20 Best, Scariest Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now (May 2024)

Looking for terrifying entertainment from the couch? Look no further. Here's some good news: Netflix is currently hosting a virtual library of great horror films, bona fide (old and new) classics of the genre guaranteed to freak you out. 

What's the scariest thing on Netflix? Here are highly recommended, extremely scary horror movies from all over the world you can stream right now on Netflix. This list includes traditional horror pics, horror comedies and thrillers with elements of horror. We've included Netflix originals as well as imports. Plus, some frightening honorable mentions! 

This list is updated regularly, as titles come and go from the streaming service.

Best, Scariest Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now

1. Under the Shadow (2016)

An exquisitely crafted and thoroughly unnerving chiller, writer/director Babak Anvari's feature debut blurs the line between supernatural terror and the horrors of the real world like few films you'll ever see. Set in 1980's Tehran during The War of the Cities—the backdrop of Anvari's own fear-ridden childhood—Narges Rashidi stars as medical student Shideh who is barred from her studies because of her involvement in revolutionary politics. When her husband departs for the front, Shideh is tasked with protecting their young daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi) as the fighting and bombings escalate around them. It doesn't look like things can get any bleaker, and that's when Shideh and Dorsa are haunted by an evil genie.

The performances are powerful, and the filmmaking here is impeccable, evoking a war-torn Iran that is almost suffocating to watch. Anvari grew up in a culture where VCR's and VHS tapes were illegal, and his debut is made with the kind of passion for film that you can't put a price tag on. The supernatural scares work, but they're never quite as frightening as Shideh's reality, which seems to be Anvari's point. Esteemed British film critic Mark Kermode named this small-scale powerhouse the best film of 2016, and it is not to be missed.

Related: 151 Best Horror Movies of All Time, Ranked 

2. Apostle (2018)

The Raid director Gareth Evans' horror/action freakout rewards a deliberate buildup with some stomach-turning violence and gore in the final act. The turn-of-the-20th-century period piece stars Dan Stevens as an Englishman who infiltrates a remote cult to rescue his sister.

Related: The Best Horror Movies on HBO Max

3. His House (2020)

Remi Weekes’ acclaimed supernatural horror debut follows South Sudanese refugees adjusting to a perilous life in small-town Europe. Like The Babadook or Under the Shadow, this is horror as dramatic art rather than a series of things that jump out and go boo. The real-world subject matter is twisted and devastating, all strikingly performed by leads Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu.

Related: The 10 Scariest Movies on Disney Plus Right Now

4-5. Creep (2014) & Creep 2 (2017)

One of the best found-footage films that followed in the wake of Paranormal Activity's enormous success, Patrick Brice's psychological thriller follows a videographer assigned to record an eccentric, probably insane client (Mark Duplass). Following a hit premiere at South by Southwest and a theatrical run, Creep found success on streaming. A sequel arrived in 2017, and a third installment is in the works.

Related: The Best Slasher Movies of All Time

6. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) 

A Netflix original, Texas Chainsaw Massacre serves as a legacy-sequel to Tobe Hooper's iconic 1974 masterpiece, though it falls far, far short of it. It's a clumsy attempt to recapture the success of 2018's Halloween, but there's enough gore here to at least satisfy on that level. 

Related: The Best Thrillers on Netflix Right Now 

7. X (2022)

X is a flat-out triumph for Ti West, the strongest film yet for a filmmaker who can firmly be called a modern genre master. Borrowing more than anything from Hooper's original Texas Chain Saw Massacre (this is, unofficially, the best TCM sequel ever), West's invigorating, meticulously artful '70s-set slasher centers on a group of ragtag young Americans (the cast including Brittany Snow, Mia Goth, Kid Cudi, Jenna Ortega and Martin Henderson are all terrific) filming a porno in the middle of nowhere, when a vengeful presence lashes out.

8. Gerald's Game (2017)

A career-high performance from the always-good Carla Gugino is front-and-center in Mike Flanagan’s Netflix original, a Stephen King adaptation about a woman who ends up handcuffed to a bed in the middle of nowhere when her husband drops dead. This is pure, high-concept psychological terror, not spooky, but gripping—and the ick factor is high.

