As much as we love classic horror movies, there are only so many times you can watch Danny Torrance cruising through the Overlook Hotel on his tricycle. What makes scary movies so great is the element of surprise and, after you’ve watched The Poltergeist or Carrie for the hundredth time, those jump scares are going to fail to make you jump. If you’re in the mood to get your heart racing, it may be time to check out a new horror flick, and to help you out, we’ve rounded some of the most underrated horror movies on Netflix. Make sure you watch these with the light on.
Related: These Psychological Thrillers on Netflix Are So Chilling, You'll Be Spooked For Days
In the Tall Grass
Based on the novella of the same name by Stephen King and Joe Hill, this thriller tells the story of a brother and sister who follow the cries for help of a young boy into a field of tall grass. However, instead of finding a kid, they find themselves separated and at the will of some malevolent force. Ticks definitely aren’t the only thing to fear in tall grass.
The Witch
Anya Taylor-Joy plays Thomasin stars in this horror flick as a young woman who witnesses the disappearance of her youngest brother in 1630 New England and – as a result – is accused of witchcraft. Taylor-Joy plays Thomasin with such conviction that you actually believe she’s trapped in a 17th-century waking nightmare, though her frightfully good performance is only matched by the demonic humanoid goat, Black Phillip.
The Blackcoat's Daughter
In this movie, a troubled young woman (Emma Roberts) visits an isolated Catholic boarding school in the dead of Winter, where two students whose parents never picked them up for Winter break (played by Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton) are battling a sinister threat from an unseen force. This one slid under the radar in 2015, and it definitely shouldn’t have.
Cam
This psychological horror film is set in the world of webcam pornography, starring Madeline Brewer as an erotic cam girl who finds her popular channel hijacked by a look-alike. What’s even better: Cam is one of the few films about sex work written by a former sex worker, resulting in a story that doesn’t glamorize, glorify, or romanticize the profession – though in this case, things do get terrifying.
The Perfection
Allison Williams stars in this intense thriller as a cello prodigy who is forced to abandon music after a family tragedy, only to return to performing years later with the help of a rising new star, played by Logan Browning. The movie may not be perfection, but with all its twists, turns, and thrills, Williams and Browning still deliver a terrifying and totally unique tale of revenge.
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
Starring Amber Heard, this teen slasher film is about a beautiful high-schooler who reluctantly accepts an invitation to a rural weekend party, only to find her many male suitors murdered one by one. It may sound like a predictable formula, but this horror flick somehow manages to feel fresh and totally suspenseful.
Fractured
In this thriller, Sam Worthington plays Ray, a father who rushes his daughter to the hospital after she breaks her arm during a road trip. The twist: when he wakes up in the waiting room (where he is sleeping while his daughter and his wife, Lily Rabe, complete the girl’s MRI), he discovers that no one in the hospital has any recollection of his family having ever checked in.
1922
This horror is another Stephen King adaptation, telling the story of a farmer in Nebraska, a domestic dispute over inherited land with his wife, and a decision to commit murder – with the reluctant help of his 14-year-son, of course. We have just one word for you: rats. You’ve been warned.
Green Room
With an all-star cast that includes Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Sir Patrick Stewart, this horror-thriller revolves around a punk band whose members finds themselves pursued by a terrifying clan of skinheads after they accidentally witness a murder at a nightclub outside of Portland. This one may have underperformed at the box office, but it definitely won’t fail to make your heart race.
Hush
Kate Siegel stars in this slasher film as a deaf writer who retreats into the woods so she can live in solitude, never expecting that she’ll be joined by a horrifying masked killer. Fact: Hush walked so that A Quiet Place could run.
Gerald's Game
This twisted thriller – which is yet another adaptation of a Stephen King novel by the same name – tells the story of a woman (played by The Haunting of Hill House actress Carla Gugino) who accidentally kills her husband during a kinky sex experience. As a result, she’s left stranded in their remote lake house and chained to their bed, which is . . . not ideal.
Train to Busan
This South Korean horror flick may not seem promising, considering it’s about a zombie apocalypse that takes over the country and traumatizes a group of passengers en route to Busan. Just believe us when we tell you that it’s way, way better than it sounds.
Before I Wake
Kate Bosworth and Thomas Jane star in this movie as foster parents who take in an eight-year-old boy, Cody (played by Jacob Tremblay), only to learn that the young boy’s dreams can turn into reality – and so can his nightmares. The worst part: the things imagined by Cody have the power to actually cause harm.
Candyman
Set in the notorious Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago, Tony Todd stars in this horror flick as the titular Candyman, the son of a slave who – after he was murdered in the late 19th century – decides to get vengeance as a murderous ghost after he’s unintentionally summoned by a grad student. You’ll want to watch this one before Jordan Peele debuts his remake.
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House
In this creepy flick, a retired horror writer suffering from dementia hires a live-in nurse to care for both her and her Braintree, MA, estate. However, what the writer fails to mention to her new caretaker is that Polly, the fictional protagonist of her most popular novel, The Lady in the Walls, is not actually be fictional, and that she may have been killed in the estate the writer now inhabits.
Watch I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House on Netflix.
The Ritual
What happens when four friends reunite after the death of their mutual friend to hike through the Scandinavian wilderness? They get lost, of course, and end up getting stalked by an ancient evil spirit from a Norse legend. Total normal stuff.