3 deep cut horror films to watch on Netflix right now

There are so many horror movies and series on Netflix that it can be hard to settle on which one to watch, right? Horror fans are super familiar with current selections such as X, Bodies Bodies Bodies and Insidious, but what if we want to watch a horror film that has flown a little more under the radar? How do we know which ones are worth watching?

It can sometimes be fun to roll the dice on a film you haven’t heard of before, but that often backfires. Luckily, there is nothing that prevents us from pressing the stop button and giving up on a subpar horror selection!

Not to pat myself on the back, but I consider myself a pretty good judge of horror films. I have been watching horror since I was a kid, and I love “slow burn” horror just as much as I love fast-paced, gore-filled scary content. So, here are a few lesser known horror movies that I have enjoyed watching on Netflix.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe

Remember how I just stated that I’ve been watching horror forever? That being the case, it’s hard to actually scare me, even if I get the creeps and enjoy a film. The Autopsy of Jane Doe legit scared the bejesus out of me. I decided to watch it one night when my husband was working late, so I got comfy on my sofa with my dog, lowered the lights, and pressed start. I made it about 15 minutes in before I turned it off.

I was so spooked by the eerie story I was watching that I had to watch it the next day, feeling safer with my husband home. And I’m not the only one who feels that way; we all know that horror fans are a hard bunch to scare, but a lot of other viewers have agreed with me on this one.

The story involves a coroner who is presented with a young woman’s body one night. His son stays to help him autopsy the body, and they discover some pretty odd things about their Jane Doe. She has no outward signs of physical trauma, but multiple bones are broken, her tongue has been removed, and more than one of her internal organs are covered with cuts and burns. While the body looks to be fresh, her eyes are cloudy, indicating that she has been dead for a while.

As the night goes on, father and son begin to experience some unsettling supernatural events, and that’s about all I will say in the interest of letting you experience the film for yourself. Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch give stellar performances as the coroner and son, and it would be wrong to not give major props to Olwen Kelly as Jane Doe.

Malevolent

You most likely know Florence Pugh from genre films such as Don’t Worry Darling and Midsommar. But you may have missed another horror movie she appeared in, 2018’s Malevolent. Pugh portrays Angela, who along with her brother Jackson works as a paranormal investigator. Angela claims to be a medium who can help clients speak to their dead relatives.

But the operation is a scam, and in reality, the team is bilking these mourning families out of money. The kicker is that their mother was actually a medium who ended her own life after hearing voices and seeing apparitions became too much for her to take.

Recently, Angela has had some strange experiences, and has decided to stop, lest she suffer the same mental challenges as her mother. But her brother, who owes money to a loan shark, persuades her to take one more job. An elderly woman named Mrs. Greene has asked them to come to her home to stop the apparitions of little girls who have been showing up.

The things they find when they agree to investigate the house are disturbing and terrifying, and the team soon discovers that they are in truly dangerous territory. Malevolent goes from a creepy ghost story to a graphically gory horror movie quite suddenly, and the final 30 minutes are edge-of-your-seat scary.

The Babysitter

Boy, is this a fun horror flick! Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Scream VI) plays the title role of Bee, and Hana Mae Lee (Abruptio), Robbie Amell (Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City), Andrew Byron Bachelor/AKA King Bach (Black Jesus), and Bella Thorne (Amityville: The Awakening) are her besties.

Cole (Judah Lewis, Summer of ’84) is a little old for a babysitter, but he doesn’t mind too much, since Bee is both super-cool AND super hot. The two are actually friends, and it’s fun seeing them interact as they watch movies and play games. Cole’s friend Melanie convinces him to stay up late and see if Bee is up to no good after he goes to sleep.

So, Cole does not drink the liquor Bee offers him before bed, secretly pouring it out when her back is turned. As he soon finds out in a true WTF moment, Bee is definitely up to no good. She and her friends are in a demonic cult, and Cole’s virgin blood is planned as a sacrifice to the demon. Speaking of blood, there is plenty of it in The Babysitter!

Throughout the night, Cole tries to fight off the cult members, who, in a weird way, we actually like. Each of them has their own unique characteristics: Sonya (Lee) is a deadly serious goth girl, Max is a typical cocky jock, but he actually encourages Cole to stand up for himself against bullies, Allison (Thorne) is a cheerleader who is actually aggrieved when a cop shoots her, and wisecracking John (Bachelor) is the funniest of the lot. This team has great chemistry together.

If you enjoy The Babysitter, you can also check out its sequel The Babysitter: Killer Queen, which sees nearly all of the original actors returning. New to the second installment is Jenna Ortega, and while Killer Queen doesn’t quite live up to The Babysitter, it’s still better than average and a lot of bloody fun.