内容来源：https://lifehacker.com/best-horror-movies-on-netflix?utm_medium=RSS

内容总结：

流媒体恐怖片单：无论你何时想过“惊悚季”，Netflix总有佳作等你

对于恐怖片爱好者而言，“惊悚季”的开始时间因人而异：有人从八月底家居卖场摆出骷髅道具算起，有人坚持要过完劳工节，还有人认为情人节才是体验“心痛式惊吓”的最佳时机。无论你的偏好如何，Netflix上总有一部恐怖电影值得一看——或者说，至少有25部。

以下是平台上一系列不容错过的恐怖片精选，涵盖多种风格：

新片与热门续作

• 《28年后》（2025）：丹尼·博伊尔与亚历克斯·加兰再度联手，打造这部后疫情时代的震撼续集。影片聚焦少年斯派克在末世中的成长，而拉尔夫·费因斯的出演堪称“偷走全片”。
• 《弗兰肯斯坦》（2025）：吉尔莫·德尔·托罗执导的哥特式改编，在深刻挖掘怪物人性的同时，不乏令人反胃的视觉特效，已获九项奥斯卡提名。
• 《心魔之眼》（2025）：一部将浪漫喜剧与连环杀手元素巧妙融合的恐怖片，讲述一位不信爱情的女主角与顾问卷入致命游戏。

风格独特的恐怖喜剧

• 《死亡直播》（2022）：这部伪纪录式恐怖喜剧巧妙致敬《鬼玩人》，通过一位过气网红在鬼屋的直播，既带来惊吓，也讽刺了有毒的社交媒体文化。
• 《黑色终结者》（2022）：影片颠覆了“黑人角色先死”的陈规，讲述一群朋友在 Juneteenth 聚会时被迫进行一场关乎生死的黑人文化问答，兼具紧张刺激与犀利幽默。

国际口碑力作

• 《釜山行》（2016）：这部韩国丧尸片不仅是出色的动作恐怖片，更包裹着动人的父女情感内核，并对现代资本主义进行了尖锐批判。
• 《咒》（2022）：台湾影史最卖座恐怖片，采用伪纪录形式，通过让观众参与念咒的沉浸式体验，营造出极强的心理压迫感。
• 《伯爵》（2023）：智利导演帕布罗·拉雷恩的作品，将独裁者皮诺切特塑造成隐匿的吸血鬼，以黑色幽默和华丽黑白摄影进行政治讽喻。
• 《血色天劫》（2021）：一位患病的母亲与儿子遭遇劫机，却释放出意想不到的反击力量，“吸血鬼上飞机”的高概念设定执行得紧张刺激。

心理恐惧与民俗传说

• 《他的家》（2020）：一对逃离战乱的苏丹难民夫妇在英国小镇遭遇超自然邪恶，影片将社会议题与鬼屋惊悚深度结合。
• 《邪厄》（2018）：加雷斯·埃文斯执导的民俗恐怖片，讲述一名男子深入异教 cult 控制的孤岛拯救妹妹，从缓慢的剧情片渐入疯狂的血腥盛宴。
• 《阴影之下》（2016）：以两伊战争时期的德黑兰为背景，将传统的“精灵”传说与战争创伤、女性压抑的社会焦虑完美交织。

高概念与创意惊悚

• 《饥饿站台》（2019）：这座垂直管理的监狱塔楼是资本主义残酷阶级结构的赤裸隐喻，创意十足且暴力直白。
• 《电话》（2020）：一部精彩的时空交错恐怖片，1999年与2019年的两位女子通过一部旧电话联系，微小的改变引发灾难性后果。
• 《完美》（2018）：始于音乐才女的竞争，迅速滑向令人窒息的肉体恐怖，叙事结构精巧，颠覆预期。

其他值得关注的作品
还包括伪纪录风格佳作《 creep 》、西班牙恐怖片《别听》、《杰罗德游戏》、儿童向但不乏惊吓的《夜读》、印尼恐怖片《撒旦的奴隶》、复古三部曲《恐惧街》以及丧尸片《负重前行》等。

