Today is Friday the 13th! A day of celebration, madness and frenzy for all horror fans who secretly wish to never encounter the psychotic Jason Voorhees. Or do they?
Films like Exorcist, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Shining and The Nightmare on Elm Street have forever remained the zeitgeist classics. They have scared generations after generations with their eerie settling, disturbing narratives and a sense of impending doom.
A lot of Hollywood horror flicks derive inspiration from Asian films that are well-versed in the horror genre. From films like The Eye, Shutter, Grudge, and more being adapted from their Asian counterparts, horror has always been a cinephile’s guilty pleasure.
For all horror aficionados out there who are tired of watching the same old classics and can practically predict every jump scare, we have a special gift for you this, Friday the 13th.
Here are some of the creepiest Nfilms available for streaming on Netflix that might possibly appeal to your senses!
The top 10 creepiest films on Netflix
10. Blood Red Sky (Peter Thorwarth, 2021)
This English-German film revolves around an overnight transatlantic flight that gets hijacked by terrorists. To protect her son, a woman suffering from a mysterious illness unleashes her grotesque side and wreaks havoc on the flight.
This horror film also has an emotional arc about a mother being protective of her son. If Snakes on a Plane creeped you out, be prepared to spend sleepless nights after this experience of seeing a bloodsucker be unleashed on the plane to protect a loved one.
9. Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005)
In Amsterdam, three backpackers are locked out of the establishment they are residing in and soon gets ushered into a Slovakian hostel where they are surrounded by attractive women who lure them into dangerous and deadly traps.
If you love backpacking across the country, avoid this film as it will make you have nightmares every time you travel. Grisly and gory with unimaginable torture methods being employed. The general air of madness, tension, violence and horror is filled with scatological humour, sex and drugs, but the terror heightens with an entry into the hostel.
8. Hush (Mike Flanagan, 2016)
Starring his long-time collaborator and wife Kate Siegel, the film focuses on a deaf and mute author who lives in a solitary cabin in the woods when she becomes the victim of a home invasion where a masked killer, thirsty for her blood, attempts to kill her.
The shocking danger heightens the unsettling premise of home invasion that a deaf and mute author has to face. Laced with plenty of jump-scares, the masked killer with the knife is terrifying and goes down as one of Flanagan’s creepiest filmography.
7. Orphan (Jaume Collet-Serra, 2009)
Based on an actual incident of a 34-year-old woman who was impersonating the 13-year-old, the film revolves around a nine-year-old Russian girl Esther who is adopted by the Coleman couple after their marriage is strained due to the mother’s latest miscarriage. However, Esther’s advent into the family wreaks havoc, and ominous incidents follow.
Starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, the film was praised for its dark premise and Isabella Fuhrman’s brilliant and unsettling performance as Esther. However, the film’s script was criticised for encouraging the stereotypes and stigma that already exist regarding adoption yet is a riveting watch.
6. Oculus (Mike Flanagan, 2013)
Mirrors are creepy in general but imagine watching a film where the ghastly and ancient mirror holds sinister spirits that tear apart a family and result in a bloody tragedy and yet remains indestructible due to its occult nature. That’s Oculus for you!
Mike Flanagan is a horror connoisseur and loves creating creepy and disturbing films with a general air of hair-raising terror. Starring Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, and others, the story-telling is incredibly nuanced, and the acting performances are pretty strong. With creepy and dark images surrounding the film, the ghastly mirror is sure to leave chills down your spine, accompanied by the eerie musical score.
5. Shutter (Banjong Pisanthanakun, Parkpoom Wongpoom, 2004)
Thun and his girlfriend start experiencing mysterious shadows in their photos after narrowly escaping a hit and run accident, which is the product of various supernatural events in the past.
This Thai film got an English remake, but it was not half as scary as the original film. The dark and menacing atmosphere results in a slow-burn film that is filled with creepy, psychological scares and genuinely horrifying revelations to make for one of the finest scary movies around.
4. The Swarm (Just Phillipot, 2020)
The Swarm or La Nuée is the newest Netflix eco-horror drama that has taken subscribers by storm, given its eerie premise. It is based in rural France, where a woman desperately tries to provide for her family by locust farming. Although the production is not profitable, she soon understands that locusts thrive well on human blood.
From economic crisis comes psychological obsession and depravity, so much so that woman even starts providing blood from her own body. Starring Suliane Brahim, Sofian Khammesas, Marie Narbonne and more, the film is downright terrifying.
3. Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018)
Ari Aster’s shockingly creepy film is a harrowing exploration of death and loss, grief and mourning. The quarrels and breakdowns in the film are psychologically scarring and reek of claustrophobic malevolence. Aster’s creative vision and usage of the concept of demonic cults helped him climb up the ranks and be associated with the directors who have directed zeitgeist horror classics.
Annie Graham lives with her husband, her teen son and 13-year-old daughter Charlie and tries to grapple with her mother’s death, who has a pervading influence on her life. In a freak accident, Charlie dies, Peyter is guilt-ridden, constantly hallucinating, and a strange demonic presence manifests and tears the family down into shambles.
2. Aftermath (Peter Winther, 2021)
This creepy film is terrifying most subscribers with its eerie premise. It is based on a true story of Jerry Rice and Janice Ruther, where a young couple, desperately trying to save their marriage, moves into their new home, where unsettling events begin to unfold due to the house’s troubled past.
Starring Sharif Atkins, Ashley Greene, Shawn Ashmore, the film is extremely disturbing given the terrifying events that follow. From getting stalked to their house being put on sale suddenly, the life of the couple start spiralling, and the entire premise has left viewers perturbed.
1. Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski, 1968)
Rosemary and her husband move into the iconic Bramford building in New York when they meet their strange new neighbours, the Castevets, who start affecting their lives in the most bizarre ways and soon, Rosemary’s pregnancy has sinister implications.
The ominous setting heightens Rosemary’s agony and her psychological turmoil. Stanley Kubrick was inspired to shoot The Shining following Polanski’s film and was inspired by the director’s ingenious use of religious and spiritual cults and the idea of Satanism and devil’s child to make the film even more terrifying.
