Best Horror Movies on Netflix 2023: Eli, Scream, Little Evil, and More

Horror has established itself as a prominent genre, with a multitude of movies spanning various OTT platforms. Within the realm of horror, diverse sub-genres exist, and Netflix proudly presents an extensive collection encompassing them all. With a continuously updated catalogue, Netflix stands as a premier destination for horror enthusiasts. The platform offers a plethora of critically acclaimed films, including “The Babysitter,” “His House,” the “Fear Street” trilogy, and numerous others that have captured the hearts of viewers.

Furthermore, Netflix provides an impressive array of Stephen King adaptations, foreign horror gems, and spine-tingling paranormal tales. If you’re craving a thrilling horror movie marathon, Netflix is the ultimate go-to. In this article, we will explore some of the most exceptional horror titles currently available for streaming on Netflix.

Best and Scariest Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now to Watch

Eli

This haunting horror movie is spellbinding, starring a young boy suffering from a rare autoimmune disease in the main role. There's a mysterious doctor curing the boy's illness, and in this movie juxtaposes the doctor's calm demeanour with eerie imagery to create spine-tingling excitement for audiences that like scary movies. This suspenseful mystery movie plays in the shadows, and is quite the paranormal fright fest. 

Cast-Charlie Shotwell, Kelly Reilly, Max Martini, Lili Taylor, Sadie Sink

Duration-1h 38 min

Director – Ciarán Foy

Scream

This movie is the fourth chapter in the Scream franchise, taking place a decade after the first Ghostface Killer massacre. The old cast reprises their roles from the original trilogy to wrap up the story of Woodsboro. The formula may be the same as the previous three films, yet this movie is a frightful addition to the series, giving it a fitting end. 

Cast-Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin

Duration – 1h 51 min

Director –Wes Craven

Little Evil

This goofy horror comedy is the directorial venture of Eli Craig, who is also the writer. The story follows a man embarking on an idealized life with the woman of his dreams, only to discover his son may be the antichrist. The playfully clever script features several comedic heavyweights in supporting roles. This movie tackles scary tropes with an entertaining homage, focusing on comedy more than horror. 

Cast-Evangeline Lilly, Adam Scott, Owen Atlas

Duration-1h 34 min

Director – Eli Craig

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

This movie is the 9th instalment in the franchise and takes place 5 decades after Leatherface's 1973 killing spree when a group of young entrepreneurs travel to Texas to sell off old properties and make a hip area. While inspecting what they think is an abandoned orphanage, they find that an elderly woman called Ginny and the infamous serial killer occupy it, leading to a bloody and scary cat and mouse game. This movie is exactly what you'd expect from a slasher flick offering gore and frights in equal measure. 

Cast- Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham, Moe Dunford

Duration-1h 23 min

Director-David Blue Garcia

Resident Evil

If you are a fan of Resident Evil – Welcome to Raccoon city, this movie has a female protagonist, a badass who is hell bent on cleaning up the zombies created by the Umbrella Corporation's biotech chemicals. If you want high-intensity action and lots of amazing monsters, this is one movie you cannot miss. 

Cast-Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius

Duration-1h 40 min

Director – Paul WS Anderson

Umma

Sarah Oh is pretty comfortable in any role and she proves that in Umma, where she essays the role of Amanda, a Korean immigrant homeschooling her daughter Chrissy, on a rural farm away from technology. Amanda is having to put up with the stress of Chrissy expressing her desire to move out for college, and flashbacks of her abusive childhood after being given the ashes of her dead mother, and an evil spirit intent on taking over her body. Supernatural scares and themes of generational trauma and identity is where this movie excels. 

Cast-Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, Dermot Mulroney, Odeya Rush

Duration-1h 23 min

Director – Iris K Shim

Choose or Die

The story follows Kayla, who finds an old 80s computer game that comes with a yet-to-be-claimed $100,000 cash prize for the person who manages to beat it. Her family's financial need and her curiosity motivate her to try out the game. This game turns out to be more than just some easy choose-your-own-adventure meets horror campaign. The game can warp reality and forces Kayla to make deadly decisions that harm people in real life. Trapped and forced to continue playing, Kayla and Isaac, her friend, try to stop the game. However, the malevolent forces that went into making this game means playing and staying alive isn't as easy as you think. This movie is nostalgic and fresh, with an interesting narrative. This movie goes straight into horror without unnecessary fluff weighing it down.