这份片单证明，恐怖类型片依然充满活力，无论观众寻求的是血腥刺激、心理战栗、社会讽喻还是纯粹的古早味惊吓，都能在流媒体平台找到对应的选择。

中文翻译：

对一些人来说，惊悚季始于八月底——当家得宝摆出电动骷髅和幽灵投影仪，每个空置商铺都被万圣节之魂主题店占据时。另一些人则坚持要等到劳动节后才算数。还有些嗜血影迷坚信，没有比情人节更适合体验痛彻心扉惊吓的时刻了。

无论你偏好何时开启惊悚之旅，Netflix上总有值得一看的恐怖片——甚至多达25部。

《惊变28年后》（2025）
尽管喜爱前两部《惊变28天》系列作品，我原本对这部续集并未抱太高期待。然而丹尼·博伊尔、亚历克斯·加兰及其团队宝刀未老，将这部后疫情时代令人血脉偾张的续作，扎根于少年阿尔菲·威廉姆斯（斯派克饰）的成长故事中——他在末世中伴随疏离的父亲与垂危的母亲艰难求生。随后拉尔夫·费因斯更以其骨感太阳穴（绝非隐喻）的震撼演绎抢尽风头。

《死亡直播》（2022）
伪纪录恐怖片类型仍焕发着生机，这部趣味横生、创意十足的恐怖喜剧便是明证。它巧妙致敬原版《鬼玩人》，将无厘头幽默与惊艳的实体特效完美融合。导演兼主演约瑟夫·温特饰演肖恩——一位试图东山再起的过气网红（影片最精妙的设计在于诱使你喜爱这个本不值得同情的角色）。凭借出格噱头走红的他，策划了将自己锁在传闻闹鬼屋宅中的通宵直播。剧情走向虽可预料，但温特团队娴熟融合扎实惊吓、技术奇观与幽默桥段，既营造密集恐怖氛围，又犀利讽刺了当下畸形的社交媒体生态。

《心动杀手》（2025）
导演乔什·鲁本持续发力，从巧思之作《吓我一跳》到意外精彩的游戏改编《狼人游戏》，再到这部既是高明虐杀片又是扎实爱情喜剧的《心动杀手》。奥利维亚·霍尔特饰演珠宝公司广告设计师艾莉，她无法理解自己创作的“怨偶”广告为何引发争议。她坚信爱情是愚蠢的，因此对四处猎杀情侣的“心动杀手”毫不在意——她可不会为浪漫犯傻。直到咨询师杰伊（《惊声尖叫》梅森·古丁饰）出现，两人若即若离的化学反应使他们成为杀手的明确目标。

《黑色杀戮》（2022）
这部恐怖喜剧对两种类型都把握得恰到好处。蒂姆·故事执导的现代虐杀片颠覆了“黑人角色先领便当”的陈规——当所有角色都是黑人时，杀手会盯上谁？一群好友来到林间小屋庆祝六月节，却发现主人不知所踪，反而成为面具杀手的猎物。杀手强迫他们进行关乎生死的黑人文化知识竞答（类似《惊声尖叫》模式）。抛开讽刺层面，影片威胁感强烈，潜在幸存者群像（格蕾丝·拜尔斯、杰梅因·福勒等饰演）比多数虐杀片更丰满鲜活（且更风趣），让你真正在意角色生死。

《釜山行》（2016）
在《寄生虫》之前，延尚昊的这部作品或许是打入美国市场最成功的韩国电影（尽管某些潜台词在北美语境中流失——釜山在朝鲜战争期间曾是难民避难所）。这部2016年的影片跟随工作狂单亲父亲石宇，他逐渐意识到自己陪伴女儿秀安的时间所剩无几。而他不知道这话有多应验：计划中的亲子列车之旅，因发车前一名感染丧尸病毒的女子闯入，演变成绝境求生。影片不仅是近十年最佳动作恐怖片之一，更以末世父女情打动人心，并对现代资本主义作出尖锐批判。

