The 20 best scary movies streaming right now (2024)

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott's starship setting in Alien functions almost like a haunted house in space, being a place where nobody can run far and screams will rarely be heard. The film sees plenty of Hollywood icons confront a stalking Xenomorph, but Sigourney Weaver won the world over as the best final girl in the cosmos.

As EW previously reported, Weaver believes that Hollywood just didn't "know what to do" with her after she kicked serious butt in her breakout role. Fortunately, she's gone on to become one of the most formidable actresses working today, and it all began with this story of her surviving the worst foe humanity had ever seen. —Chris Snellgrove

Where to watch Alien: Hulu

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto

The Babadook (2014)

Long before he became an unexpected gay icon, the Babadook was delivering visceral scares that simultaneously pulled on our heartstrings. The movie constantly makes us question whether the central troubled child (Noah Wiseman) is truly connected to a storybook monster, or if he — and perhaps even his mother (played to chilling perfection by Essie Davis) — is declining psychologically. This is a particularly bleak scary movie for parents, proving we can never keep our children fully safe and stable.

As EW's critic notes in their review, "In an age when horror movies have mostly become lazy and toothless, here's one with ambition and bite." Just beware… the emotional scars from this particular bite will last a long time. —C.S.

Where to watch The Babadook: AMC+

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Jennifer Kent

Cast: Essie Davis, Noah Wiseman, Hayley McElhinney, Daniel Henshall, Barbara West, Ben Winspear

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Like pineapple and pepperoni on pizza (yeah, we said it), horror and comedy provide an unforgettable mixture of saltiness and sweetness. That's the combination that makes Bodies Bodies Bodies seem so fresh, setting the action in a ritzy mansion during an incoming hurricane where obnoxious party teens suddenly start dropping like flies. The Gen Z whodunnit hijinks are genuinely thrilling, and watching the characters turn against each other leaves you guessing until the bitter end.

To quote EW's critic, this scary movie is "just straight-up fun: a black-hearted comedy of manners meets contemporary social nightmare, written in blood and vape smoke." —C.S.

Where to watch Bodies Bodies Bodies: Netflix

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Halina Reijn

Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, Pete Davidson

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

Those longing for a horror homage with more than a few new moves will love The Cabin in the Woods. On the surface, it's the story of some hapless youths who just want to get away from it all. But under the surface (quite literally), mysterious figures help decide their fate, all while recontextualizing everything you know about classic slashers. Thanks to a script co-written by Joss Whedon, there's plenty for genre fans to ruminate on here.

As EW's critic writes, "The movie's biggest surprise may be that the story we think we know from modern scary cinema — that horror is a fun, cosmic game, not much else — here turns out to be pretty much the whole enchilada." If you're in the mood for scenes as smart as they are scary, though, you're going to enjoy every bite. —C.S.

Where to watch The Cabin in the Woods: Peaco*ck

EW grade: B– (read the review)

Director: Drew Goddard

Cast: Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Anna Hutchison, Fran Kranz, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford

Carrie (1976)

Carrie was the one that started it all, not only for Stephen King as a novelist but also for the long line of film adaptations of his work to come. While said adaptations are of varying quality, few would argue with the strength of Brian De Palma's take on this story of high school outcast Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), who uses her telekinetic powers to exact revenge on the bullies who torment her.

While the film is not reliant on traditional jump-scares, the psychological buildup of Carrie enduring the horrors of high school as well as her religious zealot mother (Piper Laurie, camp excellence) makes the iconic prom climax all the more satisfying. Plus, it's not every day that the Oscars acknowledge horror performances, with Spacek and Laurie earning nominations for their fully committed work. —Kevin Jacobsen

Where to watch Carrie: Max

Director: Brian De Palma

Cast: Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Amy Irving, Betty Buckley, Nancy Allen, William Katt, John Travolta, P.J. Soles

Creep (2014)

Longtime horror nerds know that Blumhouse has a mixed bag of films. Fortunately, director Patrick Brice's Creep is one of the better treasures in that trove, following a cameraman (played by Brice himself) who takes a Craigslist job that involves recording an off-kilter dying client (Mark Duplass) as an artifact for his unborn son. This setup makes for a refreshing and stripped-down found footage film. Trust us: Even if you normally hate the format, you'll love this bonkers tale that mines much of its scares from a surprisingly psychological angle.

