With the best horror movies on Netflix, every night can be fright night. We've combed through the streamer's sprawling library to round up the best of Netflix's scary movies that will unearth your deepest fears. One of our personal favorites on the list is the acclaimed "It" remake that sees Bill Skarsgård fill Tim Curry's clown shoes as Pennywise.
Horror movie fans may be drawn to the genre for wildly different reasons. Some love the adrenaline rush of getting the bejesus scared out of them, others the mystery of why that killer is out there hacking and slashing. Maybe you just want to watch unruly teens get terrorized because of some twisted karmic justice. We're not here to judge, and neither is Netflix.
The best horror movies on Netflix right now
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'Bodies Bodies Bodies' (2022)
A24's critically acclaimed horror comedy "Bodies Bodies Bodies" is a Gen Z twist on the classic "whodunit?" Pete Davidson stars as David, a rich 20-something who invites his fellow rich friends to a night of debauchery at his family's mansion to wait out a hurricane. They soon decide to play a murder mystery game, but things take a turn when, after a heated argument, the power goes out and one of them ends up dead.
They start to turn on each other as they're forced to figure out who's behind the night's violent turn. Throughout the movie, the group is constantly taking verbal jabs at each other in a way that might make you think this is a satire of Gen Z. But rather than coming off as cringey and out-of-touch, "Bodies Bodies Bodies" has received praise for its biting observations, clever writing, and shrewd, class-aware humor. It's been hailed as the next generation's "Mean Girls" or "Heathers."
Rotten Tomatoes score: 85%
Starring: Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace
Directed by: Halina Reijn
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'It' (2017)
Director Andy Muschietti impressed a lot of folks with this adaptation of the first half of Stephen King's epic tome. This chapter focuses on the demon clown's emotional and mental torture of a group of children in Derry, Maine who call themselves The Losers Club.
Applauded not just for strong performances from the young cast and beautiful cinematography, "It" owes just as much to its villain. Bill Skarsgård is pitch-perfect as Pennywise, and will rattle anyone with a fear of clowns. Skarsgård's Pennywise earned comparisons to Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight, but not for the character itself. Instead, this Pennywise joined the hall of cinematic villains for how memorably haunting he is. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Stars: Bill Skarsgård, Jaeden Martell, Finn Wolfhard, Sophia Lillis, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jackson Robert Scott, Chosen Jacobs
Directed by: Andy Muschietti
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'The Ritual' (2017)
This Netflix original masterfully uses a monster movie framework to deconstruct moral dilemmas around fear, guilt and what we owe one another. While out drinking one night, two friends, Luke (Rafe Spall) and Robert (Paul Reid), break off from their group to stop by a convenience store. They walk in on a robbery gone awry, but Luke manages to hide and watches terrified as the burglars kill his friend. The rest of the group decide to honor Robert's memory by going on a hiking trip in northern Sweden. But as they venture deeper into the forest, they become hopelessly lost and begin to suspect a supernatural force may be stalking them. "The Ritual" expertly cultivates a sense of dread throughout by gradually revealing the unknown horrors lurking in the forest. - AS
Rotten Tomatoes score: 74%
Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali, Robert James-Collier, Sam Troughton
Directed by: David Bruckner
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'X' (2022)
Ti West's "Pearl" easily tops my list of the best horror movies in recent years. While its prequel, "X," is admittedly a bit of a harder sell, it still marks a haunting twist on the slasher movie formula. Albeit a deeply unsettling and gorey one at times.
