The 30 best horror movies on Netflix for Halloween 2025

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By Cameron Frew

Oct 24 2025

By Cameron Frew

Oct 24 2025

Netflix has some of the best horror movies on streaming, especially with Halloween on the horizon.

The problem is, where do you start? You could easily spend an hour trawling its library to find something you all agree on, and then there’s the question of whether your choice will even be good.

Don’t go to all that hassle. Ahead of Halloween, we’ve rounded up the best horror movies on Netflix. To quote the author of Goosebumps: “Beware… you’re in for a scare.”

30. 1922

• Year: 2017
• Cast: Thomas Jane, Molly Parker, Dylan Schmid, Kaitlyn Bernard
• Director: Zak Hilditch
• Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes

What it’s about: Wilfred James enlists his son to help him kill his wife, Arlette, in Nebraska. But after he buries her body, he finds himself terrorized by rats and, as his life begins to unravel, becomes convinced his wife is haunting him.

Why to watch: Stephen King is the master of horror, so it’s only right that one of his adaptations opens a list of the best Netflix horror movies.

1922 may have passed you by, which is a shame, because it’s unlike any other film based on his work. A slow-moving nightmare that never drags, intensified by the rotting, creepy atmosphere maintained by director Zak Hilditch and Thomas Jane’s career-best performance.”

29. We Have a Ghost

• Year: 2023
• Cast: David Harbour, Anthony Mackie, Jahi Winston, Tig Notaro
• Director: Christopher Landon
• Runtime: 2 hours 7 minutes

What it’s about: Kevin finds a ghost named Ernest after they move into a new home, quickly becoming a social media sensation. However, this draws the attention of the CIA, especially when they look into Ernest’s past.

Why to watch: We Have a Ghost is Netflix’s answer to Casper the Friendly Ghost, sprinkled with a little bit of Spielbergian charm to make it a breezy, light horror movie for the whole family.

There’s only one hurdle: accepting the unsightly VFX with David Harbour’s blurry spirit.

28. Anaconda

• Year: 1997
• Cast: Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Owen Wilson
• Director: Luis Llosa
• Runtime: 1 hour 29 minutes

What it’s about: A filmmaker travels deep into the Amazon jungle in search of a lost tribe, but her journey goes haywire when they encounter a stranded snake hunter.

Why to watch: Anaconda is a delightful B-movie; an Alien/Jaws hybrid with some pretty ropey effects that’s funny (sometimes unintentionally), slickly made, and scary when it wants to be.

If you like Deep Blue Sea, Lake Placid, Eight Legged Freaks, or any other creature features from the late ’90s and early aughts, this will be right up your street.

27. Bird Box

• Year: 2018
• Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson, John Malkovich
• Director: Susanne Bier
• Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes

What it’s about: When a mysterious force decimates the world’s population, Malorie flees with her two children down a treacherous river to somewhere that could offer sanctuary. There’s just one condition: they need to stay blindfolded.

Why to watch: Does it feel like a rip-off of A Quiet Place, even though it was based on a book from 2014? Unfortunately, yes.

But, if you’re unintentionally aping one of the year’s best horror movies, you better make sure it’s worth watching – that much is true for Bird Box. This is a dourer, chillier movie full of knuckle-whitening scenes, and with Sandra Bullock’s gravitas and conviction, it rarely feels too silly.

26. Saw X

• Year: 2023
• Cast: Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand
• Director: Kevin Greutert
• Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes

What it’s about: John Kramer travels to Mexico for an experimental procedure that could cure his cancer. When it becomes clear the whole thing was a scam, he kidnaps those responsible and subjects them to torturous games.

Why to watch: Saw X has everything a Saw movie should: gut-churning traps, a great ‘Hello Zepp’ needle drop, and a compelling throughline amid the torture.

Where it especially excels, though, is with Tobin Bell’s nuanced, raspy performance as John Kramer, aka Jigsaw. If this is his last appearance in the series, it’d be a good way to bow out.”