As Duplass told EW, the collective vibe of this movie was, "Let's just make it super weird and make it the crazy little monster that it is." The result is an eye-opening exercise in terror that will especially impress those who think the subgenre peaked at the onset with The Blair Witch Project. —C.S.

Where to watch Creep: Netflix

Director: Patrick Brice

Cast: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice

The Descent (2005)

Subtlety is all good and fine, but sometimes we want a scary movie whose thrills are delightfully down to earth. Such is the case in The Descent, a film that literalizes the trope of characters descending into danger, seeing our adventurous protagonists (a group of women on a girls' trip) encounter creepy critters deep underground.

EW's critic muses that "Gollum might be a distant relative of these monstrous nightmares-made-flesh," and these ghouls truly give the impression of Tolkien on steroids. Ultimately, this movie is a triumph for trading the claustrophobic terrors of a cabin in the woods film for the even more constrained carnage of a cave. —C.S.

Where to watch The Descent: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Neil Marshall

Cast: Shauna Macdonald, Natalie Mendoza, Alex Reid, Saskia Mulder, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring

Get Out (2017)

Few films in recent memory have had the kind of impact as Jordan Peele's 2017 feature directorial debut, Get Out, on the horror movie landscape. The story of Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya), a Black man who goes on a trip to meet his white girlfriend's parents, takes many twists and turns as he realizes they have sinister plans for him beneath their placid smiles.

Blending trenchant social commentary with genuine thrills, the film explores terror on both a surface and subconscious level as Chris tries to escape his dreadful fate — one that is arguably worse than death. Peele won an Oscar for his screenplay, while the film itself was nominated for Best Picture, a rarity for the horror genre. —K.J.

Where to watch Get Out: Hulu

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Jordan Peele

Cast:Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Catherine Keener

Goodnight Mommy (2014)

There is no shortage of creepy twins in horror (“Come play with us, Danny!”), and the most terrifying example from recent memory is in Austria’s Goodnight Mommy, which premiered in 2014 at the Venice International Film Festival and was released theatrically a year later. A psychological horror story, Goodnight Mommy follows two 9-year-old twin boys who begin to question their mother’s identity after she returns from intensive cosmetic surgery as a seemingly different person than the parent they once knew. The boys commit to ousting the imposter and finding the location of their real mother, but their investigation leads to truths too horrifying to process.

In our 2015 review, we predicted an “inevitable remake,” and in 2022, the film gods provided. Feel free to binge both versions, but definitely start with the original. —Ilana Gordon

Where to watch Goodnight Mommy: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Directors: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

Cast: Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lukas Schwarz

Hereditary (2018)

It's rare for horror films to be family dramas, and it's even rarer for that drama to be scarier than the specters and ghosts sparring with our characters. But that's exactly what we get with Hereditary —during which the domestic tragedies will have you covering your eyes long before the supernatural stuff hits its stride. This Ari Aster film brings great performances from actors like Alex Wolff and Milly Shapiro, but it's Toni Collette that brings the house down.

EW's critic praised her as "amazing, grounding what most people might dismiss as just a 'scary movie' with real dramatic power and force. She makes us feel in our marrow what it's like to be a mother losing control of her family and maybe her mind." A tale of motherhood and madness, Hereditary will stick to your soul like gum does to the bottom of your shoe. —C.S.

Where to watch Hereditary: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Ari Aster

Cast: Toni Collette, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro, Ann Dowd, Gabriel Byrne

It (2017)

The first of a two-part film adaptation of Stephen King's iconic novel/doorstopper, It set the record as the highest-grossing horror film of all time at the domestic box office. It's easy to see why, considering the enduring image of Pennywise that's haunted readers for decades. Set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine, a group of outcast kids must survive the taunting sewer-dwelling clown, who forces them to confront their deepest fears.

