Yes, I am afraid of the dark. And, yes, I am a huge proponent for night lights. Does that stop me from watching a good horror movie? Absolutely not! Not even close. While my friends are always voting for which best rom-com to watch on movie night, I'm sitting there scrolling through the horror movie section to see what I'll be watching on my own time. Let's be real, there's nothing quite like watching some of the scariest movies of all time to get the blood pumpin' and skin crawlin'.
If you're feeling bogged down by indecision, I'm here to help ya out with the best horror movies on Hulu rn (a treasure trove of both well-known and underrated films). See? Don't you feel less stressed by decision-making already? Let the serial killers and monsters in these movies get your heart racing instead. It's their job, after all. Oh, and I apologize in advance for the nightmares.
Note: Because these movies vary in terms of themes and plotlines, we do get into some details for these movies, so you have an *idea* of what you're getting into. So if you'd rather be completely surprised and not spoiled at all, maybe just focus on the titles and genres and go watch immediately.
1. Annabelle
Capable of unspeakable evil, the actual (yes, it's real) doll exists locked in an occult museum visited only by a priest who blesses it twice a month. Just remember that next time you want to bring a "harmless" doll into the house.
2. Spiral
Step into a terrifying new chapter from the book of Saw. Starring Chris Rock, Max Minghella, and Samuel L. Jackson, a criminal mastermind unleashes a twisted form of justice all through a morbid game.
3. Willy's Wonderland
Starring Nic Cage, a loner wages war against possessed animatronic mascots while trapped inside Willy's Wonderland, an abandoned family fun center.
4. Skinamarink
Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find that their father is missing. To make things worse, all the windows and doors in their home have suddenly vanished.
5. The Hills Have Eyes
A family vacay takes a bloody detour when cannibalistic mutants raise hell in this unrelenting remake of Wes Craven's 1977 cult horror film.
6. Omen
The prophecy is clear and the signs are unmistakable. In this remake of a 1976 classic, the U.S. Ambassador to England begins to suspect that his son is the Anti-Christ and must wrestle with the decision to kill his own child.
7. Seven
A predator kills victims by paying homage to all seven deadly sins they each represent. Now, it's up to two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, to find the serial killer before it's too late.
8. The Offering
When the son of a Hasidic funeral director returns home with his pregnant wife to reconcile with his father, he is unaware of the evil presence lurking in the family morgue. An ancient entity with a sinister plan waits for his unborn child.
9. Jeepers Creepers: Reborn
Laine and Chase head to the Horror Hound Festival (red flag #1), where Laine begins to have unexplained premonitions and disturbing visions associated with the town's past, including local legend the Creeper (red flag #2). As the festival begins and the blood-soaked entertainment builds to a frenzy, Laine believes that something unearthly has been summoned and for the first time in 23 years, the Creeper is back.
10. Enys Men
A wildlife volunteer on an uninhabited island descends into a terrifying madness that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare.
11. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark
Sally moves to Rhode Island to live with her father and his new girlfriend in a 19th-century mansion they're restoring. Sounds like a fun adventure, right? Well, it is...until she starts hearing voices coming from the basement.
12. Bad Hair
When an ambitious woman gets a weave in order to succeed in the image-obsessed world of music television, her career comes at a cost when she realizes that her new hair may have a mind of its own.
13. It Comes at Night
Earth has been mostly wiped out by a highly contagious disease (ugh, I'm getting pandemic flashbacks already). A small group of survivors try to stay alive but—surprise, surprise—things don't go smoothly.
14. Midsommar
From the director of Hereditary (also on this list!), Ari Aster puts his take on the "pagan festival that's actually a cult" trope through the lens of a very dysfunctional relationship. If you know anything about The Wicker Man, you'll know that sh*t is about to go sideways in the worst way.
15. Stalker
A man meets and makes friends with a ride-share driver after he moves to California. Then he kinda blows the guy off to hang out with his new GF—and, uh, it turns out maybe that was a terrible idea. You don't want to piss this guy off, actually.
16. Under the Skin
Scarlett Johannson is actually ~very~ underrated in this film as an alien who comes to Earth and goes after random men. Without spoiling it...this movie is dark and trippy and quite gross, all at the same time.
17. Possessor
If you like trippy horror, watch this immediately. An assassin is trained to enter the mind of another person, who kills the intended target and then themselves (and the assassin gets "pulled out" back to her own body). When we meet her, it's all starting to go wrong in her brain.
18. The Last Rite
If you like a lil Exorcist vibe horror, check out this lower-budget film: A woman with sleep paralysis (ugh) feels like she's being taken over by a demonic entity (UGH) and contacts a priest to hopefully get some assistance.
19. Wrong Turn
This remake (technically a reboot of the series) features a familiar premise—a bunch of young people go hiking off the beaten path in Appalachia and come across violent "mountain dwellers" who really, really, reaaaally don't like being disturbed.
20. 12 Hour Shift
If you think your life is tough: Mandy is a nurse, on an overnight shift, addicted to pain medication, deep in an organ-harvesting ring, and being pursued for a missing kidney. You know, all while sleep-deprived. Casual!
