Halloween is around the corner, and there is no better time to explore the spooky section of Netflix. But be warned before venturing alone, most horror movies on Netflix are scary because they’re just bad.
Lost in an endlessly growing queue and buried beneath thousands of rows of titles, here are a few of Netflix’s Halloween-themed hidden gems.
“Walking Dead” (2 seasons 2010-2011)
“Walking Dead” is the best thing to happen to zombies since nuclear radiation. The AMC series follows sheriff deputy Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln) as he attempts to survive the south during a zombie apocalypse. The show explores the lengths to which one will go to protect his or her group or family during times of intense stress and circumstances. The show is intensely gory and violent, but it also has emotional depth and variety. The people who didn’t cry at season two’s finale just don’t have a heart.
“Ju-On: The Grudge 2” (2003)
The sequel to “Ju-On: The Grudge” (2002), which is unavailable on Netflix, unfortunately, is the Japanese original to the American horror film series “The Grudge.” After a ghost hunter television film crew finishes an episode in a house that was the center of a brutal murder, the curse that resides in the house torments everyone who was involved and many people who encounter the crew afterward. “Ju-On 2” gets its scares from things appearing out of nowhere. It isn’t the scariest thing on the planet, but it is definitely spooky.
“Little Shop of Horrors” (1986)
If you feel like having a good time and don’t want to jump in fright, the musical “Little Shop of Horrors” is perfect for you. Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis from “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” and “Spaceballs”) finds a mystical, blood-eating plant created after a solar eclipse and uses it to attract attention for the failing flower shop he works for. However, as the plant drinks more blood, it gets larger, learns to speak and sing and demands larger portions of human blood and actual human flesh. Funny and whimsical, “Little Shop of Horrors” offers a bright alternative in the creepy Halloween canon.