EW's critic makes note of the great timing of It's release, following the success of a certain sci-fi/horror show, which had just premiered the previous year. "Just as there's no denying that a series like Stranger Things wouldn't exist without King's It, there’s also no question that Stranger Things informs the way that It paints its band of nerdy young misfits and the fears they carry around inside them," he wrote. "The two are in a dialogue with each other." —K.J.

Where to watch It: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Andy Muschietti

Cast: Jaeden Lieberher, Bill Skarsgård, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Sophia Lillis, Finn Wolfhard, Wyatt Oleff, Chosen Jacobs, Jack Dylan Grazer, Nicholas Hamilton, Jackson Robert Scott

Let the Right One In (2008)

Vampire movies don’t work without blood, but the Swedish vampire drama Let the Right One In offers up an equal helping of heart. Set in 1982, 12-year-old Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) lives in a suburb of Stockholm and struggles to stand up to the bullies who harass him at school. But when Eli (Lina Leandersson), a pale, mysterious girl moves in next door, Oskar finally has someone to talk to. Eli and Oskar connect on a level neither has experienced before — but Oskar doesn’t know Eli is a vampire.

Offered up by an EW critic as a contender for best vampire movie of 2008, Let the Right One In “is like a Scandinavian Twilight minus the teen-steam schmaltz, packing in great gooey scares while tracing the friendship between a picked-on 12-year-old boy and a girl who hungers for the red stuff.” —I.G.

Where to watch Let the Right One In: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: A (read the review)

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Cast: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Ika Nord, Peter Carlberg

Malignant (2021)

Historically, scary movies have been low-budget affairs. However, Malignant is an alternatively (and relatively) high-budget horror film. James Wan's work follows Annabelle Wallis' character and her visions of brutal murders, but the more she looks into the matter, the more she realizes how closely she may be connected to all the violence. As EW's horror critic notes, "The result is a deliciously nightmarish tale from a filmmaker keen to remind people that, before he was the director of Furious 7 and Aquaman, he was the man who brought us Saw." —C.S.

Where to watch Malignant: Max

Director: James Wan

Cast: Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

George Romero thought Night of the Living Dead would be a "one-off," but his seminal zombie flick has persevered to fundamentally shape the modern horror landscape. The Dead franchise spawned numerous entries and imitators, most notably Dawn of the Dead (1978) and its well-regarded 2004 remake, and one of the most successful TV series of this century arguably wouldn't exist without his low-budget lark.

Named one of EW's scariest movies of all time, Romero's slow-burn, documentary-like approach to the apocalypse is as mundane as it is violent; the end comes not with an explosion, but the slow encroachment of our dead loved ones. Notable, too, is Duane Jones, a Black actor, as the film's protagonist, not to mention the film's final moments, which resonated deeper than Romero would ever have imagined. As he tells EW upon hearing how much his film had impacted Frank Darabont, co-creator of The Walking Dead, "It's still hard for me to realize how influential that film was." —Randall Colburn

Where to watch Night of the Living Dead: Peaco*ck

Director: George Romero

Cast: Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, Keith Wayne

Nope (2022)

Jordan Peele continued his hot streak with Nope, his third directorial feature and first cinematic venture into the world of science fiction. Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer play siblings who own a horse-wrangling business in California and soon discover that their steeds are being consumed by a UFO. They decide to film further incidents as proof, enlisting a tech expert and a renowned cinematographer, but capturing the footage proves surprisingly difficult as the entity does not like being provoked. Of course, Peele injects some horror into the proceedings, using sound to great effect while delivering old-school alien thrills reminiscent of 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind or 2002's Signs. —K.J.