21. The Owners
The ahhmazing Maisie Williams (from Game of Thrones, obviously) is awesome here as part of a group of robbers who break in and ambush an old couple. It goes...quite badly for the robbers, let's say. If you like gore, get excited!
22. Fresh
Fresh stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as a young woman who discovers that her new BF (played by Sebastian Stan) has...strange...appetites (it's grosser than you think), and unfortunately, she discovers this during an isolated weekend away with him.
23. No Exit
This thriller revolves around a college student who gets stuck in a blizzard during a trip home. Luckily, she isn't alone, as she's stranded along with a group of others, but as it turns out, one of the people among them is a kidnapper.
24. Run
Starring scream queen Sarah Paulson, this suspenseful thriller revolves around a wheelchair-bound teen raised in total isolation by her mother—and that mother just so happens to harbor a sinister secret that could unravel both of their lives.
25. Wounds
If you nope the eff out at the mere sight of cockroaches, Wounds will not be your bag, k? Here, Armie Hammer stars as a bartender and all-around bad boyfriend who finds a cellphone with a super disturbing video on it that may or may not show someone’s murder. The movie plays it fast and loose with whatever the hell is going on (vague supernatural craziness? Maybe witchcraft? TBD!), but that just makes the whole viewing experience all the more uncomfortable.
26. False Positive
Hi, looking to have a baby anytime soon? Yeah, then you probs shouldn't watch this one, which tells the story of a copywriter struggling to conceive (Ilana Glazer) who seeks out the help of a fertility doctor...and though she manages to become pregnant, she can't help but feel that something is off about the charming doctor. (Spoiler alert: there is.)
27. Mother/Android
Set in the not-so-distant future, Chloë Grace Moretz and Algee Smith star in this one as a pregnant woman and her boyfriend who attempt to escape to Boston in the midst of a hostile AI takeover, and you won't wanna use Siri for a while after watching this one.
28. Parasite
A scary movie that won Best Picture? Aren’t you fancy! Bong Joon-ho’s social thriller might not always be the kind of scary you’re used to—if what you’re used to is fangs, claws, and constant jump scares—but it’s incredible.
29. The Lodge
The mere concept of spending Christmas with your boyfriend’s kids, who totally hate you and blame you for their mom’s death, is pretty freaking anxiety-inducing. Except, wait: There’s also a snowstorm that traps you in the cabin...just before things get mind-blowingly weird. Throw in some cult stuff and a dash of “WTF is actually happening?!?” and you have one of the most nail-biting movies about step-parenting ever.
30. Safer at Home
The age of Coronavirus-inspired pandemic horror movies is upon us, and this one reeeeally hits close to home. Not traumatized enough after the events of 2020? Smash that play button!
31. Mom and Dad
Yikes. Mom and Dad puts a really dark twist on the whole “I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it!” cliché your parents emptily threatened you with as a kid. All the parents in this town go nuts and try to kill all their children. Also, you should probably know that the dad is Nicolas Cage...if that makes it any scarier for you.
32. Titane
In this wild French horror flick, a woman with a titanium plate in her head becomes pregnant after having sex with a car, and yes, it's as wild and weird as it sounds.
33. The Witch
This truly horrifying flick centers on a young woman who witnesses the disappearance of her youngest brother in 1630 New England and is consequently accused of witchcraft. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Thomasin with such conviction that you actually believe she's trapped in a 17th-century waking nightmare.
34. The Feast
Set in the Welsh mountains, this fantasy horror movie revolves around a wealthy family who gather to have dinner in their estate, though the evening takes a real turn after a mysterious woman arrives claiming to be their waitress (and as you can probably guess, she's not).
35. We Need to Do Something
Based on the novella of the same name by Max Booth III, this supernatural thriller revolves around a family who is trapped in their bathroom during a tornado. When they realize help isn't coming, they are forced to find a way to rescue themselves.
36. Malignant
In Malignant, a young woman (Annabelle Wallis) finds herself subject to horrifying visions of grisly murders. These visions become even more terrifying when she realizes they're actually coming true. This movie is wiiiiild but I promise you will enjoy the hell out of it.
37. The Haunting in Connecticut
Reportedly based on the true story of Carmen Snedeker and her family, this horror flick follows the fictional Campbells as they move into a house (which was formerly a mortuary) and begin to witness terrifying supernatural phenomena.
38. Alone
This incredibly underrated thriller follows a recent widow who finds herself stalked and, eventually, kidnapped by a creepy killer who takes her to his remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest. And though she eventually escapes, her horrifying experience is unfortunately far from over.
39. Hereditary
Last but certainly not least: Hereditary, which is truly one of the freakiest films you'll ever see. In it, a woman (Toni Collette) watches her family unravel in the wake of her mother's death and learns of the sinister fate they have inherited, and it's basically guaranteed to give ya nightmares.
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40. Hellraiser
A young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware of its purpose to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension. And, yes, this is a remake of Clive Barker's 1987 horror classic.
