The 30 Greatest Horror Films on Netflix, Max, and Past (2024)

In only a few brief weeks, it’s going to be nothing however Hallmark motion pictures and Lindsay Lohan rom-coms, however proper now it is spooky season and if you happen to’re seeking to chill out with a chainsaw-wielding serial killer, a telekinetic teen hellbent on revenge, or a homicidal merman, we’ve bought you lined.

Simply in time for Halloween, we’ve pulled collectively an inventory of dozens of the perfect horror motion pictures you’ll be able to stream proper now, from tried-and-true classics that by no means get previous to newer scare-fests that you simply may not know exist. The one determination it’s important to make is which one to observe first, and whether or not you really wish to share that bag of fun-sized sweet.

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Suspiria

When you’re not acquainted with the work of Dario Argento, put together to your eyes to be dazzled and your mind to soften. Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) is an American ballet pupil who hops a aircraft to Germany after being invited to review on the prestigious Tanz Akademie. From the second she arrives, nonetheless, Suzy suspects that every one will not be what it appears. Particularly when her fellow college students begin disappearing. Seems Suzy was proper to be suspicious, as the college is extra of a entrance for a coven of highly effective witches. Whereas a lot of the script is admittedly nonsensical, it doesn’t even matter. With its breathtaking manufacturing design, revolutionary camerawork, and earworm of a theme music by Goblin, Suspiria is the sort of movie that may by no means depart your head. (If you end up wanting extra, Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 reimagining of the film, starring Dakota Johnson, will scratch that itch.)

The Babadook

Ten years in the past, Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent turned the horror style on its head with this gem of a “creepy child” movie. Amelia Vanek (Essie Davis) is a younger widow and mom to six-year-old Sam (Noah Wiseman), who’s appearing out in more and more violent methods. Sam blames his habits on The Babadook, a monster he claims lives in his pop-up ebook. Slowly, as bizarre issues proceed to occur round the home, Amelia begins to imagine that her son may be telling the reality. Now if solely she might get another person to imagine her. Within the arms of a much less proficient filmmaker, The Babadook might have been a one-note story. However Kent, Davis, and Wiseman handle to show it right into a compelling and transferring psychological thriller, the place the actual villain seems to be grief.

Barbarian

Between Uber and Airbnb, the collaborative consumption period has led us to repeatedly put our belief—and lives—within the arms of full strangers. Zach Cregger’s Barbarian could persuade you that such transactions require rather more thought. Tess (Georgina Campbell) rents an Airbnb, solely to find that it’s been double-booked and there’s already a visitor staying there. Fortuitously for Tess, Keith (Invoice Skarsgård)—the present occupant—looks as if a form sufficient man who’s completely satisfied to exit of his approach to assist accommodate her. Which ought to have been her first indication that one thing was amiss.

Late Evening with the Satan

Siblings Colin and Cameron Cairnes co-wrote, directed, and edited this new(ish) discovered footage flick, the place a late-night discuss present host named Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) decides to spice up his scores by internet hosting an occult-themed episode for his Halloween evening broadcast. Among the many invited friends are a psychic (Fayssal Bazzi), a parapsychologist (Laura Gordon), and a teenage woman (Ingrid Torelli) who’s purportedly possessed by a demon. When Jack by accident unleashes the demon on his viewers, he realizes that there’s nothing “purported” about it.

The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath

Leatherface could have simply turned 50, however he’s nonetheless bought the higher physique power to swing round his beloved chainsaw simply as he did within the Seventies. There at the moment are 9 movies within the Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath franchise, however not one among them can maintain a candle—or a chainsaw—to the unique. A gaggle of teenagers take a street journey by means of Texas, partly in order that siblings Sally (Marilyn Burns) and Franklin (Paul A. Partain) can go to the cemetery the place their grandfather was laid to relaxation after experiences of graverobbing within the space. Then, wouldn’t it, they run out of gasoline on their approach house … then discover themselves contending with a household of cannibals. Hey, it occurs. The film, which is partly primarily based on the lifetime of grave robber Ed Gein, stays as potent immediately because it did when it was initially launched.

