Any time is a good time for a blood-chilling horror flick.
Whether you're a fan of demonic nightmares, spooky ghost stories, bloodcurdling gorefests,
or good old-fashioned creature features, you can find something to scare up on Netflix.
Want to stream-and-scream?
Here are some of the best options to add to your list.
The evil Dead is the self-proclaimed "Ultimate experience in grueling terror," and it manages
to live up to the claim.
even horror maestro Stephen King called it "the most ferociously original horror film
of the year" when it came out back in 1981.
Director Sam Raimi's feature film debut follows a group of college students who make an ill-fated
getaway to a remote cabin in the woods.
Then things get weird.
In the cabin's basement, they stumble upon a wicked-looking bone dagger, a book bound
in human flesh and an old tape with incantations to summon ancient demons.
The curious teens play the tape and unwittingly unleash the sadistic "Deadites," who have
the ability to possess the living.
It gets pretty bloody from there.
But The evil Dead is more than just blood-drenched jump scares.
What adds to the movie's appeal are the still-impressive practical effects, unsettling sound design,
inventive camera work, and creepy makeup.
It's a classic gorefest that still holds up very well today and it will very likely continue
to keep audiences screaming for decades more.
Oh, and it also stars national treasure and B-movie legend Bruce Campbell, who takes on
the role of the iconic Ash Williams for the first time.
Director Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist has reliably delivered scares since its 1982 release.
Produced and co-written by Steven Spielberg, Poltergeist is about a powerful entity that
torments the Freeling family home and punches a hole into our earthly realm to abduct their
youngest daughter, Carol Ann.
Shockingly, the movie has a PG rating but that's because of a technicality more than
anything else.
The PG-13 rating didn't exist at the time of its release.
But even with such a seemingly tame rating and relatively little gore, it remains one
of the scariest movies of all time.
What elevates the movie and ups the scare factor so much are the convincing performances
from the entire cast.
It has that Spielberg touch.
The designs of the practical and visual effects are also terrifying.
You'll scream along with the Freeling family as they encounter ghostly apparitions, a terrifying
tree that has an appetite for children, ghastly corpses in swimming pools, and arguably the
creepiest clown doll to ever grace the silver screen.
And who can forget Tangina Barrons' hair-raising monologue about death and the afterlife?
"To her, it simply is another child.
To us, it is the beast."
If you haven't seen Poltergeist, you've been missing out on a true classic.
If you're looking for even more ghostly scares, check out Our House, directed by Anthony Scott
Burns.
In it, a gifted college brainiac named ethan is working on what could be a major scientific
breakthrough: a machine that can generate wireless electricity.
But after his parents are killed in a tragic car accident, he suddenly becomes the guardian
of his kid brother and sister, and has no choice but to move in with them.
While juggling his newfound parental duties as well as his studies, ethan transforms the
garage into a laboratory to continue his experiments, and soon discovers that his machine has an
unexpected side effect: It's allowing souls of the deceased to commune with the living.
At first, it seems his sister, Becca, is talking with their dead parents, but they soon discover
it's something far more sinister.
With its likable characters and strong performances, Our House builds up to a spooky finale with
smoky apparitions reminiscent of the ones in Poltergeist, and well-timed, effective
jump scares.
What would you get if you threw the slasher, found footage, and dark comedy genres all
into one?
You'd get both Creep and its sequel, Creep 2.
In this follow-up to the original, we check back in with Josef, now going by Aaron, having
taken the new name from his latest victim.
Once again, he invites a videographer to his home to document his life.
This time, it's Sara, who has a web series devoted to deep-diving into the lives of lonely
men who put personal ads online.
She responds to Aaron's intriguing ad, and the two meet up.
He tells her outright he's a serial killer going through a unique midlife crisis of sorts:
He's lost his passion for killing.
As viewers of the first film would know, Aaron is a compulsive liar and a psychopath, but
also very charismatic.
"I will give you the deepest personal access into my soul that you could possibly imagine.
I will rip myself open and let you see every last inch."
It's no wonder his victims look past his apparent oddness and let their guards down.
But Sara is strong-headed and smart.
She's cautious and doesn't buy into Aaron's claims, even though she decides to spend a
day with him.
Creep 2 is a slow-burn character study of a serial killer with frantic bursts of action.
We already know Aaron's a snake, but it's the anticipation of when that snake will strike
that makes the film so unnerving.
With a brisk 1-hour-and 20-minute runtime, Creep 2 is a gripping and engaging indie thriller.
It's no surprise that it has a coveted 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
From director Bryan Bertino comes this unique creature feature.
Kathy is an alcoholic and verbally abusive mother who has a very strained relationship
with her headstrong daughter, Lizzy.
On a stormy night, just hours after a profanity-laced argument, the two hit the road to Lizzy's
father's house.
On the way, they hit a wolf and find themselves stranded on the side of the road in their
car.
They find unusually large teeth stuck in the wolf's wounds meaning it wasn't just the crash
that killed it.
"I think it was fighting with something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
After their tow truck driver disappears and his severed arm smacks against the windshield,
they soon realize that they're not alone, and that some hulking monster is lurking in
the nearby woods.
The two must put their differences aside and, together, outwit the formidable beast.
