The 18 best horror movies on Netflix to stream now
Netflix and thrill? It's more likely than you think with the streamer's horror library.
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Who says you need it to be Halloween to want a good scare? Horror is one of those genres that can be enjoyed 365 days a year, no matter the season. Fortunately, Netflix delivers an abundance of frights straight to your own haunted house. Craving zombies? Zombieland (2009) is there to tickle your brain. How about demonic spirits? It Follows (2014) is a great go-to. Whatever your mood, this list has you covered.
Read below for the 18 best horror movies to watch on Netflix right now.
The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
Seeing dead bodies is endlessly routine for coroner Tommy (Brian Cox). But when an unidentified woman (Olwen Catherine Kelly) lands on his table, he and his son, Austin (Emile Hirsch), discover several anomalies: Her body appears pristine, yet her bones tell a different story; her veins suggest a recent death while her eyes say she's been gone for days. As the pair puzzle over her cause of death, eerie events reveal that they're not the only party present in the morgue.
An unnerving body horror work with spectacular performances, EW's critic perfectly sums up the film in one sentence: "Supporting the theory that any movie can be made four times better with the addition of Brian Cox, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is essentially a 90-minute episode of Jack Klugman’s late-’70s TV show Quincy, M.E. with more graphic gore, goo, and guts." —James Mercadante
Where to watch The Autopsy of Jane Doe: Netflix
Director: André ?vredal
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Brian Cox, Olwen Catherine Kelly, Ophelia Lovibond, Michael McElhatton
Related content: The Autopsy of Jane Doe: Emile Hirsch visited a real morgue to prep for the film
The Babadook (2014)
A frightening figure erupts from the pages of a mysterious children's book in The Babadook, a horror tale that's also a sly meditation on grief and parenting. Amelia (Essie Davis), the widowed mother of a troubled 6-year-old boy, tries to reassure her son that the Babadook isn't real, but when she tears the book up and throws it away, it reappears on her doorstep with even more graphic threats.
EW's critic at the time praised the film, writing, "In an age when horror movies have mostly become lazy and toothless, here’s one with ambition and bite." —Danny Horn
Where to watch The Babadook: Netflix
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Jennifer Kent
Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney
Related content: The Babadook director celebrates monster's gay icon status: 'He's trying to stay relevant'
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
There’s a hurricane coming in A24's Bodies Bodies Bodies… but the cyclone isn’t responsible for the deaths. When Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) decide to weather the storm at a friend’s mansion, things take a hedonistic turn, devolving into a night of drinking, drugs, and a paranoia-inducing round of the titular murder mystery game. As the evening progresses, the game of trying to identify the murderer becomes reality as, one by one, the houseguests begin to perish.
Laden with style and attitude, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a well-acted and self-aware horror film that attacks with both knives and jokes, prompting EW’s critic to describe it as “a blithe, ruthless slasher satire soaked in the digital-native lingo and dizzy Euphoria nihilism of Gen Z.” —Ilana Gordon
Where to watch Bodies Bodies Bodies: Netflix
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Halina Reijn
Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, Pete Davidson
Related content: Lee Pace and Rachel Sennott give killer commentary on our behind-the-scenes Bodies Bodies Bodies gallery
Cam (2018)
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This fresh techno-thriller plays on the fear of losing control of your online identity. Alice (Madeline Brewer), an ambitious camgirl who works under the name Lola, logs in one day to find that she's locked out of her account, which now belongs to a look-alike streaming in her place. Everyone that she turns to for help dismisses her concerns or asks intrusive questions about her profession, leaving her to confront her doppelg?nger alone.
Written by former camgirl Isa Mazzei, Cam tells a trippy take on horror that respects the lead character's perspective and questions societal judgments around sex work. —D.H.
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Cast: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters, Devin Druid, Michael Dempsey
Related content: How a former sex worker dreamed up a Blumhouse movie nightmare
The Conjuring (2013)
Following Saw and Insidious, director James Wan’s next venture ended up being a box-office knockout that marked the beginning of a $2 billion franchise. Starring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as real-life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film delved into their 1973 investigation of the Perron family and their haunted Rhode Island farmhouse.
Wan bodies the haunted house subgenre here, creating an immersive atmosphere grounded in masterful storytelling and a scrupulous '70s mise-en-scène, one that earns all of its scares by avoiding hackneyed stunts and over-the-top theatrics. —J.M.
Where to watch The Conjuring: Netflix
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: James Wan
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor, Joey King, Mackenzie Foy, Hayley McFarland, Shanley Caswell
Related content: Decade of dread: James Wan on how The Conjuring spawned a universe of horror
Creep (2014)
In this found-footage two-hander, a young videographer named Aaron (Patrick Brice) is hired by Josef (Mark Duplass) to record a day of his life. Josef explains that he has an inoperable brain tumor and wants to leave something behind for his soon-to-be-born son, but his eccentric behavior becomes increasingly concerning, and Aaron needs to decide whether to continue filming — assuming Josef will let him leave.
