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Lyle Roblez
Looking for the best scary movies on Netflix? After a guided map of the most terrifying dingy dungeons, creaky manors, home-invaded houses, and deeply dark woods you can find on the streaming service? Then your search has led you to your glorious streaming doom: The Best Horror Movies on Netflix!
Everyone loves watching scary movies in October, of course. But true fright fans know no calendar. For real aficionados of the dark cinematic arts, any month, any day is a good time for horror, and Netflix is a proverbial graveyard full of terrifying delights waiting to be streamed.
A key film in the new wave of smash-hit mainstream horror (see also Sinister, The Conjuring), Insidious is the one with the creepy kid, the astral plane and the demon hiding behind the Big Red Door. Watch it alone, and completely scare your own pants off.
In a rare example of Hollywood sci-fi-horror thoughtfulness, Annihilation has grand concepts in mind, ideas about self-destruction and rebirth. The film follows cellular biologist Lena (Portman) as she ventures to The Shimmer, an anomalous electromagnetic field, to discover the truth about what happened to her husband Kane (Isaac), who visited The Shimmer and returned in poor health and his memory missing. Spooky stuff.
In this devilish subversion of the typical body-swap comedy, Vince Vaughn is an ageing serial killer who wishes upon a cursed dagger and ends up trading consciousness with a bullied teenage girl (Kathryn Newton). Genius, right? Okay, so that premise could easily flop. But director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) finds the ideal balance between knowing humour and serious gore. The only way to improve it would be to make Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan the leads.
Mike Flanagan had already built a reputation as a rock-steady horror filmmaker by 2016, but the sense of "holy crap, this guy can do anything" became set in stone once he took on a prequel to a critically-derided movie about an evil ouija board and made one of the scariest movies of the last decade. Ouija: Origin of Evil takes us to the 1970s, where fake psychic Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) and her two daughters, Lina (Annalise Basso) and Doris (Lulu Wilson), perform seances for paying customers in the wake of Alice's husband dying. Doris, the youngest, spices up the act with the introduction of a ouija board, but the cursed item makes things all too real when it not only sends a dark spirit into the girl's body but exposes the deep-seated evil ingrained in the Zander's house. There is, to be very clear, absolutely no reason for Ouija: Origin of Evil to be good at all, so it's a downright shock that it's this horrifying and effective. And, because it's Flanagan we're talking about here, there's also a potent dramatic heart beating underneath all those bumps in the night. --Vinnie Mancuso
It's a common trope: a little kid has a crush on their sexy teenage babysitter. But Netflix's original flick The Babysitter turns that on its head, by making the hot babysitter also happen to be part of a Satanic cult. The cult - who has brought their ceremony into young Cole's house - will stop at nothing to prevent Cole from spreading their secret. It's not really a "scary" horror film; it's more goofy, super gory, and a kind of throwback to the campy horror of the 1980s. - Alyse Wax
The first installment of Netflix's Fear Street trilogy of films is an absolute blast from start to finish. Very much drawing influence from Scream, this R-rated slasher takes place in the town of Shadyville, where people going back decades have a habit of going on violent killing sprees. Rumors swirl that it's all to do with a witch's curse from the 1600s (which is covered in the third movie), and in this 1994-set film a group of teenagers find themselves the target of a bevy of masked killers as the try to figure out what's going on and how to survive it. At the center of the story is a queer romance that sets this apart from many other slashers of its ilk, and there's enough comedic relief to keep this from being bogged down as a horror film of the self-serious type. Again the Scream comparisons are apt, so if you're in for a spooky good time that also sets up a mythology that is concluded in the next two Fear Street movies, give Fear Street Part One: 1994 a whirl. - Adam Chitwood
It's tempting to loop all of the Fear Street films into one entry because they're such a satisfying (you might even say limited series-like) whole, but they're also so stylistically distinct and uniquely effective, they're worth singling out on their own. As for the second installment, 1978 takes audiences back to another Shadyside massacre, this time inspired by the summer camp horror trend of the 70s and 80s. Anchored around the story of two estranged sisters finding their way back to each other despite their differences, 1978 unleashes the Nightwing killer scene in the first film while investigating the story behind how he became a cursed mass murderer and deepening the established mythology and character work in the process.