Halloween

Is it actually Halloween with out Halloween? Whilst you have loads of sequels, reimaginings, and reimagined sequels to select from immediately, there’s a cause why horror fiends nonetheless make some extent to observe the unique—and totally good—1978 authentic immediately. John Carpenter’s story of a babysitter (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her mates being stalked by an escaped killer set the bar for each slasher movie that has ever adopted, and only a few have managed to even come near it. If you wish to preserve the Michael Myers theme going, there at the moment are 13 movies within the franchise—together with Rob Zombie’s gritty reboot and its sequel (that are each streaming on Peacock) and David Gordon Inexperienced’s latest book-end trilogy, which kicked off with 2018’s Halloween (which you’ll discover on Netflix).

The Exorcist

Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) would be the precocious 12-year-old daughter of a well-respected Hollywood actress (Ellen Burstyn), however which means nothing to Pazuzu, the hell demon who involves inhabit this could-be nepo child’s tween physique. You’ll by no means wish to eat pea soup once more. After tinkering with Halloween, David Gordon Inexperienced took a stab at resurrecting The Exorcist with final yr’s The Exorcist: Believer, which didn’t fare as properly (it’s a “skip” for us, however is streaming on Amazon Prime Video if you wish to give it a watch).

Hereditary

Ari Aster achieved on the spot icon standing with Hereditary, his characteristic directorial debut, which makes a compelling argument in opposition to rolling down the home windows in your automobile—ever. An artist (Toni Collette) and her shrink husband (Gabriel Byrne) appear to be residing the American Dream with their two youngsters, Peter (Alex Wolff) and Charlie (Milly Shapiro). Till a collection of tragedies flip the household’s life the other way up and all hell breaks free—seemingly actually.

Carrie

“Creepy” Carrie White (Sissy Spacek) is a teenage pariah who’s brutally mocked by her highschool classmates and doesn’t discover a lot solace at house along with her completely unhinged mother (Piper Laurie). Typically a lady’s simply gotta let free, and typically which means utilizing telekinesis to burn your bullies all the way down to the bottom, together with the highschool health club by which they’re dancing. Be certain that to maintain watching all the way in which to th finish!

The Blair Witch Undertaking

Almost a quarter-century after Jaws grew to become a masterclass in doing extra with much less, Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick did a lot the identical with this found-footage flick that had many individuals believing the movie’s personal backstory: {that a} group of movie college students bought misplaced within the woods whereas trying to make a documentary in regards to the Blair Witch, who supposedly trolls the world close to Burkittsville, Maryland, searching for kids to homicide. That individuals believed the story, and that the footage they had been watching was certainly solely later found, is a testomony to only how efficient the found-footage format will be when employed in simply the precise approach, in addition to the filmmakers’ sensible advertising and marketing acumen.

Get Out

In what appeared just like the blink of a watch, Jordan Peele went from being one half of the hilarious Key & Peele to a contemporary horror icon. And it began with Get Out, Peele’s gorgeous directorial debut, by which a younger couple have gotten critical sufficient that Rose (Allison Williams) invitations new love Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) to depart town for the suburbs to spend the weekend along with her household. Whereas Chris appears extra involved that he’s Black and Rose will not be, she assures him it doesn’t matter … till he realizes that’s sort of the purpose. Peele brilliantly blends parts of horror, comedy, and psychological drama with a pulsing commentary on racism, and received a Greatest Unique Screenplay Oscar for his efforts. The movie additionally obtained nods for Greatest Image, Greatest Director, and Greatest Actor for Kaluuya—all large achievements for a horror film. Make it a twofer by pairing Get Out with Peele’s spectacular follow-up, 2019’s Us, which is streaming on Hulu.

The Fly

David Cronenberg’s thoughts works in some actually demented methods, which is a blessing to horror film followers. Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is a scientist who is far cooler than he needs to be; Ronnie Quaife (Geena Davis) is a science journalist tasked with interviewing Brundle however shortly falling for him. If solely he hadn’t determined to make use of himself as the topic in a teleportation experiment gone horribly unsuitable, these two youngsters might’ve perhaps had one thing. As an alternative, Brundle slowly morphs right into a housefly with some fairly putrid habits and a bent to randomly lose physique elements.

