You can find a lot of horror movies on Netflix, but the time it may take to find the absolute best horror movies on the streaming giant is an especially scary thought. That is where horror fans with a Netflix subscription like me come in.
I can help you shorten the time it takes to find a good thrill (or, at least, a more terrifying kind of thrill than the best thrillers on Netflix can offer) with my following recommendations for the best movies on Netflix of the spooky, gory, and even morbidly funny variety. Let’s get this bloody binge going!
Heart Eyes (2025)
Director: Josh Ruben
Starring: Oliva Holt, Mason Gooding
What it’s about: Two co-workers spend Valentine's Day night struggling to outrun a masked killer who mistakes them for a couple.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: For its fun blood-soaked twist on classic romantic-comedy movie tropes, Heart Eyes is a blast from beginning to end and one of the horror genre's best 2025 movies so far.
Scream VI (2023)
Director: Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega
What it’s about: A group of Woodsboro young adults find themselves terrorized by a new Ghostface killer in New York City.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The guys at Radio Silence continue to deliver some of the best Scream movies since the original with Scream VI, which serves as a thoroughly entertaining tribute to the iconic franchise that itself is a tribute to the horror genre.
Train To Busan (2016)
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Starring: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi
What it’s about: A group of railcar commuters must rely on their wits to survive when their train, and the rest of South Korea, becomes overrun with infectious, flesh-eating, reanimated corpses.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Train to Busan, a clever, claustrophobic, acclaimed zombie movie, also spawned a thrilling spin-off called Peninsula, which is also available on Netflix.
Talk To Me (2023)
Director: Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou
Starring: Sophie Wilde, Alexandra Jensen
What it’s about: A group of Australian teens use a mysterious embalmed hand to conjure spirits as part of a strange game that quickly spirals out of control.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: YouTube creators Michael and Danny Philippou craft one of the best A24 horror films yet with Talk To Me, which is a refreshing take on the demonic possession movie genre.
Smile (2022)
Director: Parker Finn
Starring: Sosie Bacon, Kyle Gallner
What it’s about: A psychiatrist becomes convinced she has inherited a deadly curse after witnessing a horrific death.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Boasting a plot that could have easily resulted in a tiresome, gimmicky thriller, Smile surprised fans by being one of the best horror movies of 2022 (an already killer year for the genre) with its magnificent scares and potent commentary on trauma.
John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998)
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: James Woods, Daniel Baldwin
What it’s about: A vampire hunter tries to prevent the same pack of bloodsuckers who killed his team from getting their hands on a relic that will allow them to live in the sunlight.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Witness one of the most iconic creatures of horror fiction as reinterpreted by one of horror’s most esteemed auteurs with John Carpenter’s Vampires, one of the most underrated vampire movies of its time.
Nobody Sleeps In The Woods Tonight (2020)
Director: Bartosz M. Kowalski
Starring: Julia Wieniawa, Michał Lupa
What it’s about: At a camp where teens go to cure their addictions to technology, one group finds itself terrorized by a pair of mutant twins.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The Netflix exclusive, Polish import Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight is a bare-bones, old-fashioned, supernatural summertime slasher revered for its clever way of explaining why its protagonists can’t just call somebody for help.
Vampires Vs. The Bronx (2020)
Director: Oz Rodriguez
Starring: Jaden Michael, Gerald W. Jones III
What it’s about: A group of youngsters, already concerned about their neighborhood becoming gentrified, discover they have more unusual things to be worried about.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Vampires vs. the Bronx is a funny, instant-favorite Black horror movie that calls to mind what The Goonies would be like if written by Bram Stoker.
The Perfection (2019)
Director: Richard Shepard
Starring: Allison Williams, Logan Browning
What it’s about: A talented cellist strikes up a romance with her mentor’s new star pupil, which soon becomes threatened by sudden, bizarre circumstances.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: The Perfection is an intriguing, Netflix original LGBTQIA+ horror movie with a twist that will surely make your skin crawl.
Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh
What it’s about: A woman on the run takes refuge at a seemingly quaint roadside motel, which proves to be a deadly mistake.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Based on the novel by Robert Bloch, Psycho is considered the quintessential Alfred Hitchcock movie and a timeless masterpiece with breathtaking suspense and startling twists.
Bone Tomahawk (2015)
Director: S. Craig Zahler
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson
What it’s about: When the town doctor is kidnapped by a tribe of vicious cannibals, the sheriff, his deputy, the doctor’s husband, and a cocky gunslinger brave the desert to rescue her in 1890s Texas.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Not only is Bone Tomahawk an ominous slow-burn horror masterpiece with one of the most shockingly brutal moments in the genre’s recent history, it is also considered one of the best Western movies of its time.