《弗兰肯斯坦》（2025）
或许我们该称其为哥特戏剧——阵容太过耀眼，编剧兼导演又是奥斯卡常客吉尔莫·德尔·托罗，注定不止于恐怖类型。然而！这部异常忠实玛丽·雪莱原著的版本，在怪物身上挖掘人性光辉的同时，奉献了大量存在主义恐怖，以及近年最令人反胃战栗的特效场景。它获得九项奥斯卡提名，但这不意味着它不够骇人。

《伯爵》（2023）
奥古斯托·皮诺切特的法西斯统治幽灵仍在智利徘徊，尽管他已去世二十余年。独裁史中这并不罕见——总有人铭记恐怖，也有人安然度日并怀念“旧时光”。帕布罗·拉雷恩（《斯宾塞》导演）这部黑暗喜剧/恐怖片将这种心理具象化：皮诺切特（海梅·瓦德尔饰）实为假死隐居的250岁吸血鬼，继续在隐秘舞台嗜血，而一名修女誓要将他彻底驱逐。影片包含血腥场面，并对其他知名独裁者进行大胆而恰当的讽刺。黑白摄影美学向《诺斯费拉图》致敬，荣获奥斯卡提名。

《血色天劫》（2021）
德国寡妇娜嘉带着儿子埃利亚斯飞往纽约。她看似患病——观众与其他乘客都以为她身患癌症，这也使她成为恐怖分子轻易欺凌的对象（劫机者因恼怒向她开枪）。大错特错！虽然“航班吸血鬼”的设定本可能显得滑稽，但影片始终牢记观众期待的血腥盛宴。

《夜读惊魂》（2021）
严格来说这是儿童电影，可能无法满足成年恐怖迷的惊吓需求。但坦白说，片中某些恐怖桥段超出了儿童电影的预期。故事核心仍是经典的女巫（克里斯滕·里特饰）绑架儿童情节，但新增转折：被掳男孩亚历克斯（温斯洛·费格利饰）擅长创作恐怖故事，为在女巫公寓存活，他必须每晚讲述一个故事。片中意象足以令任何人毛骨悚然。

《咒》（2022）
这部台湾影史最卖座恐怖片曾引发TikTok挑战，考验观众能否全程不眨眼观看。或许略显夸张，但《咒》确实是部强烈的伪纪录恐怖片，通过让观众跟随角色念诵咒文来拯救被诅咒的孩子，将我们拉入其中。故事始于六年前：孕妇若男与男友为YouTube频道拍摄乡村仪式，冒然中断祭祀，此后他们的生活便陷入混乱。

《使徒》（2018）
若熟悉狂暴动作片《突袭》，你大概能体会导演加雷斯·埃文斯为《使徒》后半段注入的能量（尽管风格迥异）。这是纯粹的民间恐怖片，致敬《柳条人》：丹·史蒂文斯（《唐顿庄园》《访客》）饰演信仰破灭的传教士托马斯，返乡发现妹妹被偏远威尔士岛屿上的邪教绑架。始于沉闷年代剧的氛围，最终演变成狂野的血腥盛宴。

《他的房子》（2020）
尽管“高级恐怖”一词已变得 fraught（且矫饰），但值得记住：电影完全可以在保留鬼屋惊悚的同时，承载深刻情感共鸣与社会关怀。波尔和丽亚尔（索佩·迪瑞苏与乌米·马萨库饰）带着女儿逃离战火纷飞的苏丹，来到宁静的英国小镇避难，却发现邪恶正在那里等候他们。

《厄运假期》（2020）
若邻居称你的房子为“声音之屋”，真心希望你在签合同前能知晓——显然本案并非如此。房屋改造商丹尼尔和萨拉带着9岁儿子埃里克搬入新居，孩子很快开始听到四处传来的诡异声响。他们聘请电子语音现象专家协助，结果却难以预料。这部西班牙进口作品虽是鬼屋电影，却比同类作品更残酷，并以强烈的视觉风格画龙点睛。

