Once again, the time has come to watch the spookiest movies you can find as we wait for Halloween, and you just might find all the scares you are looking for by checking out the best horror movies on Netflix. One of the reasons why the platform is one of the best streaming services to subscribe to is its frighteningly plentiful collection of some of the best horror movies in recent memory, or even of all time. So, log in to your Netflix subscription, grab some popcorn, candy, and Holy Water, and enjoy this bloody binge!
Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw
What it’s about: A police chief, a marine researcher, and a veteran sailor hunt down a 25-foot shark terrorizing a Long Island community.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: There is no shark movie more iconic or acclaimed than Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster adaptation of Peter Benchley’s Jaws, made especially creepy by John Williams’ seminal score.
Evil Dead Rise (2023)
Director: Lee Cronin
Starring: Lily Sullivan, Alyssa Sutherland
What it’s about: A guitar technician must protect her nephew and nieces from their mother after she becomes possessed by malevolent spirits invading the L.A. apartment complex.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The fifth Evil Dead movie, Evil Dead Rise, ditches the woods for an urban environment but sticks to the same tone beautifully while keeping things fresh by making it a heartfelt family story.
Pearl (2022)
Director: Ti West
Starring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet
What it’s about: As her show business aspirations grow more desperate, a farmer’s daughter’s homicidal tendencies begin to come to the surface in 1918 Texas.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Set before the events of Ti West’s other great A24 horror movies, X and MaXXXine, Pearl is a chilling throwback to the early days of cinema featuring one of Mia Goth’s most captivating performances.
You’re Next (2013)
Director: Adam Wingard
Starring: Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg
What it’s about: A reunion of a dysfunctional family turns into a fight for survival when masked assailants intrude on their isolated vacation home.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Sharni Vinson stars as Erin, one of the most badass modern final girls, in You’re Next – a refreshingly clever and ceaselessly brutal take on the home invasion thriller subgenre.
Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh
What it’s about: While being pursued for embezzlement, a real estate agent’s assistant takes refuge at a roadside motel run by a charming young man hiding a secret.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Arguably Alfred HItchcock’s best movie, Psycho was one of the greatest shockers of its time but remains a masterpiece in suspense decades later.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson
What it’s about: Four men go in search of the town doctor after she is kidnapped by a tribe of cannibals in 1890s Texas.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Also one of the best Western movies in recent memory, Bone Tomahawk boasts a thoroughly ominous tone and moments of horrifying brutality that easily make it one of the genre’s all-time scariest entries.
Cam (2018)
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Starring: Madeline Brewer
What it’s about: An internet model discovers that her webcast and her life are being stolen from her by a doppelganger.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: In addition to being one of the best sexually explicit movies on Netflix, Cam is elevated by an intriguingly suspenseful and bizarre plot.
World War Z (2013)
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos
What it’s about: A United Nations investigator is forced to abandon his family and search for the origins of (and hopefully a cure to) a virus turning humans into rabid monsters.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Based on the hit novel by Max Brooks, World War Z is one of the most realistic zombie movies ever made for its earnest approach to exploring mankind’s response to such a catastrophic circumstance.
Thanksgiving (2023)
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque
What it’s about: A year after a tragic event on Black Friday, citizens of Plymouth, Massachusetts, begin to fall prey to an elusive, brutal killer.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Co-writer and director Eli Roth put out one of his best movies yet – let alone, arguably, the crown jewel of horror movies set around Turkey Day – with Thanksgiving, which is a feature-length adaptation of a fake trailer he directed for Grindhouse in 2007.
The Wailing (2016)
Director: Na Hong-jin
Starring: Kwak Do-won, Jun Kunimura
What it’s about: A police officer investigates a mysterious illness affecting his village, which locals believe is the work of a demon.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The Wailing is one of the best Asian horror movies in recent memory for its twisted, modernized reinterpretation of dark fantasy lore.
The Autopsy Of Jane Doe (2016)
Director: André Øvredal
Starring: Brian Cox, Emilie Hirsch
What it’s about: A routine examination of an unidentified woman’s body found at a crime scene proves to be a living nightmare for a veteran coroner and his son and colleague.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: André Øvredal’s English-language debut, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, already boasts a fascinating concept but is heightened by its unrelentingly creepy, mysterious aura.
The Babadook (2014)
Director: Jennifer Kent
Starring: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman
What it’s about: A single mother fears that she and her young son are being taunted by an unsettling character from a children’s book.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: One of the best horror movies directed by a woman (namely Jennifer Kent) is The Babadook – a thought-provoking, allegorical examination of grief and motherhood that introduced one of the scariest modern horror movie villains.
