Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Netflix is currently busy fanning the flames of the Samara Weaving Horror Show, with her horror-comedy Ready or Not storming up its weekly top 10 movies chart.

During the week of August 31st to September 6th, the 2019 movie cracked into Netflix’s most popular movies chart in the United States and is currently ranked ninth, sandwiched between an ‘80s Hollywood classic, 9 to 5 and an early 2000s animated adventure family comedy, Shark Tale.

Co-directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Ready or Not stars Weaving as Grace, a young bride who must survive a deadly midnight game of hide-and-seek against her husband’s eccentric, affluent family, who are hell-bent on hunting and sacrificing the newcomer before dawn to prevent a fatal family curse from materialising.

Although the horror movie is far from a Netflix Original, the most obvious factor driving its chart appearance, alongside movies like Straight Outta Compton and Shark Tale, is its recent addition to the streamer earlier in September.

As we all know, Netflix frequently acquires non-exclusive streaming rights for major studio hits. And when these titles hit the platform, they tend to become the algorithm’s favourite child, receiving prominent placement on the streamer’s home screen that’s bound to grab the audience’s attention.

Especially now that trick-or-treat season is right around the corner, Netflix has been paying special attention to ramping up its horror content to ensure subscribers are spoiled with choice when opting for spooky, festive marathons. Additionally, for movies like Ready or Not, which already boasts an 89% Rotten Tomatoes rating, this chart appearance is not exactly a surprise.

While the horror comedy has had strong word-of-mouth recommendations over the years, Ready or Not’s sequel also arrived earlier this year, boosting renewed interest in the original film and prompting re-watches as well as first-time streams from viewers catching up on the franchise.

Besides standard licensing tactics, the craze has been building by the minute around horror movies streaming on Netflix, whether the content is exclusive or non-exclusive. And Ready or Not may not have found a better time to hit streaming shelves, given the horror season is approaching quickly, and fans are still reeling from the sequel momentum.

So, in case you’ve been considering hitting play and all you needed was a nudge, we hope this is enough to convince you to watch Ready or Not, now streaming and making waves on Netflix.