25. The Ruins

• Year: 2008
• Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey
• Director: Carter Smith
• Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

What it’s about: When a group of friends embarks on an archeological dig in a remote area of a Mexican jungle, they find more than they barguined for at a Mayan ruin.

Why to watch: Scott B. Smith’s original novel – well worth a read; nauseating and nerve-jangling in equal measure – has a formidable reputation.

Thankfully, its movie adaptation is worthy of its source material, emphasising the psychological horror of its unimaginable circumstances rather than cheap, visceral thrills.

24. Apostle

• Year: 2018
• Cast: Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Michael Sheen
• Director: Gareth Evans
• Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes

What it’s about: In 1905, Thomas Richardson travels to a remote island to rescue his sister after she’s kidnapped by a mysterious religious cult. As he digs deeper, he discovers their commune is built on dark secrets and lies.

Why to watch: A better love letter to The Wicker Man than its own remake, Apostle fits into niche sub-genre: extreme folk horror, taking organised religion to task in ghastly, harrowing style.

Also, it’s made by Gareth Evans, the action maestro behind The Raid films, solidifying him as one of the most exciting directors working today.

23. CAM

• Year: 2018
• Cast: Madeline Brewer, Patch Darragh, Melora Walters
• Director: Daniel Goldhaber
• Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes

What it’s about: Alice, an ambitious camgirl, wakes up one day to discover she’s been replaced on her show with an exact replica of herself.

Why to watch: To some, being a camgirl will be seen as a dubious profession. But CAM, a nail-biting techno-horror, isn’t polemic in disguise.

Thanks to Daniel Goldhaber (and writer Isa Mazzei), it’s a surprisingly empathetic, unsettling exploration of the influencer era, and a fantastic showcase for Madeline Brewer.

22. Interview with the Vampire

• Year: 1994
• Cast: Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas
• Director: Neil Jordan
• Runtime: 2 hours 2 minutes

What it’s about: Louis, a modern-day vampire who’s been alive for over 200 years, sits down with a reporter to tell his story, explaining how he met his lover and when they turned a young girl into a vampire.

Why to watch: Anne Rice, the author of Interview with the Vampire, staunchly disavowed the film before it was released. She even took out eight pages of ads in a Hollywood paper to complain about Tom Cruise’s casting.

Here’s how good it is: when she eventually saw it, she took out a two-page ad by way of apology and reached out to Cruise personally, even comparing him to Laurence Olivier. If that doesn’t pique your curiosity, what will?

21. Blood Red Sky

• Year: 2021
• Cast: Peri Baumeister, Alexander Scheer, Roland Møller
• Director: Peter Thorwarth
• Runtime: 2 hours 1 minute

What it’s about: A woman with a mysterious illness is forced into action when a group of terrorists attempt to hijack a transatlantic overnight flight. In order to protect her son she will have to reveal a dark secret, and unleash the vampire within that she fought to hide.

Why to watch: Until the Nosferatu remake and Sinners, vampires weren’t particularly scarily-served by Hollywood or streamers, used for comedy (What We Do in the Shadows), superhero nonsense (Morbius), or action fare (Day Shift).

Blood Red Sky is among the rare exceptions, and the first film to feel like a true successor to 30 Days of Night: action-packed, full of gore, and terrifically tense.

20. Veronica

• Year: 2017
• Cast: Sandra Escacena, Bruna González, Claudia Placer
• Director: Paco Plaza
• Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes

What it’s about: In 1991 Madrid, after holding a séance at school, a teen girl minding her younger siblings at home suspects an evil force has entered their apartment.

Why to watch: In your group of friends, are you the friend that avoids ouija boards at all costs, or are you among those who think they’re just a bit of fun and make-believe?

Veronica, which is based on a true story, is a simple, effective horror movie that will scare you – and a chilling response to those in the latter camp.

19. Thanksgiving

• Year: 2023
• Cast: Patrick Dempsey, Addison Rae, Rick Hoffman, Nell Verlaque
• Director: Eli Roth
• Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

What it’s about: One year after a Black Friday riot ended in tragedy, the people of Plymouth, Massachusetts, are terrorised by a ruthless serial killer in a John Carver mask.