It Follows

For many years, younger girls in horror movies who dared to be sexually lively—and really take pleasure in it (gasp!)—might often be counted on to be the killer’s subsequent sufferer. However on this good indie from author/director David Robert Mitchell, doing the deed is the conduit by which the supernatural spirit that’s haunting Jay (Maika Monroe) is ready to transfer from one host to the following. Which is dangerous information, as she simply slept along with her new beau, who simply occurred to be contaminated and has now handed it on to her. Whereas she might simply fuck some man and cross it on, Jay’s a way more difficult heroine.

The Witch

Puritanism in and of itself is fairly creepy. Add within the weird disappearance of a kid and it will get even scarier. Robert Eggers, who went on to make The Lighthouse and The Northman, deftly balances what is actually a interval piece/supernatural horror movie hybrid a couple of household that finally ends up residing within the woods, secluded, after being banished by their Puritan neighborhood. That is when even creepier issues begin occurring, all constructing as much as an unforgettable climax (although it’s admittedly a little bit of a gradual burn).

The Shining

Stephen King simply would be the solely one who didn’t love Stanley Kubrick’s tackle The Shining. Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson), a author searching for some quietude in order that he can lastly end writing the novel he’s been engaged on, agrees to take a gig hotel-sitting the Overlook, an infinite resort, whereas it’s closed down for the winter, bringing his spouse (Shelley Duvall) and younger son (Danny Lloyd) in tow. For Jack, the Overlook looks like house, and he shortly settles into a piece routine; his spouse and son aren’t as enthralled, particularly after they start to suspect that malevolent forces didn’t vacate for the winter together with the remainder of the friends.

The Strangers

What’s extra terrifying than a masked psychopath on the free knocking off victims as revenge for a childhood trauma? How a couple of handful of masked sociopaths on the free knocking off victims at random? James (Scott Speedman) and Kristen (Liv Tyler) are a pair who discover themselves at an surprising crossroads whereas spending the evening at a secluded trip house. (Is there some other sort?) However they don’t have a lot time to wallow in what the way forward for their relationship appears like, as a result of there are folks on the door. And in the home. And on the swing set. You get the image. Creepy imagery abounds on this vastly underrated movie, which noticed its storyline proceed this yr with Renny Harlin’s The Strangers: Chapter 1.

Paranormal Exercise

For higher or worse, The Blair Witch Undertaking kicked off a found-footage film flood, which has actually but to finish (although they’re undoubtedly in a lot shorter provide as of late). For all of the mediocre efforts we needed to undergo by means of, there was additionally Paranormal Exercise, a past stable effort that was made on just about no finances. Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a younger couple in love, wanting ahead to spending their lives collectively. However after they transfer in collectively, so does the evil spirit that’s been trailing Katie for many of her life. Katie desires to rid the home of it as soon as and for all; Micah desires to videotape it (which solely appears to embolden the offended spirit).

Scream

The meta horror film to finish all different meta horror motion pictures, the unique Scream might need outgrown a few of its extra garish fashions (most of them worn by Courteney Cox’s Gayle Weathers), however the story continues to be stable. And the numerous nods and winks to fashionable horror tropes are nonetheless true. Excessive schooler Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is a teen spiraling from the latest homicide of her mother however who all of the sudden finds herself within the crosshairs of a brand new hatchet-wielding serial killer who retains choosing off her buddies.

The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas

OK, so perhaps it’s not a straight-up “horror” film. However if you happen to’re searching for one thing sort of creepy that the entire household can get in on, you’d be hard-pressed to search out a more sensible choice than this stop-motion traditional that works equally properly as a Halloween movie or a Christmas film. Jack Skellington is the pumpkin king of Halloweentown, a spot the place it’s Halloween—hijinks and all—24/7. However when Jack by accident discovers Christmas and its holly, jolly traditions, he decides to co-opt each holidays with the assistance of the hooligans of Halloweentown. (Kidnapping Santa is all a part of the plan.)

