmas!
Baptiste is a writer hailing from the part of France where it is always sunny. After a stint in politics and earning his Master’s Degree in Management, he was a marketing intern for the 23rd Raindance Film Festival in 2015, then joined the team permanently in 2016 as the Registrar of the MA in Filmmaking. He is passionate about diversity in film, which he researches and writes about extensively. He is the producer of the hit webseries “Netflix & Kill” and the multi-award-winning short film “Alder”, as well as a writer for stage and screen. His short film “U Up?” is currently in pre-production.