Why to watch: Horror fans often lament the absence of the ’80s slasher icons (it’s been over 15 years since Freddy or Jason appeared in a movie).

Thanksgiving is an awesome attempt at creating a new one: John Carver, a fiendishly creative villain who kills their victims in unthinkable ways. It’s worth checking out for that alone – but it helps that it’s good, gnarly fun, and Patrick Dempsey is on fantastic form.

18. Scream 2

• Year: 1997
• Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Director: Wes Craven
• Runtime: 2 hours

What it’s about: Over a year after surviving the Woodsboro Massacre, Sidney and her friends are targeted by a new copycat killer.

Why to watch: Scream 2 may not be as renowned as the first film, but it doesn’t fall victim to its predecessor’s legendary reputation.

This is a great sequel, re-engineering the stakes in a fresh setting, revising and evolving its witty meta commentary, and featuring two of the best scenes in the whole franchise. Just don’t bother with Scream 3: it’s pants.

17. Don’t Breathe

• Year: 2016
• Cast: Stephen Lang, Jane Levy, Dylan Minnette
• Director: Fede Álvarez
• Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes

What it’s about: Three thieves break into a blind veteran’s home, assuming he’s an easy target – but he’s not as helpless as they thought.

Why to watch: Don’t Breathe inverts the home invasion formula: this time, it’s the invaders who become the hunted. That genius idea came from Fede Álvarez (the director behind 2013’s Evil Dead and Alien: Romulus) and horror legend Sam Raimi.

Pre-warning: there’s a scene with a turkey baster that may leave you feeling a little queasy.

16. 28 Weeks Later

• Year: 2007
• Cast: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Imogen Poots
• Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
• Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes

What it’s about: Six months on from the outbreak of the rage virus, US-led NATO forces try to maintain a safe zone in London – until all hell breaks loose with another infection.

Why to watch: 28 Weeks Later isn’t on the same level as 28 Days Later; how could it be? That’s an impossible bar it shouldn’t be measured against – and it’s been vastly underrated as a result.

To go one step further, it has the best opening sequence of every zombie movie ever made. Watch the first 10 minutes… and then enjoy the rest.

15. The Fear Street movies

• Year: 2021-2025
• Cast: Kiana Madeira, Olivia Scott Welch, Benjamin Flores Jr., Gillian Jacobs, Sadie Sink
• Director: Leigh Janiak, Matt Palmer (Prom Queen)
• Runtime: 1 hour 47 minutes (1994), 1 hour 50 minutes (1978), 1 hour 52 minutes (1666), 1 hour 30 minutes (Prom Queen)

What it’s about: Based on R.L. Stine’s novels, this slasher series follows the teens of Shadyside decades – if not centuries – apart as they try to survive spates of brutal murders.

Why to watch: The Fear Street trilogy (plus Prom Queen) was green-lit with a great idea: creating a stylish, bloody series inspired by the author of Goosebumps’ lesser-read works.

Unlike the books, they’re categorically not for a young audience; a girl gets her head chopped up by a bread slicer, for goodness sake. What they are is thoroughly entertaining, nasty, and fun slashers.

14. The Conjuring 2

• Year: 2016
• Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Frances O’Connor
• Director: James Wan
• Runtime: 2 hours 14 minutes

What it’s about: Demonologists Ed and Lorraine journey to England to investigate the Enfield poltergeist, one of the UK’s best-known paranormal cases.

Why to watch: The Conjuring 2 isn’t as frightening as its decade-defining predecessor. But it’s the most exciting and imaginative horror movie of the two; loud, flashy, with some giddy scares that’ll make you jump out of your skin.

And, thanks to Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, it has an oddly warm sense of familiarity; no wonder they made so many of these.

13. His House

• Year: 2020
• Cast: Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu, Matt Smith
• Director: Remi Weekes
• Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes

What it’s about: After making a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, a young refugee couple struggle to adjust to their new life in a small English town that has an unspeakable evil lurking beneath the surface.