9. It Follows (2015)

A cold-blooded nightmare that could inspire an adult to sleep with a nightlight, David Robert Mitchell‘s supernatural thriller about a shapeshifting killer passed around like a curse exudes a blistering, downright oppressive atmosphere of menace. Mitchell throws you off balance from the very beginning in ways you might not even notice: this film is set in no discernible time period, or even a particular season, and certain details in the production design and in character’s actions just don’t make any sense. This is not unlike the method Stanley Kubrick used to make us uneasy throughout The Shining.

There is a quietness, a stillness in It Follows that you won’t find anywhere in contemporary horror hits like Annabelle or It, which rely heavily on loud banging noises and jump scares to shake an audience. As artful as it is frightening, It Follows is patient, rewarding perceptive viewers with a uniquely, richly disturbing experience.

Right now, we are living in a golden age of horror. It Follows is an essential part of that discussion.

10. Split (2016) 

The title refers to the split personalities of one Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), who goes by nearly two dozen other names and identities. One of those identities kidnaps three girls, including a pre-Queen’s Gambit Anya Taylor-Joy. The bulk of the film comprises the girls’ struggle to escape, coupled with Kevin’s struggle with his inner psychological demons. It was hailed as a return to form for Shyamalan and generally praised by critics. 

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11-13. Fear Street Trilogy (2021)

A Netflix original event based on the more gruesome, not family-friendly work of R.L. Stine, Fear Street Part 1 1994 aims to reinvent and subvert the slasher genre á la Scream. It's now streaming on Netflix. The trilogy continues with superior Part 2 1978, and Part 3 1666.

14. The Babadook (2014) 

For as terrifying as The Babadook is, it's also a triumphant underdog tale for indie cinema. Jennifer Kent, who wrote and directed the film, secured the funding for her debut feature through Australian government grants and crowdfunding, with the tiny film underperforming initially at the box office. As word of mouth spread, however, the story of a mother confronting a monster her son believes to be in their house, became a cult classic, internet meme and gay icon.

15-16. Ouija and Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

A box-office hit and a sign of good things to come from Mike Flanagan, Origin of Evil is about a million times better than its predecessor Ouija, and about 10 times better than you'd expect a movie called Ouija: Origin of Evil to be. The supernatural thriller is about a widow, her family's fake seance business, and a malevolent spirit that attaches itself to her daughter. The original is also fun though and stars House of the Dragon breakout Olivia Cooke. 

Related: Halloween Series Ranked Best to Worst 

17-18. Bird Box (2018) and Bird Box Barcelona (2023) 

Sandra Bullock stars in Bird Box as expectant mother Malorie, who’s forced to become a survivalist when supernatural forces decimate the world’s population. One look at these creatures—who we never see—causes your eyes to glaze over and moisten, then you go insane and commit suicide, by whatever means is handy. After surviving a chaotic early set piece of carnage and destruction on a massive scale, Malorie and her unborn child make it to a house where several strangers who’ve also evaded the outbreak have found shelter. Bird Box broke Netflix records and remains one of the streaming giant's biggest hits ever. It was followed up with a Spanish spinoff set in Barcelona. 

19. El Conde (2023) 

While Pablo Larrain's Jackie and Spencer might not be horror films in the traditional sense, they certainly both give us final girls on the brink. The director's latest film, however, about Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, is full-on horror. In Larrain's stunning black-and-white gore-fest, he reimagines some of history's most ruthless politicians as eternal vampires, moving from civilization to civilization thirsty for money, power and blood. El Conde is unlike anything you've seen before and pitting these monsters against a troupe of vampire-hunter nuns just takes the whole affair to a new level. Don't watch while eating though. 

20. The Pale Blue Eye (2022) 

You can't really talk about the suspense thriller as a genre without discussing the grandaddy of horror, Edgar Allan Poe. And while The Pale Blue Eye is based on a 2003 novel by Louis Bayard, not one of Poe's stories, it is set during the 1830s with a fictional Poe at its center. Christian Bale stars as a detective sent to the United States Military Academy to investigate a string of murders on the campus grounds. One of the suspects is young cadet Edgar Allan Poe (played by Harry Melling who you may recognize from The Queen's Gambit or as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films). The twisty historical mystery is worthy of Poe's name as it throttles towards its satisfying conclusion. 

Next, The Most Suspenseful Movies on Netflix Right Now