Search icon

Movies & TV

02nd Oct 2023

15 best scary movies you can watch on Netflix right now

Rory Cashin

Best Scary Movies

Because we’re all looking for the best scary movies in the run up to Halloween.

If you’re looking for the best scary movies to check out on Netflix, then look no further. We’ve scoured the entire Netflix movie library, and these are the 15 best scary movies on the streaming service in our opinion…

1922
Based on a particularly dark Stephen King story, this Netflix exclusive entry on the Best Scary Movies list tells the story of a man (Thomas Jane) who convinces his young son to help him kill his wife. But after the murder, they both begin to suffer from some terrifying hallucinations.

A QUIET PLACE PART II
The first movie isn’t available on Netflix (but it is on Prime Video if you’re looking to do the double-bill), the follow-up is just as good as the original, adding in Cillian Murphy and a wider scope for the alien invasion horror. Check out our interview with Murphy about the movie right here:

CREEP/CREEP 2
The first movie scored 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the sequel scored a perfect 100%, so they’re both definitely worth your time. As for what it is all about, a camera man is hired by a dying man to leave a message for his unborn son. But not everything is as it seems…

DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)
Directed by Zack Snyder, written by James Gunn, this remake of the classic 70s zombie epic ups the budget and the gore for the shopping mall-set survival horror. Also features Phil from Modern Family as an absolute douchebag.

EVIL DEAD RISE
One of the goriest movies in recent memory, the haunted book horror leaves the cabin in the woods and takes up residency in a rundown Los Angeles apartment block. We chatted to the movie’s director and writer Lee Cronin about the scares right here:

GERALD’S GAME
A couple are enjoying some time alone in an isolated cabin, but when her husband dies during their foreplay, a woman (Carla Gugino) finds herself handcuffed to the bed, with no means of escape. A tensely entertaining psychological horror.

HALLOWEEN (1978)
Quite literally one of the best scary movies ever made. No matter how many sequels or reboots or remakes or requels we get, nothing has come close to the terror of the original.

I SEE YOU
A twisty-turny psychological thriller which revolves around a missing 12-year-old boy and the strange occurrences that begin to plague the detective on the case, as well as his entire family.

INSIDIOUS
The first and still best in this now-five-movies-strong horror franchise. A couple (Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne) begin to suspect that their home might be haunted, but it turns out to be much more singular than that, as it is their young son who is the target for the demons.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY
The movie cost $15,000 to produce and went on to make nearly $200 million at the box office. Six sequels later, some of those got close to the pure twitchy horror of this first one, but the OG PA still haunts like nothing else in the franchise.

SINISTER
A struggling writer (Ethan Hawke) moves his family into the home of a recently murdered family. As you can probably guess, things don’t get better from that point on. Interesting side note: according to science, this isn’t just one of the best scary movies you can watch on Netflix, but it is also officially the scariest movie ever made.

SPLIT
M. Night Shyamalan’s impressive entry into the serial killer thriller genre features a man (James McAvoy) suffering with multiple personality disorder, who kidnaps young girls (one of which is Anya Taylor Joy) in what he threatens will be a human sacrifice.

UNDER THE SHADOW
In this brilliant Iranian psychological horror, the residents of an apartment block manage to survive when a missile strikes their building but doesn’t detonate. But the incident seems to have unleashed an evil seeking out a mother and her daughter.

VERONICA
A teenage girl tries to contact her dead dad in a seance, but instead she has brought forth some evil from the other side. A very spooky Spanish horror.

This list of best scary movies is from the Netflix library in Ireland and the UK as of 3 October 2023.

Read more:

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge