The best horror movies to watch on Netflix this April

Spring is here, and for some that means it’s time to get outside and start enjoying the fresh air. If that doesn’t sound like you, then Netflix has quite a few great horror movies to fill your time with instead.

This month, we handpicked a few of the best horror movies on Netflix that fit the current season. Sometimes they pair well with an upcoming release. Other titles might be new additions to the platform.

We’ve put together a list of movies to help you pick which scary movie is right for you, including a fantastic horror film that already feels like a modern classic, an animated movie that looks absolutely gorgeous, and a Thai horror-comedy that will leave you in stitches — one way or another.

Editor’s pick: Talk to Me

Directors: Michael Philippou and Danny Philippou
Cast: Sophia Wilde, Zoe Terakes, Joe Bird

In Talk to Me, a group of teenagers finds a magical embalmed hand that can be used to communicate with the dead. So, they do what any group of teens would: immediately start using it as a party drug. Hold the hand just right, say a few spooky words, and suddenly you’re granted a brief connection with the other side. And it’s all totally safe, so long as you don’t overstay your welcome. Of course, it’s all fun and games until someone gets possessed.

From first-time directors Michael and Danny Philippou, Talk to Me feels fantastically fresh and inventive. The script flies along, never stopping to overexplain itself, and only giving you the information you need to keep the scares rolling. Even better, the Philippou brothers (who got their start as the YouTube duo RackaRacka) make terrific use of the camera, letting it dynamically fly around the room from one character to the next, catching every horrified reaction and bizarre movement when the possessions finally start. Talk to Me is easily one of the most exciting horror movies of the decade so far, and with the duo’s next movie due out soon, now’s the perfect time to catch up. —Austen Goslin

Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain

Director: Kenji Nakamura
Cast: Hiroshi Kamiya, Tomoyo Kurosawa, Aoi Yūki

There are literally hundreds of horror movies centered around exorcisms. Most are bad, fewer are competent, and only a rare handful can truly be considered exceptional. But even among the latter, Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain is unlike any exorcism horror film you’ve likely ever seen. The first in a trilogy of movies set in the universe of Kenji Nakamura’s Mononoke, this psychedelic period mystery centers around the Medicine Seller, the demon-slaying Poirot of the Edo period, who must find a way to exorcise a malevolent spirit that has taken root at the heart of the emperor’s Ōoku. 

While newcomers to the series might be left confused by the film’s symbolic imagery and byzantine plot structure, the visuals alone are worth experiencing for themselves. With the second installment expected to be released in the U.S. sometime later this year, now is as good a time as any to dive headfirst into the phantasmagorical head trip that is Mononoke. —Toussaint Egan

Dead Talents Society

Director: John Hsu
Cast: Gingle Wang, Sandrine Pinna, Chen Bolin

If you enjoy Beetlejuice, Monsters, Inc., or What We Do in the Shadows, you’ll love this Taiwanese horror comedy about a washed-up poltergeist who enlists a new protege in her bid for renewed stardom. Set in a version of the underworld that thrives on the attention and revenue garnered by scaring the ever-loving daylights out of the living, Dead Talents Society centers on Catherine (Sandrine Pinna), a once thriving “ghostress” now down on her luck. After being introduced via her agent Makoto (Chen Bolin), she takes on a new apprentice in the form of “Rookie” (Gingle Wang), a novice spirit who must earn her keep in the mortal realm or risk being expelled from existence. As hilarious as it is horrifying, Dead Talents Society is as much a kooky horror comedy as it is a tongue-in-cheek satire of the KPI-driven bubble that is the entertainment industry. Come for the laughs, stay for the scares. —TE