The 20 Best Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now

There is no doubt that Netflix takes the crown as the most-watched online website with its larger-than-life categories.

The horror subgenre is also one such thriving classification as the streaming platform continues to expand its horror movie collections. But their dwindling finances have become apparent as they increased their subscription prices with more ads.

The top grosser are leaving one by one as their production houses finally have a platform to showcase them. So many call it an end of an era as its reputation gets overtaken by its competitors HBO Max and Disney plus.

The horror library has also taken a hit, with many top earners becoming too expensive to keep.

Fear not, as they are some spooky films left as we have compiled a list of the scariest, most goosebump-inducing pictures on the network.

The 20 Best Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now

1. Raw

The first movie on our list is the 2016 French-Belgian coming-of-age horror drama film called Raw. The Julia Ducournau director called it a modern yet ancient tragedy about too much love, and it had a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It is a feast for ravenous cinephiles combining horror with humor. The story follows a young woman arriving at veterinary college hoping to carry on the family traditions.

But the institution remains filled with drunk hormonal students who are not so tolerant when faced with an innocent pupil as a rookie hazing rituals force her to taste raw rabbit liver. The devoted vegetarian falls into a dilemma as she gets forced to chomp down on the forbidden fruit while her previously suppressed appetites come to the surface.

The strait-laced, straight-A student turned into a raging cannibal who attacked her muscular roommate. Garance Marillier, known for Ducournau’s 2011 short Junior, plays an electrifying Justine, the lead character, as she perfectly portrays the confused teen who cannot handle her appetite.

2. His House

The next horror-filled entry on our list is the 2020 thriller His House.

The British writer-director Remi Weekes doesn’t screw around as the 93 minutes movie forces the audience to run for the hills. He has triumphantly transformed the overstuffed and overfamiliar haunted house subgenre and turned it into a humanizing story of immigration with themes of ghosts.

The first half follows the stereotypical storyline grounded in human drama, showing a Sudanese family seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. Protagonist Bol, played by Sope Dirisu, and Rial, played by Wunmi Mosaku, put their lives on the line to escape the violent conflict raging back home.

After facing their designed tragedies, they finally get a home under their name, but the house may not be so welcoming to its new owners.

3. The Rental

The Rental, starring Dan Stevens and Sheila Vand, is a relationship drama with a twist, getting accused of switching gears halfway and becoming a different genre. Some reviewers even commented that one could watch the first half-hour of the film and think they had stumbled onto a Sundance indie movie.

The flick is a feature directorial debut for actor Dave Franco, with him co-writing the screenplay with Joe Swanberg. He said he conceived the storyline out of his discomfort at Airbnbs, taking his general fears and turning them into a feature.

It started with four friends, Charlie, his wife Michelle, brother Josh, and Josh’s girlfriend Mina, as they rented a remote house on the Oregon Coast.

After an ecstasy-filled night of infidelity, spooky things began after their dog went missing, with arguments leading to a deceased caretaker. A mystery masked man starts finishing them all one by one, whose identity never gets revealed.

4. It Follows

It Follows is a 2015 supernatural psychological film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. The unsettling themes keep viewers at arm’s length while highlining the potency of high school-age fears.

The story takes a fresh approach to a supernatural entity getting transmitted from person to person through intercourse. Maika Monroe plays Jay, a high-school student who has just started to date a guy called Hugh.

Their relationship progressed at the natural pace when she realized she had contracted a ghost only she could see and who sought to end her at a zombie’s walking pace.

Their reign in the theatres ended with a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a domestic gross of $14.7 million. It gives rise to a new genre of scary as people realize regular people can be just as terrifying as a blood-covered ghost.

5. Creep

Creep, by first-time director Patrick Brice, is a somewhat predictable but cheerfully demented little indie film that belongs to the found footage psychological subgenre. They dabbled between sociable and sociopath, inducing an electrifying effect throughout every second of its 80-minute runtime.

The movie runs from the perspective of Aaron, the director, and the lead actor Patrick Brice, a struggling videographer looking for easy money. He got the offer of a lifetime when he got commissioned to spend the day filming Josef, a terminally ill patient wishing to make a video diary for his unborn son. The locations look sketchy, but the paycheck of a thousand dollars was too good to refuse.