Set in the 1970s, it follows Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow and the rest of a group of aspiring adult filmmakers who rent a guesthouse on a remote farm in rural Texas to shoot a porno. They keep the elderly couple they're renting from in the dark about the shoot, but when Maxine (Goth) catches the eye of a senile Pearl (also played by Goth) who's bitterly jealous of her youth, things take a turn for the murderous. - AS
Rotten Tomatoes score: 94%
Starring: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson
Director: Ti West
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'The Platform' (2019)
Plunged into the Pit, Goreng (Iván Massagué) lives his days in this massive prison tower, where a regularly descending platform brings sustenance. The further down it goes, the less there is to eat. Residents at the top of the prison get better quality food with more to go around. This leaves those living in the Pit at the bottom to starve. As the platform's food levels shift monthly, Goreng's alliances and beliefs are tested while residents are routinely shuffled around. When a cryptic message about a young girl surfaces, things change dramatically -- but the fight for survival is a constant. - BV
Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
Cast: Iván Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor
Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
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'His House' (2020)
One of the most unique and horrifying scary movies I've seen in recent memory, "His House" follows a young refugee couple, Bol (Sope Dirisu) and Rial (Wunmi Mosaku), who are granted asylum in a small English town after fleeing war-torn South Sudan. Met with hostility and racism in their new community, the couple struggles to adjust. Straining their relationship further is a mysterious malevolent force in their house that seems connected to their traumatic past. But while Rial insists something is not right and wants to move, Bol worries that making waves could get them deported. And so the two are on their own to face whatever's haunting them. - AS
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Starring: Wonmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Matt Smith, Cornell John, Emily Taaffe
Director: Remi Weekes
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'Fear Street' trilogy
Netflix knocked out back-to-back-to-back home runs with its "Fear Street" trilogy films, which adapt the R.L. Stine books. Expect retro scares and spooky thrills, but updated for the audiences that grew up with the books, and expect a bit more scares than kid-fare. Expect a haunted camp, a literal witch hunt and much more. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 83% (Part One), 88% (Part Two), 89% (Part Three)
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Gillian Jacobs, Julia Rehwald, Sadie Sink, Emily Rudd
Director: Leigh Janiak
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'Crimson Peak' (2015)
Guillermo del Toro is a cinematic mastermind, and "Crimson Peak" went in a campier direction than some may have wanted to. That said, Hiddleston, Chastain and Wasikowska do great with the material of "Crimson Peak," where Edith (Wasikowska) is relocated to a gothic mansion by the charming Thomas Sharpe (Hiddleston). Oh, and she can communicate with the dead. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 72%
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Hunnam
Director: Guillermo del Toro
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'Vampires vs The Bronx' (2020)
Vampires have taken over all across the world, even in Staten Island (see "What We Do In The Shadows" for a laugh), but they just picked the wrong borough to battle. "Vampires vs The Bronx" frames the tried and true trope of vampires as an evil invading force, and applies it to a modern topic: gentrification. In this movie, we meet a group of kids just trying to live their own lives, except for Miguel Martinez. Known to many as "Lil Mayor," Miguel is trying to save the local bodega, which is fighting off rising rent prices. All the while, vampires are actually the ones behind family-owned businesses being bought out. "Vampires vs The Bronx" is the latest addition to our best horror movies on Netflix list for finding a way to make a vampire movie where it's not just the blood that's being sucked out, but the life of a neighborhood. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Starring: Jaden Michael, Gerald W. Jones III, Gregory Diaz IV, Sarah Gadon, Cliff "Method Man" Smith
Director: Osmany Rodriguez
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'Cam' (2018)
Alice Ackerman, a successful camgirl, used to have a tight focus on her reality. All that changes once she figures out that faking her own death will shoot her to the top of the charts, and get a ton of tips. But before she can seize on her popularity, a new rival named Princess_X — who looks just like Alice — appears and shatters the scene. The film seizes on the mob mentality behavior that drives social media circles wild and turns into a macabre thriller as Alice begs the police for help. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%
Starring: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
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'Bird Box' (2018)
This Netflix original stars Sandra Bullock, as Malorie Hayes, who is about to go on a terrifying journey downriver in a boat, with only the blindfolds on their heads to protect them. Yes, normally you'd expect that everyone would want their vision when they're pitted against ghastly terrors, including infected fellow survivors, and therein lie the mysteries of "Bird Box." Without the ability to actually perceive their enemies, the imaginations of Malorie and her cohorts conjure up even scarier possibilities of what's behind the blindfolds. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 63%
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver
Director: Susanne Bier
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'Apostle' (2018)
"Apostle" builds its thrills slowly, as you watch Thomas (Dan Stevens) go undercover to save his sister Jennifer (Elen Rhys) from a mysterious cult. In a brilliant bit of casting, Michael Sheen plays Malcolm, the cult leader, a (rightly) paranoid creep who's obsessed with the roots and vegetation of the land. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 80%
Starring: Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Michael Sheen
Director: Gareth Evans
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'Cargo' (2017)
This Netflix original is the rare modern zombie movie done right. A cross between "The Walking Dead" and "The Road," it stars Martin Freeman as Andy Rose, a dad navigating the zombie-filled deserts of rural Australia with his wife Kay (Susie Porter) and baby Rosie after a viral pandemic turned those infected into flesh-hungry monsters.