An American Werewolf in London

Horror-comedy will not be a simple style to tug off—particularly when a film like John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London has been round for comparability for greater than 40 years. American buddies David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) get barely misplaced as they backpack their approach by means of England and find yourself being attacked by a werewolf. Whereas Jack is torn to bits, David survives however wakes up weeks later in a London hospital with little recollection of what occurred. Fortuitously, his previous pal Jack—wanting very a lot worse for the wear and tear—reveals as much as warn David {that a} full moon is coming and if he doesn’t kill himself earlier than it arrives, he too will remodel right into a flesh-craving canine. Landis expertly balances laugh-out-loud humor with genuinely terrifying frights—most of them courtesy of particular results make-up wizard Rick Baker, who received a much-deserved Oscar for his work on the movie. (The werewolf transformation scene is iconic for a cause.) Throw in a killer soundtrack and one among cinema’s most satisfyingly environment friendly endings and also you’ve bought a horror-comedy for the ages.

We’re All Going to the World’s Honest

When she reviewed it for WIRED, senior author Kate Knibbs referred to as this horror flick a “coming-of-age creepypasta.” It is all that and extra. Director Jane Schoenbrun’s debut characteristic is a couple of younger woman named Casey (Anna Cobb) who turns into more and more obsessive about a web-based role-playing sport that asks gamers to do a collection of rituals that over time summon a supernatural pressure that finally overtakes them. Much less jump-scare-y than mind-bend-y, We Are All Going to the World’s Honest is the sort of horror that sits behind your mind, simply ready to scare you once more lengthy after the credit roll.

Jaws

Jaws is to horror motion pictures what Star Wars is to sci-fi movies. It’s simply exhausting to imagine there are individuals who haven’t seen it. Nonetheless, whether or not you’ve by no means seen it or have watched it 100 instances (Steven Soderbergh claims to have seen Jaws 28 times in theaters alone!), the story of a water-phobic police chief residing on an island who units off to sea in pursuit of a ginormous nice white shark that’s killing his residents and scaring off the vacationers by no means will get previous. It’s additionally a masterclass in less-is-more filmmaking—even when that method was extra the results of a perpetually busted machine shark than the rest. Whereas the movie’s sequels in completely no approach dwell as much as the unique—and worsen with every successive entry—all 4 Jaws film (together with the charmingly tacky Jaws 3-D) are at present streaming on Netflix).

Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies

Our bodies Our bodies Our bodies is, bluntly, a slasher for the TikTok era. Starting with a really old-school premise—a gaggle of mates goes to a secluded home for a enjoyable getaway—it shortly surfaces the horrors of the very on-line: no cell service, poisonous mates. However simply because it is filled with hip actors—Pete Davidson! Amandla Stenberg!—and very-now dialogue does not imply it will not additionally freak you the hell out. And perhaps even make you chortle.

Evening of the Dwelling Lifeless

Had George A. Romero solely ever cowritten and directed this one film, his characteristic directorial debut, he’d nonetheless go down in historical past as a horror pioneer. As a result of regardless that the phrase zombie isn’t uttered in Evening of the Dwelling Lifeless, it is clear to the viewers that that is what his half-living monsters are. All of it kicks off when siblings Barbra (Judith O’Dea) and Johnny (Russell Streiner) pay a go to to their father’s gravesite and are subsequently attacked by an odd man. Barbra, seeing a farmhouse close by, runs there for assist—solely to find the useless physique of the house’s proprietor—and lots of slow-walking creatures coming her approach. That’s when the ever-resourceful Ben (Duane Jones) reveals as much as assist. Although many critics of the time tried to declare Evening of the Dwelling Lifeless DOA due to its excessive gore, its popularity as a game-changer within the style has given it continued life, with a number of sequels and even a few remakes, together with Tom Savini’s Nineteen Nineties redux, with Tony Todd within the function of Ben.