Things take a turn when he finally reaches the creepy house, as the tenant may not just be an old man after all. The writer Duplass perfectly encapsulated the tales of psychopaths as one moment he is the perfect host while he makes an uncountable joke the next.

After its premiere at the South by Southwest film festival in 2014, the film rights got purchased by RADiUS-TWC, but they failed to have a video release. The masterpiece switched hands a few times before lading into the lap of the streaming platform in 2015.

6. I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Many viewers call I’m Thinking of Ending Things their go-to midnight flick as American surrealist Charlie Kaufman has written and directed the masterpiece.

He adapted the screenplay from the 2016 novel of the same name by author Iain Reid. He perfectly recaptured the terrifying claustrophobic nightmare fever dream.

The plot follows a young woman, played by Jessie Buckley, who makes the hallmark decision to meet her boyfriend’s family.

The long drive to their country farm in the middle of nowhere is enough for her to contemplate breaking up. Things get creepy as the camera switches to an elderly janitor working at a high school while her partner makes graphics retellings of pigs dying.

It seems her boyfriend is hiding a secret and trying to make her remember a past only he recalls.

7. Crimson Peak

The 2015 gothic romance film Crimson Peak does not get easily missed with its outrageously sumptuous and gruesomely violent screenplay. Director Guillermo del Toro gets joined by the fantastic cast of Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver to recreate Edwardian-era England.

The plot takes place in 1887 when heiress Edith Cushing gets visited by her mother’s ghost, who warns her of her upcoming tragedy. Years later, she had long forgotten about the peculiar dream and met English baronet Sir Thomas Sharpe and his sister, Lucille. The two fall in love, and they marry in appallingly suspicious circumstances.

The next move was to pack her bags and call a scary pile in Cumberland her new home. The bizarre land had secrets of its own, as the mysteries get unraveled in the 119 minutes of runtime.

8. The Mist

The Mist, also known as Stephen King’s The Mist, took inspiration from the 1980 novella The Mist by Stephen King.

Like Crimson Peak, the production had the actors dressed in periodic gowns as it takes place in the Victorian period. Director Frank Darabont provides a unique start with an innovative background as he got interested in adapting since the 1980s.

The camera follows the Maine town of Bridgton residents as the violent thunderstorm gets accompanied by power outrages. A strange mist ambushes the people with a swarm of monstrous beasts running around the neighborhood. The police have no weapon to control the upcoming doom as they run to save their own lives.

In the middle of the chaos are the main lead, David Drayton, and his young son as they head into town to gather food and supplies. The thick fog rolls in and traps the Draytons and others in the grocery store.

They received a moderate response at the box office, and the director added that he had scraped the idea of shooting it devoid of color at the last moment.

Besides, the response from the critics was good enough validation, with James Berardinelli calling it the embodiment of what horror film should be. The dark, tense, and punctuated themes had enough gore to keep the viewer’s flinch reflex intact.

9. It: Chapter One

The It franchise needs no introduction as its previous adaptions from the Stephan King Novels has successfully given kids nightmares for decades.

When news broke out that director Andy Muschetti was ready to give his take on it, everyone wished to know the reincarnation of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. What followed was a pulse-pounding horrific set-piece that brought figurative monsters alive.

The 2017 version follows the same trajectory as the 1986 novel of the same name, taking place in the small town of Derry, Maine. A six-year-old child Georgie passes away after an encounter with a monstrous clown, while his 12 years old brother Bill becomes traumatized.

A year later, he is still reeling from the effort of failing to save his brother while his friends Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak, and Stan Uris get called misfits. But the murderer is still roaming free and has not yet had his fill of tormenting Bill and his friends as they must escape his deathly clutches.

10. Fear Street Part 1: 1994

The first film in a trilogy of R.L. Stine Fear Street falls in the number ten spot of the most dreadful movies in the site as the American supernatural slasher film directed by Leigh Jania takes the crown.

The 107 minutes of runtime promises gore and screams with room for future installments.

The premise goes back to 1994 and features Heather Watkins, a bookstore employee at Shadyside Mall, who gets caught in the middle of a murder spree by her friends.

The massacre ignites fear in the neighboring towns, with many calling it the curse of a witch. It is up to the group of teenagers to solve the mystery, save the people and stop murders that have plagued the town for centuries.

