Mid 2011 I’m watching Hulu when this strange commercial starts playing. A guy is riding his lawnmower with this weird plastic grin on his face (think Enzyte commercial) running over the flower bed and white picket fence while watching a TV set attached to his steering wheel. The announcer informs the audience that the reason why the driver is so distracted is because he’s watching Crackle, a new free streaming service with great movies and TV shows.
It’s not often that I’ll turn down something that is offered for free, so after my show was over I decided to see if it was available on my Roku and if so to check it out. I was hooked from day one once I saw that it had All in the Family and Married… with Children available to watch and it’s been a staple of my streaming channels lineup since that day.
For those who don’t know, Crackle is owned by Sony Pictures, which means that if distribution rights belong to Sony, TriStar Pictures or Columbia, then you could very easily see it available on Crackle. This not only gives it a large library to choose from, but some grade A material as well.
Here are just a few of the movies that you can watch for free at the time of this writing
Addams Family – A reboot of the popular 60’s TV show about a strange and quirky family.
Beetlejuice – A couple who died in a car accident attempt to scare out the family who moved into their house and call on Beetlejuice to give them a hand.
Army of Darkness – Part 3 of the Evil Dead trilogy, our hero is sent back in time to battle the zombie hoards with his chainsaw.
Backdraft – Two brothers need to force themselves to work together to fight a series of fires created by a serial arsonist.
While these may not be new, they are definitely on some people’s “must see” list and if you’ve never heard of these movies you really need to check them out. While three of them are “cult classics” Backdraft has some serious edge of your seat moments and was a mega-hit, for good reason, when it was released in 1991. But even if these great films don’t trip your trigger, be sure to check often because they are always rotating the movies they have available. The two previous Spider-Man series has been available as well as other well-known titles.
But don’t ignore the TV selection. All in the Family, Dr. Ken and Heroes are available as well.
Like with most of the channels featured in “Roku 101” articles, this is an ad-supported meaning you don’t need to pay anything to check it out. Add it for free in the Streaming Channels store.
