The Mist – Image: Spike TV
Halloween is the perfect time to watch some scary movies and TV shows and Netflix might be the perfect place to find everything you are looking for.
When it comes to all the Netflix horror series available, there are network shows that ported over to the streaming service after they aired, cable shows that did likewise, and more and more Netflix original series hitting every year.
There is a lot to choose from, including horror novel adaptations, television originals, and even movies that ended up getting the small screen reboots. Along the way, there are nostalgic horror series and gruesome gory television experiences.
Needless to say, when it comes to Netflix horror series, there is something here for everyone. Here is a look at the 31 best Netflix horror series to binge watch this Halloween.
31. The Mist
For most of the only season of The Mist that aired on Spike TV, fans of Stephen King watched in horror. They were not scared at what was hiding in the mist, though. Stephen King fans were horrified at what Spike TV did to their beloved story.
By the time the season came to a close, there was a glimmer of hope but everything that came before resulted in the easy decision to cancel the King adaptation.
With that said, the finale really showed that this horror series was ready to really delve into what King was most interested in — the human cruelty being more dangerous than the monsters outdoors.
WIth The Mist now available to binge watch on Netflix, it might make it a better experience than the frustration of waiting week after week only to get the payoff in the season finale.
Slasher / Image by Netflix
30. Glitch
Made in Australia, Glitch is part of the suddenly popular genre of people returning from the dead. While it was an ABC series (Austrailia’s ABC, not the ABC in the United States) first, Netflix co-produced the second season.
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When a small town police officer is called to a local cemetery, he finds seven people have risen from the dead and have no idea who they are or what happened to them.
James and a local doctor named Elishia try to keep the entire situation covered up. Meanwhile, the seven returned people try to figure out what links them and look for someone who might be able to tell them what has happened and why they are all back.
This Netflix horror series has lasted for two seasons and 12 episodes and season 2 ended with someone out to hunt down the risen. The good news is that a third season was greenlit this year and started filming in September for a likely 2019 release.
29. Slasher
Slasher is a horror anthology series created in Canada and originally aired on the Super Channel. It was also the only original series produced for Chiller before it shut down in 2017.
Thanks to Netflix, it got a new home.
The first season was subtitled The Executioner and featured the serial killer terrorizing a town in Canada. Then, Netflix gained the rights and they produced the second season as a Netflix original titled Slasher Guilty Party.
This season was about summer camp counselors who return to an old campground to bury the sins from their past before an unknown killer starts to off them one-by-one.
With two seasons and 15 episodes, a third season has been ordered by Netflix.
Z Nation / Image by SyFy
28. Scream
Wes Craven changed the entire slasher movie franchise with his film Scream. After a series of films arrived with varying levels of success, MTV greenlit their own spin on the horror series.
Scream premiered on MTV in 2015 and kept much of the storyline in place. Murders start to take place in a small town with one local teenage girl (Emma in the TV show) as the link to the murders and the dark past of the town.
Interestingly, despite MTV producing the series, it is Netflix that has exclusive international distribution rights and that makes it technically a Netflix original series.
So far there have been two seasons, and while a third season was supposed to air in 2018, MTV announced that they were rebooting the series with a new cast and a new town. It was also announced that Ghostface from the movies would show up in season 3.
27. Z Nation
While The Walking Dead takes itself almost too seriously at times, the SyFy series, Z Nation knows that the zombie apocalypse can be a lot of fun — at least for the viewers.
Premiering in 2014, Z Nation starts off three years after the zombie apocalypse happened and most humans are now dead and reanimated. Murphy was an inmate who was used as a test subject for immunity to a zombie bite — and was the only test subject that proved immune.
Problem is that he mutated and can now somewhat control other zombies, while he still maintains complete control. This is the story of him and other survivors who are trying to survive.
The show, which is both campy and disgusting at the same time, has aired for four seasons that can be viewed on Netflix, while a fifth season is currently airing on SyFy.
From Dusk Till Dawn / Image by El Rey
26. Castlevania
Based on the popular classic Japanese video game from 1989, Castlevania is a Netflix original animated horror series that follows Trevor Belmont, the last living member of his clan of disgraced monster hunters.
