Horror on Netflix

Periodically, throughout this October, I will be pointing out some Horror movies to view, on different streaming sites. This week, Netflix.

One of the best scary movies on Netflix right now is The Witch, the 2015 tale of witchcraft and possession in 17th century New England. This is more atmospheric thrills than gore and guts, so if you want that, stick around, I’ll get to that. But if you want a well made movie  that’s also scary, watch The Witch.  Starring Anna Taylor-joy, Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie, it gets a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also, Netflix has The Wailing, the 2016 South Korean film about a terrifying disease. The disease seems to cause a murderous rage, and a detective(played by Kwak Do-won) investigates it. The Vox called The Wailing “the most unsettling Korean Horror film in years” and it gets a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix also offers thrills and chills with The Ones Below, a 2015 British film starring Clemence Poesy and Steven Campbell Moore. The two star as an expectant couple, who befriend a downstairs couple also expecting, but all goes awry after an awful accident. the ones Below gets a 6.1/10 on IMDb and a 73% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you want a modern classic, Netflix offers The Conjuring, the 2013 movie starring Vera Farmiga. Farmiga and Patrick Wilson star as a pair of paranormal investigators who come to the aid of the Perron family, in Rhode Island. This film has a great cast, including Lili Taylor and gets an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix also offers I Am The Pretty thing That Lives in the House, the 2016 American/Canadian ghost story.  It stars Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss and Bob Balaban in the story of a nurse(Wilson) hired to tend to a horror writer(Prentiss) who suffers from dementia,who lives in an old (and haunted?) house. It’s a ghost story within a ghost story and it gets a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. Also on Netflix is Under the Shadow, a 2016 Persian language film. Set in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq war, it follows a family stuck in a house that may also be occupied by an evil spirit. It stars Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi and  Bobby Naderi and gets a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. Netflix also has The Invitation, a 2016 movie directed by Karyn Kosama. It features a dinner party more dangerous than it seems and one hard to survive, and stars Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard and Emayatzy Corinealdi. And it gets a 6.7/10 on IMDb and an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. And, finally, Netflix has some Stephen King. First, the classic The Shining, starring Jack Nicholson. The story of a family’s bad stay at a haunted hotel, it also stars Shelly Duvall, Scatman Cruthers and Barry Nelson and gets an 88 % on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.4/10 on IMDb. and, if you want some gore, Netflix has Gerald’s Game, the 2017 Netflix original from a King novel. It’s stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood, trying to enliven their marriage with a wild weekend, that of course, goes terribly wrong. It also stars Henry Thomas and gets a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. And, if that isn’t enough, Netflix has 1922, a 2017 Netflix original movie from a King novella. About a country farmer who kills his troublesome wife, only  to really regret it later, 1922 stars Thomas Jane, Molly Parker and Dylan Schmid. and it gets an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. And, finally, if you need still more gore, Netflix has Raw, the 2016 French/Belgian movie. About a young veterinary student forced to eat raw meat at a hazing ritual , who then develops a taste for raw flesh, it stars Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf and Rabah Nait Oufella, and is startlingly graphic, so don’t watch with the kids. It won numerous prizes, the  FIPRESCI prize at Cannes, for one, and gets a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. So watch, if you dare, and enjoy the spirit of Halloween.