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.
Robert Eggers’ eerie directorial debut. The Witch is a horror film with a distinct vision, a Colonial period-piece with appropriately archaic dialogue and a fascination with Puritan religious anxieties. Set in 17th-century New England, the film follows a family exiled from their settlement due to father William’s (Ralph Ineson) disagreements over scripture. William takes his family — wife Katherine (Kate Dickie), eldest daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), and twins Mercy and Jonas — to the edge of a dark, remote forest, where they build a home. When an unseen force takes the family’s newborn child, Samuel, however, it becomes clear that something wicked lives in the woods, and the rest of the family may soon be in danger too. The Witch moves confidently, teasing out its scares in deliberate fashion, and the film’s unique setting and atmosphere are striking.
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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, 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 livestreams 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 and 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 its 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, with the ominous atmosphere of the island village eventually exploding in gore and brutality. 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.