It is up to Trevor to save the world when Dracula declares war against humanity when his wife Lisa is burned at the stake after being falsely declared a witch. Trevor than teams up with Dracula’s son Alucard and a magician named Sypha to battle the monsters that Dracula raises against the world.
The first season was only four episodes long but set up the story and prepared viewers for the battle against Dracula that was to come. Season 2 will premiere on Netflix later this month, just in time for Halloween.
25. From Dusk Till Dawn
In 1996, Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction) and Robert Rodriguez (Desperado) teamed up to make a movie called From Dusk Till Dawn. The movie was an interesting experiment — the first half a Tarantino-esque crime epic with two thieves taking a hostage and heading to Mexico.
The second half was straight horror when they ended up in a vampire bar and had to fight for their lives, a story straight out of Rodriguez’s wheelhouse. It was a great movie and remains a cult classic.
In 2014, Rodriguez was securing the rights to TV shows for his newly launched El Rey Network, a channel designed for English-speaking Latinos. He then developed the television version of From Dusk Till Dawn for that network.
Three seasons ended up airing on El Rey and all three are available to watch on Netflix.
The Rain / Image by Netflix
24. The Hollow
The second of three Netflix animated horror series on this list, The Hollow premiered this year on the streaming service. The series is an interesting series with three kids who wake up in a room with no memories of who they are or how they ended up there.
The series turns into a mystery as they have to figure out not only who they are but what they can do, as they each have specific skills and powers that they didn’t know about.
They end up transported to different regions with dangers that they need to overcome to move on. There were 10 episodes in the first season, which ended up playing out like an MMORPG — which is exactly the point of the entire series.
There has been no word on whether or not a second season is coming.
23. The Rain
The Rain is a Netflix original horror series that joins the long line of young adult dystopian adventures. What makes this one unique is that it is a Denmark series and takes place far away from the shores of North America.
A virus attacks the world and kills almost everyone it touches, spread through the rain and water. When most of the residents of Scandinavia are wiped out, a brother and sister hid in a bunker and safely outlasted the rains.
After six years, they leave the bunker, looking for their father who had left before them and never returned. What they find is a changed world where survivors are traveling through Sweden and Denmark looking for safety but finding danger around every corner.
The first season had eight episodes and a second season is coming.
Van Helsing / Image by SyFy
22. Wynonna Earp
Wynonna Earp is a SyFy original series that mixes the western genre with the supernatural. In the series, Wynonna Earp is a descendant of Wyatt Earp and it is her job to battle and kill reincarnated outlaws her great0great-grandfather killed.
She lives in the town of Purgatory, a cursed territory, and she has the power to return any revenants to Hell using Wyatt Earp’s Peacemaker revolver. She then teams with a secret government agency as well as the ageless Doc Holliday to head into battle.
The horror series has just finished its third season on SyFy but the first two seasons are available to watch on Netflix. The third season just finished, so there will likely be a wait before it finally arrives on the streaming service.
The fourth season of 12 episodes will premiere on SyFy in 2019.
21. Van Helsing
Much like Wynonna Earp, the SyFy television series Van Helsing also showcased the descendant of a legendary figure. In this case, it is a descendant of the legendary Abraham Van Helsing, something she was unaware of for years.
Van Helsing is an adaptation of a comic book series.
Premiering in 2016, the show has Van Helsing living in Seattle with her daughter shortly after a vampire apocalypse occurs. Van Helsing ends up in a coma but when she wakes up, she learns that she has regenerated all her blood cells.
The vampires have taken over and she becomes part of a resistance against the monsters. She also seems to have the power to revert the turned back into humans and sets out to find her missing daughter.
The first two seasons are available to watch on Netflix while a third just premiered this month on SyFy.
Ghoul / Image by Netflix
20. Ghoul
Ghoul is a brand-new miniseries that is a Netflix original horror series from India. Produced by Netflix (their second India original after Sacred Games) and Blumhouse Productions, Ghoul takes place in a dystopian future.
The horror series opens with the capture of a terrorist at a secret internment camp. The world is run by a fascist empire and human rights are not a concern for most people.
A military officer who completely supports the fascist regime is ready to break the terrorist by any means necessary but ends up broken when all the other interrogator’s darkest secrets are revealed through supernatural means.
The first season was only three episodes long, but there is hope that there will be more to come.