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Over the course of his near-60-year profession, Werner Herzog has confirmed that there’s nothing he can’t or received’t a minimum of strive to do for the love of filmmaking (eating his own shoe included). Through the years, he has lengthy maintained that F. W. Murnau’s authentic Nosferatu is the best movie to ever come out of his native Germany. So on the very day that Bram Stoker’s Dracula entered the general public area, Herzog set about creating his personal model of the movie—one which, in contrast to the 1922 authentic, might legally use elements of Dracula with none authorized complications. What Herzog did, nonetheless, was create one of the human variations of the legendary bloodsucker we’ve ever seen, as portrayed by Klaus Kinski. In Herzog’s thoughts, Dracula’s immortality and vampirism are burdens that make him a extra sympathetic character. “He can not select and he can not stop to be,” Herzog told The New York Instances in 1978. If you wish to increase your understanding of Dracula’s cinematic arc, pair this with a screening of Murnau’s authentic Nosferatu. Then take it one step additional by including to the combo with My Greatest Fiend, Herzog’s 1999 documentary about his tumultuous relationship with Kinski.

The Cabin within the Woods

Very similar to Scream earlier than it, Drew Goddard’s The Cabin within the Woods takes a meta method with its materials, turning what might in any other case be a by-the-numbers horror film into an immensely intelligent tackle the “a gaggle of enticing twentysomethings find yourself in a cabin in the midst of nowhere that simply so occurs to be surrounded by malevolent forces” sub-genre. The entire customary tropes are arrange—the bizarre previous townie who tries to warn the children off, a creepy previous basement stuffed with weird and ominous paraphernalia, and so forth.—although perhaps they’re arrange just a bit too completely. The Cabin within the Woods is a loving wink to critical horror film fiends and goes off in shocking instructions that you simply’ll by no means see coming.

Fright Evening

We’ve been by means of sufficient vampire crazes through the years that there are occasions when some moviegoers would fortunately comply with by no means see one other bloodsucker of their lives. Then they bear in mind Fright Evening, Tom Holland’s iconic love letter to the golden age of horror motion pictures and late-night tv schlock jocks who entertained us with tales of blood and guts. Like Jerry Dandrige (Chris Sarandon)—the glowing-eyed vampire in critical want of a manicure residing subsequent door to teenager Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale)—Fright Evening doesn’t actually appear to age. It nonetheless stands out as a superbly refined horror-comedy with simply the precise steadiness of each genres to make it as seductive as Vampire Jerry on the dance ground. (Its 2011 replace, starring Colin Farrell and Anton Yelchin, which is streaming on each Hulu and Peacock, is likely one of the few horror remakes that’s value your time.)

The Home of the Satan

In 2002, Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever introduced the horror style again to its Nineteen Eighties heyday. Ti West managed to efficiently recapture that very same spirit on the finish of the last decade with The Home of the Satan, which sees a broke school pupil (Jocelin Donahue) in want of money to pay her lease reluctantly comply with “babysit” an allegedly frail previous woman for just a few hours. You recognize one thing’s going to occur, however you’re not fairly certain what: Is the home haunted? Is there somebody exterior stalking the babysitter? Is all of it in your head? Is it the entire above? Whilst you watch for the opposite shoe to inevitably drop, West takes benefit of his very clear timeframe—the satanic-panic-ravaged ’80s—to showcase a treasure trove of horrifying cultural relics of the previous, together with one notably high-waisted pair of denims.

The Host

South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho grew to become a family title, and a pressure to be reckoned with, in 2020 when he stormed the Oscars with Parasite (which is streaming on Max, by the way in which). If that was your first introduction to his work, it is best to instantly hunt down all of his earlier movies, together with The Host. Like Parasite, it’s a horror film with a social message. On this case, extra of an eco-minded one the place the air pollution in Seoul’s Han River results in the creation of a huge sea monster with a style for people.

Let the Proper One In

Having a vampire as a BFF simply may be the best factor a bullied child might want for. However the relationship that picked-on tween Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) builds along with his neighbor Eli (Lina Leandersson)—who does simply occur to crave human blood—is far deeper than a easy revenge fantasy on this Swedish gradual burn. Actually, Eli being a vampire is basically secondary to the story. Like Werner Herzog with Nosferatu, Tomas Alfredson places character-building first and paints Eli with a sort of disappointment, which is what connects her with Oskar. Certain, it’s bloody, nevertheless it’s additionally sort of candy.