The production for the series should have begun way before, but Hollywood pictures failed to materialize it after acquiring the rights. Things looked better after 20th Century Fox took charge, but they pulled from the schedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just when people were giving up on the unmakeable movie, Disney acquired the perdition house, and the rest was history.

11. 1BR

David Marmor’s directorial debut 1BR made heads turn with its early filming days getting plagued by the Skirball Fire in 2017. Producer Alok Mishra came to the rescue, giving his San Fernando Valley home as the new base for filming.

Nicole Brydon Bloom played Sarah, a young woman who just moved to Los Angeles hoping to get into the design program. She met Brain at her apartment complex and got entangled with other members of the unsetting residence. She soon found out that the tenants were hiding secrets of their own, as they called secret cultish meetings while forcing new citizens to join them.

The project received acclaim during its premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival but decided to hold a limited theatrical release. After its rights got purchased by the top streaming platform, they became the top 5 most-streamed films, reaching number one in the film section of the site.

12. Day Shift

The Jamie Foxx starer Day Shift is one of the newer additions on the list that has certainly been trending in the charts.

The supernatural action comedy follows Bud Jablonski, a blue-collar father who acts like a pool cleaner, but his real job is hunting vampires. His years of experience had made him proficient at sniffing out the creatures of the night as he finished the job by pulling out their fangs.

The market for the mystical fangs is not much, as he lost his wife and daughter to poverty. He joins a hunting union who are not too happy about his risky and aggressive hunting style. It is his last chance to get his life in line, but he still cannot unlearn his ways for a better check.

Unlike the other movies on our list, Day Shift got its release directly on the OTT platform and received mediocre responses from critics. Some loved their enactments, while others were skeptical about calling it true cinema. The Los Angeles Times was positive in their review, calling it one of the best movies of 2022, while the people from CNN said it was only watchable because of its star power.

13. The Platform

The Platform is one of the few international releases on our list, as it benefits immensely from the strength of its simple, high-concept premise.

Most of the superfluous information gets withheld from the viewer as they must immerse themselves in the diabolical yet vertical prison structure. It can get best described as a social experiment where the rich sit back and enjoy watching the poor fight for their lives in the genuine food chain.

Indeed, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia created an unforgettable social science fiction that gets centered around a large tower with its residents changing levels every month. No challenge is completed without a twist as the ones on the top floor get to eat a platform full of food while the edibles gradually diminish as they reach the lower levels. The ground floor is at the mercy of its predecessors as they decide if the others would eat any meals.

The starting cast of Iván Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor, and Emilio Buale Coka made their red carpet entry at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival premiere, where it won an award for its unique plot. Reviewers and Youtubers struggled to make sense of the messages, with Norman Wilner of Now correctly calling it a spectacularly violent, sadistic, and high-concept grotesque and compelling piece.

The project won Best Special Effects in numerous award shows while getting nominations for best director and screenplay.

14. The Babysitter

The 85 minutes long flick, The Babysitter, walked a thin line between scary and comedy with its overt desire to remain lovingly described as an 80s slasher homage.

The twist falls flat while the hyper-charismatic teenage characters run wild. Like most teen horror, the story starts with a pre-adolescent student Cole getting bashed by his neighborhood bully as he is a certified loner. The only two people on his side are his babysitter, Bee, played by the beautiful Samara Weaving, and Melanie, his neighbor, and secret admirer. But his babysitter is hiding a sinister secret as she is the leader of a high school devil-worshiping cult. They are looking for their next victim, as the innocent Cole may lose his life at any time.

Despite the mixed response, Netflix announced a sequel with McG returning as director and producer. The original cast members reprised their roles on its 2020 release.

15. Unfriended

Playing out in real-time and framed as a continuous shot, the audience only ever sees Blaire’s (Shelly Hennig) computer during the runtime of Unfriended.

The trailer of the 2014 film directed by Levan Gabriadze was a nightmare for every teen as their worst fears came true. The starting cast of Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, and Courtney Halverson did a phenomenal job of portraying high school kids. They were confused and shaken after they realized an anonymous person had joined their chats. The jokes and teasing ran dry after they realized that the nameless person was none other than Heather Sossaman, the student who committed suicide after getting bullied. Her soul was out for revenge as she began finishing off the group of friends one by one.

