Looking for a movie that will keep you up at night? There’s no need to scour the entire Netflix catalog for the hits. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best horror movies that are now on Netflix, so whether you prefer ghost stories or creature features, you’ll find something to make you jump.
Social media horror is starting to become its own genre. Joining the questionable ranks of films like Unfriended and Friend Request is Cam, from director Daniel Goldhaber and screenwriter Isa Mazzei, which is one of the better films so far about the horrors of life online. The film follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), a woman who makes a comfortable living as a “cam girl,” performing erotic acts on live streams for an adoring audience. Alice is stressed by the unceasing competition of the webcam industry; she’s pushing hard to be one of the top 50 performers. One day she finds that she has been locked out of her account — and is forced to call customer support, which should be frightening enough — and things take a turn for the creepy when she realizes that someone is still streaming via her account, someone with her same face. Cam is a creepy thriller built around a case of stolen identity, built around a protagonist with a fresh perspective.
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Director Gareth Evans is best known for his frenetic martial arts films like The Raid, but his breakneck style translates well to horror, as seen in Apostle, the story of a man racing against time in a dangerous, creepy setting. The man in question is Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens), estranged son of a wealthy family, who finally returns home when his sister is kidnapped and held for ransom by cultists. Thomas journeys to the desolate island where the cult makes their home, pretending to join so that he can search for traces of his sister. As he plumbs the community’s depths, he slowly unravels the mysteries of the cult and their disturbing practices. Apostle is a galloping, gruesome ride, the ominous atmosphere of the island village eventually exploding in gore and brutal action scenes. It might not be the most cerebral exploration of religious horror, but it is thrilling.
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On the island where Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s Evolution takes place, there are only two groups of people: Young boys and the women who oversee them. It’s an eerie setting, and it only grows more so after Nicolas, the young protagonist, sees a body while swimming in the ocean. His mother dives in to investigate, but finds nothing, nor do the other boys when they hear Nicolas’ story. Nicolas can’t shake the memory of what he saw, though, and when his mother takes him to the hospital for a mysterious operation, his worries intensify. Evolution opens with a series of shots under the surface of the ocean, an alien world filled with wiggling, colorful plants, and it sets the tone well. This is a film of creeping dread, of terror that lurks just out of sight, and fans of atmospheric horror (or luscious cinematography) will find it here.
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The horror anthology XX features four short stories of the grotesque and the macabre, each from a different female director.
