10 Best Horror Movies On Netflix, According To Rotten Tomatoes

The age of streaming has brought more slashers, thrillers, and creature features to our screens than ever, though the abundance of streaming options has made choosing from this vast catalog of films all the more difficult. For those who prefer to focus on one site at a time, Netflix has a solid offering of original projects, classics, hidden gems, and even recent blockbusters to satisfy any horror fan.

But you don't have to take our word for that — if you, like many moviegoers today, rely on the findings of Rotten Tomatoes to determine which movies are really worth your time, we've got your back. After consulting the review aggregator's database of scores, we've outlined the highest-scoring options for you to stream on Netflix this Halloween.

Here are the 10 best horror movies currently available on Rotten Tomatoes (subject to change based on timing).

Tomatometer: 88%

Popcornmeter: 64%

The first entry on our list is also our most recent, released in 2025 after nearly two decades in development hell. Indeed, by the time audiences finally got to see a trailer for "28 Years Later" — the second sequel to 2002's low-budget, breakout zombie horror hit "28 Days Later" — the title felt like a cheeky acknowledgement of just how long it had taken the creative team to revive a seemingly dead story. Nevertheless, when it finally hit theaters, it was hailed by critics as a scary, gruesome, and surprisingly emotional horror saga worthy of the first film's legacy.

Despite being the third film in a series (which certainly benefits from the audience having seen at least "28 Days Later"), the returning team of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland keep the narrative slate clean enough for newcomers to give "28 Years Later" a chance without doing any homework. (As of writing, neither "28 Days Later" nor "28 Weeks Later" are available to stream on Netflix.) With the zombie-like "rage virus" having spread throughout Europe during the decades since "28 Weeks," "28 Years" follows a community of post-apocalyptic survivors and their children who live isolated from the rest of the world in a village on an English island. The ensemble cast is anchored by Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Stellar marketing, solid reviews, and the goodwill hard-won by "28 Days Later" made "28 Years Later" a box office hit upon its release, grossing over $150 million against a budget of around $60 million. Even though the film's ending left general audiences somewhat divided, the film's overall critical and commercial success have laid the necessary groundwork for a repeat performance when another sequel – Nia DaCosta's "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" — arrives in 2026.

Tomatometer: 89%

Popcornmeter: 75%

Unlike "28 Years Later," "Fear Street Part Three: 1666" is a threequel so closely intertwined with its previous two installments that you really are cheating yourself if you skip right to the best part. The good news is that the entire "Fear Street" trilogy is so relentlessly rad that marathoning them could be the ideal way to spend your Halloween.

Based on the series of novels by young adult horror author R.L. Stine, Netflix's "Fear Street" trilogy was marketed as a three-part horror event, with all three films being released over the course of three weeks in the summer of 2021. Despite this squished release schedule, each installment impressively stands on its own in terms of narrative and style, as opposed to melting into one another like episodes in a TV series or mere segments of an overlong movie. It's a true feat of filmmaking made all the more impressive by the fact that director Leigh Janiak was responsible for all three parts.

The story centers on the fictional town of Shadyside, Ohio, nicknamed the "killer capital of the world" due to the abnormal amount of murders that have taken place there — of course, "local-legend has it" that these crimes can be traced back to a supernatural curse placed on the town centuries in the past. While "Fear Street Part One: 1994" introduces the viewer to Shadyside through a "Scream"-style high school slasher, "Fear Street Part Two: 1978" takes them deeper down the rabbit hole for a summer camp kill-fest straight out of the "Friday the 13th" playbook, "Fear Street Part Three: 1666" brings everything to a close through a colonial tale of witches and ghosts, reminiscent of Robert Eggers' "The Witch." It's an almost impossibly satisfying finale to such a consistent and ambitious project, as well as arguably the best R.L. Stine-inspired movie ever made.

Tomatometer: 90%

Popcornmeter: 45%

If the particularly wide gulf between the critics and audience scores for the 2020 Netflix original "Vampires vs. the Bronx" has you confused, you're not alone. For those unfamiliar with how Rotten Tomatoes calculates its scores, the final number is based on the percentages of critics who gave the film a positive review, whether that's a glowing write-up in a mainstream outlet or a YouTuber who says, "Yeah, it's pretty good." A 100% score doesn't mean critics thought it was 100% perfect, but 100% of critics approved by Rotten Tomatoes thought it was good.

While a larger percentage of critics felt positively about "Vampires vs. the Bronx" than "Fear Street" or "28 Years Later," the positive reviews are less enthusiastic and tempered by harsher criticisms of certain technical elements. The concept of the film seems to have the most consistent appeal. Critics universally appreciated the premise of three kids, born and raised in the Bronx, trying to save their community from invasive vampires disguising themselves as benevolent real estate investors. On paper, it's a clever allegory for the very real horrors of gentrification, and the film is at its best when the script (written by Blaise Hemingway and director Oz Rodriguez) is able to make that connection with its absurd, black comedy tone.

