15 Best Horror Movies To Watch On Netflix This Halloween
Coming to a screen near you.
One of the unspoken truths about video stores is that they were usually staffed by people like Randall in Clerks and full of slobs who debated minutiae with a passion that would put Kevin Smith to shame, so let’s hold off on feeling nostalgic in the wake of their demise.
Streaming is a much better idea: no late fees, no last-minute dash to return tapes and, best of all, 24/7 service. It’s ideal for horror fans because as anyone who paid to see Ouija or Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension will attest, the best horror movies aren’t playing at your local multiplex.
It also gives rise to a strange paradox: while it’s easier than ever to find movies to watch, it’s never been more difficult for a film to find its audience. Low-budget horror films are sneaked out rather than released, and with so many titles out there already, how do you decide what to watch?
To follow, you will find 15 of the best horror titles available on Netfilx this Halloween, ranging from worthy remakes to dependable classics to new movies you probably haven’t watched yet, but should. Unless, that is, you’d rather take your chances at your multiplex.
15. The Amityville Horror
For a remake from Michael Bay’s production company, The Amityville Horror is surprisingly entertaining. It takes as much inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining as it does from the 1979 original, but what’s wrong with that?
Cast in the good-guy-who-goes-nuts role is Ryan Reynolds, who’s a more believable Everyman than Jack Nicholson and less likely to devour the scenery. He’s married to Melissa George rather than Shelley Duvall, so when they move into their new home with kids Chloe Grace Moretz (Carrie), Jimmy Bennett (Orphan) and Jesse James (The Butterfly Effect), you kind of want them to live happily ever after. No such luck.
They’ve barely settled in when taps (and walls) start dripping blood, windows open by themselves, furniture moves across the room and, most chilling of all, fridge magnets spell out threats. Then the stoned babysitter (Rachel Nichols) gets the munchies and tells the kids all about the house’s past, which leads to her being locked in a closet with the ghost of a young girl Moretz has befriended.