Why to watch: His House is a victim of Netflix’s overcrowded library. Unlike the platform’s otherwise dispensable originals, this is a sophisticated, emphatic horror movie, both in its scares and smart, affecting invocation of the refugee experience.

Plus, as an extra bonus, it’s just over 90 minutes long.

12. A Quiet Place

• Year: 2018
• Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe
• Director: John Krasinski
• Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

What it’s about: Years after monstrous aliens with acute hearing invade Earth, a family desperately tries to survive – and figure out how to fight back.

Why to watch: A horror movie directed by that guy from The Office? “Surely not,” you’d probably say. Well, A Quiet Place proves itself in its devastating opening sequence, illustrating this world’s stakes with a jaw-dropping pre-credits punch in the stomach.

From there, it’s an accomplished, suspense-ridden exercise in exciting horror filmmaking. Scary, but not too scary; perfect for a Halloween movie night with teens.

11. Halloween

• Year: 2018
• Cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak
• Director: David Gordon Green
• Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes

What it’s about: Forty years after the original film, Michael Myers escapes custody and returns to Haddonfield, forcing a traumatised Laurie Strode to confront him once more.

Why to watch: A Halloween horror movie list wouldn’t be complete without The Shape himself, Michael Myers.

The 1978 original is untouchable, but the franchise’s 2018 revival is a phenomenal slasher. Teeth-clenchingly violent, with strong performances (especially Jamie-Lee Curtis) and the series’ best score.

10. Split

• Year: 2016
• Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley
• Director: M. Night Shyamalan
• Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes

What it’s about: Kevin, a man who can’t control switching between 23 distinct personalities, kidnaps three teenage girls and keeps them in an underground facility. As they try to figure out a way to escape, a monstrous new persona is about to emerge: The Beast.

Why to watch: Split was a long-needed return to form for M. Night Shyamalan when it released in 2016.

Almost 10 years later, it’s still a bracingly thrilling, well-intentioned spin on an exploitation flick, armed with James McAvoy’s career-defining performance, a young and commanding Anya Taylor-Joy, and a final scene that made fans of a particular film very happy.

9. Gerald’s Game

• Year: 2017
• Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Carel Struycken
• Director: Mike Flanagan
• Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes

What it’s about: When Jessie and Gerald try to spice up their marriage in a remote lake house, he dies suddenly and leaves her handcuffed to a bed, with no way to free herself. As she figures out a way to survive, she begins hearing voices and seeing scary visions.

Why to watch: Gerald’s Game was long considered to be one of Stephen King’s most unadaptable works; how do you make a stationary exercise in unpleasant delirium entertaining?

Leave it to Mike Flanagan, Netflix’s greatest horror filmmaker, Carla Gugino’s career-defining performance, and one of the most graphic, inevitable visuals you’ll ever see

8. Talk to Me

• Year: 2022
• Cast: Sophie Wilde, Joe Bird, Alexandra Jensen, Miranda Otto
• Director: Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou
• Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

What it’s about: When group of teens discover how to use embalmed hand to possess people, they turn it into risky party game. However, they break the rules… with grave consequences.

Why to watch: Talk to Me is one of the more notorious horror movies of the 2020s – and for good reason.

It’s effectively a ouija board story for a new generation, luring you in with a nifty, exciting concept before attacking you with bursts of violently horrific imagery. But it’s not sadistic: underneath the terror, there’s an incredibly emotional drama with two stunning performances. ”

7. Jaws

• Year: 1975
• Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes

What it’s about: After a young woman is killed by a shark, Amity Island’s police chief Martin Brody teams up with a marine biologist and a local fisherman to find and kill it.

Why to watch: What is there to say about Jaws that hasn’t already been said? After all, it’s rightly lauded as one of the best films ever made; remarkable, considering it was only Steven Spielberg’s fourth feature film.

You may not immediately think of it at Halloween, even though it features the most iconic, ominous two-note score in all of cinema, not to mention a traumatising opening scene. It is horror movie, simple as that.

