gartmari weronica zanthus
Kerrie Gingrich
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!
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.
No horror movie is as terrifying as the experience of trying to agree on something to watch with your partner as the night draws in. Save some sympathy, however, for the main characters of our most prestige chillers, some of whom have seriously been put through the wringer.
Whether it's the story of a music festival gone seriously wrong in Ari Aster's gaslighting saga Midsommar, or the many societal ills highlighted by Jordan Peele's modern-horror filmography, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ have plenty of excellent scary movies to pick from. To make the task of choosing a little easier, we've rounded up the best horror movies that are available to stream, rent and buy now, all for perusal in the comfort of your home, and best watched while wearing an expression of abject terror. Enjoy?
Still hailed as one of the best twist endings of all time, M. Night Shyamalan's crowning jewel, The Sixth Sense, is as good now as it was in 1999. Centred around a young boy who believes he can see dead people and the child psychologist tasked with trying to figure out whether he's just suffering delusions of the mind, the less said about it the better. Just watch. disneyplus.com
Men. This film is about men. Well, it's really about Jessie Buckley's character Harper and a retreat after a traumatic event that gets overturned by a persistent and looming presence of dread. That dread is men, played by a kind of eerie carousel of Rory Kinnear in different disguises. This Alex Garland film is all kinds of weird and twisty, as we have come to expect, and you will leave feeling overwhelming unease. Happy watching! amazon.co.uk
This gothic horror is about as chilling as it comes. Set in a cold, bare mansion that is never allowed to see sunlight, Nicole Kidman stuns as a wartime widow forced to keep going for the sake of her children who are allergic to sunlight. As time goes on, she starts to believe her spacious digs may be haunted, but that's only the beginning. amazon.co.uk
When Midsommar was released in 2019, it was greeted by a slew of five-star reviews and now the Ari Aster-directed scream-fest has finally landed on Netflix. It follows a young American couple on their trip to a mysterious Swedish festival, which, despite all appearances, quickly turns into a nightmare. Unlike most horrors, Midsommar is set mostly during the daytime and is no less terrifying for it. Plus, Florence Pugh is brilliant as the troubled protagonist, Dani. netflix.com
If you're worried that online dating is zapping the magic out of romance, just remember that the old-fashioned way might not always be just sunshine and roses. After meeting in a supermarket, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is swept off her feet by Steve (Sebastian Stan), but as the relationship progresses she realises the meat market they met at might not have been to both of their tastes. disneyplus.com
Who doesn't fancy sitting down to watch a German-language aeroplane-vampire-action-horror romp? We certainly do. Blood Red Sky starts as a run-of-the-mill plane hijack film, until we discover that one of the passengers, travelling with her son, was bitten by a vampire and now has to take suppressants to stop herself from becoming a ravenous beast. She's shot by one of the hijackers and decides that enough's enough, deciding to make her way through the plane, one hijacker at a time. It's Air Force One for Nosferatu fans. netflix.com
Never underestimate horror for being able to make the most natural, human things incredibly sinister. In Smile, it's, you guessed it, people smiling. After you watch it you'll hope everyone is miserable all the time, if just to avoid seeing people turn up their mouths for a bit. A doctor is plagued with visions after a terrifying incident with a patient, and soon reality blurs with nightmares as she starts to unravel from the horror. amazon.co.uk
Halloween launched perhaps the most convoluted and nonsensical of horror universes (there are 12 films in the franchise), but the original remains the best by far. Fifteen years after being sectioned for the murder of his sister, Mike Myers returns to the town of Haddonfield and is hellbent on yet another random killing spree. Everything from the soundtrack to Jamie Lee Curtis to that chilling final scene makes for horror movie perfection. netflix.com
Armie Hammer is a New Orleans bartender who fancies his friend Alicia (Zazie Beetz) and is growing increasingly distant from his partner, Carrie (Dakota Johnson). After a fight in the bar he works at, he finds a leftover phone that continues to give disturbing, visceral clues about something evil lurking underneath the strange goings-on that begin to happen. With a cast this good, Wounds is worth a watch for its blend of disturbing imagery and top-notch ensemble. netflix.com
As a kid, it's one thing to find out your babysitter is inviting strangers over to your house while they think you're sleeping, but it's quite another to discover that those strangers are part of a human-sacrificing cult. Poor Cole, the nerdy teenager who finds himself in this exact situation in The Babysitter, as the titular girl-next-door villain reveals herself to be more of a girl-from-hell. After signing a deal with the devil to make herself popular, she now needs the blood of teenage boys to keep her end of the bargain. With as many laughs as there is gore, this is the silly slasher flick to watch if you want to avoid nightmares. If you're left bloodthirsty for more, then you can also follow it up with the recently released sequel, The Babysitter: Killer Queen. netflix.com
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