Creep's continued success depends on whether Josef can keep finding fresh ways to be unnerving, and he does. (Things get even creepier in Creep 2, which documents another video project gone terribly wrong.) —D.H.
Director: Patrick Brice
Cast: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice
Related content: Mark Duplass talks about his found footage horror movie Creep
El Conde (2023)
Director Pablo Larraín sinks his teeth into Chile's most notorious villain, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, a figure who frequented some of his past works like Tony Manero (2008), Post Mortem (2010), and No (2012). But instead of merely depicting Pinochet's military dictatorship that terrorized and killed thousands, Larraín offers an alternative history that sees him as a 250-year-old vampire who's grown tired of immortality after the countless atrocities he's committed.
Shot in breathtaking, Oscar-nominated black and white cinematography, El Conde is a gothic, politically rich vampire odyssey that renders fascists as literal life-drainers, forcing its heartless protagonist to sit forever with his horrific legacy. —J.M.
Where to watch El Conde: Netflix
Director: Pablo Larraín
Cast: Jaime Vadell, Gloria Münchmeyer, Alfredo Castro, Paula Luchsinger
Related content: El Conde director breaks down his vampire Pinochet movie and that wild narrator reveal
Fear Street Part I: 1994 (2021)
It's a familiar setup — a group of clever, plucky suburban teens battling a hooded, skull-masked serial killer who returns from the dead — but this brisk adaptation of the R.L. Stine novel series offers more than just the obvious tropes. The Fear Street trilogy is a knowing mash-up of slasher films, ghost stories, and summer camp killers bound together by an ancient supernatural curse.
The second chapter in the franchise flashes back to 1978, and the third film to 1666, exploring a detailed backstory. Plus, the lesbian romance at the heart of the trilogy provides a modern spin. —D.H.
Where to watch Fear Street Part I: 1994: Netflix
Director: Leigh Janiak
Cast: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Julia Rehwald, Fred Hechinger, Ashley Zukerman, Darrell Britt-Gibson, Maya Hawke
Related content: Fear Street stars talk trilogy's bloody twists and queer love story: 'It's so groundbreaking'
Gerald's Game (2017)
On vacation at a remote lake house, Gerald (Bruce Greenwood) plays a kinky sex game with his wife, Jessie (Carla Gugino), handcuffing her to the bed and then dropping dead of a heart attack. Shackled to the bedposts with no chance of rescue, Jessie has to figure out how to survive.
Adapting a Stephen King novel long thought to be unfilmable, Gerald's Game fleshes out the story by bringing Gerald back to life as a hallucination, giving Jessie someone to talk to as she confronts her inner demons. Stirring performances by Gugino and Greenwood make this film a compelling watch. —D.H.
Where to watch Gerald's Game: Netflix
Director: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Carel Struycken
Related content: Stephen King at 70: Gerald's Game director Mike Flanagan on adapting his darkness
It Follows (2014)
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College student Jay (Maika Monroe) has sex for the first time with her boyfriend (Jake Weary), who then informs her that he's passed on a curse — a shape-shifting phantom that will slowly stalk her until it kills her, or until she passes it on to her next sexual partner.
The film is an exercise in gradually building tension, as Jay comes to understand that the creature will never stop coming. As EW's critic promises, "It Follows sets us up for all of the tired teen-body-count-flick tropes, and then spends the next hour and a half subverting them with wit, style, and an almost suffocating sense of dread." —D.H.
Where to watch It Follows: Netflix
EW grade: A– (read the review)
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia Luccardi, Jake Weary
Related content: It Follows is getting a sequel titled They Follow, with director and star returning
The Perfection (2018)
Cello prodigy Charlotte (Allison Williams) returns to a prestigious music conservatory after several years away to find that another student, Lizzie (Logan Browning), has taken her place as the star pupil. The perverse, grisly way that Charlotte sabotages her rival is breathtaking — and that's only act one of this twisty psychological horror movie.
Williams' deadpan charm anchors the film, even as it takes several left turns from reality. EW's critic notes, "Some folks may laugh when director Richard Shepard wants their jaws to drop. But it delivers. The Perfection is a pure hit of twisted, absurd camp catnip." —D.H.
Where to watch The Perfection: Netflix
EW grade: B (read the review)
Director: Richard Shepard
Cast: Allison Williams, Logan Browning, Steven Weber
Related content: The Perfection stars on surrendering to the madness of cellos and violence
The Platform (2019)
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In this Spanish dystopian thriller, prisoners are trapped in a "Vertical Self-Management Center," a towering structure of stacked cells featuring a large hole in the floor. Every day, a platform loaded with food descends the tower, pausing at each level for the prisoners to eat. Those at the top feast heartily, while those below get the leftover table scraps. If everyone only took what they needed, there would be enough for all, but the greedy folks don't care about those suffering beneath them. (FYI: The Platform 2 comes out on Netflix on Oct. 4.) —D.H.
