#1In a future where humanity has surrendered its ability to dream in exchange for immortality, an outcast finds illusion, nightmarish visions, and beauty in an intoxicating world of his own making.
Resurrection
★ 7.32025
The arthouse crowd panicked when FilmStruck went dark in 2018, then breathed again a few months later when the Criterion Collection launched its own service from the ashes. Criterion Channel is a standalone subscription home for restored classics and world cinema, but the licensing only covers the US and Canada. Try to sign in from any other region and the catalog simply refuses to load, replaced by an unavailability notice.
The library holds more than 1,500 hand-picked films, plus commentaries, making-of supplements and house shows about the art of moviegoing. Video tops out at 1080p, so there is no 4K or HDR on offer. To see the catalog from a spot the service does not cover, you change your virtual location. A reliable VPN such as Surfshark routes you through a home-country server, and Criterion Channel then treats you like a local viewer. You still log in with your own paid account, and the network only handles the location part.
Criterion Channel actively blocks VPNs. Only certain providers reliably bypass the detection.
| VPN Service | Price | Criterion Channel | Tested | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
SurfsharkBEST | From $1.78/mo | ✓ Works | June 11 | Try it |
ExpressVPN | From $2.79/mo | ✓ Works | June 10 | Open |
NordVPN | From $2.99/mo | ✓ Works | June 11 | Open |
ProtonVPN | From $3.59/mo | ~ Partial | June 7 | Open |
Private Internet Access | From $1.79/mo | ~ Partial | June 12 | Open |
CyberGhost | From $1.75/mo | ~ Partial | June 9 | Open |
IPVanish | From $2.19/mo | ~ Partial | June 11 | Open |
Takes about 2 minutes. Works on your phone, tablet, TV, PC, or laptop.
Criterion Channel is only available in the United States. To access it from anywhere else, use a premium VPN.
Criterion Channel is blocked in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in New Zealand, in Ireland and in Germany, plus in 187 more countries. To access it, use a premium VPN like Surfshark.
The Criterion Channel is a standalone subscription service devoted to art-house, classic and international cinema drawn from the celebrated Criterion Collection and Janus Films libraries. It offers more than 1,500 carefully curated films alongside supplements, commentaries and original programming, with fresh themed collections added every month. It costs $10.99 a month or $99.99 a year and is available in the United States and Canada only.
5 tips from our Criterion Channel testing team · Updated June 12, 2026
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Everything you need to know before subscribing to Criterion Channel.
Surfshark unlocks Criterion Channel from anywhere in the world. Risk-free 30-day money-back.
Part of the The Criterion Collection / Janus Films (Steven Rales) family.
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