19. The Originals
Whether a person likes The Originals likely depends on how they feel about its parent series The Vampire Diaries. This was a spinoff that premiered in 2013 when vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus Mikaelson went to New Orleans.
The entire series is based a little more in the hierarchy of the families on the show, with the Mikaelson family considered the Originals, since they were the first vampires in history to exist.
Originally airing on The CW, while it didn’t reach the success of its predecessor, it was still a hit for the network. It aired for five seasons and 92 episodes and finally completed its run in August 2018.
All five seasons are available to watch on Netflix, so it might be time to watch it from start to finish just in time for Halloween.
Dark – Image: Netflix
18. Dark
Dark premiered as an original Netflix horror series in 2017. The series was a German production that blended the horror of Stranger Things with a darker, more grim setup similar to Stephen King’s It.
In a small German town, children begin to disappear. It turns out that this isn’t the first time this has happened either. The first season of the show then flips between different eras — with the same actors playing different characters in each of the time periods.
These include 1953, 1986, and 2019 — all years where the children began to disappear. The series then follows a teenager named Jonas whose brother disappeared in 1986 and whose father committed suicide.
The Netflix horror series also deals with the idea of time travel and the season 1 finale included a huge twist that sets up a major shift for a second season, which Netflix has already ordered.
The first season of 10 episodes is available to view on Netflix.
17. Lost Girl
Lost Girl is a Canadian supernatural television series that ran for five seasons on Showcase and was delivered to the United States first on the SyFy Channel and then as a Netflix horror series.
The series dealt with a bisexual succubus named Bo who learns how to control her powers to help people in need rather than hurting anyone after accidentally killing her high school boyfriend by sucking out all his life energy.
Bo then finds great danger when the Fae learn of her existence and either want her dead because they consider her a danger to their existence or they want to exploit her for their own uses.
Lost Girl was a big success and ran for five seasons and a total of 77 episodes, ending its run in 2015. All five seasons are now available to binge watch on Netflix.
Santa Clarita Diet / Image by Netflix
16. Santa Clarita Diet
Santa Clarita Diet offers a little something different for Netflix horror fans. Yes, this is a zombie television show but it is also a comedy and a very funny one at that.
Drew Barrymore (E.T.) is Sheila, a real estate agent who turns into a zombie and begins the crave human flesh. Her husband Joe (Timothy Olyphant of Justified) then sets out to help her by hiding her secret, as well as everyone she ends up killing.
However, much like in iZombie, Sheila is able to control her hunger as long as she takes care of her condition, so the real dangers here are nosy neighbors and a rising death count that has nothing to do with Sheila herself.
Nathan Fillion is also in this show as a severed head.
Netflix has the two seasons available for binge-watching with a third on the way in 2019.
15. The Haunting of Hill House
The Haunting of Hill House is brand-new to Netflix, premiering this weekend on the streaming service. However, it was an instant success, garnering great reviews and strong word-of-mouth.
This Netflix original series adapts the classic Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, but changing the characters and plotline somewhat, while retaining its overall spirit.
Years ago, the Crain family moved into Hill House with the plan to renovate and flip it so they could build their Forever House. However, evil got in the way and not everyone got out of that house alive.
In the present day, the house calls the family back and forces them to face their past. The series moves between the past and present and is a family drama with a very scary backdrop of the legendary Hill House.
The Haunting of Hill House is 10 episodes long and is the perfect Netflix horror series to watch this Halloween.
Penny Dreadful / Image by Showtime
14. Charmed
Thanks largely to the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The WB doubled-down with their next supernatural series Charmed.
The series originally starred Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano starred as Prue, Poper and Phoebe, three sisters who happened to be witches.
Doherty left at the end of the third season, replaced by Rose McGowan as the long-lost halfsister Paige and Kaley Cuoco came on board as a young witch named Billie for the final two seasons.
The show followed the sisters as they protect the world from demons, monsters and other evil creatures, while also developing their relationships with each other and those around them.
Charmed lasted for eight seasons and 178 total episodes. the entire horror series is available to watch on Netflix.
13. Penny Dreadful
Penny Dreadful takes its name from the classic pulp novels that were published in the 19th century in the United Kingdom. The books normally cost a penny each and told serial stories often involving horror or mysteries.
The Penny Dreadful television series premiered on Showtime in 2014 as a premium horror series. The show took the ideas of the horror stories told in the books and brought them to life in the same era that the books were sold.