Where to watch The Platform: Netflix
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
Cast: Iván Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor
Related content: The 20 best thriller movies on Netflix right now
The Ritual (2017)
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A stylish spine-chiller, The Ritual sends four British friends on a hiking tour through a dark Swedish forest, where they find that someone's been busy gutting animals and carving strange runes on the trees. None of the guys like to admit they're scared, so they keep pushing forward through the wilderness, as the occult threats grow more terrifying. However, they tend to make some newbie monster-movie mistakes, like spending the night in an abandoned cabin featuring an effigy with antlers for hands. Events get progressively bleaker from there. —D.H.
Where to watch The Ritual: Netflix
Director: David Bruckner
Cast: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton
Related content: The 18 best ‘cabin in the woods’ horror movies
Thanksgiving (2023)
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There's a cornucopia of festive holiday-themed killings in Eli Roth's Thanksgiving, a tongue-in-cheek slasher pic featuring a killer dressed in a Pilgrim costume. One year after a catastrophic Black Friday sale that resulted in multiple gory casualties, people involved in the riot are being targeted, including (of course) a group of wisecracking, attractive teens. Patrick Dempsey heads the cast as the town sheriff, investigating a string of gruesome and entertaining kills. You have to respect a movie that bleeds cranberry sauce. —D.H.
Where to watch Thanksgiving: Netflix
Director: Eli Roth
Cast: Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Milo Manheim, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Nell Verlaque, Rick Hoffman, Gina Gershon
Related content: Eli Roth spent decades cooking up his horror movie Thanksgiving
Under the Shadow (2016)
Living in Tehran during the 1980s Iran-Iraq War, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and her young daughter (Avin Manshadi) are under constant threat from missile strikes — and from the terrifying djinn that appears to be haunting their apartment. While her husband and neighbors urge Shideh to take her daughter to safety, the spirit taunts her, questioning whether she's a respectable woman and a good mother.
Complex and thought-provoking, Under the Shadow makes a unique addition to the horror canon. EW's critic calls the movie "a skilled, chilling feature debut that might follow you around a while after seeing it." —D.H.
Where to watch Under the Shadow: Netflix
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Babak Anvari
Cast: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi
Related content: Under the Shadow: A kid gets creepy in an exclusive clip from the horror film
Verónica (2017)
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In Madrid, 15-year-old Verónica (Sandra Escacena) has a dead father, an absent mother, and three young siblings whom she cares for on her own. In an attempt to contact her dad, she and two friends play with an Ouija board. She cuts her hand, and drips blood on the board — an obvious no-no among Ouija enthusiasts — causing something demonic to emerge and attach itself to her.
Dark forces start to attack, and Verónica's descent into madness is all the more upsetting because it threatens her adorable little brother and sisters. Verónica notably wraps up with an explanation of the true story that inspired the film. —D.H.
Where to watch Verónica: Netflix
Director: Paco Plaza
Cast: Sandra Escacena, Claudia Placer, Bruna González, Iván Chavero, Ana Torrent, ángela Fabián, Carla Campra
The Wailing (2016)
If you're looking for unrelenting horror, this South Korean police procedural from Hell offers mass murder, zombie-like infections, and red-eyed demons. In a remote village, a repulsive skin rash is spreading that causes sufferers to kill their families, and the bumbling police sergeant (Kwak Do-won) investigating the murders is absolutely out of his depth — especially when his own daughter (Kim Hwan-hee) starts to exhibit signs of the disease.
Writer-director Na Hong-jin constantly raises the stakes, offering twist after twist. EW's critic promises that "despite its epic length, The Wailing never bores as [director Na Hong-jin] slathers his tale with generous supplies of atmosphere and awfulness." —D.H.
Where to watch The Wailing: Netflix
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Na Hong-jin
Cast: Kwak Do-won, Hwang Jung-min, Chun Woo-hee, Jun Kunimura, Kim Hwan-hee
Related content: The Wailing: Korean horror movie clip has bodies and boils
Zombieland (2009)
Expertly blending horror, comedy, and post-apocalyptic action, Zombieland has proved to be one of the more endearing modern movies about the undead. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin star as an unlikely band of survivors who trek across a desolate America to seek sanctuary. It's a delightfully bloody affair, featuring some truly gruesome deaths and one hell of a cameo.
While the filmmakers behind Zombieland are more interested in entertaining rather than truly frightening the audience, they don't skimp on providing some rather graphic imagery. As EW's critic observes, "The ghouls who, after an out-of-control virus hits planet Earth, have overrun the world in this smartly made, chat-loving comedy are plenty hideous, prone to feasting on intestines." —Kevin Jacobsen
Where to watch Zombieland: Netflix
EW grade: B+ (read the review)
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Related content: Zombieland: Double Tap stars talk zom-coms, Emma Stone doppelg?ngers, and global warming
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
