Do you believe in ghosts? How about demonic possession? Mothman? No matter where you stand in the great debate about the supernatural and the afterlife’s many mysteries, there’s no questioning their staying power. Horror movies — from ’60s and ’70s Hollywood hits like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist to modern classics like The Blair Witch Project and The Conjuring — have long looked death, the devil, and all manner of arcane creatures in the face and demanded answers. Or, you know, just a spooky good time.
If you’re looking for some paranormal or otherworldly scares, queue up these horror films on Netflix.
Based on Joe Hill’s short story of the same name, The Black Phone (2021) follows siblings Finney (Mason Thames) and Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), who live in a quiet Colorado suburb in 1978. Their community has been rocked by a series of kidnappings, which local authorities have attributed to an elusive serial killer. As the missing posters begin piling up, Finney is taken by the killer, “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke), and trapped in a basement with seemingly nothing but a bare mattress on the floor and a black rotary phone on the wall. The Grabber gleefully insists there’s no way out. But as Finney learns more about his captor’s haunting history, Gwen begins having strange dreams that might be the key to saving her brother’s life.
Richard Gere (Primal Fear) stars in this cryptid-fueled 2002 film as John Klein, a reporter who becomes obsessed with the Mothman legend after losing his beloved wife, Mary (Debra Messing). Following supposed delusions Mary had before her death, John is drawn to a small town in West Virginia. He meets police sergeant Connie Mills (Laura Linney), who’s skeptical about a recent string of bizarre events. Just like Mary, locals there have been reporting visions of a winged creature. After his own encounter with Mothman, John becomes convinced that the supernatural being can predict impending disasters. If he can unravel the mystery, maybe he can help stop the next tragedy before it occurs. Will Patton (Train Dreams) also stars in this movie based on parapsychologist John Keel’s 1975 book.
Set in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War, filmmaker Babak Anvari’s 2016 directorial debut follows Shideh (Narges Rashidi), a mother whose medical school dreams were cut short after the revolution, when her past activism got her barred from resuming her studies. When an unexploded missile crashes into her apartment building, a neighbor warns her it may have carried in a djinn — a spirit from Persian folklore. As airstrikes force neighbors to flee and her husband is conscripted into medical service, Shideh and her young daughter are left alone to face an evil that seems to be hunting them specifically.
When the lead in an upcoming horror film about an exorcist dies on set, he’s replaced by Anthony Miller (Russell Crowe), an aging actor struggling with addiction. His troubled daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), joins him as his assistant. While Miller is hopeful that the coveted priest role will change their lives for the better, the movie’s demanding director (Adam Goldberg) and Miller’s own negative childhood experiences with Catholicism quickly begin to wear on his psyche. Lee grows concerned when her father starts to exhibit strange behavior — including sleepwalking and self harm — and she’s forced to contend with the possibility that the film’s demons might be all too real. Sam Worthington (Fractured), Chloe Bailey (Strung), and David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) also star in this 2024 possession flick.
Sister Cecilia, played by Sydney Sweeney (Eden), is a novice nun with a dark destiny in this 2024 film. As a child, Cecilia was brought back to life after drowning, and now considers the miracle to be a sign from God that she’s meant for something greater. The mysterious Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) agrees, and invites her to join a special convent in Italy. Upon arrival, however, Cecilia is struck by the odd behavior exhibited by her fellow sisters. She also learns that she’s pregnant despite being a virgin. The other inhabitants begin to revere her as the next Virgin Mary. But something sinister lurks in the convent’s walls — and maybe in Cecilia’s womb. Benedetta Porcaroli (Baby) and Simona Tabasco (The White Lotus) also star.
Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue) enrolls in seminary to escape his father’s funeral business and land a free education, planning to leave the priesthood before taking his vows to dodge a mountain of debt. But with his faith in question, seminary head Father Xavier (Ciarán Hinds) sends him to Rome for a course in exorcism, hoping the experience changes his mind. There, Michael is paired with Father Lucas Trevant (Anthony Hopkins), an unorthodox Jesuit exorcist whose methods blur the line between performance and possession. As he begins a tentative romance with Angelina Vargas (Alice Braga), a skeptical reporter covering the Vatican’s exorcism program, Michael witnesses a case that pulls him into a battle he isn’t prepared for. This 2011 film is loosely based on Matt Baglio’s nonfiction book about real-life exorcist-in-training Father Gary Thomas.
When rumors of a potential demonic possession case at a Catholic convent become too powerful to ignore, priest-in-waiting Benjamin (Jake Horowitz) and his mentor, the disaffected Father Donaghue (Ben Hall), are dispatched to uncover the truth. Upon arriving at the quaint convent, they meet Sister Agnes (Hayley McFarland), a young nun who’s been exhibiting strange symptoms, bouncing between a catatonic state and furious episodes of blasphemy. The Church is confident that the priests can help, but as the Mother Superior (Mary Buss) and the other sisters look on, their methods backfire, opening the door for something truly evil in this 2021 film. Molly C. Quinn (Castle), Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls), and Chris Sullivan (This Is Us) also star.
