While maybe the creepiest choice on Netflix right now is that traumatizing true-crime documentary Maternal Instinct, the streamer also has plenty of (thankfully) fictional horror stories available to fuel your nightmares. Here are our top horror picks on Netfix right now.
1. 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2025/2026)
There’s seemingly still a third 28 Years Later film on the way, but zombie fans can sink their teeth into the existing movies and still feel entirely satisfied. Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later arrived nearly the same length of time after his 2002 hit 28 Days Later, revisiting that film’s post-apocalyptic world decades later to see how humanity’s hanging in there. Some people are doing OK; others, very much not!
Nia DaCosta’s The Bone Temple didn’t have the box-office power of its predecessor, but its gory, oddball energy screams “future cult hit” and has guaranteed eternal life in the form of unhinged Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell memes.
2. The Black Phone and Black Phone 2 (2021/2025)
Another double-feature awaiting horror fans on Netflix is Scott Derrickson’s tale of a kid (Mason Thames) who escapes a serial child killer known as “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke) with some beyond-the-grave help from some of the maniac’s less fortunate victims.
The sequel continues the beyond-the-grave theme, because you can’t keep a good villain down, and expands the story to explore the main character’s younger sister (Violet McGraw) and her emergent psychic abilities.
3. Nope (2022)
In Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, aliens visit Earth with cerebral and seemingly benevolent intentions. Jordan Peele’s Nope, on the other hand, asks, “What if E.T. traveled all the way here to sample the buffet?”
Both films explore ideas around recording close encounters and then deciding how to responsibly disseminate the proof to the wider public. But only one features a subplot about a trained chimpanzee who goes violently rogue—or a creature nicknamed “Jean Jacket” who’ll have you carefully scrutinizing every odd-shaped cloud you see.
4. The Witch (2015)
A Puritan family in New England, circa the 1630s, is already in struggle mode when it becomes clear the nearby woods are harboring a supernatural malevolence. Robert Eggers’ debut feature introduced the filmmaker’s uniquely detailed style to audiences; he went on to make The Northman, The Lighthouse, Nosferatu, and the upcoming Werwulf. It also marked the star-making debut of Anya Taylor-Joy.
But even if you don’t know the careers it launched, The Witch remains an altogether eerie viewing experience. It also gets points for suggesting that making a bargain with Satan can actually be a best-case scenario, depending on the circumstances.
5. Deadstream (2022)
Shudder fans already know all about this one, but the wider platform of Netflix subscribers can now experience Vanessa and Joseph Winter’s clever found-footage tale of a cancelled content creator (played by Joseph Winter) who decides livestreaming his overnight stint in a haunted house will be his ticket to internet redemption.
Needless to say, this plan soon goes very awry—but naturally our fame-seeking protagonist keeps his camera rolling the entire time, so we can enjoy all his gory missteps.
6. Host (2020)
More found footage, but this time in “screenlife” form, Host is a top-tier example of the creative ways filmmakers kept working even during the pandemic. Rob Savage (who went on to make 2023’s The Boogeyman and has Other Mommy coming up later this year) directs a tale that unfolds entirely over Zoom, as a group of pent-up friends decide to hold a seance to help alleviate lockdown boredom. Bad idea? Hoo boy, yes! But it makes for a surprisingly effective and dynamic horror movie.
7. Trick ‘r Treat (2007)
There are those among us who celebrate spooky season all year round. There are others who celebrate Summerween specifically. Either group will appreciate the fact that this horror anthology is conveniently available on Netflix, offering up its funny yet freaky point of view on all the many rules of Halloween: never blow out a jack-o’-lantern before midnight; always check your candy before chowing down; don’t prank a weird kid when there are ghosts around to back her up; and beware any trick-or-treater wearing a pumpkin mask. Also, watch out for werewolves.
8. Jennifer’s Body (2009)
Will we ever get that sequel that Amanda Seyfried and Diablo Cody keep talking about? Help its chances by racking up views on the funny, feminist original, which digs into a deeply toxic friendship between teenage girls while also taking their male counterparts to task. Undone by a marketing campaign that didn’t understand the story’s complexities—instead focusing on the fact that it starred Megan Fox, noted hot chick—Jennifer’s Body found its audience only after its initial theatrical release. That it’s available on Netflix suggests audiences are still finding it, which feels like a win.
9. Influencer (2022)
You will still have to head to Shudder for the 2025 sequel Influencers, but Kurtis David Harder’s twist-filled cautionary tale about online stalking that bleeds into real life is killer as a standalone, too. It’s definitely one of those “don’t look up the plot before you start watching” situations, but suffice to say this tale of a Thailand beach vacation gone very wrong serves up satire and shocks in equal portions.
10. Castle Rock (2018-2019), Archive 81 (2022), and The Boroughs (2026)
These series are neither movies nor made by Netflix’s former resident master of horror, Mike Flanagan (he’s still a horror powerhouse; he’s just making stuff elsewhere now). But if you want to binge something longer than a two-hour feature, we suggest Castle Rock (Hulu’s anthology series expanding Stephen King’s haunted Maine mythology); Archive 81 (a single-season Netflix series about cults, archival tapes, and sinister NYC history); and The Boroughs (a recent Netflix drop about a New Mexico retirement community hiding some dark secrets, recently cancelled after one season but still well worth a watch).
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