5. Gerald’s Game (2017)
One of the better Stephen King adaptations of the past few years, “Gerald’s Game” is a suspense-ridden horror that stars Carla Gugino as a woman who gets trapped in her vacation house, handcuffed to the bed, after her husband suddenly dies in the middle of a kinky sex game.
Directed by Mike Flanagan (“The Haunting Of Hill House”), “Gerald’s Game” did the impossible task of adapting one of Stephen King’s least filmable novels without losing too much of the original material’s essence. “Gerald’s Game” is a novel where most of the action takes place inside the protagonist’s mind, yet Flanagan really shows his talent as a horror director and screenwriter and manages to bring to screen the complexity and terror of King’s book in a very creative way.
“Gerald’s Game” is not a film for the faint-hearted and there is a certain scene that will make even the most avid horror watchers want to look away. Just like its source material, the film’s ending divides audiences, yet even the most nitpicky viewers will agree that this is one of the best acted and most gripping horrors on Netflix.
4. The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)
Directed by Oz Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins), “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” mostly takes place at a prep school where two girls are left alone after their parents inexplicably don’t appear to take them home for winter break. At the same time, the film follows a young woman who is desperate to arrive at the school for unknown reasons.
This is Oz Perkins’ directorial debut and there are moments when you can tell it, but it certainly has a lot to offer in order to deserve its high place on this list. Despite a simple plot, a somewhat abrupt ending, and some moments of mediocre acting, the film manages to create a really creepy atmosphere and doesn’t spoil it with cheap jump scares like so many bad horror movies.
Even more, the movie makes great use of its soundtrack, which is perfectly balanced with moments of silence. Silence can sometimes be much more frightening than any loud and creepy music and “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” proves it perfectly. The film’s narrative also caught our attention: the story unfolds in a very captivating way, using many timeline jumps, and this creates a state of confusion and mystery that will only make sense in the final act.
If you’re into atmospheric horror films with a slow build-up, chances are you’ll love “The Blackcoat’s Daughter”.
3. It Comes At Night (2017)
Directed by Trey Edward Shults (“Waves”, “Krisha”), “It Comes at Night” is the typical case of a wrongfully marketed film that didn’t really find its audience. Based on the trailers, “It Comes at Night” looked like a better-than-average horror movie filled with jumpscares and grotesque imagery, yet the film turned out to be a slow burn that, while being atmospheric and having its share of spine-tingling moments, is really more of a psychological kind of horror.
That being said, the film is great and paranoia-inducing. Its plot revolves around a family that lives in a secluded house near the forest, some time after a contagious outbreak took over the world. Things get strange – and very tense – after a stranger asks for their help and seeks refuge for him and his family at their home.
“It Comes at Night” is a film about family and trust. In many ways, it’s like John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place,” but without the monsters and, despite the poor audience reaction, we consider it to be one of A24’s most underrated films and a one of a kind film.
2. Train To Busan (2016)
This fast-paced zombie thriller features Gong Yoo as a workaholic father who is traveling to Busan along with his young daughter (Kim Su-an) in order to see her mom on her birthday. As the title suggests, this is a film that mostly takes place on a train, but this is probably the worst train ride to be embarked on, for a virus is spreading throughout the passengers, turning them into vicious, fast and very aggressive zombies, and the father and daughter have to struggle for their own lives and find a way to reach a safe place.
The zombies from “Train To Busan” are not the George A. Romero creepy, slow-moving type of zombies and make the ones in “The Walking Dead” look tame. They are fast and nearly impossible to escape from and being stuck in the confined space of the train makes it even harder for our protagonists to defeat the undead.
This makes “Train To Busan” the wildest, craziest, and most entertaining zombie film you can watch on Netflix right now.
1. The Witch: A New England Folktale (2015)
One of the most acclaimed horror films of the past decade, Robert Eggers’s “The Witch: A New England Folktale” follows a Puritan family in the 1630’s New England who is being unsettled by an unknown evil lurking in the dark woods surrounding their recluse farm. As their animals start to act strange, their crops fail and one of the children is seemingly possessed by an unseen entity, the paranoid family members accuse Tomasin (Anya Taylor‑Joy), the teenage daughter, of being a witch.
The historical setting, complex themes of religion, fanaticism and female suppression, the unsettling, dreamlike atmosphere, and the lack of horror clichés make Eggers’ directorial debut film one of the most refreshing horror films of the 2010s. While there are no jumpscares or buckets of blood, this is still one of the most spellbinding and creepy horror films A24 has ever put out.