The Best Horror Films on Netflix UK

Few horror films – on Netflix UK or otherwise – are as disturbing as Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!. It follows the story of a couple who have escaped to a house in the country in order to attempt to cure the husband’s writer’s block. Their supposed tranquil life doesn’t plan out the way they intend it to though: mysterious strangers turn up at the house, and their lives begin to unravel.

To give too much away about the plot of Mother! would be to ruin what makes it so great. It’s a roller-coaster ride from start to finish; you genuinely won’t know what’s waiting around the next corner. There’s some seriously disturbing imagery and the film may leave you with even more questions than you had before – but it’s a movie absolutely worth watching.

Length: 2 hours 1 minute
Director: Darren Aronofsky 

Creep isn’t scary because it’s supernatural. There are no ghosts, no haunted houses, no demons that come for you in your dreams. None of that. Creep is scary because it feels so… ordinary. It’s something that could happen. Unsettling from start to finish, it’s a slow burner, but if you’re looking for a good horror film on Netflix UK, it should definitely be a contender. It’ll make you think twice about whose house you visit, at the very least.

And if you enjoyed this one, its sequel, Creep 2, is also available on Netflix.

Length: 1 hour 20 minutes
Director: Patrick Brice

While The Strangers: Prey at Night is a sequel of sorts to 2008’s The Strangers, it doesn’t require any knowledge of that film to enjoy it; it’s entirely its own story. It’s your typical slasher horror movie: a family’s peaceful vacation is ruined when violent lunatics turn up and attempt to kill them all. You know how it goes.

While it’s not wholly original, The Strangers: Prey and Night manages to earn its place as one of the best horror films on Netflix UK thanks to a combination of great cinematography, some truly heart-pounding moments of terror, and a pace that never lets up. Set over the course of one night, it packs in plenty of gore, making for an entertaining yet horrifying ride from start to finish.

Length: 1 hour 25 minutes
Director: Johannes Roberts

Hush is perhaps one of the cleverest films to make it onto this list. The lead protagonist is deaf, and with a great deal of the movie told from her perspective, the absence of sound plays a big part in creating the atmosphere that makes this film so unsettling and thrilling.

Alone in a woodland retreat as she knuckles down to work on her next book, a deaf writer’s night is about to get a hell of a lot more scary as her home is targeted by a masked criminal. She’s not your typical damsel in distress though, and the twists and turns of Hush will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Length: 1 hour 21 minutes
Director: Mike Flanagan

The Purge has been succeeded numerous sequels and an excellent TV series, but the first still holds its own. It’s set in a dystopian imagining of America where the government has sanctioned the ‘Purge’, one night a year where all crime – including murder – is legal. For half of the population, that means fortifying their houses as much as possible and hunkering down for the night. For the other half, it means heading out on the streets to cause as much terror and destruction as possible.

It’s a gruesome concept, and you can’t help but think what would happen if such an ideal actually happened. Hopefully Trump isn’t quite that crazy, but the film will at least keep you on the edge of your seat.

Length: 1 hour 25 minutes
Director: James DeMonaco

If you’ve got fancy friends who live in a big old secluded mansion, The Invitation might make you think twice about going over for dinner. Eden and David invite a number of friends over for a dinner party, including Eden’s ex-husband Will. It starts off like a fairly innocuous gathering – fancy people bragging about fancy things; you know, the usual dinner party stuff.

But things soon take a sinister turn when the group plays a game of ‘I Want’, and when one member tries to leave, a couple of the guests get suspicious that they’re being prevented from leaving at will. Expect a lot of violence, twisted psychology, and plenty of tense moments from this Netflix horror film.

Length: 1 hour 40 minutes
Director: Karyn Kusama

Few horror films manage to be as upbeat and pack in as much genuine humour as Happy Death Day. But it’s hard to consider it a true comedy-horror simply for the sheer amount of gore it manages to pack in.

The plot follows college student Theresa, who has the bad luck to get murdered on her birthday. Damn. Not all is lost though: somehow, she gets to relive the whole day again, waking up on the same morning as if nothing ever happened. That means she gets to try and stop her own murder happening, and find the person responsible. Cue Theresa dying multiple times, every day in a new, equally grizzly way. Happy Death Day is one of the most fun horror films on Netflix UK, but it’s still not for the faint of heart.

Length: 1 hour 36 minutes
Director: Christopher Landon