《杰罗德游戏》（2017）
改编自斯蒂芬·金1992年小说的《杰罗德游戏》曾被视为极难影视化——故事几乎全部发生林间孤屋，大量篇幅只有无法动弹的主角。直到导演迈克·弗拉纳根出手（除《鬼入侵》《午夜弥撒》《午夜俱乐部》等成功剧集外，他曾将金不受待见的《闪灵》续作《睡梦医生》改编得出奇精彩）。卡拉·古奇诺饰演的妻子在丈夫（布鲁斯·格林伍德饰）突发死亡后，被手铐禁锢在床。在逐渐癫狂的状态下，她被迫直面过往创伤，以及持续徘徊的饿犬。

《足不出户》（2014）
近年最佳伪纪录恐怖片之一，《足不出户》通过摄影师亚伦（帕特里克·布莱斯兼导演）的镜头展开。马克·杜普拉斯（《晨间直播秀》）饰演濒死男子，雇佣亚伦为未出世儿子记录最后时光。影片张力起初源于亚伦过度的友善——没有什么比塑造“友善得可疑”的角色更能营造不安氛围。很快，这份热情发酵成难以预测的诡异，且愈发令人毛骨悚然。

《饥饿站台》（2019）
隐喻或许略显直白——但现代生活已开始告诉我们，最黑暗的反乌托邦科幻可能近在咫尺。片中的站台是座被美化为“垂直自我管理中心”的高塔，食物通过自上而下的升降台输送：顶层者饕餮盛宴，底层者残羹难求。这部西班牙语惊悚片暴力而创意十足，毕竟现实资本主义的剥削本就毫不含蓄。

《阴影之下》（2016）
两伊战争时期的德黑兰，与丈夫疏远的女子在持续空袭中保护孩子免受超自然力量侵害。编导巴巴克·安瓦里以“镇尼”（非善非恶但具威胁的精怪）隐喻战争动荡与政治冲突，以及压抑社会中女性的焦虑。这部氛围之作既是闹鬼故事，也是战争时期女性与平民的生存叙事，两者交织强化了彼此力量。

《电话》（2020）
我钟爱时空穿越恐怖片（这个微小而悠久的类型包括《时空罪恶》《恐怖游轮》《忌日快乐》）。本片中，2019年的书妍（朴信惠饰）回到童年老宅，发现老旧无线电话竟能接通（绝非好兆头），联系上1999年住在同一屋子的英淑（全钟瑞饰）。两人因共同经历结缘，但当书妍透露未来信息并促使对方改变历史时，事态急转直下。有些往事，或许不该触碰。影片构思精巧且令人不安。

《布洛克岛之声》（2020）
布洛克岛上怪事频发：大量死鱼被冲上岸，当地渔民汤姆行为异常——总在陌生地点醒来且记忆断片。他在环保署工作的女儿奥黛丽（迈克尔拉·麦克马努斯饰）奉命调查鱼群死亡事件，带着女儿与兄弟汤姆（克里斯·谢菲尔德饰）重逢。他们发现这并非普通环境灾难（否则不成恐怖片了），家庭剧变与诡异事件交织，导向令人脊背发凉的高潮。

《负重前行》（2017）
由广受欢迎的马丁·弗瑞曼主演，这固然又是丧尸片，却仍玩出新意。这部澳大利亚作品调整规则：感染者尚有48小时人性留存时间，让每个人都能思索命运，甚至规划最后时光。这是对丧尸末日更忧郁的诠释，充满澳洲内陆的凛冽氛围与真实惊吓。请注意与Netflix上2020年同名科幻片区分。

《灵蚀》（2017）
松散改编自据称真实事件，这部西班牙作品充满诡异氛围与古典式惊悚。少女因不当使用通灵板召来恶灵（说真的：别再碰那些东西）。朋友们在日食期间试图召唤逝者，却意外联系上不该接触的灵体——果然不出所料。虽非最具原创性的恐怖片，但惊悚根基扎实，惊吓点密集。续集《修女之死》亦在Netflix播出。