There are major issues with the film's special effects, plotting, and occasionally its ability to deal with serious subject matter (though films engaging with social issues often get review bombed on Rotten Tomatoes, it's worth noting that many negative reviews compare it unfavorably to "Attack the Block," a film which explores the same themes through an alien invasion). For our part, it barely cracks the top 20 on our list of the best Netflix horror movies of all time.

Tomatometer: 91%

Popcornmeter: 70%

Subscribers could fill their entire October with Mike Flanagan's Netflix work and be as entertained as anyone this Halloween season. The beloved pop-horror filmmaker, who caught the attention of genre watchdogs in the early 2010s with underrated movies like "Oculus" and "Hush," broke through as one of the best modern horror directors when he began collaborating with the streamer on a string of lauded miniseries including "The Haunting of Hill House," "Midnight Mass," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." This partnership started not with any of these series, but with Flanagan delivering one of the best Stephen King adaptations of all time.

Based on King's 1992 novel "Gerald's Game," the 2017 film stars Carla Cugino and Bruce Greenwood as Jessie and Gerald Burlingame, an aging couple attempting to rediscover the thrill of their relationship through a weekend alone at an isolated cabin in the woods. Gerald, apparently unsatisfied by their sex life, tries (very unsafely) to introduce an intense element of roleplay by handcuffing Jessie to the bedframe as they start to get intimate. While the scenario quickly seems to trigger repressed trauma Jessie has been hiding for decades, it also triggers a heart attack in Gerald that kills him almost instantly — before he can free Jessie from the restraints.

What follows the realization that Jessie is suddenly trapped, alone in the wilderness and miles from any help, is psychological horror in its purist form. Flanagan and Cugino masterfully take the viewer on a disturbing, yet often moving journey without violating the ingenious (and largely literal) constraints of King's premise. It's a slower burn than other entries on this list, but rest assured — there's also plenty of straightforward scares to fuel your nightmares for years to come.

Tomatometer: 92%

Popcornmeter: 58%

At this point, it's also worth noting that Rotten Tomatoes critics largely assess a movie based on how effective it is as a film, not how well it adheres to a particular genre. While "Gerald's Game" contained enough elements of pure horror to satisfy moviegoers looking for something with more exciting frights, "1922" seems to have upset many audience members due to its more subdued approach to the psychological horror subgenre.

Stephen King was surprised when he discovered Zak Hilditch and Netflix were interested in turning his 129-page novella (originally published with a collection of short stories titled "Full Dark, No Stars") into a feature film, possibly because the story is so grim in its fatal, moralistic march toward the inevitable judgement of its protagonist. "The Mist" and "The Punisher" star Thomas Jane plays Wilfred James, a farmer in rural Nebraska who coerces his teenage son (Dylan Schmid) into helping him kill his wife (Molly Parker) to prevent her from selling their land and moving to Omaha. The film thus follows the two men's attempts to move on from the murder despite overwhelming guilt.

If you can't tell by that synopsis, "1922" is a compelling and deeply unsettling film, and it's technically a horror movie in terms of categorization. Certain viewers may indeed find its exploration of moral retribution to be more troubling than "The Shining." However, as Rotten Tomatoes' audience reviews have pointed out at length, its few traditional scares may leave some horror fans disappointed.

Tomatometer: 93%

Popcornmeter: 54%

Regardless of what you think about "Cam," it's hard to argue it's not one of the more interesting movies Netflix has produced in any genre (it's also a must-watch for anyone as obsessed with the niche female doppelgänger subgenre as we are). Written by former virtual sex worker Isa Mazzei (author of the 2019 memoir "CAMGIRL") and directed by Daniel Goldhaber ("How to Blow Up a Pipeline"), the 2018 film is an entirely fictional and horrifyingly fantastical story about a young woman named Alice ("You" season 5 star Madeline Brewer) who leads a double life as a camgirl named Lola. Undoubtedly due to Mazzei's role in the creative process, the film is refreshingly realistic in its portrayal of sex work, embracing Alice's work through the lens of performance art while exploring potential dangers of exploitation through a supernatural lens.

Just as her work begins to take her online persona to new heights of success, Alice discovers that her virtual life has been entirely taken over by "Lola," who appears to somehow exist autonomously from Alice and is capable of streaming all on her own. Ironically, though many of the negative audience reviews take issue with how deeply "Cam" chooses to explore the implications or origins of this cyberspace haunting (the film instead focuses on its impact on her life, to great emotional effect), many scenes feel eerily prescient in the age of AI, where digital doppelgängers can be created with increasingly little effort. If nothing else, "Cam" is a sexy and sinister thrillride that takes readers to a world they've likely never experienced before.

