The Best Horror Films on Netflix Right Now

I love horror films. But I didn’t always. Just like most kids, I couldn’t stand even a mildly scary movie. I remember being ten or eleven and watching a movie called 13 Ghosts on daytime television. In hindsight, the movie was actually pretty stupid and corny, but it scared the crap out of me at the time, especially this guy…

Now, don’t get me wrong, I still act like a chicken-shit when I watch these movies. I scream at jump scares, watch the film through the cracks of my fingers, and often wait until my boyfriend tells me the gory scene is over so I can continue watching. I can’t ever watch them alone and I’m constantly tense when I watch them, but I love them.

I have since evolved into a horror film enthusiast with a little bit of a higher standard. I started with the classics like The Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby, and while I enjoyed and can appreciate them as being icons of the genre, I still felt like they weren’t scary enough. And I’m not talking about jump scares and gore (while I do appreciate some when appropriate). I’m talking about films that work off your primal and personal fears, sending chills through your core.

And then I discovered Netflix’s horror catalog and it…was…on. The first movie I stumbled upon was Hush, a chilling film about a deaf writer who has retreated into the woods to live a solitary life but then has fight for her life in silence when a masked killer appears at her window.

This film blindsided me. I had no idea what it was about when I started it and it threw me through some serious emotional hoops. It’s one of the most popular horror films on Netflix now, but at the time, it was relatively unheard of (so hipster of me, right?). It’s terrifying and suspenseful and fed off all my childhood fears of a home invasion. Watch it, seriously. If you haven’t already, you’re the weird one.

Next, my horror journey took a slight detour into the horror-comedy genre with Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. And I’m so glad it did. This comedy of errors starts as your typical evil hillbillies in the middle of the woods film, but then you soon realize that the two evil hillbillies are actually just two oblivious friends trying to fix up their cabin. A bunch of college students sets up camp nearby and when one of them falls and hits her head, Tuckers and Dale take her in and take care of her injuries. Her friends, however, think that she’s been kidnapped by hillbilly psychopath killers and take matters into their own hands to get her back. It’s a hilarious combination of miscommunications and plenty of gore that I would highly recommend.

Next, I stumbled upon the saving grace of the zombie horror film. The Walking Dead and Dawn of the Dead are great and all, but they’ve got nothing on Train to Busan. This South Korean film follows a businessman and his daughter as they board a train to Busan right as a zombie virus breaks out. What follows is a beautiful, fast-paced, claustrophobic film that is hands-down the best zombie film in recent years. I mean… just look at it:

After I saw this film, I couldn’t shut up about it for weeks and you won’t be able to either.

Lastly, the most recent film I stumbled upon was Gerald’s Game. The film follows an older couple, Jessie and Gerald on a romantic retreat to their family lake house. Gerald, however, has a very specific thing in mind to spice up their love life: handcuffs. They start, Jessie handcuffed to the bedposts, and Gerald drops dead of a heart attack.

As dehydration and a hungry stray dog enter the equation, Jessie slowly starts to lose her mind, giving way to her deepest fears and darkest memories. And it gets weird…

I’m really not sure why I love to scare the crap out of myself, but I do. There’s something about witnessing such intense fear and then being able to turn it off and come back to reality that makes me feel lucky; lucky I’m not her:

 

Happy Watching,

-Marie