Eerie sounds, scratching on doors, pitch black screens with creepy monsters jumping towards the screen, and many gory scenes make a good scary movie. Along with jump scares, viewers also need the intrigue of a great killer or monster and the hook of an even better plot. Withthe onset of the spooky seasonupon us, fans worldwide are getting their creep on by streaming the best horror and mystery-inspired movies onNetflix.
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The festival doesn’t end with costume parties, candies, and pranks, but is also extended to the kind of entertainment fans seek. Halloween is the time of the year when fans of the horror and gory genre get to steal the limelight and introduce their peers to mind-bending movies that leave them with nightmares. That is the price to pay for an experience of a great movie.
‘It Follows’ (2014)
The most frightening moments in horror aren’t marked by a sudden pop-up or a loud music cue—they’re marked by a prolonged sense of sinking dread. That’s probably the best way to describe how you’ll feel after watching thisIt Follows.
The plot revolves around a contagious curse, but the premise is truly unique: The curse, an entity that takes on various human forms and follows you around slowly wherever you go, is passed down through sexual intercourse (talk about a terrible STD). We won’t give too much away, but the image of a man buck naked, standing on a suburban rooftop will stick with you.
‘There’s Someone In Your House’ (2021)
Nothing beats a good slasher starring high school students to get you in the Spooktacular spirit. A masked killer tortures high school students by exposing their dirty little secrets, and a gang of outsiders bands together to stop him. This new Netflix original is derived fromStephanie Perkins’best-selling novel.
There Someone In Your Houseis told from the point of view of a transfer student from Hawaii who shifts to Nebraska and finds herself in the midst of gruesome murders. The disadvantage: People are being murdered. The pro: The victims are horrible people, so maybe that makes it slightly better?
‘Hubie Halloween’ (2020)
This comedy-horror film starsAdam Sandler, Kevin James, and Maya Rudolphas a Halloween-loving deli worker named Hubie who can only save his town of Salem, Massachusetts, from a dangerous kidnaper.
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The fact that the residents and local police regard Hubie as the town troublemaker makes getting anyone to listen to his warnings much more difficult. Adam Sandler’s unbeatable comic timing even in the mystery of killings and the terrifying setting is one to watch out for.
‘Fear Street’ Trilogy (2021)
TheFear Streetseries, based onR. L. Stine’sbook series of the same name, includes three films about a group of teens who work to dissolve a curse that has tormented their small town of Shadyside, Ohio, for three hundred years. On the other hand, the neighboring town, aptly named Sunnyside, thrives on good fortune.
In true Halloween fashion, the films (set in different years) are filled with secrets and spooks, but the squeamish should be warned that there will be plenty of blood and gore.Fear Street 1994,Fear Street 1978,andFear Street 1666all take place in different eras. They are either based on or set in the tropes of horror films from those eras.
‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ (2019)
Velvet Buzzsawis the most colorful (literally) of them all. It’s a psychological thriller - but artsy. Morf (Jake Gyllenhaal) realizes that his newly discovered art is a little too lifelike.
The plot quickly escalates as supernatural forces begin to bring paintings and sculptures to life.Velvet Buzzsawdoes an excellent job of bringing to life a cast of flawed characters while mocking the pretentious art world.
‘Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark’ (2019)
Scary Stories To Tell In The Darkis based on theAlvin Schwartzbooks thathorror fans have been familiarwith since their pre-teen years, and it attempts to evoke the creepiness of the inky Stephen Gammell illustrations contained within. This is a good choice if you have a teen at home who wants to get into scary movies because it is PG-13 and based on a children’s book.
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This is one of the scarier films Netflix offers, even for a horror fan. A spider protruding from a girl’s cheek, a teenage boy transforming into a scarecrow (this is more disconcerting than it sounds), and a malformed woman hunting you down a dark hallway are among the graphic images. Pro-tip: Watch it at night.
‘The Babysitter’ (2017)
This dark comedy features a great up-and-coming cast and a satanic cultproviding ample Halloween charisma. A boy’s babysitter appears to be wonderful until he stays up late and discovers she is a member of a bloodthirsty cult.
With soft horror and humor in equal measure, he races to expose his babysitter and her friends before they make him their next victim. The sequel,The Babysitter: Killer Queen, is also available on Netflix, makingThe Babysittera great Halloween movie double-feature.
‘Hush’ (2016)
When the central character is a deaf woman, the slasher-horror genre is given a new twist. Combating a deranged killer in the woods is difficult enough, but this writer must do so in complete silence.
The killer is a crazed murderer who kills for fun, but Maddie (Kate Siegel) uses her sharp writing skills to predict his next moves and attempt to outwit him.Hush, like many others, avoids the jump scares that plague so many slasher films.
‘In the Tall Grass’ (2019)
Stephen Kingis unquestionably the king of horror, both on the page and on the big screen, but this film adaptation may be one of his best. When two siblings hear a small boy’s cries for help from a field of tall grass, they enter the green abyss only to discover there is no way out.
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This isn’t a situation that can be solved with a compass or Google Maps. Aside from the lack of a Wi-Fi connection, something otherworldly lurks in the grass, establishing an endless infinity loop and time detachment that can’t be avoided.
‘Day Shift’ (2022)
With a plethora of creepy monsters and zombies, this horror-comedy featuresJamie Foxxin the dedicated family man persona who will do anything to save his family and keep them close, even if that means killing off unkillable zombies.
Dave Francois the perfect companion inDay Shift, as a person scared of guns and well, dying.Snoop Doggmakes awesome appearances in the film which make it a must-watch to feel the haunted vibes of Halloween.
