InkBlog

This article is updated frequently as movies leave and enter Netflix. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.

You want to see something really scary this October? Netflix subscribers have commonly made horror films the most-watched on the streaming service, and the original filmmaking factory at the company keeps churning out new ones in time for Halloween — or picking them up at film festivals. The truth is that the horror section of Netflix’s movie library is one of its deepest catalogs, which can make separating the quality from the junk harder than in some other sections. That’s why we’re here. These are the best horror films on Netflix right now.

How We Pick Our Films

Critic Brian Tallerico watches and writes about movies and TV every day. To curate this list, he dives into Netflix’s catalogue every month to surface terrifying horror titles — using his taste and a lifetime of cinema study as his guide, instead of whatever the algorithm happens to be pushing. After triple-checking to make sure they’re still available, he watches each and writes his recommendation. We highlight more than just the crowdpleasers: Filmmakers can use horror to craft spine-tingling moods, keep audiences on their toes, and comment on culture. Read on to find something to watch.

Apostle

Year: 2018
Runtime: 2h 10m
Director: Gareth Evans

Did you know the director of The Raid (and its awesome sequel) has also directed a kick-ass Netflix Original horror movie? Released in 2018, Apostle stars the great Dan Stevens (The Guest) as a man who journeys to a Welsh island in search of his missing sister and finds a community that’s not exactly welcoming. Kind of written off as a riff on The Wicker Man, this is a wicked little movie, elevated greatly by a fantastic performance from Michael Sheen.

Black Swan

Year: 2010
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director: Darren Aronofsky

Natalie Portman won her only Oscar for her fearless performance in Aronofsky’s study of commitment and madness. She plays a ballerina who will go to whatever lengths necessary to nail a new production of Swan Lake, even as she fends off the competition of a new dancer, played by Mila Kunis. Unforgettable and terrifying, it’s a true horror film that captures how dedication can be pushed far enough to tear apart reality.

Cam

Year: 2018
Runtime: 1h 35m
Director: Daniel Goldhaber

You haven’t seen a mindbender quite like this one. Madeline Brewer stars as a camgirl who will do whatever it takes to rise the ranks of her online service. As she does so, she discovers that there’s a competitor who has basically taken her place, leading to a Lynchian dissection of how much someone can give of themselves to the internet machine. It’s unforgettably weird.

Crimson Peak

Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 59m
Director: Guillermo del Toro

Everyone seems to love the director of Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water, but this 2015 gothic romantic horror flick often falls through the cracks when people talk about Guillermo del Toro. It shouldn’t. It’s a masterfully made period piece with sumptuous details and perfectly calibrated storytelling. Mia Wasikowska plays a woman who moves to a remote mansion with her new husband (Tom Hiddleston) and his sister (Jessica Chastain) and discovers the secrets buried in the earth.

*Dawn of the Dead

Year: 2004
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: Zack Snyder

Forget that Rebel Moon junk and watch Dawn of the Dead instead. Long before anyone could imagine what The Snyder Cut would mean, Zack Snyder helmed this remake of one of the best horror films of all time, George A. Romero’s masterpiece of the same name. While very different in tone, this one totally works on its own terms, featuring excellent horror-action direction from Snyder and a great cast that includes Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Jake Weber.

Deliver Us From Evil

Year: 2014
Runtime: 1h 58m
Director: Scott Derrickson

Between Sinister and Doctor Strange, Scott Derrickson made this variation on The Exorcist, the story of an NYPD sergeant who ends up investigating a case that might include demonic possession. Advertised as being based on a true story (it wasn’t), this wide release has some bumpy spots but works largely because of the commitment of leading man Eric Bana, who’s pretty much always good and often great.

Fear Street

Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 47m
Director: Leigh Janiak

Remember how much this took over the horror world in Summer 2021? Based on the books by R.L. Stine, these three films told the story of a curse that had descended on a small town and unfolded across three films set in different eras — 1994, 1978, and 1666. Fans argued over which one was the best (1994), but it’s best to appreciate these now as one piece of sharply-written horror entertainment. And a couple of the most talented Stranger Things stars (Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke) help too.

Gerald’s Game

Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Mike Flanagan

Before he helmed The Haunting of Hill House, Mike Flanagan co-wrote and directed one of the best Netflix Original horror films in this adaptation of Stephen King’s 1992 novel of the same name. Carla Gugino is phenomenal as a woman who gets handcuffed to her bed by her toxic husband…and then he has a heart attack. As she tries to figure out how she will survive, she accesses the trauma of her past.

Get Out

Year: 2017
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director: Jordan Peele

This is the one that really changed the current state of horror, reminding studios how acclaimed and popular it could be if treated with the right respect. It also won its creator an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, launching one of the most interesting careers of the current era. It’s held up remarkably well, and it’s hardly ever available on streaming services, so take this chance while you can to rewatch a movie whose influence is still shaking the industry.