Where to watch Nope: Starz

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: Jordan Peele

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, Keith David

A Quiet Place (2018)

What if cottage core could kill? That's the implicit question posed by A Quiet Place, a film in which writer-director John Krasinski and Emily Blunt must raise a family on the road. But it's not by choice: Society collapsed after the world was invaded by violent creatures who cannot see but track prey through sound, making any sudden noise or wrong move a near-immediate death sentence. (The 2024 prequel, A Quiet Place: Day One, will cover how all this started…)

It's an inventive premise that won over EW's critic, who wrote that Krasinski "has conjured a taut, breathless little trick of a movie around it: 90 minutes of slow-drip dread and well-earned jump scares that dissipate" and that he "builds a sustained mood in ways that feels both modern and pleasingly old-school, with its shades of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and other '80s touchstones." —C.S.

Where to watch A Quiet Place: Paramount+

EW grade: B+ (read the review)

Director: John Krasinski

Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Suburban horror is effective because no over-the-top movie monster can be more menacing than one's nosy neighbors. Rosemary's Baby (which is a powerhouse for Mia Farrow and supporting actors like John Cassavetes) is the terrifying tale of a very pregnant woman who, after moving into a new apartment, discovers something sinister is happening in both her building and her body. That domestic threat is all the more frightening because it lurks beneath a saccharine veneer: as EW's critic notes, director Roman Polanski "understood that monsters don't always advertise with fiery brimstone. Sometimes they come bearing casseroles." —C.S.

Where to watch Rosemary's Baby: Paramount+

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Roman Polanski

Cast: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Given that it unleashed the Hannibal Lecter cinematic universe, it's refreshing to rediscover how beautifully restrained (a bit like Lecter himself) The Silence of the Lambs remains. It's the story of a young FBI agent in training (Jodie Foster) trying to prove herself, but the narrative never turns full police procedural. And it's also the tale of a notorious cannibal (Anthony Hopkins), but the narrative rarely dwells on his unseemly dietary habits. Instead, this strange film is really about the oddly intimate relationship between the two as they collaborate to catch a killer.

EW's critic elaborated on the characters' connection back in 1991, writing, "What Clarice and Lecter share is a desire for something that few besides born detectives would ever seek: the full, horrifying knowledge of human darkness." And great news for scary movie fans: that vibrant darkness remains as powerfully chilling today as when the film first premiered (and became the first and only horror film to win Best Picture so far) more than 30 years ago. —C.S.

Where to watch The Silence of the Lambs: Amazon Prime Video

EW grade: N/A (read the review)

Director: Jonathan Demme

Cast: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine

Smile (2022)

Horror is a bit like history: Even when it doesn't repeat itself, the genre very often rhymes. That's the case with Smile, a scary movie in the same vein as It Follows (2014), making the most out of a monstrous force that is passed along and possesses people in unexpected ways.

The cast (particularly Sosie Bacon and Jessie T. Usher) do a great job livening these characters, who are instantly out of their depth when confronted with all this grinning ghoulishness. EW's critic deems first-time director Parker Finn "a pleasingly nervy stylist, letting the camera tilt and flip at seasick angles and ratcheting the tension as he goes." —C.S.

Where to watch Smile: Paramount+

EW grade: B (read the review)

Director: Parker Finn

Cast: Sosie Bacon, Jessie T. Usher, Kyle Gallner, Kal Penn, Rob Morgan

X (2022)

Care for a scary movie that knows how to shake up your expectations without shattering them entirely? In the Ti West period film X, we follow a ragtag group of young p*rnographers and videographers (including Jenna Ortega and Mia Goth) as they try to shoot a farmer's daughter's nudie in an authentic rural Texas location. But when the aging proprietors of the property disapprove of the smut film, they become unlikely killers out to show these youngsters they haven't lost a step.

EW's critic sang praises for how this A24 film makes the characters' descent into danger "feel both fresh and comfortingly familiar" while crafting a tale "that feels unpinned, ominous, and potentially unforgettable." —C.S.

Where to watch X: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

EW grade: A– (read the review)

Director: Ti West

Cast: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, Scott Mescudi