While Cargo does hit a lot of the same beats as other zombie flicks, Freeman delivers a strong performance that grounds the film in relatable humanity. It spins a story of post-apocalyptic survival around a poignant exploration of parental love and sacrifice. And the zombie designs themselves are worth noting too, with Cargo's undead transforming into something uniquely animalistic and disturbing. - AS
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
Starring: Martin Freeman, Natasha Wanganeen, David Gulpilil
Directors: Ben Howling, Yolanda Ramke
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'Little Evil' (2017)
Parenthood is frightening enough, but "Little Evil" one-ups the perils of child-rearing with a question: What if your new stepson was possessed by an actual demon? And who better to be thrust into this sticky situation than Adam Scott, who works every flavor of awkward into each role he takes. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Starring: Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Donald Faison
Director: Eli Craig
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'Gerald's Game' (2017)
Sometimes, married life can get a bit boring and predictable, and couples decide to spice things up in the bedroom. "Gerald's Game" is a cautionary tale, though, of what happens when husband Gerald Burlingame (Bruce Greenwood) dies during the middle of one of these experimental evenings and leaves his wife Jessie (Carla Gugino) trapped, attached to the bedframe. And then Gerald haunts her. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas
Director: Mike Flanagan
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'1922' (2017)
What happens when you start a murder mystery by revealing the killer's identity? You get "1922," a Netflix-produced adaptation of a not-so-short story from Stephen King. It stars Thomas Jane ("The Punisher") as Wilfred James, who admits to the murder of his wife, which is what happened prior to his life falling apart. As rats plague James' life, the audience begins to question what it's been told, and how much it can trust the narrator, who thinks his wife is haunting him. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
Starring: Thomas Jane, Neal McDonough, Molly Parker
Director: Zak Hilditch
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'Under the Shadow' (2016)
"Under the Shadow" has one of those premises that feels so ripe for horror movie fodder, I'm surprised I haven't seen it done more. During the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, Shideh (Narges Rashidi) must care for her daughter, Dorsa (Avin Manshadi), all alone.
As the war escalates, a missile slices through their apartment building but fails to detonate. Though her neighbors evacuate, Shideh chooses to remain, and that's when things take an unsettling turn. Dorsa begins acting stranger and stranger until Shideh questions her own grasp on reality. She slowly grows to suspect that her daughter may be suffering from something more sinister than wartime shock. - AS
Rotten Tomatoes score: 99%
Starring: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi
Director: Babak Anvari
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'I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House' (2016)
Netflix has leaned pretty hard into original content, so it was only a matter of time until the site created a horror movie. "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House" (directed by Oz Perkins) has a mouthful of a title, but it's a smart film that builds an eerie atmosphere. Lily Saylor (Ruth Wilson) is a nurse, hired to take care of aging horror novelist Iris Blum (Paula Prentiss). Blum's ghosts may be more real than she lets on. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 58%
Starring: Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Bob Balaban
Director: Oz Perkins
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'He Never Died' (2015)
Being immortal sucks when you have to spend all your time alone. Jack (Henry Rollins) never ages or dies, but needs blood to survive. The easiest way to get it is to kill and eat people, which he doesn't really want to do — partially because he has little interest in leaving the house. A run-in with the local crime syndicate forces him out of his isolation, but life isn't easy when everyone looks like lunch. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%
Starring: Henry Rollins, Booboo Stewart, Steven Ogg
Director: Jason Crawczyk
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'Creep' (2014)
Inspired by odd encounters when buying stuff off of Craigslist, "Creep" is a found-footage horror movie that ponders how much you risk when applying for jobs found in online ads. The film starts with Aaron (director/co-writer Patrick Brice), a videographer in need of work, answers a job ad posted by Josef (co-writer/co-producer Mark Duplass), who he soon realizes is a weirdo. Not only does Josef get a kick out of scaring his new employee, but he also carves "J+A" into a tree, giving Aaron a sense that this job is more than he bargained for. And one night, when Josef asks Aaron to stay for a drink, things get even weirder. You'll never think of the phrase 'peachfuzz' the same way again. - HTC
Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%
Starring: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice
Director: Patrick Brice
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