Taking place in 1891, the horror series introduced literary characters like Dorian Gray, The Creature from Frankenstein, Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Lawrence Talbot (The Wolf Man), Abraham Van Helsing, Dr. Hrney Jekyll, and more.
There were three seasons and 27 episodes, airing from 2014-2016. All three seasons are available to stream on Netflix.
Vampire Diaries / Image by The CW
12. The Vampire Diaries
12 years after The WB found success with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its successor The CW tried to rekindle that magic with a new vampire series called The Vampire Diaries.
Unlike Buffy, which dealt on high school students trying to deal with the rising vampires in their hometown, The Vampire Diaries went more for the soap opera aspects that made Twilight popular.
In Mystic Falls, Virginia, a teenage girl named Elena loses both of her parents in a car accident and then falls in love with a 162-year-old vampire named Stefan. However, when Stefan’s older brother Damon returns and wants to resurrect their past love — who happens to look just like Elena — trouble starts.
The show was a monster success for The CW, lasting for eight seasons and 171 episodes. It also spawned a spinoff in The Originals and another in Legacies, that premieres this month on The CW.
All eight seasons of this horror series are available to binge-watch on Netflix.
11. Bitten
Bitten is a Canadian horror series based on the Otherworld novels by Kelley Armstrong. The series called itself Bitten due to the first book in the series, which premiered in 2014 on Space and aired in the United States originally on SyFy.
The show follows a female werewolf named Elena who was recently turned and is originally torn between her life with her human boyfriend and her new family of werewolves in New York.
Bitten gets very interesting when it starts to deal with werewolf politics and the families who run the various countries over the continent and their battles for power. There is also an evil warlock and more monsters — both human and supernatural — that want to bring down Elena’s pack.
The show lasted for three seasons and 33 episodes and every episode is available for Netflix horror fans to binge-watch this Halloween.
iZombie / Image by The CW
10. iZombie
Not all horror series need to be super scary all the time. A perfect example is the comic book adaptation on The CW of iZombie.
In a world where zombies are often overused, i Zombie gives fans a different look as Liv is a medical resident who is turned into a zombie when attacked at a boat party.
However, in the world of this horror series, a zombie can actually keep their sanity and blend in, which is what Liv does when she gets a job at a morgue — a place that she can secretly feed without hurting anyone.
The problem is that when Liv feeds on a dead body, she can see flashbacks of that person’s life and she uses this to help solve crimes involving murders.
The overall background of the show has zombies starting to pop up in Seattle — including those who either can’t or have no desire to control their hunger.
9. Being Human
Being Human was a BBC Three television series about a werewolf, vampire and ghost who became flatmates. It seems like a strange and quirky idea but developed into a fascinating horror series that lasted for five seasons.
Three years after it premiered, a United States version was made and the two ran concurrently for two seasons and the U.S. version ended up bowing out after four seasons, although that was 52 episodes compared to the 37 in the U.K.’s shorter seasons.
The show has the vampire and werewolf trying to keep their secret from the world despite others of their kind having no problem with causing problems.
The three go through changes that threaten their existence and delivers some devastating moments down the stretch. All four seasons of the North American version of Being Human are available to binge on Netflix.
Bates Motel / Image by A&E Network
8. Bates Motel
There was a lot working against Bates Motel when it premiered. For one thing, it was the story of Norman Bates as a child and showed how he grew up to become the mass murderer from the Psycho series.
While Hannibal proved to be successful, that was with Hannibal Lecter as an adult and it was on NBC. Would people tune in to see Norman Bates as a child, especially since it was airing on the minor-league cable network A&E?
The answer was a resounding yes, as it had great ratings out of the gate and picked up some Emmy Awards for the network. It lasted a full five seasons and showed how momma’s skeleton ended up in that rocking chair.
The good news is that all five seasons are available to binge watch this Halloween on Netflix.
7. Trollhunters
The third animated Netflix horror series on this list is easily the best. The reason is simply that the creator — Guillermo Del Toro — knows exactly how to make a gothic horror tale that kids of all ages can enjoy.
Made exclusively for Netflix, Trollhunters tells the story of a teenage boy named James who learns that he is the mythical protector of our world from monsters as the Trollhunter. He also discovers an underground world where Trolls — who are not bad, for the most part — live in peace.
