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The idea that horror movies are only meant for Halloween or dreary times is an amateur’s mistake. True fans of horror know that every day is an opportunity to have the holy bejeesus scared out of you. Fortunately, along with a long list of great movie titles, Netflix is always updating its queue of terrifying features. That means if you time it right, you may be able to go the whole year without being scared the same way twice. Innovation! Of course, on this list you have some classics like Candyman. But there’s also sensory terrors like Hush and Bird Box, on top of psychological thrillers like In the Tall Grass and Bird Box. So take a day for you. Sit down with a nice beverage perhaps and choose one of the below to absolutely destroy your sense of safety. You deserve it.
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Cloverfield
This 2008 monster film is a thrill ride from start to finish. When a giant monster descends on New York City, a group of friends don’t know exactly what they’re in for, but they know it’s nothing good. Bonus: this was produced by J.J. Abrams, so you know you should be excited.
The Craft
The Craft is the quintessential ’90s movie about the occult. Does that seem like a niche genre? Sure. But in the decade of parachute pants and insane color schemes, being a misunderstood goth was all the rage, too. And in this film, this foursome of high school friends experiment with more than they bargained for.
Life After Beth
If you need a break from straight up horror, there’s always the surprisingly endearing zombie movie, Life After Beth. Starring Aubry Plaza as a teenage girl who falls ill to a sickness that leads to her death, she comes back as a zombie who then wavers between human behavior and, you know, eating people.
Cult of Chucky
Does it really matter which Chucky remake, reboot, or sequel this is? For what it’s worth, Cult of Chucky sees the abominable little doll introduced via group therapy session. Slashing ensues. Never change, Chucky.
Tusk
In Tusk, a podcaster flies to Canada to visit the star of a viral video—and some weird-as-hell shit goes down. Tusk is technically a horror-comedy (it’s directed by Kevin Smith, and stars Justin Long, if that tells you anything), but the film’s third-act body horror ride will have you bugging out at your next trip to the aquarium.
In the Tall Grass
In The Tall Grass, the latest in the mill of Stephen King’s book-to-screen adaptations, is basically everyone’s pumpkin patch nightmare come to life—two siblings dive into the titular grass to find a lost boy, where shady business ensues.
A.M.I.
Sorry to break this to you, but smartphone horror is a real thing. Think of A.M.I. as a haunted Her, where a teenager finds a new *friend* in her phone’s artificial intelligence app.
Candyman
Before Jordan Peele’s Candyman sequel hits theaters, make sure you see the original. The ’90s horror classic stars Tony Todd as the Candyman—a hard-to-forget slasher villain who stalks the residents of North Side Chicago.
Would You Rather
As if the tween-party staple wasn’t horrifying enough, Would You Rather takes the game to an adult dinner party—with, yeah, life-or-death stakes.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter
The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a horror jam that slipped through the cracks amidst the prestige, Get Out and It Follows wave, but really should be up there with those movies. Produced by A24, it stars Emma Roberts as a student who finds herself in a Catholic schoolkid’s second-worst worst nightmare (demonic possession, second only to getting screamed at for an untucked shirt).
Emelie
Emelie is another underrated gem from 2015 that depicts a babysitting gone wrong. In this case, the babysitter goes all psycho-horror-killer, and the babysittees (?) are left to defend themselves.
Velvet Buzzsaw
This horror satire from Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy is a mix of The Square and Eyes of Laura Mars, with Jake Gyllenhaal starring as an art critic who discovers that the mysterious paintings by an unknown artist have supernatural abilities—and take their revenge on anyone attempting to profit off of them.
The Monster
Zoe Kazan stars in this claustrophobic thriller about a young mother whose complicated relationship with her 10-year-old daughter is more complicated after a mysterious car accident leaves them stranded on the road—and stalked by a mysterious monster that plans to do them both in.
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Four women directors—Jovanka Vuckovic, Annie Clark, Roxanne Benjamin, and Karyn Kusama—deliver four delirious horror shorts in this anthology film that will give you multiple opportunities to freak the hell out.
