The 5 most gruesome horror films to watch on Netflix

While many would opine that Halloween is the best time to binge on horror films, the genre requires our unhinged attention all year round. Perhaps the most sought-after and coveted of all the film genres, horror and its various other sub-genres have found a comfortable home in streaming platforms like Netflix whose wide array of horror films and series is enough to satiate the regular horror aficionado. 

Horror aficionados often crave an abundance of blood and gore. While some might find it wildly unsettling, these gore fans relish in the scenes that detail medieval torture, bloodshed and bile-inducing violence. 

Netflix, too, has an eclectic mix of gruesome horror films that are frankly disturbing and unnerving. Here are the 5 most gruesome horror flicks on Netflix: 

The 5 most gruesome horror films to watch on Netflix 

5. Thriller (Dallas Jackson, 2018) 

With an evil killer who has a penchant for slicing torsos, breaking fingers and bathing in blood, this slasher film, despite the abundance of cliches in the plot, is indeed horrifying. The film also emulates the classic horror tropes of the 80s with a haunting score and dramatic tension. 

The film is set in posh LA and sees a clique of childhood friends who reunite during their high school homecoming weekend. However, a childhood prank gone awry comes back to haunt them and soon they find themselves in a messy plot of bloodlust and revenge. 

4. A Classic Horror Story (Roberto De Feo, Paolo Strippoli, 2021)

A proper and gory cross between Cabin in the Woods and Wrong Turn, the film sees five carpoolers stranded in the middle of an impenetrable forest where they seek shelter in an abandoned cabin. This turns out to be the ground for a sinister cult and soon they find themselves entangled in a bloody mess. 

The film is pretty meta while playing with the same tropes of an abandoned cabin n the woods. While it provides a pretty mesmerising look into Italian summers, the abundance of blood is visible in scenes that involve cutting off one’s ear, mercilessly knifing them on a stake and more.  

3. It Comes At Night (Trey Edward Shults, 2017)

With charred bodies, an abundance of character deaths and more, the film has a few gut-twisting scenes of diseases including black bile and boils which makes it pretty hard to sit through. Starring Joel Edgerton, Christopher Abbott, Carmen Ejogo and more, the film is a pretty good cross between horror and psychological drama. 

A man puts his wife and son in a Draconian regime which is put to test when a young family seeks refuge. Distrustful of one another, the two families are posed with questions of monstrosity and more as they try to defend themselves against one another.

2. Apostle (Gareth Evans, 2018)

Starring Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Bill Milner, Paul Higgins and others in prominent roles, Apostle is a cult horror flick that is guaranteed to turn one’s stomach with the intense scenes of torture, bloodshed and more. From slitting one’s throat to drilling their brains or driving a stake through their torso, the film is strange and bizarre in its commentary on fear, human morality, selfishness and modernity.  

Stevens acts as the lead protagonist who is compelled to embark on a daunting quest to an isolated Welsh island to rescue his sister who has been held captive by a mysterious cult. He soon finds himself embroiled in sinister cult activities. 

1. Raw (Julia Ducournau, 2016) 

Fans of cannibalistic horror, be prepared to be shocked by Ducournau’s debut feature that shocked audiences with the sheer gore. Dark and horrifying, the disturbing film follows an adolescent girl’s descent into madness when she tastes meat and gives in to her cannibalistic desires. 

Filled with nudity, sex, blood and gore, it is one of the most controversial films on Netflix that records the protagonist’s steady descent into carnivorous obsession and affinity for consuming raw flesh while caving into her animalistic tendencies.