Cam (2018)
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
Starring: Madeline Brewer
What it’s about: An erotic webcam entertainer is startled to discover that a woman who looks exactly like her has hijacked her show… and her life.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Cam is often cited among the best sexually explicit movies on Netflix, but is also regarded in the same breath as one of the platform’s most intriguing suspense thrillers.
Thanksgiving (2023)
Director: Eli Roth
Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Nell Verlaque
What it’s about: A group of Massachusetts natives find that they have little to be thankful for on Turkey Day when a vengeful killer dressed as a famous pilgrim begins terrorizing their town.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Based on a faux trailer he directed 2007’s Grindhouse, co-writer and director Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving is, arguably, the best horror movie set during the titular holiday with its cheeky humor, absorbing mystery narrative, and creatively brutal kills.
Ouija: Origin Of Evil (2016)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Elizabeth Reaser, Annalise Basso
What it’s about: In 1960s California, a professional charlatan finds herself and her daughters plagued by real supernatural occurrences after she incorporates a seemingly harmless board game into her con.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: While 2014’s Ouija was not very well received, its prequel, Ouija: Origin of Evil, is one of the best Mike Flanagan movies, thanks to the filmmaker’s mastery of telling terrifying, character-driven stories.
The Fear Street Trilogy (2021)
Director: Leigh Janiak
Starring: Kiana Madeira, Sadie Sink
What it’s about: A teenager and her friends become the targets of a pack of undead costumed killers as part of a fabled curse that has plagued their town for centuries.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Before Fear Street: Prom Queen drops on Netflix May 23, catch up on the platform’s original trilogy of films inspired by R.L. Stine’s YA novel series, each of which are packed with fun horror movie Easter Eggs and nostalgia for the ‘90s and ‘70s.
His House (2020)
Director: Remi Weekes
Starring: Sope Disiru, Wunmi Mosaku
What it’s about: After escaping the war-torn strife of South Sudan, a couple moves into an English apartment where they must contend with a nightmare from which there is no escape.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: A horror movie that achieved 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, His House is a BAFTA-winning interpretation of the haunted house movie genre elevated by an astounding cultural commentary.
Run Rabbit Run (2023)
Director: Daina Reid
Starring: Sarah Snook, Lily LaTorre
What it’s about: When her daughter begins claiming that she is a different person, a single mother worries that a mistake from her past has returned to haunt her.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Run Rabbit Run is one of the most unsettling horror films about grief in recent memory, but also serves as a powerful commentary on the common parental fear of passing one’s trauma onto their children
The Ritual (2018)
Director: David Bruckner
Starring: Rafe Spall, Arsher Ali
What it’s about: On a Swedish hiking trip, a group of grieving college friends discover that there is a deadly presence among them.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: One of the more underrated Netflix original movies is The Ritual, which is a devastating and brutal take on the vacation disaster thriller.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Director: Mike Flanagan
Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
What it’s about: After her spicy weekend getaway takes a sudden, grisly turn, a woman finds herself in a terrifying fight for survival that forces her to confront her dark past.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Gerald’s Game is a thoroughly intense ride that will have you both screaming and crying by the end.
#Alive (2020)
Director: Il Cho, Jo Il Hyung
Starring: Ah-In Yoo, Park Shin-hye
What it’s about: When most of Seoul, Korea, suffers an outbreak of a virus that turns the infected into flesh-eating corpses, one young man takes desperate measures to keep himself safe.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Released on Netflix in a time when isolation was a global commonality, the Korean horror movie #Alive is still an effectively horrifying and clever take on the zombie genre, no matter when you watch it.
The Babysitter (2017)
Director: McG
Starring: Samara Weaving, Judah Lewis
What it’s about: A boy discovers that his longtime babysitter is not quite what he thought she was.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Beloved top Scream Queen Samara Weaving plays the title role of Netflix’s fun satanic panic thriller, The Babysitter.
Creep And Creep 2 (2014, 2017)
Director: Patrick Brice
Starring: Mark Duplass
What it’s about: The unsettling exploits of a strange man who lures videographers into his life as part of a deadly game.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Creep and its sequel (which were later continued with the Shudder original series, The Creep Tapes) are two of the most fascinating found footage horror movies, in part because they are almost entirely improvised.
In The Tall Grass (2019)
Director: Vincenzo Natali
Starring: Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted, Patrick Wilson
What it’s about: A brother and sister and other strangers become trapped in a mysterious, inescapable labyrinth made of high-growing grass.
Why it is one of the best horror movies on Netflix: Based on the novella by Stephen King and Joe Hill, In the Tall Grass is an engrossing and thoroughly frightening, claustrophobic thriller from the director of Cube.
There are countless streaming services to find great horror movies, but Netflix is one of the best.
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