《林中小屋》（2017）
挚友在酒行抢劫案中惨死后该如何疗伤？当然是去瑞典丛林徒步！四位好友在这部高效恐怖片中正是如此，将“丛林迷失”恐惧与民俗恐怖传统中的神话惊吓巧妙融合。

《撒旦的奴隶》（2018）
印尼长期以来都是恐怖片发展的沃土，Netflix近年也推出多部佳作。本片直述恶魔附身与“许愿需谨慎”的主题：男子出卖灵魂换取财富成功，却释放恶魔残害至亲。虽非视觉上最露骨的肉体恐怖片，但也堪称前列。2020年续集《撒旦的奴隶2》品质相当。

《恐惧街三部曲》（2021）
我将三部曲一并介绍——改编自R.L.斯坦小说的这三部电影共享基调、品质与导演（ Leigh Janiak ，以《蜜月》闻名）。《恐惧街1994》开启系列，介绍被当地孩子戏称“屎镇”的荫城镇，这里有多起被掩盖的凶杀黑历史。青少年们惊扰女巫坟墓，引发杀戮邪教复苏。影片带有些许《怪奇物语》气质，兼具真实血腥与惊吓（属青少年向但绝非儿童作品），导演致敬了多种经典恐怖片。《恐惧街1978》延续夏令营虐杀片致敬风格，《恐惧街1666》则揭示起源并收束全局。系列另有独立续集《舞会女王》尚可，但初始三部曲尤为特别。

《完美》（2018）
简短梗概（夏洛特·威尔莫（艾莉森·威廉姆斯饰）重返顶尖音乐学院，发现另一女子（洛根·布朗宁饰）取代其首席地位）可能让人联想到《黑天鹅》范畴，但影片刻意碎片化的叙事迅速滑向令人窒息的肉体恐怖。这虽非首部从艺术教育挖掘黑暗惊悚的作品（《阴风阵阵》何在？），但其尺度与深度均属顶尖。