Bird Box
Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, Trevante Rhodes, and John Malkovich star in this dystopian thriller (and Netflix original film) about a woman who must travel blindfolded along with her children to safety as an unseen force stalks them on their journey.
Cam
Madeline Brewer plays an enterprising camgirl who discovers that she’s somehow been replicated in various videos that have been uploaded to her own website in this Internet-inspired horror thriller and Netflix original.
Christine
Based on Stephen King’s novel, this film follows a shy young man who buys a vintage 1958 Plymouth Fury that he dubs Christine—only to discover the car is possessed by a vengeful (and jealous) spirit that will prove deadly for anyone who crosses its new owner.
Creep
Aaron, a videographer (played by director Patrick Brice), answers an ad to work for a mysterious guy named Josef (Mark Duplass), whose awkward and uncomfortable behavior immediately makes Aaron uneasy. But his erratic behavior only becomes more and more bizarre in this indie psychological thriller.
Gerald’s Game
One of Stephen King’s underrated novels thanks to its lack of supernatural fights, Gerald’s Game still packs a heavy psychological punch. A sexy tryst goes wrong when Gerald handcuffs his wife Jessie to a bed, only to immediately have a heart attack—leaving her imprisoned in both a remote cabin and her own delusional mind.
Hush
This creepy slasher flick follows a deaf writer (Kate Siegel) who lives a solitary life in the woods. But her peaceful retreat is changed forever when a masked killer appears, and she must fight—in silence—for her life.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
Director Osgood Perkins (son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins) helms this mystery about a live-in nurse, Lily (Ruth Wilson), who moves into the remote New England mansion owned by her patient, an elderly horror novelist who suffers from dementia. Soon Lily starts to question if the unsettling things that are taking place in this house came straight from one of her patient’s books.
The Invitation
A gathering of friends at a swank Hollywood Hills mansion turns deadly in Karyn Kusama’s chilling and unsettling thriller, which sees a seemingly innocuous dinner party devolve into a cult-inspired killing spree.
Train to Busan
A group of train passengers must face off against an army of the undead in this inventive and terrifying zombie apocalypse thriller from South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho.
Under the Shadow
Set in the post-revolution era of 1980s Tehran, a mother must protect her daughter from a demonic possession in their home—all while a war rages on outside, leaving them fighting for safety from both manmade and supernatural evils.
Veronica
Inspired by a true story (just like the best horror movies always are), this acclaimed Spanish film follows the 15-year-old Veronica who conducts a séance with a Ouija board—already a tricky situation, one that’s heightened by the fact that she does it during a solar eclipse. Things, naturally, do not go well for her afterward.
The Witch
Robert Eggers directs Anya Taylor-Joy in this brooding horror film about a young girl whose family is ousted from their Puritan New England village. As they rebuild their lives in the wilderness, their infant child disappears—which sets in motion a psychological thriller in which the family members’ sanity slowly unravels as mysterious forces threaten to destroy them.
The Perfection
The Perfection is the age old tale of two world class cellists who go absolutely insane over their art. By the end, there are six lost limbs, hallucinations, three pant suits, and one of the wildest horror rides that Netflix originals has developed in its history.
Cabin Fever
Who among us doesn’t love a flesh eating virus? The 2002 film follows a group of college graduates who rent a cabin in the woods and the end game is absolutely grotesque and completely horrifying. Objective: complete.
47 Meters Down
There are only four words: Mandy Moore shark movie. Every good TV actor has to have a side project in their spare time, and this is Moore’s. A quick bite (pun intended) of a film, 47 Meters Down follows two sisters down on vacation in Mexico when the two of them run into some serious diving issues when they make some big toothed friends below.
The Ritual
Never go in the woods. Ever. There’s just not a reason for it. In The Ritual, four friends head into the woods to honor their late friend, but the Norse legends within the forest aren’t as welcoming as they’d hoped. Essentially, nothing wrong with just… you know, getting a cake and honoring your friend that way.
Justin Kirkland is a writer for Esquire, where he focuses on entertainment, television, and pop culture.
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