I wouldn't recommend watching them out of order on your first watch but if you're looking to head back into fear Street and don't have time to watch the whole trilogy, 1978 is easily the most self-contained of all three, but good luck not immediately hitting play on the next one. - Haleigh Foutch
The final film in the trilogy, Fear Street Part Three: 1666 brings it all together by traveling to the origins of the curse, so if you're looking for a bit of period horror with a big action payoff, this is your best bet. It's stunning how writer-director Leigh Janiak created a distinct language for each installment, not just cinematically, but in the horror traditions she employs. In keeping, 1666 is the darkest of the three, delving into the rotted core of society behind the Shadyside curse. But Janiak keeps a tight tonal command, never fully abandoning the fun spirit that makes her trilogy such a treat.
The Silence of the Lambs stars Anthony Hopkins as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as ambitious FBI rookie Clarice Starling. Starling enlists the help of Lecter to get inside the mind of a copycat killer, but soon learns that Lecter's help always comes with strings.
Want more Hannibal Lecter? Then press play on Red Dragon. The sequel to The Silence of the Lambs is just as chilling as the first, and stars Edward Norton and Ralph Fiennes alongside Anthony Hopkins.
Awkward Carrie White seems to have the cards stacked against her. But who could thrive with a hyper-conservative mother, school bullies at every turn, and, oh yeah, newly discovered telekinetic powers? Little do her peers know, you should never mess with a girl who has superhuman powers and a taste for revenge.
This slow-burn Netflix original starring Bird Box chronicles the utter breakdown of society when invisible monsters take over the world and kill everyone in their path. Bird Box leaves you breathless as you watch Sandra Bullock silently traverse an empty world to find the last bastion of safety with her children.
A coroner and his son begin an autopsy on a beautiful young woman whose injuries don't make any sense. They set to work, only to find themselves in the middle of a mystery and right in harm's way. It's a horror/thriller that's one of the scariest movies ever. It stars Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch. It'd be perfect to watch on Halloween.
This action-packed horror film centers around a zombie takeover in Busan, South Korea. Travelers on a train have to figure out a game plan before they arrive at their final destination or they'll end up victims to the throngs of the undead awaiting them.
Though the original Sinister isn't available on Netflix right now, it's equally scary sequel is. The film follows a private investigator as he looks into murders associated with a pagan deity called the Bughuul who preys on children.
Another one of the best scary movies on Netflix is The Monster. Zoe Kazan stars as a young mom who gets stranded on back country roads with her daughter. They wait in their car for help, and discover there is evil all around them.
This movie stars three of our favorite actresses: Emma Roberts, Lucy Boynton, and Kiernan Shipka. All three play disturbed girls facing evil forces in the dead of night at an empty Catholic boarding school (which is a recipe for a good horror flick if ever we heard one).
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier, this film centers around a punk rock band that bears witness to a horrible crime. They're trapped, and the Neo-Nazis who committed the crime have trapped the band members and plan to kill them, as well. The band members must find a way to escape as soon as possible.
In an effort to acquire money to pay for her brother's leukemia treatment, Brittany Snow signs up to attend a parlor game at a dinner party. Upon arriving, however, she is trapped in the mansion and forced to play a sadistic game of "would you rather "where the stakes are disturbing and deadly.
Learn the chilling story behind the most famous haunted house in history, The Winchester Mansion. This movie is based on actual life of Sarah Winchester, a grieving widow who never stops adding on to her 7-story mansion in an effort to appease the ghosts that follow her wherever she goes.
This Spanish film delivers enough suspense and drama to justify reading the subtitles. After a tragic accident, the main character (a paramedic, of course) goes off the rails and blames everyone around him for his misery. He's out for revenge, and his girlfriend and close colleague are first on his list.
Alice Ackerman, played by Madeline Brewer, performs provocative shows online. She'll do anything to get more viewers, including pretending to slit her throat. She gains more and more popularity, until an imposter that looks exactly like her takes over the account. Alice tries to figure out what's going on, and discovers there are more imposters impersonating other popular accounts. The No. 1 cam girl is, in fact, dead. Madeline doesn't want to suffer the same fate and must get to the bottom of the mystery.
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