英文来源：

For some, spooky season begins sometime in late August, when Home Depot puts out the animatronic skeletons and ghost projectors, and when every vacant retail space is possessed by a Spirit Halloween. For others, it's a no go until after Labor Day. Still other gorehounds believe there's no better time for a heart-rending scares than Valentine's Day.
Whatever timing you prefer, there's a horror flick worth catching on Netflix—or 25 of them.
28 Years Later (2025)
As much as I enjoyed the earlier 28 movies, I didn't expect to care much about a legacy sequel. Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, and co. have still got it, though, grounding this visceral, sweaty, post-COVID installment in the story of Alfie Williams' Spike, a young boy coming of age amid the apocalypse alongside a distant dad and a dying mom—and then Ralph Fiennes comes along to steal the movie with his bone temple (not a euphemism).
Deadstream (2022)
There’s life in the found-footage genre yet, as proven by this fun and inventive horror comedy that cleverly calls back to the original Evil Dead with its blend of goofy good humor and wonderfully gross practical effects. Director/star Joseph Winter plays Shawn, a once-popular YouTube personality working on a comeback (one of the movie’s most clever conceits is in tricking you into liking a character who does not deserve your love). Popular for his outrageous stunts, he builds an all-night livestream around locking himself in a purportedly haunted house. You can certainly see where this is going, but Winter and company deftly blend solid scares, technical wizardry, and a few laughs to create a movie that’s loaded with scares and still manages to get in some good digs at our toxic social media landscape.
Heart Eyes (2025)
Director Josh Ruben is on a roll, from clever two-hander Scare Me, to the surprisingly effective video game adaptation Werewolves Within, to Heart Eyes, a clever slasher that’s also a very solid rom-com. Olivia Holt plays Ally, a pitch designer for a jewelry company who doesn’t quite understand why her “doomed couples” commercial is seen as offensive. Love, she’s pretty sure, is dumb, so the Heart Eyes Killer running around murdering lovers doesn’t quite register—she’s not dumb enough for romance. At least until consultant Jay (Scream’s Mason Gooding) shows up, their will-they-won’t-they chemistry putting them firmly in the sights of the killer.
The Blackening (2022)
A horror comedy that serves both genres pretty darn well, Tim Story's modern slasher updates that horror trope wherein the Black character dies first. Here, everyone is Black, so who's the killer going to go for? A group of friends show up at a cabin in the woods to celebrate Juneteenth, only to discover their hosts are nowhere to be found, and that they're being targeted by a masked killer who wants them to play a Scream-esque game of Black culture trivia, with deadly stakes. Satire aside, the threats are intense and the would-be survivors (played by Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji) are better developed (and funnier) than in many a slasher, in tht you might actually care who lives and who dies.
Train to Busan (2016)
Before Parasite, Yeon Sang-ho’s film was, perhaps, the biggest South Korean film to break into the American market, even if some of the subtext gets lost stateside (Busan was a haven for refugees during the Korean War). The 2016 film follows Seok-woo, a workaholic divorced dad who comes to feel that he’s running out of time to be the father he ought to be for his daughter Su-an. He has no idea how right he is. The train trip he plans for them as bonding time becomes something much more desperate when a zombie-infected woman hops aboard just before departure. What follows is one of the best action-horror movies of the past decade, but also a surprisingly moving story about a father and daughter reconnecting at the end of the world, as well as one that doesn't shy away from some pretty pointed critiques of modern capitalism. You can stream Train to Busan here.
Frankenstein (2025)
I think we're supposed to call this a gothic drama—its cast is too A-list, and it's been written and directed by perennial Oscar-fave Guillermo del Toro, so it must be more than mere horror. And yet! This unusually faithful version of Mary Shelley's classic novel finds the humanity in the monster, but there's plenty of existential horror on offer, aplus some of the gnarly, stomach-churningly grisly special effects sequences in recent memory It's up for nine Academy Awards, which doesn't mean that it isn't disturbing.
El Conde (2023)
The spectre of the fascist rule of Augusto Pinochet continues to loom large in Chile, despite his having died a couple of decades ago. This is hardly unusual in the history of dictatorships—there are always those who remember the horrors, and those who made out OK and wonder if things weren't better back in the bad ol' days. This dark comedy/horror from Pablo Larraín (Spencer) turns that psychological omnipresence literal: Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) is a 250-year-old vampire who faked his own death, continuing his bloodsucking habits on a less public stage, while a determined nun seeks to exorcise him for good. There are bloody bits, and also some wild, but well-deserved swings at other dictatorial world leaders you might have heard of. With a nod to the original Nosferatu, the gorgeous black-and-white cinematography earned an Academy Award nomination.
Blood Red Sky (2021)
