Best horror movies on Netflix: 20 scary films to watch tonight

John Carpenter is the master of horror, so much that he's got two movies on this list (see Christine). The Thing is his masterpiece. It's a cut-throat chiller that's the epitome of paranoia. The plot is ace: scientists in Norway uncover a mysterious ship which unwittingly sets loose a thing that can shapeshift. This horror movie has got it all, and then some

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Directed by James Wan, this super scary haunted house flick is well worth a watch during spooky season – and any time of year, in fact. It's about a suburban family who move to escape their haunted house. But, here's the twist, it's not their old house that's haunted. If you end up enjoying this one, there are two more in the Insidious series, but this one is, in our opinion, the best one.

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Five friends head to a cabin in the woods and spooky things begin to happen. Sound familiar? Think again, this is a haunted house story with plenty of twists and turns from the brilliant minds of Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard.

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Okay, so the second part didn't have quite the chills of the first but IT is fantastic horror fodder. Director Andy Muschietti manages to make the clown scary again, thanks to some brilliant tense scenes and amazing special effects. The cast, too, are pitch perfect as the boys and girls of Maine being picked off one by one by a killer clown.

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It has been a good few years for high-class, low budget horror. Karyn Kusama’s The Invitation keeps you hooked into its increasing bed of tension by nailing it to familiar social pressures and conventions.

A dinner party of old friends starts to fall apart. But is something genuinely odd going on or are we just watching the tectonic plates of complicated relationships rub up against each other? The Invitation is a masterclass in low-key dread.

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A two-sentence summary of Creep does not make it sound original. It’s a found footage horror film in which a creepy guy advertises for a camera operator online. Events ensue.

However, it’s an incredibly memorable and taut micro-budget horror you won’t forget, largely thanks to the efforts of star and co-writer Mark Duplass. It’s an exercise in uncomfortable closeness with a single creepy character brought to unnerving life by an excellent performance. It fits more memorable moments into 77 minutes than many films manage in two hours or more.

It also beats the law of diminishing returns. Creep 2 is great as well.

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Before hitting global stardom with Doctor Strange, Scott Derrickson cut his teeth on two fantastic horror movies.The first was Sinister but perhaps it is The Exorcism of Emily Rose where we see his true genius knack for terror. As with many horror movies, it is the lead actress that makes the movie. Jennifer Carpenter is stunning as the titular Emily Rose, putting in such a physical powerhouse of a performance that it's hypnotic to watch.

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Hush isn't as much of a horror-show as the Kula Shaker song, but it is a terrifying home invasion drama with a twist - the lead protagonist is deaf. This means that when a masked killer comes into her home and she is oblivious, you will no doubt be shouting at the screen. It's tense, taught and Mike Flanagan directs. The star of the show, though, is actress (and Flanagan's real-life wife) Kate Siegel. She's great as the deaf writer who faces a night of terror.

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This is a fantastic film. Yes, it's got some Hollywood gloss but if you are after horror that's packed with suspense then this is for you. Set in a world where creatures with a heightened sense of hearing roam around listening for their next kill, a family try and survive. The problem: there is a baby on the way. Real-life couple Emily Blunt and John Krasinski (who directed) are great in the movie, but it's Millicent Simmonds, who is deaf in real life, who makes the movie.

Stephen King has, quite rightly, had a string of horror movie hits recently but none are better than this version of Christine - about a demon car. Yes, the plot is ridiculous but John Carpenter has done a majestic job of making sure this is one of the scariest movies of the 80s.

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Prepare yourself for this one. Hereditary is a stunning piece of cinema with a horror wraparound. It's about Annie (the fantastic Toni Collette), an artist whose mother dies. Her death leads to a whole host of goings on and some jaw-dropping revelations. Collette is stunning as Annie and she is backed by a brilliant supporting cast

The Mist is a novella by Stephen King so you know you are in good hands when it comes to the horror side of things. It's also directed by Frank Darabont - him and Rob Reiner are the ones that have made the best Stephen King movies. This is one bleak movie, with an ending that's rarely seen in Hollywood. The premise: blood-thirsty features descend on a small town and those stuck in a supermarket try and figure out a way to not only stay alive, but defeat them.

The second Scott Derrickson movie on this list and it's the scariest one he made. Sinister is about true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) whose finds a box of home movies in a home he has just moved into. The movies show a number of grisly murders which have a supernatural theme. Yes, there are too many jump scares but the foreboding atmosphere is just fantastic throughout.

Annihilation did not have a great time at the cinema. Following fights between the director and one of the film’s financiers about whether it was “too intellectual” for a mainstream audience, it failed to recoup profits at the box office. But it has found a comfortable home on Netflix.

It has a dream-like quality, and was adapted from a Jeff VanderMeer novel by Alex Garland, writer of Ex Machina and 28 Days Later. A team of soldiers enter the ever-growing “shimmer”, in which plant and animal life mutate and time appears to bend.

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Director Mike Flanagan's first Stephen King movie (he also made Doctor Sleep) is a brilliant slow burn of a movie, with the fantastic Carla Gugino taking centre stage. Given most of the movie takes place in one room (it's based on a sex game gone wrong, which sees Gugino handcuffed to a bed), it's a masterful film full of suspense and one of the most gruesome scenes that is not for the squeamish!

Gareth Evans was fresh from directing to of the best action movies of all time, The Raid and The Raid 2, when he took on Apostle. The movie is quite the departure for the director but still a brilliant, unnerving watch. Based on Dan Steven's character coming back home to find the occult has taken his town and, most importantly, his sister, this is turn of the century fable that's a pretty frightening watch.

Eli is about a boy who can't go outside because he's allergic to lots of things. When he arrives at a medical facility that's sealed off from the outside, he finally starts to feel normal again. Well, until things take a very odd and sinister turn. This movie is scary, tense and full of twists - perfect for Halloween.

Horror remakes are very hit and miss, but Maniac is a decent one. It tries to do things a little differently. Frank (Elijah Wood) is a loner who spends his time restoring mannequins. He's also a murderer and we get to see in first person his kills. Wood is suitably strange for the role, an actor who like Daniel Radcliffe has done well to shrug off his most famous (Frodo) role. The film is brutal, perverse and schlocky but there's a brain to the blood thirst and it really does work.

Under The Shadow isn't about blood and gore shocks but a film that has an utter feeling of fear and dread permeate throughout it. Based during the Iran/Iraq conflict, this is the tale of a mother and daughter hiding from the horrors of war in a house that seems to be haunted. At times beautifully shot, this is a wonderful movie about horror - real life and otherwise.

Yep, we were up in arms too when it was revealed that they were remaking Child's Play - especially without the permission of its creator Don Mancini and the voice of Chucky Brad Dourif. But, then Mark Hamill was revealed as the new voice and the movie is, pretty damn good. It's not a great remake as it doesn't really do the original justice but as a standalone movie it's far cleverer than it needs to be and a whole lot of horror fun.

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