Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, which means one thing: a full weekend of couch-friendly scares. If you are searching for Netflix Halloween movies and series, this guide sorts the new releases and classic favorites by what kind of night you want, from gory to gentle. Plan your queue before the doorbell starts ringing.
New Netflix Halloween Releases This Week
Two fresh series arrive right on schedule, according to What’s on Netflix.
- Balaraw: Blood Island (Oct. 29): A slow-burn Filipino horror-mystery. A woman searches an uncharted island for her missing mother and uncovers family secrets and local rituals.
- Dead-End Job (Oct. 30): A Korean supernatural series starring Lee Jae Wook. A part-time job with very high pay turns into a nightmare at the Spyder Human Resource Center. Release dates for this title vary between listings, so confirm in your Netflix app.
Also arriving Oct. 30 is A Couple of Lies, a Swedish Nordic Noir thriller in which two couples swap homes and become trapped in a web of surveillance and manipulation. It is a thriller rather than outright horror, but it fits the mood.
Best Netflix Halloween Movies for a Gory Night
If you want blood and chaos, What’s on Netflix’s October horror roundup highlights several heavy hitters added earlier this month:
- Evil Dead (2013): Fede Álvarez’s relentless reboot. Five friends find a book that unleashes demons at a remote cabin.
- Friday the 13th (1980): The original slasher, directed by Sean S. Cunningham, with effects by Tom Savini and an early role for Kevin Bacon.
- The Boogeyman (2023): Based on a Stephen King short story and starring Sophie Thatcher. It holds 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Best Netflix Halloween Movies for Smart Scares
Prefer atmosphere over gore? Start with Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016), Mike Flanagan’s film set in 1967 Los Angeles. It scores 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with just 6% for the original Ouija, which makes it a rare case of a follow-up beating its source. Also on the list is The Menu (2022), a dark satirical horror-comedy with Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes, set at an island restaurant with a sinister tasting menu.
For literary horror, there is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994), in which Kenneth Branagh directs and stars alongside Robert De Niro and Helena Bonham Carter in a faithful adaptation of the novel.
Netflix Halloween Movies for Laughs and Light Chills
Hosting people who scare easily? Marlon Wayans’ A Haunted House (2013) and A Haunted House 2 (2014) spoof found-footage films and franchises like Paranormal Activity and The Conjuring. The animated comedy Haunted Hotel Season 2, from Matt Roller of Rick & Morty, is rated TV-14 and, as the roundup puts it, is “far from pure horror.”
Newer October Series Worth Catching Up On
If you want to binge something new, Below (Oct. 8) is a six-episode supernatural thriller about a Newfoundland coastal town terrorized by a creature in the water, with Josh Hartnett, Charlie Heaton, Mackenzie Davis and Ruby Stokes. The Trap (Oct. 13) is a German psychological thriller based on Melanie Raabe’s novel, in which a reclusive author uses herself as bait to lure her sister’s killer.
A Simple Halloween Watch Plan
Here is an easy way to build your night, depending on your crowd:
- Early evening with family or friends: Start with a spoof such as A Haunted House.
- After trick-or-treat ends: Move to Ouija: Origin of Evil or The Menu.
- Late night: Go for Evil Dead or the new Balaraw: Blood Island.
- Sunday morning, when clocks fall back: Catch up on Below with your bonus hour.
Titles rotate on streaming services, so check availability in your region before you settle in. For more on this week’s streaming slate, see our earlier guides to six new scary Netflix picks and everything new on Netflix this week. Which of these Netflix Halloween movies will you press play on first?