Tomatometer: 94%

Popcornmeter: 83%

Finally, a film that Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences agree is well worth the time of any horror fan – probably because it had some of them fainting in movie theaters when it was released globally in 2023. Directed by Australian YouTubers-turned-filmmakers Danny and Michael Phillipou (and written by Danny Phillipou and Bill Hinzman, based on a concept from Daley Pearson), "Talk to Me" is a ghost story for the social media age that actually feels like a genuine expression of this period rather than an embarrassing attempt to capitalize on it from the outside.

"Babygirl" actor Sophie Wilde plays Mia, a teenager traumatized by the recent death of her mother who has further isolated herself from her father, spending the majority of her time with family friends (siblings Jade and Riley, played by Alexandra Jensen and Joe Bird respectively). The three manage to get invited to an intimate house party where the host. Zoe Terakes' Hayley, claims to be in possession of a severed, mummified hand that allows those who grasp it to commune with those beyond the grave.

Like the Phillipous' 2025 feel-bad gore-fest "Bring Her Back," "Talk to Me" is inventively brutal in how it punishes its characters physically, psychologically, and spiritually for inviting such dark spirits into their lives. It was a runaway hit at the box office in 2023 and quickly dominated Netflix's streaming charts when it debuted on the platform.

Tomatometer: 97%

Popcornmeter: 91%

If you're like /Film's own Danielle Ryan, and you've somehow made it to 2025 without seeing Steven Spielberg's "Jaws," we deeply envy what you're about to experience. The now-legendary filmmaker made his first real splash with this 1975 feature, working with a screenplay from Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb (based on Benchley's novel from the year prior).

In the wake of a series of mysterious deaths off the coast of the small vacation hotspot Amity Island seem to indicate that the beach has fallen prey to an apex great white shark, the local community is thrown into total chaos. While the economically-motivated Mayor Vaughn (Murray Hamilton) wants to suppress fears — and information — as much as possible to prevent panic from impacting the peak of the summer season, Chief of Police Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) takes it upon himself to protect tourists and citizens alike from what stalks them below the surface. He thus partners with scientist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and storied shark-hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) to slay the beast in his own, watery territory.

"Jaws" debuted to such impressive, record-shattering box office results that it changed the movie business forever, with some crediting it with establishing the hunger for the summer blockbuster that continues to guide filmmaking economics to this day. It's also aged quite gracefully thanks to Spielberg's brilliant and infamously restrained use of the titular creature.

Tomatometer: 99%

Popcornmeter: 71%

When "Under the Shadow" was released worldwide in 2016, we hailed the Persian-language horror thriller as that year's successor to the widely-praised 2014 film "The Babadook." While both films used ghosts and demons to explore complicated emotional and psychological traumas (long before studios essentially diluted this formula by reducing it to a tool of marketing/creative absolution for otherwise uninteresting horror movies), "Under the Shadow" is especially haunting in how it engages with themes of political violence and the lasting effects of war.

Set in 1988, during the twilight of the Iran-Iraq War, in the Iranian capital of Tehran, "Under the Shadow" follows Shideh (Narges Rashidi) and Dorsa (Avin Manshadi), a mother and daughter who find themselves terrorized by an unknown, supernatural entity they begin to suspect might be a demonic Djinn. All the while, they must cope with Shideh's husband Iraj (Bobby Naderi) being sent into combat, members of their community either being killed or driven out of their homes, and their own home being all but destroyed in a missile attack.

"Under the Shadow" is as thought-provoking and psychologically thrilling as it is properly scary, with the Djinn ranking as one of the scariest mythological monsters in horror cinema. Despite getting snubbed by the Academy Awards, it deserves to be remembered as one of the best films of 2016.

Tomatometer: 100%

Popcornmeter: 73%

Though, like many other films on this list, "His House" folds deft social commentary and elements of sibling genres (psychological dramas and thrillers in particular) into the presentation of its narrative, we should be absolutely clear: "His House" is by far the most terrifying horror film on Netflix as of writing. "Loki" and "Sinners" actor Wunmi Mosaku stars alongside Sope Dirisu ("Slow Horses") in this hidden gem from writer-director Remi Weekes (based on a story by Felicity Evans and Toby Venables). Sudanese refugees Rial (Mosaku) and Bol (Dirisu) go through hell to escape war in South Sudan, losing their young daughter on their way to the final destination of London, England.

Devastated but determined not to have their sacrifices be in vain, they push forward through the unforgiving process of officially seeking asylum in the country, a new kind of hellish journey that begins with the couple being sent without citizenship to a nigh-unlivable tenement house, where political forces (including Matt Smith's case worker Mark) urge them to assimilate to British culture at all costs. While experiencing constant racism and xenophobia, unimaginable stress, and persistent grief over the loss of their family and home, the couple realizes that their new "home" does not belong to them, but to a vicious spirit intent on making them repay a terrible debt. Running at a tense and effective 93 minutes, "His House" is a masterclass in modern horror storytelling that stands among the best films ever distributed by Netflix.