The premise may be simple, but Bertino makes the most of his budget and delivers some genuine
scares while drawing a powerful performance from Zoe Kazan, who plays Kathy.
Also of note: The titular monster is brought to life with all practical effects and no
CGI.
In the delightful horror-thriller Would You Rather, Iris is the sole caretaker of her
terminally ill brother.
He's in dire need of medical attention, but she can't afford to pay for it.
After meeting a filthy rich and sweet-talking aristocrat that horror fans may recognize
as Jeffrey Combs from Re-Animator, she's invited to a dinner to play a game.
The winner gets the money they desire, but there's a catch: If you lose, you die.
The participants learn this grim fact after agreeing to the terms.
Then they're held against their will and forced to continue playing the game.
Would You Rather doesn't lean on jump scares this isn't that type of movie.
Instead, the focus is on body horror as the participants must choose between increasingly
gruesome ultimatums if they want to make it to the next round.
It's sometimes painful to watch.
You'll scream, squirm, and flinch as characters are forced to endure inconceivable pain from
bludgeoning and self-mutilation.
After the movie is over, you'll never look at your eyeball in a hand mirror the same
ever again.
But even if you're the squeamish type, Would You Rather will have your eyes glued to the
screen as you wait and see how the twisted game all plays out.
If creepy children and malicious demons are your thing, look no further than Sinister
2.
The sequel follows an ex-deputy as he investigates a string of killings linked to Bagul, an ancient
Pagan demon who has a history of possessing and persuading children to kill their families
while filming it.
Our hero tracks down the next home marked for death and finds that it's occupied by
a mother and her twin sons.
Of course, by the time he arrives, he' s too late.
The twins are already being manipulated by the relentless demon, so it's a matter of
time before the bloodshed begins.
One son in particular appears to be a ticking time bomb.
This time, we get to see exactly how Bagul recruits and corrupts children and what leads
up to the heinous acts he has them commit.
The films-within-the-film are the easily most shocking and disturbing element.
What happens in them is very likely every parent's worst nightmare.
Sinister 2's production values are high, with moody lighting and a booming score for those
loud jump scares.
And there are plenty of them, since Bagul and his acolytes are quite fond of appearing
out of nowhere.
The Ritual fits neatly in the horror subgenre that showcases how terrifying nature can be.
Still shaken by the traumatic events of a deadly liquor store robbery, Luke and his
three college buddies embark on a hike through the Scandinavian wilderness, to honor the
memory of their friend who was killed by one of the thieves.
One of them gets injured, so they decide to take a shortcut and find themselves lost in
some dense woods.
It's not long before they come across a gutted elk, strange pagan markings in the trees,
and ominous carvings in an abandoned cabin.
They also start hearing beast-like roars and heavy stomping within the forest.
The creature they encounter is right out of a twisted fairy tale.
The design work and execution is truly nightmarish, and it's arguably one of the freakiest movie
monster designs in some time.
Other oddities the men encounter in an ancient village occupied by crazy worshippers are
right out of a fever dream and show off the movie's outlandish production design.
Dark, atmospheric and oozing with creepy style mostly thanks to its Nordic-infused mythology,
The Ritual is an imaginative folk-horror film that shouldn't be missed.
What if you weren't just lost in the woods, but were lost in the 80,000-acre Amazon rainforest
with an entire tribe of cannibals on your tail?
That's the premise of director eli Roth's 2015 film The Green Inferno, which is very
much inspired by the 1980 cult classic Cannibal Holocaust.
The story follows a group of college activists who travel to the vast jungles of Peru.
When their plane crashes, they're greeted by a hungry and not-so-friendly indigenous
tribe.
The captured students soon learn that they're welcome for dinner and they're the main course.
The gore-hound director never shies away from the carnage.
The first ritualistic kill is one of the most gruesome scenes of the entire film, and Roth
pushes the envelope on the movie's R rating.
There are no monsters lurking in the shadows here a majority of the horror happens in broad
daylight.
And aside from the graphic violence, the film has thrills, chills, and some dark humor.
One scene involving cannibals consuming cannabis-infused human meat is particularly amusing.
But the thrills and suspense pick up as the students devise their escape plan.
The Green Inferno is lean and mean and will definitely make you scream.
Having a morgue in the basement of your home might seem unusual, but it's pretty normal
for seasoned coroner Tommy and his son Austin.
The two spend their days having father-and-son talks while tinkering with cadaver and determining
causes of death.
"Everybody has a secret.
Some just hide them better than others."
Their routine gets turned upside down when a sheriff brings in the body of a girl labeled
"Jane Doe" that was found buried in the basement of a home where a grisly mass killing took
place.
The father and son observe many peculiar things about the condition of her pale and seemingly
unscathed body.
Some signs point to her having just died, while others indicate she's been dead for
years.
As they try to piece together the reason behind her death, disturbing, inexplicable, and possibly
supernatural occurrences start to happen around the house, forcing the two men to doubt their
scientific beliefs.
every mysterious reveal will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat and yes, it builds
up to an intense third act with many well-timed scares sprinkled throughout.
Masterfully directed by Andre Ovredal and expertly paced, The Autopsy of Jane Doe is
a smart, incredibly eerie, and consistently scary horror film.
Thanks for watching.
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