Do you feel that prickle at the back of your neck? That unshakable sensation that something is lurking around the next corner? The horror genre isn’t all heart rate–spiking jump scares and gore fests. In creator Haley Z. Boston’s Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, bride-to-be Rachel (Camila Morrone) heads to her fiancé Nicky’s (Adam DiMarco) family home for their wedding, where she’s confronted by a feeling of utter wrongness. Is this paranoia just the stereotypical prewedding jitters, or does something darker lie in wait?
If you’ve already watched all eight episodes of the supernatural series, which is executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, then you might be hankering for another slow-burn horror — the kind that takes its time ratcheting the tension up to 11. These 13 series and movies on Netflix feature unsettling mansions brimming with shifting shadows; obsessive romantics that dig their nails in and never let go; and complicated families whose fates are sealed from the beginning, even if they don’t realize it until it’s too late. Keep reading to learn more.
Archive 81
This supernatural horror series executive produced by James Wan (Saw) will have you questioning what’s real. In 1994, filmmaker Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) began her PhD dissertation: a documentary about an apartment complex, the Visser, at the center of a suspected demonic cult. More than two decades later, a conservator, Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie), is tasked with traveling to a remote facility and reviving Melody’s tapes, which were damaged in a fire. That same blaze also killed many of the building’s residents — and Melody seemingly disappeared. As Dan watches the footage and unravels the mystery, he experiences horrific visions. Are they all in his head, or is there a larger, life-threatening conspiracy afoot? Matt McGorry (Orange Is the New Black), Evan Jonigkeit (The Hunting Wives), and Martin Donovan (Sabotage) also star.
Behind Her Eyes
This psychological thriller is based on Sarah Pinborough’s 2017 novel and follows a single mother, Louise (Simona Brown), who begins an affair with her new boss, psychiatrist David (Tom Bateman). But when she strikes up an unexpected friendship with his mysterious wife, Adele (Eve Hewson) — who appears to experience strange dreams — the group’s labyrinthine love triangle results in a twisty finale filled with deceit, betrayal, and life-altering mind games.
Brand New Cherry Flavor
A filmmaker seeks sweet revenge in this horror miniseries created by Nick Antosca (Channel Zero) and Lenore Zion (Good Behavior), and based on the novel by Todd Grimson. When Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) arrives in Hollywood in the early ’90s, her meeting with a powerful producer, Lou Burke (Eric Lange), to talk about her short horror film leads to a life-altering deal. But he cuts her from the movie when she rejects his advances, shattering her dreams. Seeking to ruin his life, Lisa approaches a witch (Catherine Keener), who curses Lou and alters Lisa’s perceptions of the world. Jeff Ward (ONE PIECE) and Manny Jacinto (Cora Bora) also star.
Castle Rock
If anyone knows hair-raising horror, it’s Stephen King. This two-season horror anthology follows residents of the fictional, eponymous Maine town who are both inspired by, and taken directly from, King’s substantial catalog. They include an aspiring writer with the surname Torrance, a prisoner at Shawshank State Penitentiary, a covert telepath, and a doctor working at a hospital in nearby Jerusalem’s Lot. Season 1 begins with criminal attorney Henry Deaver (André Holland) returning to his hometown, only to find that past events surrounding the nearby prison have come back to haunt him. Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets), Bill Skarsgård (Clark), Jane Levy (Evil Dead), Sissy Spacek (Bloodline), and Lizzy Caplan (Zero Day) also star in this series executive produced by J.J. Abrams (The Cloverfield Paradox).
Dark
Pay close attention to this twisty German sci-fi mystery series, which follows the residents of a small town, Winden, after a child goes missing. The surrounding woods are dark and deep, but the locals wouldn’t be quite so spooked if the same thing hadn’t also happened decades earlier. At the center of it all are four families — the Kahnwalds, Nielsens, Dopplers, and Tiedemanns — whose involvement in an eerie time-travel conspiracy stretches across multiple generations and has potentially dire implications for the town’s past, present, and future. Louis Hofmann (RIPLEY) leads this large ensemble cast that also includes Oliver Masucci (Day Shift), Jördis Triebel (The Empress), and Maja Schöne (The Fire).
Dear Child
When a woman, Lena (Kim Riedle), is struck by a car on a dark road, she’s rushed to the hospital with her daughter, 12-year-old Hannah (Naila Schuberth), in tow. While Lena is hesitant to speak, Hannah soon begins to reveal disturbing details about their life. That’s when an officer chasing a 13-year-old missing persons case shows up. Is Lena the girl who disappeared all those years ago? And, if so, what kind of horrors has she endured at the hands of her captor — and the father of her children? This German thriller is based on author Romy Hausmann’s novel of the same name and also stars Sammy Schrein (German Crime Story: Gefesselt), Hans Löw (I’m Your Man), and Haley Louise Jones (Paradise).
