What To Watch
10 Trippy, Heart-Pounding Horror Movies to Screw with Your Sleep Cycle
These twisted flicks will keep you on your toes.
By Caitlin Busch
June 18, 2026
Beyond Backrooms: 10 Scariest Movies on Netflix for Obsessive Horror Fans - Netflix Tudum
The horror genre has a near-supernatural ability to pivot. From blockbuster franchises like the Saw and Scream films to indie darlings like Obsession and Backrooms, horror movies are able to reflect our world back at us — whether we like what we see or not. That’s in part because there are so many different ways to frighten audiences. Filmmakers have options, and no two scares are alike. But some horror films are undeniably more spine-tingling than others.
Not-so-scary movies have their place, but if you’re looking for the freakiest, trippiest, most “WTF did I just watch?” films possible, look no further than these 10 titles on Netflix. Reader beware: Keep reading if you dare.
A Classic Horror Story
Its familiar tropes might lure you into a false sense of security, but this horror flick will keep you guessing ’til the end. When five people traveling together in an RV crash into a tree, they exit the vehicle to find that the road they were driving on has been replaced by an impenetrable forest. After wandering through the woods, they stumble upon a cabin. Inside that cabin is a mural of three deities that promise unimaginable riches in exchange for ritualistic human sacrifice. And that’s all before the violent interlopers in masks show up. This gruesome, twisty Italian film is co-directed by Roberto De Feo (The Nest) and Paolo Strippoli (The Holy Boy) and stars Matilda Lutz (Brigands: The Quest for Gold), Francesco Russo (Fantasy Football Ruined Our Lives), and Peppino Mazzotta (Black Souls).
Clown
Jon Watts’s (Wolfs) feature directorial debut follows a real estate agent who becomes possessed by a cursed clown costume. (Yes, really — red nose and all.) Kent McCoy (Andy Powers) hires a children’s entertainer for his son’s birthday party, but when he cancels, Kent takes matters into his own hands. He dons a sketchy clown costume, which he found in the basement of a house he’s renovating. But when the party is over, Kent realizes he can’t take it off — the outfit has adhered to his skin. He develops an insatiable hunger and learns the costume is connected to a child-eating demon, the Clöyne. Kent must try to free himself from the demon’s influence before his family pays the ultimate price. Laura Allen (The 4400), Eli Roth (Night Always Comes), and Peter Stormare (Until Dawn) join the proverbial circus.
Creep
This “found-footage” psychological horror movie follows a videographer, Aaron (Patrick Brice), who’s hired to film a day in the life of an eccentric man, Josef (Mark Duplass). Josef explains that he’s dying from an inoperable brain tumor and he wants his unborn child, Buddy, to have something to remember him by. But the more time Aaron spends in Josef’s remote cabin, the more he begins to question Josef’s story and sanity. Is he telling the truth? And what’s with the freaky wolf mask in the closet?
This hair-raising flick’s sequel, Creep 2, is also available to stream on Netflix.
The Elixir
It wouldn’t be a horror list without zombies. A dysfunctional family’s beef turns into a bloodbath when patriarch Sadimin (Donny Damara) drinks an experimental elixir that miraculously turns him young — and then kills him. But before the family can figure out what to do next, Sadimin’s body reanimates, and he rises as a dead-eyed, fast-moving zombie. As he spreads his flesh-hungry affliction around town, the family is forced to work together to escape. Directed and co-written by Kimo Stamboel (Headshot), this Indonesian horror flick also stars Mikha Tambayong (Sewu Dino), Eva Celia (The Shadow Strays), and Marthino Lio (Tersanjung the Movie).
His House
Oscar-nominated Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners) co-stars in this haunted house tale about a pair of married refugees, Bol (Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù) and Rial (Mosaku), who move from South Sudan to the UK. The couple is met with racism — including from their caseworker, Mark (Matt Smith) — and they clash over how much of their culture to hold on to. They’re also grieving their daughter, Nyagak (Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba), who died on their path to asylum. As they settle into their derelict new home, they begin to experience supernatural events: They keep seeing unsettling visions — and there’s something in the walls. Rial becomes convinced that an apeth (aka a “night witch”) has followed them and demands that they repay a mysterious debt. If they do this, maybe the apeth will bring Nyagak back to life.
Incantation
Intentions hold power in this found-footage folk horror film, directed by Kevin Ko (A Choo) and inspired by a true story. Six years ago, the newly pregnant Li Ronan (Tsai Hsuan-yen) violated a religious taboo that resulted in her boyfriend’s death. After her daughter Dodo’s (Huang Sin-ting) birth, she left her in foster care and sought out psychiatric help. Now Li Ronan is working to bring Dodo home — only to realize that a malevolent presence still hangs over both of them. Too much more will give away the twist, but just know there’s some audience participation in this one.
The Ritual
Six months after their friend died in a tragic accident, four pals take a hiking trip in Sweden to honor his memory. After one of them is injured deep in the old-growth forest, they leave the marked path behind and cut through the woods, where they happen upon cryptic symbols and an eviscerated moose hanging from a tree. If that wasn’t eerie enough, then they find a cabin. Inside is a human torso with antlers for hands. Forced to spend the night, they wake up to find one of their group with puncture wounds in his chest and another praying to something only he can see. Things only get worse from there. Based on Adam Nevill’s 2011 novel, this suspenseful creature feature is directed by David Bruckner (The Night House) and stars Arsher Ali (Remainder), Rob James-Collier (Fate: The Winx Saga), Rafe Spall (I Give It a Year), and Sam Troughton (Black Doves).
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This 2022 reboot of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) brings Leatherface into the influencer age. The film follows sisters Lila (Elsie Fisher) and Melody (Sarah Yarkin) as they return to the rural Texas town of Harlow, where Melody hopes to create a social media paradise. Melody’s business partner, Dante (Jacob Latimore), is a developer who buys up most of the town to gentrify it, which leads to clashes between the crew and the maintenance person they’ve hired to help. That’s when the harrowing bloodbath begins in this modern incarnation of the franchise. But one person in particular makes this film a standout for horror fans: Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), Leatherface’s original lone survivor, who returns to Harlow to finally put an end to his violent spree.
Veronica
On the day of the 1991 solar eclipse, 15-year-old Verónica (Sandra Escacena) and her friends Rosa (Ángela Fabián) and Diana (Carla Campra) go into the basement of their Catholic high school to conduct a séance with a Ouija board. But something goes wrong — the girls forget one vital step when they close the séance: saying goodbye to the spirit. Over the following days, strange occurrences begin at Véronica’s home — the demonic force won’t let go unless she can find a way to correct her earlier mistakes. This 2017 Spanish film is loosely based on the real-life story of an 18-year-old who reportedly experienced hallucinations and seizures after conducting a séance at her school.
The Wretched
A teenage boy goes head-to-head with a child-snatching witch in this practical effects extravaganza written and directed by brothers Brett and Drew Pierce (Deadheads). When Ben Shaw (John-Paul Howard) moves in with his estranged father (Jamison Jones), he befriends the lonely little boy living next door, Dillon (Blane Crockarell). Ben grows increasingly concerned after something slithers from the corpse of the dead deer that Dillon’s mom, Abbie (Zarah Mahler), brings home. And why does Dillon’s dad keep forgetting that his son exists? As Ben unearths information about a thousand-year-old witch, he hatches a plan — but is he also forgetting something crucial? Piper Curda (May December) and Azie Tesfai (Supergirl) co-star.
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