Ouija: Origin Of Evil (2016)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso
What it’s about: A single mother who makes a living pretending to be a medium incorporates a seemingly harmless board game into her act, which comes with grave consequences, in 1960s California.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Only a horror master like writer and director Mike Flanagan could make an effective thriller out of a follow-up to a widely disliked horror flick like he does with Ouija: Origin of Evil, which serves as a prequel to 2014’s Ouija.
It Follows (2015)
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Starring: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist
What it’s about: A college student becomes targeted by a merciless shapeshifting entity only she can see as part of a curse passed down through sexual intercourse.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: One could argue that the spark of the horror genre’s modern renaissance was It Follows – a stunningly unique, captivatingly suspenseful, and cleverly nuanced creepfest that has a follow-up called They Follow in the works.
The Fear Street Trilogy (2021)
Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Sadie Sink
What it’s about: A group of teens discover that the fabled curse plaguing their town is real and races to uncover its origins when they become hunted by various costumed killers.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: By each taking place in a different time period and featuring fun horror movie Easter Eggs throughout, Netflix’s Fear Street movies – loosely based on R.L. Stine’s YA novel series – are a wonderful collection of slasher throwbacks.
His House (2020)
Director: Remi Weekes
Starring: Sope Disiru, Wunmi Mosaku
What it’s about: After taking refuge in England, a South Sudanese couple find themselves living a different kind of nightmare when they move into their new home.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The BAFTA-winning His House is one of a few horror movies to earn 100% on Rotten Tomatoes for its powerful, grounded message amid an otherwise traditional haunted house movie conceit.
Run Rabbit Run (2023)
Director: Daina Reid
Starring: Sarah Snook, Lily LaTorre
What it’s about: A single mother is forced to confront her dark past as she tries to understand her young daughter’s concerning behavior.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Daina Reid and writer Hannah Kent crafted a horror film that effectively addresses grief and will keep you mystified until the shocking ending of Run Rabbit Run.
The Ritual (2018)
Director: David Bruckner
Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali
What it’s about: After a tragic loss, a group of college buddies reunite for a hiking trip in the Swedish wilderness, only to find themselves haunted (or, more accurately, hunted) by a sinister presence.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The Ritual is an underrated Netflix original you should see for its old-school camping trip disaster story enhanced by other shocking horror elements and relatable themes of friendship to keep it grounded.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
What it’s about: A woman takes a weekend getaway with her husband, whose plans to spice up their love life take a devastating turn for the worse.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Without giving too much away, this adaptation of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game is one of Mike Flanagan’s most intense Netflix original titles for its deeply grim story about the survival of both the body and the soul.
#Alive (2020)
Director: Il Cho, Jo Il Hyung
Starring: Ah-In Yoo, Park Shin-hye
What it’s about: A young man lives in isolation to protect himself from a viral outbreak that has affected most of Seoul, Korea, and from the flesh-eating, reanimated corpses those infected have become.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The Netflix original hit, #Alive, is a Korean horror movie offering a clever, claustrophobic take on the zombie genre.
The Babysitter (2017)
Director: McG
Starring: Samara Weaving, Judah Lewis
What it’s about: Cole's latest night with the girl of his dreams – his fun and attractive babysitter, Bee – becomes a living nightmare after discovering that she and her unexpected party guests are hiding a deadly secret.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Before leading Ready or Not, Samara Weaving's reign as one of Hollywood's top Scream Queens began when she played the titular antagonist of The Babysitter – a comical satanic panic throwback that later spawned a sequel.
Creep And Creep 2 (2014, 2017)
Director: Patrick Brice
Starring: Mark Duplass
What it’s about: This pair of intense found footage thrillers chronicles the interactions of a disturbed – and disturbing – man with two different videographers whose curiosities get the best of them.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice developed the concepts for Creep and Creep 2 (which are getting a series sequel with Shudder’s The Creep Tapes), which are both full of shocking twists – the biggest surprise of all being that the stories are improvised pretty much from scratch.
In The Tall Grass (2019)
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted
What it’s about: A pregnant woman and her brother follow a young boy's cry for help into a large field of high-growing grass but it soon becomes apparent that there is no way out.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Father/son writing duo Stephen King and Joe Hill’s novella, In the Tall Grass, inspired this survivalist thriller with elements of startling fantasy, engrossing mystery, and a menacing performance by The Conjuring star Patrick Wilson.
Whether you click on an old-school classic, freaky favorite, or one of Netflix’s own original horror movies, the platform is sure to keep you streaming into the wee hours of the night – partially because you might not be able to sleep.