His House

Year: 2020
Runtime: 1h 33m
Director: Remi Weekes

What if it’s not houses that are haunted but people? That’s the question at the core of this story of an immigrant couple (a fantastic Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu) from South Sudan who move to an English town and face enemies both outside of their new home and within it. This is a strikingly original horror flick that has been largely underrated. Don’t miss it.

It Follows

Year: 2015
Runtime: 1h 40m
Director: David Robert Mitchell

Maika Monroe stars in this 2014 indie horror breakthrough hit as a young woman who discovers that her recent sexual activity has cursed her with a supernatural force that will chase her until she passes it along to someone else. Stylish and striking, this felt like nothing else on the American horror market in 2014, really ushering in the era of what is now called “elevated horror.” Whatever you call it, It Follows is still an unforgettable genre flick.

*Malignant

Year: 2021
Runtime: 1h 51m
Director: James Wan

James Wan’s horror blockbuster is one of the weirdest major genre films of all time. How does one even capture this cuckoo bananas flick in a capsule? It’s about a girl who seems haunted by something malevolent only to learn the call is coming from inside the house. You need to see Malignant just for the last half hour of absolute insanity.

Nowhere

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 49m
Director: Albert Pinto

More thriller than outright horror, Nowhere is still upsetting enough to qualify for a list like this one. Recently added to Netflix, it’s a Spanish film about a dystopian future with an intense refugee crisis. As women and children are being rounded up into cages, Mia (Anna Castillo) and Nico (Tamar Novas) try to escape, but they get separated and Mia ends up alone in a cargo shipping container adrift in the ocean. Oh, and she happens to be nine months pregnant. This one works largely thanks to Castillo’s committed, thrilling performance.

Ouija: Origin of Evil

Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 39m
Director: Mike Flanagan

Sequels to mediocre horror films aren’t traditionally any good. Every rule has an exception. The director of Gerald’s Game helmed this fantastic prequel about a couple who have a phony séance business. Their lives are turned upside down when they bring a Ouija board into their act, unknowingly unleashing a spirit that possesses their daughter. Smart and tightly made, it was a sign of things to come from the future Hill House creator.

The Perfection

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director: Richard Shepard

Girls and Get Out star Allison Williams stars in this twisting and turning tale of a talented young musician who travels to Shanghai where she meets a competitor named Lizzie, played by Logan Browning. A story that keeps shifting and changing ultimately arrives at a shocking conclusion in this Netflix Original that took the festival scene by storm in 2018 and 2019.

The Platform

Year: 2019
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia

Sometimes the only thing a fun horror movie needs is a clever concept. This one is undeniably that. This Spanish film takes place in a “Vertical Self-Management Center,” a prison with dozens of floors to house its inmates. For sustenance, a platform descends the center of the tower. People near the top get much more than those at the bottom, which is kind of like a symbol for, well, everything. Unpredictable and tense, this is one of the best Netflix Original horror flicks.

The Pope’s Exorcist

Year: 2023
Runtime: 1h 43m
Director: Julius Avery

Listen, this is no masterpiece, but there’s something fascinating about seeing an Oscar winner like Russell Crowe commit so completely to a B-movie this ludicrous. Crowe is all-in as the infamous Father Gabriele Amorth, a purported real-life exorcist who tries to save a possessed boy in Spain. This is a defiantly goofy movie, but it’s better than its quick theatrical run would have you believe, and a great fit for the Netflix horror roster of movies you can watch while you do something on your phone.

Silent Hill

Year: 2006
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: Christophe Gans

This is an admittedly short hill to climb, but Christophe Gans’s adaptation of the hit franchise is arguably the best film based on a video game to date. It really captures the hallucinatory surrealism of the video games with its striking visuals and incredible sound design. Radha Mitchell stars as a woman who goes to the town of Silent Hill to find her daughter and, well, things get weird.

The Strangers

Year: 2008
Runtime: 1h 25m
Director: Bryan Bertino

Loosely based on a true story, this is one of the best home invasion flicks of the modern era. It’s the terrifyingly relatable story of a couple, played by Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, who are attacked in their vacation home in the middle of the night. Made for almost nothing, The Strangers was a huge smash, tapping into something we all fear could happen when we hear a strange sound outside in the middle of the night.

Under the Shadow

Year: 2016
Runtime: 1h 24m
Directors: Babak Anvari

The Iranian-born Anvari wrote and directed this brilliant interplay of horror tropes and commentary on how war and violence can shatter the world more than a ghost could ever consider. A mother and daughter are haunted in 1980s Tehran during the historical War of the Cities. If the falling bombs won’t get them, something more supernatural might.

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