To borrow the words of Ghostface, what’s your favorite scary Netflix movie? The spooky season is here, Halloween is on the horizon, and we’ve rounded up the best horror films on the platform.
What’s a more frightening prospect: watching something that gives you the creeps, or perusing your endless roster of streaming services, scrolling through an enormous library of films, and after hours of humming and hawing, it’s bedtime before you’ve even pressed play on anything?
The latter fate is all too common. It’s the trick hiding behind the treat of so much selection on Netflix, especially when it has some of the best horror movies ever made – you just need to know where to look.
Or, you can trust our guide to the scariest Netflix movies you should watch before October 31. Let’s just say, we have such sights to show you.
Creep (2014)
This found footage film is the brain-child of Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice, with the latter playing Aaron, a videographer who heads to a remote cabin for a mysterious gig.
Duplass is Josef – his employer – who wants to make a video diary for his unborn son before a brain tumor kills him. Creep starts out weird and turns unsettling, before descending into all-out terror. A sequel followed in 2017, which was just as effective and can also be streamed on Netflix right now.
Words by Chris Tilly
It Follows (2014)
What’s so exciting about David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows is that it offers something entirely fresh to the horror table, while also demonstrating its retro influences. The film revolves around a young woman pursued by a shape-shifting entity after a sexual encounter, said entity being a truly terrifying sight to behold – in all of its forms.
Words by Chris Tilly
His House (2020)
Remi Weekes’s movie is a masterclass in unnerving tension, telling the story of a refugee couple from South Sudan who grapple with a malevolent force in their new English home. More than a horror film, it poignantly addresses the immigrant experience and survivor’s guilt, featuring standout performances from leads Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Wunmi Mosaku.
Words by Chris Tilly
The Ritual (2017)
The Ritual doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it’s also a very creepy thriller with a genuinely unsettling denouement.
Directed by David Bruckner and based on the novel of the same name by Adam Nevill, the story follows a group of friends as they embark on a hike through a Scandinavian forest, only to be stalked by an ancient, evil entity. Its mix of psychological and supernatural horror, paired with stunning visuals, crafts a haunting tale of grief and guilt.
Words by Chris Tilly
Calibre (2018)
While we’re on the topic of things that can go wrong in the woods, we’d highly recommend checking out Matt Palmer’s Calibre.
While not technically a horror, it’s got everything you’d expect from a genre flick: it’s twisted; it’s terrifying; and there’s enough tension to burst a blood vessel. The story itself centers on two friends who face moral dilemmas after a hunting trip goes awry in the Scottish Highlands.
Words by Chris Tilly
The Platform (2019)
A gripping and grotesque horror film set in a dystopian vertical prison where inmates on each level receive food via a descending platform.
Those on upper floors feast, while those below face increasing deprivation. Director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia masterfully uses this chilling premise to craft a biting commentary on societal inequality and human nature, one that’s well worth sinking your teeth into this Halloween.
Words by Chris Tilly
Cam (2018)
A cautionary techno-thriller that explores the dangers of a bifurcated online identity through the lens of a devious digital doppelganger, Cam manages to be smart and scary at the same time.
Madeline Brewer is sensational both as the vulnerable Alice and her sexy cybernetic clone, Lola, yet it’s arguably writer and director Isa Mazzei’s integration of her own real-life experiences (the film is partially inspired by Mazzei’s time as a camgirl) that elevates this shocking thriller.
Words by Tom Percival
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Ghoulish and macabre Gerald’s Game is based on the Stephen King story of the same name (who else could have envisioned such a gruesome tale) and follows Jessie, a woman handcuffed to a bed with no hope of survival.
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It may sound duller than a trip to the dentist, but trust us, this wicked yarn and Mike Flanagan’s creative direction will have you glued (or handcuffed) to the edge of your seat. Be warned, though, it gets a bit grisly.
Words by Tom Percival
Malevolent (2018)
Based on the book Hush, Malevolent tells the story of a team of scam artists who specialize in faking paranormal encounters who run into a real-life ghost.
Needless to say, it doesn’t go well for them, but I promise you that if you’re a fan of thrills and chills, you’ll have a far better time than scammers do. Arguably, the film’s greatest strength is the sense of catharsis you feel watching bad things happen to bad people, but there’s a certain ghost house-style charm to the film that shouldn’t be discounted.
Words by Tom Percival
The Wailing (2016)
When a mysterious infection starts to spread through Gokseong village, local police officer Jong-goo becomes convinced that the plague has something to do with the strange man who has just arrived in town.
While The Wailing is monstrously long, you won’t feel a second of it because you’ll be too scared to pay attention to the ticking of the clock. It would be criminal of us to spoil things for you, but The Wailing is the horror movie equivalent of a trip to an all-you-can-eat restaurant; it’s got something for everyone!
Words by Tom Percival
Circle (2015)
Fifty strangers wake up in a deadly game where a seemingly random player is killed every two minutes. Can they escape… well it’s a horror film, so what do you think?
If you’re a fan of reality TV, then this is the horror movie for you! It’s got all the drama of a trip to the Love Island villa, villains who’d make the Big Brother baddies cry, and a simple premise that hides some surprising depth. Glib comparisons aside, Circle’s a genuinely horrifying look at human nature in desperate times.
Words by Tom Percival
The Babadook (2014)
Amelia’s life is hell. Six years on from her husband’s death in a car crash, her son Samuel is a terror – and when he becomes convinced the monster from his book is lurking in their home, strange, terrifying things start to happen.
The Babadook is a provocative, thoroughly spooky triumph, festering in your imagination for days, months, even years. While its titular invader may go bump in the night, Jennifer Kent is more interested in our sympathies, our faltering spirits, how in times of trauma and grief, we can run out of care to give. Resentment can yield our greatest demons.
Words by Cameron Frew
Life (2017)
When a scientist aboard the ISS revives a dormant cell from Mars, it inadvertently enables the growth of an extraterrestrial organism. They call him Calvin, and he seems relatively harmless… at first, until it escapes the station’s lab, and all hell breaks loose.
Considering its starry cast – Ryan Reynolds! Jake Gyllenhaal! Rebecca Ferguson – Life undeservedly flew under the radar. It has a palpable sense of menace and terror, top-drawer VFX, and as for its ending… gulp.
Words by Cameron Frew
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
A small-town sheriff investigates the abduction of three locals from Bright Hope and discovers a frightening link to a cannibalistic Native American clan. The West may be dying, but it’ll go out with a scream, not a whimper.
S. Craig Zahler’s slow-burn Western hybrid is a razor-sharp campfire story explored through the bloodied caves and tumbleweeds of old America. It’s a film, unlike anything that came before it. Warning: it contains one of the most horrifying deaths in movie history.
Words by Cameron Frew
It Chapter Two (2019)
After 27 years, tragedy draws the Losers’ Club back to Derry, where Pennywise has resurfaced to feed on the fear and flesh of fresh children. They swore an oath: if the clown ever returned, they’d come back and finish what they started.
Stand By Me famously asked, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was 12. Jesus, does anyone?” It Chapter Two is an emphatic, often frightening yes, delivering an epic, harrowing, grown-up Goonies sequel that miraculously adapts the toughest half of Stephen King’s magnum opus.
We’ve also broken down the best scary movies on Prime Video, as well as the Hulu horror movies you should add to your watch list. You can also check out our list of every horror movie coming to streaming in October 2024.
