What's the Scariest Movie on Netflix? 13 Eerie Contenders

A young woman and her husband flee war only to find their new life haunted by a demonic presence. Their house becomes a battleground between past and present, real life and nightmare.

This horror film explores themes of guilt, trauma, and cultural displacement. The tension builds through every creak of the floorboards, and the story hits hard because it feels so believable.

Set in Madrid during the 1990s, this film centers on a teenager who performs a séance during a solar eclipse. What follows is a horrifying descent into possession.

Based on a real police report, this movie taps into family, loss, and things that can’t be undone. The scares come from how much the audience relates to her fear, her siblings, and the feeling that something is terribly wrong.

This slow-burn ghost story follows a nurse sent to care for a reclusive horror author. She’s alone in a house that seems alive. The film plays with silence, shadow, and memory to build dread.

Importantly, it’s self aware—a horror movie about horror, wrapped in whispered warnings and literary tension.

When a man travels to a remote island to rescue his sister, he finds a cult hiding horrifying secrets. Directed by Gareth Evans, this film blends folk horror with body horror, mixing blood and belief into a story that spirals into madness.

The plot feels like a classic tragedy, with fate sealed in dirt and sacrifice.

A group of friends hiking in the Scandinavian woods stumbles into something ancient. A terrifying presence stalks them, feeding on their guilt and grief.

The movie uses the isolation of the forest and the fragility of friendship to keep viewers on edge. Its creature design is nightmare fuel, and the themes hit just as hard.

When a camgirl finds her online identity stolen by a digital doppelganger, she’s pulled into a horror story that feels terrifyingly current.

This film explores internet fame and the loss of self in a digital world. It’s a browser-era horror film where the scariest thing isn’t the demon. It’s what we give away without realizing it.

In a world where seeing strange creatures causes instant death, a mother must guide her children to safety—blindfolded. This Netflix original was a viral hit, blending scares with emotional stakes. It explores motherhood, fear, and the fight for survival against forces you can’t even look at.

The premise may sound outlandish, but it feels grounded through human characters.

This film starts with a Bronx business owner selling her nail salon to a shady real estate developer, and ends with a neighborhood fighting back against bloodsuckers. A group of kids, smart and scared, decides to save their block when no one else will.

Expect horror with humor and heart, mixing gentrification, community, and classic vampire lore. It’s fun, fast, and a love letter to horror fans.

A woman is handcuffed to a bed in a remote cabin after her husband suddenly dies. What begins as a survival thriller becomes a horrifying look at trauma, memory, and the human mind.

The film blends psychological horror with moments of visceral terror, turning one room into a nightmare house of memories and monsters.

A struggling artist moves his family into a new house, unaware of its bloody past. As his paintings grow darker and more disturbing, a killer gets closer.

This film hits hard with metal music, parental love, and the pull between creation and destruction. The blood flows, but so does the emotion.

A videographer takes a job filming a stranger for the day. The man seems odd—but not dangerous—until the story twists in ways you won’t expect.

This found-footage horror taps into fear of strangers, personal boundaries, and what happens when we laugh off red flags. The basic premise is horrifying because it feels like it could happen.

Del Toro’s gothic horror combines ghost story, doomed romance, and architectural nightmares in this tale of a young woman who marries into a decaying English estate filled with secrets.

The ghosts aren’t subtle, and neither are the scares. Every frame is dripping in shadow, blood, and tragic beauty.

A dinner party reunion turns tense as a man suspects his ex-wife and her new friends are part of something sinister. What starts as awkward and emotional gradually becomes horrifying.

This slow burn rewards patient viewers with a final act that hits like a hammer. The twists feel earned, and the tension never lets go.

We created this article in conjunction with AI technology, then made sure it was fact-checked and edited by a HowStuffWorks editor.