The series lasted for three seasons, with a beginning, middle and end. The story isn’t over though, as 3 Below and Wizards will conclude the story of the apocalyptic war that will decide the fate of the world.
However, for those who just want to watch the three amazing seasons of Trollhunters, the entire Netflix horror series is available for your binging pleasure.
Supernatural / Image by the CW
6. Supernatural
In 2005, The WB took a chance on a new supernatural television show called Supernatural. The series was similar in structure to The X-Files but the show’s overarching theme played in the arena of horror instead of a sci-fi alien invasion.
Both shows lived early on with the Monster of the Week formula, but the big difference is that The X-Files was about a government organization while Supernatural was about two 20-something brothers hunting monsters.
It ended up as a monster hit and is the longest running horror series on The CW, starting its 14th season this year.
The good news for fans of Supernatural is that you can binge all 13 previous seasons on Netflix, watching the boys as they fight monsters and find themselves caught in the battle between Heaven and Hell.
Binge watch this entire Netflix horror series on Netflix now.
5. The Twilight Zone
The most important show in horror television history might be The Twilight Zone. While it also fits the realm of sci-fi, this is a series that shows how the most horrific things can happen to anyone at any time.
The original anthology television series, The Twilight Zone was hosted and created by Rod Serling, who each week introduced people int the world of the unknown and bizarre.
The stories came from leading horror authors like Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) and Ray Bradbury (The Martian Chronicles) and the actors were a whos-who that ranged from Carol Burnett and Dennis Hopper to Robert Duvall, Martin Landau, William Shatner, and many more.
Netflix has four of the five original seasons to view, with the first, second, third and fifth.
Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, Danai Gurira as Michonne – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 10 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
4. The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead just started its ninth season and it looks like The Whisperers are coming. However, while it is still one of the most-watched shows on television, the recent premiere got the worst ratings since the show premiered.
If you are one of those fans who used to love The Walking Dead but has since drifted, Netflix has a treat for you. All eight seasons of The Walking Dead are available to watch on Netflix.
Watch Shane and Rick as they battle for the leadership in the first two seasons. Watch Daryl and Carol as they learn to become fighters working for the betterment of everyone.
Watch the prison episodes and the battle with The Governor, remember why Hershel was so beloved on the show and even watch the lead-in and battles with Negan and the Saviors.
For fans who fell out of love with the show and those who still love watching The Walking Dead every week on AMC, all eight seasons are here to binge on Netflix this Halloween.
3. American Horror Story
Ryan Murphy proved that the world was ready for horror when he brought American Horror Story to FX. This horror series is an anthology series that has each season tell a different horrific story.
With the eighth season out now on FX proving that all the seasons — while different stories with actors playing different characters — are all somehow somewhat related.
With that in mind, and the new season airing weekly, Netflix is offering fans the chance to relive every season and binge watch it all ahead of Halloween if they desire.
All seven previous seasons are on Netflix, from Murder House and Asylum to Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke and Cult. Relive all your worst nightmares with this Netflix horror series.
Stranger Things / Photo Credit: Netflix
2. Stranger Things
The most successful Netflix horror series that the streaming service ever made was Stranger Things. Taking parts of Stephen King novels and Steven Spielberg movies, Stranger Things was a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in a great horror tale.
When a young boy disappears in a small town, his friends set out to find out what happened to him. With the boy’s mother and the town’s alcoholic sheriff close behind, they all soon discover that there is more to the town than anyone knew and that the answers might come from beneath.
A second season arrived that showed the after-effects of the travels to the Upside Down on the now returned Will Byers while Seven continues to struggle with her life and powers.
1. Black Mirror
While Stranger Things was easily the most successful Netflix original horror series the streaming service made, Black Mirror sits at the top when it comes to overall quality.
Taking inspiration from classic shows like The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits, Black Mirror is a horror anthology series that focuses on the hidden dangers of technology.
One warning here — do not binge watch Black Mirror in anticipation of Halloween. The ideas in this series hit a little too close to reality and could cause the viewer to be watching around every corner and fearing their own telephone.
That is it for our countdown of the best Netflix horror series to binge watch this Halloween. Did we miss any of your favorites? Are there some you wish Netflix would pick up in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.