6. The Conjuring

• Year: 2013
• Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, Lili Taylor
• Director: James Wan
• Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes

What it’s about: In 1971, paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren help a family in Rhode Island after they experience terrifying supernatural phenomena.

Why to watch: Nobody expected The Conjuring to launch the highest-grossing horror franchise in movie history – but they should have.

There’s a level of commercial artistry on display here that its sequels (and rubbish spinoffs) haven’t matched, whether it’s Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s made-in-movie-heaven chemistry or James Wan’s mastery of a good, honest scare. It’s the best movie in the series and a Halloween must-watch.

5. Barbarian

• Year: 2022
• Cast: Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, Justin Long
• Director: Zach Cregger
• Runtime: 1 hour 42 minutes

What it’s about: When Tess arrives at her Airbnb, she finds a man already staying there. He invites her in and suggests she stays, but when she hears strange noises in the basement, she discovers something terrifying beneath the house.

Why to watch: Barbarian marked the arrival of Zach Cregger, a major new voice in horror. Some movies are scary because of their inevitability; if a masked killer comes into a house, you know someone’s going to die.

This film takes great enjoyment in making it clear that you don’t know what’s coming next. Avoid any other plot details before you watch it, and buckle up.

4. Incantation

• Year: 2022
• Cast: Tsai Hsuan-yen, Huang Sin-ting, Kao Ying-hsuan
• Director: Kevin Ko
• Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes

What it’s about: Six years ago, Li Ronan was cursed after breaking a religious taboo. Now, she must protect her daughter from the consequences of her actions.

Why to watch: You may not have heard of Incantation, nor would a Taiwanese, subtitled, found-footage horror buried in Netflix’s library be at the top of most people’s watch lists.

Heed this recommendation (and warning): this is the scariest movie on Netflix. Insidiously clever and distressing; the kind of film that lingers in your head long after the credits mercifully roll.

3. Scream

• Year: 1996
• Cast: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Skeet Ulrich
• Director: Wes Craven
• Runtime: 1 hour 51 minutes

What it’s about: A year after her mother’s death, Sidney and her friends are targeted by a costumed serial killer: Ghostface, a horror movie-obsessed murderer who could be hiding in plain sight.

Why to watch: Ghostface is a horror icon. Even now, kids and adults alike don the mask (bonus points if you had the one that pumped blood) and run around with fake knives at Halloween.

Here’s something people should remember: Scream is still every bit as effective as it was in the late ’90s, whether it’s the kills (the opening murder is extremely distressing), the performances, or its airtight, meta screenplay. Try as it might, the series has never been better.

2. Creep

• Year: 2014
• Cast: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice
• Director: Patrick Brice
• Runtime: 1 hour 17 minutes

What it’s about: Aaron, an aspiring videographer, agrees to film a day in the life of Josef, an eccentric loner who’s dying from an inoperable brain tumour. However, as the day unfolds, his behavior grows more unusual and perverse.

Why to watch: Creep raises laughably strange questions; why does Josef want to be filmed in a bath, and why does he have a werewolf mask?

It’s profoundly awkward, but an air of menace creeps in with every passing scene, thanks to Duplass’ demented performance. This isn’t like any found-footage movie you’ve seen: the camera doesn’t flinch, right to its shocking end.

1. Get Out

• Year: 2017
• Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener
• Director: Jordan Peele
• Runtime: 1 hour 44 minutes

What it’s about: Chris, a young Black man, agrees to meet her white girlfriend’s parents at their estate in upstate New York. Over the course of the weekend, insidious racial tensions emerge as Chris uncovers a horrifying secret.

Why to watch: Perhaps only rivalled by Hereditary, Get Out may be the best horror movie of the past 10 years.

Who’d have thought that Jordan Peele would become a famous, acclaimed horror director? In his directorial debut, a sharp, frightening satire that confronts racial tensions, he showcased his deft handle on the absurd – especially when it’s not funny.

It’s the perfect choice to watch in your own sunken place this Halloween: your couch, probably hiding under a blanket.