The production finished in a matter of 16 days, with each actor in separate rooms with different computers. It got intended to get named Offline, but the crew decided against it. After its screening at Playlist Live, it held a formal premiere at SXSW and got heavily marketed online. The marketing budget made most of their budget, but they made a full recovery with box office collections of 62 million dollars.

16. Under the Shadow

The 2016 Babak Anvari directed Under The Shadow is a PG-13 psychological horror as he makes his directorial debut with the film. His project conveys the claustrophobia of Iran during its tumultuous post-revolution period as he and his family also fled the Ayatollah’s rule.

The Wigwam Films productions tell of a war-torn post-revolutionary Tehran where the protagonist Shideh is barred from resuming her studies. The war rages outside as she refuses to leave their husband, Iraj, a doctor who got called into military service.

As the missile rained outside the windows, the arrival of a mysterious boy from a neighboring Ebrahimi family proved hazardous. The mute boy suddenly whispers to her daughter, telling her about a looming jin that sickened her.

After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, its rights were subsequently acquired by a streaming service, while XYZ Films assisted in VOD releases and had a limited theatrical showing.

17. Ouija: Origin of Evil

While the first Ouija was workmanlike, its prequel, directed by a tried-and-true horror fan and prolific genre filmmaker, bears the aesthetic of the 60s.

The directions by Mike Flanagan and the screenplay by Jeff Howard were a match made in heaven, as the film grossed over $81 million worldwide. While sequels are notorious for never living up to their predecessors, Origin of Evil is one of the few gems that remained more applause-inducing than its prequel. The Newton Brothers added a frightening soundtrack to the bone-chilling plotline.

The story takes place in Los Angeles, where Alice Zander, a widow, works out of her suburban home as a spiritual medium. Her two daughters are still combating the grief from the loss of their father as they take out the Ouija board to try to make contact. But the ghosts rarely comply with the words of a living as one wrong move makes a spirit named Marcus begin to possess her youngest.

Indeed, it reached high scores from most movie critics, with one writing that it is better, though, in every conceivable way, from casting to story to the atmosphere, compared to its prototype. Odie Henderson for RogerEbert called it a dash of The Exorcist and a spritz of Ghost and a fresh taste in the overstuffed horror movie recipe.

18. Scream 4

The Scream series is one of the true spooky legends as an American slasher film directed by Wes Craven needs no introduction.

The Outerbanks Entertainment production is the fourth installment in the Scream film series and takes place on the fifteenth anniversary of the original Woodsboro murders.

The themes of violence of the slasher genre thrive with events of morbid humor. They also made fun of the clichés of film remakes while commenting on the extensive usage of social media and the obsession with internet fame.

The story is about the murders of two high school students as Sidney Prescott returns to Woodsboro to promote her book with her publicist, Rebecca Walters. All the evidence pointed to Prescott as she got labeled as the psychotic killer while other relatives got questioned by the authorities.

Meanwhile, Ghostface roams free as more murders keep happening.

19. The Wretched

The 2019 American supernatural movie written and directed by the Pierce Brothers, The Wretched premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in July. It was a craze in the drive-in theaters and through Premium VOD but the COVID-19 pandemic limited its release in theaters.

John-Paul Howard plays Ben whose summer starts out on the wrong foot as his parents are in the middle of a separation that’s calcifying into a divorce. He gets sent away to live with his dad, Liam for the season, and makes some cash at the local marina in lakeside Michigan. The hyper-privileged brats make his life hell but he finds solace after getting the affections of cool girl Mallory.

But his teenage hormones need to take a backseat as an ancient flesh-eating witch lurking in the woods.

20. The Conjuring 2

The supernatural thriller brings another real case from the files of renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren.

They are not shy to offend some with its historical revisionism by taking creative liberties, with both Farmiga and Wilson playing the leading roles.

In 1976, a pair of paranormal investigators explored the Amityville murders to determine if a demonic presence was accountable for Ronald DeFeo Jr. annihilating his entire family two years prior. There, Lorraine entertainers the demonic nun figure while another family, the Hodgsons, begin to experience strange occurrences in their home in London. The second oldest puts fuel to the fire by playing with the notorious Ouija board and starts a chain of unfortunate events.