The Fall of the House of Usher
The more powerful the family, the bigger the secrets. Creator Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher is loosely based on various works by Edgar Allan Poe, and follows the trials and tragedies of the ultra-wealthy Usher family. Siblings Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell) have spent their lives building their pharmaceutical empire into an unprecedented success, regardless of who got hurt along the way. So when the company’s heirs begin to die one by one — in increasingly fantastic ways — at the hands of a mysterious woman (Carla Gugino) from their youth, they’re forced to look back at the path that led them to their horrifying present. Mark Hamill (The Sandman) and Carl Lumbly (Obliterated) also star.
The Haunting of Bly Manor
This is, first and foremost, a love story. Flanagan’s loose adaptation of Henry James’s work — most notably 1898’s The Turn of the Screw — is a dark, romantic tale that follows a teacher (Victoria Pedretti) in ’80s London who is hired by the wealthy Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) as an au pair for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth). After arriving at their hauntingly beautiful country estate, Bly Manor, Dani begins to experience strange events and see unexplained apparitions as she unearths the house’s history, befriends the other workers, and meets an intriguing gardener. Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Lost Daughter), Amelia Eve (Leopard Skin), T’Nia Miller (The Fall of the House of Usher), and Rahul Kohli (Midnight Mass) also star.
The Haunting of Hill House
Creepy mansions abound in Flanagan’s work, and The Haunting of Hill House is no different. When the Crains move into the dilapidated Hill House, parents Hugh (Thomas) and Olivia (Gugino) are determined to restore the once-stately home to its former glory. But the longer they stay, the more their sanity deteriorates, and a tragic accident forces the young family to flee in the middle of the night. Years later, the now-grown Crain siblings — Steven (Michiel Huisman), Shirley (Elizabeth Reaser), Theo (Kate Siegel), Luke (Oliver Jackson-Cohen), and Nell (Pedretti) — cope with their trauma in various ways. Can they leave their haunted history behind? Or will their memories (and the literal ghosts of their pasts) consume them?
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
An isolated drive down a dark, winding road. A couple at a turning point in their shared story. Sound familiar? In this surrealist psychological thriller, Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) plays a woman — whose name changes throughout the film — who goes on a road trip with her boyfriend, Jake (Jesse Plemons), to meet his parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) while she contemplates ending their relationship. The couple’s off-kilter experiences are intercut with footage of a seemingly unconnected school custodian (Guy Boyd), whose storyline unfolds alongside theirs. The film, written and directed by Charlie Kaufman (Anomalisa), is a loose adaptation of Iain Reid’s 2016 novel.
Karma
Six seemingly unconnected people are thrown together after a deadly scheme goes awry in this K-drama directed by Lee Il-hyung (A Violent Prosecutor). When a man known only as the Debtor (Lee Hee-jun) gets in too deep with a violent loan shark, he hatches a plan to earn some quick cash. But when his plot goes awry, seemingly innocent people are caught up in the blowback, and the Debtor’s fate becomes tied to ruthless criminals who are out for his blood. Park Hae-soo (The Great Flood) and Shin Min-a (Chief of Staff) also star in this series based on the webtoon by Choi See-hun.
Midnight Mass
Crockett Island is home to 127 souls, all of whom can’t help but whisper when Riley (Zach Gilford) — who left their isolated community behind years ago — returns after serving time in prison for a drunk driving accident. Simultaneously, a charismatic new priest, Father Paul Hill (Hamish Linklater), arrives on the island, and claims that their regular priest, the elderly Monsignor Pruitt (also Linklater), is on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. But mysterious events soon befall the island, and the town’s mistrustful residents begin to point fingers at anyone they deem an outsider. This Gothic supernatural horror miniseries was created by Flanagan and also stars Siegel, Kohli, Kristin Lehman (Heartland), and Samantha Sloyan (Hush).
Yellowjackets
The women in this series are more than willing to get brutal. In fact, they thrive on it. When their plane crash-lands in the Canadian wilderness, the members of a high school soccer team are forced to partake in increasingly drastic survival tactics. Years later, the rescued survivors struggle to cope with what they did, and fear that the world will discover their dark secrets. This thriller drama series, created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), plays out across two timelines that follow the teen and adult versions of the characters as they grapple with their choices and memories — and with each other. Lynskey (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore), Sophie Nélisse (Close), Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable), Jasmin Savoy Brown (Scream), Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear), Sophie Thatcher (Heretic), Christina Ricci (Wednesday), and Samantha Hanratty (Shameless) co-star.