Cast-Iola Evans, Asa Butterfield, Angela Griffin, Ryan Gage, Eddie Marsan, Kate Fleetwood, Pete MacHale

Duration-1h 24 min

Director-Toby Meakins

Ouija: Origin of Evil

This is a prequel about an evil ouija board, one of the scariest movies of the decade. The movie takes us back to the 1970s where fake psychic Alice Zander and her two daughters Doris and Lina do seances for customers who pay, all because of Alice's dying husband. Doris is the younger one and she takes it up a notch by introducing an ouija board, but it's cursed and it makes them do things that are all too real, and sends a dark spirit into the girl's body, and exposes the deep-seated evil in the Zander house. It's horrifying and effective

Cast-Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas

Duration-1h 39 min

Director – Mike Flanagan

The Babysitter

While the concept of a little kid having a crush on their sexy teenage babysitter is a common trope, this turns that trope upside down as the hot babysitter also is part of a Satanic cult. The cult, which has infiltrated young Cole's house with their ceremony, will stop at nothing to stop Cole from spreading their secret. This movie is goofy, gory and a good tribute to the horror of the 80's. 

Cast-Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Bella Thorne

Duration-1h 25 min

Director-McG

It Follows

This story takes the old concept of a girl getting murdered after a sexual encounter and adds several interesting elements to it. Jay gets haunted by a shadowy supernatural spirit after having sex. Her partner finally confesses to her that he transmitted it to her during intercourse, thus making it the most deadly STD of all time. Jay must now either pass off the ghost via intercourse with another man, or the spirit will kill her and go back to haunting the man who gave her the ghost. 

Cast-Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary

Duration-1h 40 min

Director –David Robert Mitchell

Vampires vs The Bronx

This is one of those modern horror movies with a simple, clever twist. The story follows a group of kids living in a neighbourhood in the Bronx who discover that the real estate company buying up local businesses is managed by a cabal of blood-sucking vampires. The movie is a home run because gentrification means sucking a community dry. 

Cast-Jaden Michael, Gregory Diaz IV, Gerald W. Jones III, Joel Martinez, Shea Whigham

Duration-1h 26 min

Director-Osmany Rodriguez

Creep

This movie is made up almost entirely of found footage. Patrick Bice is the director, co-writer and videographer, who goes to a remote cabin hired by Josef, a strange fellow, who claims to have a brain tumour and wants to film a video diary for his unborn baby before he dies. Mark Duplass delivers one of the best performances, playing the creepy likeable guy the whole time. The 2017 sequel Creep 2 works just as well. Bice has directed this as well, making both movies fantastic edge-of-your-seat thrillers that utilize found footage format to the maximum.

Cast-Mark Duplass, Patrick Bice, Desiree Akhavan

Duration-1h 22min

Director – Patrick Bice

Unfriended

This movie marks a natural evolution of the found-footage format in our digital era, making this movie a haunted Skype horror movie, one of the Screenlife movies to break through with mainstream audiences. Most of us spend our lives on screens anyway, and that mode of storytelling gives filmmakers access to all the little secrets we stash away in our deleted texts and secret files. After the death of a classmate post online bullying, a group of teens finds themselves targeted one-by-one during their digital hangout by a malicious spirit. This movie works better than you may expect and is perfect during a period we all like to hang out virtually. 

Cast-Shelley Hennig, Moses Storm, Renee Olstead, Will Peltz, Jacob Wysocki, Courtney Halverson, Heather Sossaman

Duration-1h 22 min

Director- Leo Gabriadze

#Alive

When the pandemic was at its peak, Netflix released a new horror movie that was timely and familiar with the tried and tested concept of the zombie genre. This is a tech-era zombie survival thriller, focusing on a young man who finds himself stuck in his apartment alone thanks to the rapid onset of a zombie plague, and follows his attempts to remain alive and sane. It's a tightly-constructed thriller with some great zombie transformation scenes and a despairing sense of isolation that makes it stand out as a unique film among the zombie flicks you've seen. 

Cast-Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye

Duration-1h 38 min

Director – Cho II-hyung

In the Tall Grass

This movie is an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. In this movie passersby are beckoned into a vast field of tall grass by people asking for help, only to be trapped in the tall grass unable to leave. This movie is compelling and gorgeous and is a great film on the Netflix roster. 

Cast-Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted, Patrick Wilson, Will Buie Jr., Harrison Gilbertson

Duration-1h 30 min

Director- Vincenzo Natali

That rounds off the horror movies on Netflix. So which one will you watch first?