German widow Nadja is taking a flight to New York with her kid, Elias. She seems sick—we and her fellow passengers are meant to think that she has cancer, which makes her an easy mark for the terrorist hijackers who board the plane and shoot her out of pique. Big mistake. The vampires-on-a-plane high concept at work could have been silly, but at no point does the movie forget that we're seated for gory bloodsucking action.
Nightbooks (2021)
So, Nightbooks is technically for kids, and therefore might not provide quite the volume of scares that a grown-up horror audience might be hoping for. That being said: There are some legit frights here, frankly a little beyond what you’d expect from a kids’ movie. It’s the old story of kids kidnapped by a witch (Krysten Ritter), with the added twist that one of the kidnapped, Alex (Winslow Fegley) writes scary stories, and has to tell one each night that he’s trapped in the witch’s apartment in order to stay alive. There’s imagery here to creep out just about anybody.
Incantation (2022)
Taiwan's biggest-grossing horror movie of all time inspired a TikTok challenge a couple years ago, asking viewers whether they could watch the whole thing without looking away. Possibly a little overly dramatic, but Incantation is certainly an intense found-footage horror film that draws us in by asking us, as viewers, to chant along with characters to help save a cursed child. Six years before the film's start, pregnant Ronan and her boyfriend interrupt a rural ritual while attempting to document it for their YouTube channel, and their lives have been very messed up ever since.
Apostle (2018)
If you’re familiar with the wild tower action spectacle The Raid, you might have some sense of the energy that director Gareth Evans brings to Apostle’s second half, even if the styles are very different. This one’s pure folk horror, with nods to The Wicker Man: Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, The Guest) plays Thomas Richardson, a now-faithless missionary who returns home to discover that his sister has been kidnapped by a religious cult on a remote Welsh island. What starts out feeling a bit like a sleepy period drama evolves into a truly wild gorefest before it’s done. You can stream Apostle here.
His House (2020)
As fraught (and snooty) as the term “elevated horror” has become, it’s good to remember that a movie can have deep emotional resonance and a social conscience, all without sacrificing the haunted-house chills. Here, Bol and Rial (Sope Dirisu and Wunmi Mosaku), with their daughter Nyagak, flee war-torn Sudan to find refuge in a quiet English town, only to find that there’s evil waiting there for them.
Don't Listen (2020)
If the neighbors refer to your house as the "house of voices," I genuinely hope that you find that out before signing the papers—which obviously did not happen here. House flippers Daniel and Sara movie into a new place with their 9-year-old kid, Eric, who very quickly starts hearing voices coming from pretty much everywhere. The family hires an EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) expert to help, with very mixed results. This Spanish import works as a haunted house movie, but it's far more brutal than the usual, with a strong visual flair to top things off. You can stream Don't Listen here.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Gerald’s Game, from the 1992 Stephen King novel, never seemed terribly filmable. The story is set entirely in an isolated cabin in the woods, and involves a single immobilized character for much of its page count. Enter director Mike Flanagan—who, in addition to his successful miniseries projects (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club), did the impossible in crafting a killer adaptation of King’s lesser-loved Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. Carla Gugino stars as a married woman trapped when her husband, played by Bruce Greenwood, dies after having handcuffed her to the bed. Increasingly delirious, she’s forced to face not only her past trauma, but the hungry dog that keeps sniffing around.
Creep (2014)
One of the better (maybe one of the best) found footage-style films of recent years, Creep takes place within the camera of Aaron (Patrick Brice, who also directed) and stars Mark Duplass (The Morning Show) as a dying man who hires the videographer to document his final days for his unborn son. The movie builds its tension around, initially, Aaron’s excessive friendliness—there are few better ways to create an atmosphere of unease than by offering up a character who’s a little too nice. Before long, the guy’s effusiveness curdles into an unpredictability that gets, well, creepier and creepier. You can stream Creep here.
The Platform (2019)
The metaphor might seem a little heavy-handed—but modern life has begun to teach us that even the direst of dystopian sci-fi is just around the corner. The titular platform is a large tower, euphemistically referred to as the “Vertical Self-Management Center,” in which food is delivered via a shaft that stops on each floor from the top down: those near the top get to eat their fill; those at the bottom get scraps. The Spanish-language thriller is wildly violent, but inventive, and it’s not as if real-life capitalism is particularly subtle in its deprivations. You can stream The Platform here.
Under the Shadow (2016)
In Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War, a woman estranged from her husband is forced to protect her child from mysterious supernatural forces as the bombs continue to fall. Writer/director Babak Anvari’s Under the Shadow invokes the jinn (neither necessarily good nor evil, but potentially threatening) as a way to talk about the strife and turmoil of war and political conflict, as well as about the anxieties of women in oppressive societies. The atmospheric film plays simultaneously as the story of a haunting, and also as one about women and civilians in times of war; each element serves to heighten the other.
The Call (2020)
I love a time-travel horror movie (a tiny but venerable genre that includes movies like Timecrimes, Triangle, and Happy Death Day). This one involves Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) visiting her childhood home in 2019, only to discover that an old cordless phone still works (never a good sign), and connects her to Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), living in the house in 1999. The two bond over shared experiences, but things soon go very wrong when Seo-Yeon tells the other young woman about the future, and influences her to make changes. Some events, it seems, are best left alone. Clever and disturbing, with a solid high concept.
The Block Island Sound (2020)
Strange doings are afoot on the title's Block Island, the most obvious being the vast numbers of dead fish that keep washing ashore. Almost as alarming, though, is the behavior of one of the local fishermen, Tom, who keeps waking up in strange places and generally losing time. His daughter Audry (Michaela McManus) works for the Environmental Protection Agency and is sent to investigate the mass fish deaths; she brings along her daughter and reunites with brother Tom (Chris Sheffield) along the way. Together, they discover that no ordinary environmental catastrophe is to blame (I guess it wouldn't be much of a horror movie if it were), as the film blends family drama and the eerie local events as it builds to a pretty chilling climax. You can stream Block Island Sound here.
Cargo (2017)
With the always-welcome Martin Freeman in the lead, this is, OK, yet another zombie film, but one that still manages to do things a bit differently. An Australian import, this one tweaks the rules so that the infected have just about 48 hours of humanity before they turn, meaning that everyone has a bit of time to contemplate their fates, and maybe even to think about how to make the best use of their time. It’s a more melancholic take on the zombie apocalypse, full of chilling outback atmosphere and some genuine scares. Don't get confused with the 2020 sci-fi movie of the same name, also on Netflix. You can stream Cargo here.
Verónica (2017)
Loosely based on purportedly true events, this import from Spain is all spooky atmosphere and old-school chills. It's the story of a young woman who conjures up evil demons following some ill-conceived Ouija-play. (Seriously: Stop messing with those things). When some friends try to conjure up lost loved ones during a solar eclipse, they wind up making contact with a spirit they weren't expecting. Because of course they do. It's not the most original chiller, but the creepy fundamentals are sound, and there are plenty of solid scares. The sequel, Sister Death, is also streaming on Netflix. You can stream Verónica here.
The Ritual (2017)
What do you do when one of your best friends is murdered in a botched liquor store robbery? Go to Sweden and tromp around in the woods, obviously! The four friends here do just that in this effective film that blends don’t-get-lost-in-the-woods horror with some genuinely mythological frights that play to the best traditions of folk horror.
May the Devil Take You (2018)
Indonesia has been a particularly fertile ground for the development of horror movies for a long time, and Netflix has hosted a few recent bangers. This one’s a pretty straight-up story of demonic possession and being very careful what you wish for, involving a man who sells his soul for wealth and success, only to release a demonic presence that brings goopy, gory harm to his loved ones. It might not be the most visually explicit in terms of its body horror, but it’s up there. The 2020 sequel, May the Devil Take You Too, is almost as good.
Fear Street Trilogy (2021)
I'm covering three movies at once here, as each film in the trilogy, adapted from the R. L. Stine books, shares a tone, quality, and director (Leigh Janiak, best known for Honeymoon prior to Fear Street). Fear Street Part One: 1994 kicks off the films by introducing the town of Shadyside, which the local kids call “Shittyside,” and has a dark history of multiple murders, most of them covered up. A group of teens upsets the grave of a witch, kicking off the revival of a murderous cult. The vibe here is a little bit Stranger Things, with some legit gore and scares (it’s YA, but definitely not kids’ stuff) as Janiak pays homage to a wide range of horror movies past. The series continues with a camp slasher homage in Fear Street Part Two: 1978, and then an origin that brings things to a conclusion in Fear Street Part Three: 1666. There's a standalone fourth film in the series, Prom Queen, which is fine...but this initial trilogy is something special.
The Perfection (2018)
A short synopsis, involving Charlotte Willmore (Allison Williams) returning to her prestigious music academy after an absence and finding that another woman (Logan Browning) has taken her place at the head of the class, might make it seem as though we’re entering Black Swan territory, at worst—but the intentionally disjointed narrative here quickly careens into wildly claustrophobic body horror. It might not be the first film to mine dark thrills and gore out of arts education (Suspiria, anyone?) but it goes as far as any of them, and even beyond. You can stream The Perfection here.