The Best Female-Led Horror Movies to Watch on Netflix

Hungry for some horror? Netflix has a library of endless frights, courtesy of body horror flicks, psychological thrillers, haunted house tales, and more. Since its inception, horror has always been a genre where women have thrived in their fight to survive monsters, men, and supernatural entities that seek to destroy them. With the popularization of the “final girl” film trope in the 70s thanks to movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978), their long-lasting impact of putting women in the driver’s seat wielding weapons has lasted up through today. Netflix should not be overlooked where scream queens and modern-day horror are concerned, and here’s a list of the best women-led thrillers to watch on the service right now.

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Raw (2016)

Director: Julia Ducounau | Run Time: 99 minutes

Cast: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Naït, Laurent Lucas

Viewer discretion-advised. It may be best to consume Raw on an empty stomach. The French-Belgian film follows Justine (Garance Marillier), a vegetarian beginning her first year of Veterinarian school. She finds herself with a newfound appetite for meat after trying it for the first time, and her hunger becomes insatiable as she turns into a kind of ravenous animal herself. Raw made waves when it debuted at Cannes Film Festival for its nauseating images and bold messages about the food industry, and won critical acclaim across the board.

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Director: David Robert Mitchell | Run Time: 100 minutes

Cast: Maika Monroe, Jake Weary, Keir Gilchrist, Lili Sepe, Olivia Luccardi

It Follows kickstarted the career of modern-day scream queen Maika Monroe(Tau), and for good reason. Monroe stars as Jay, a teenager who catches a deadly curse after being with her boyfriend, Hugh (Jake Weary). The curse is extremely contagious, and anyone who gets it will die unless they transmit it over to someone else in a desperate attempt to survive. Jay must decide how far she’s willing to go to escape the curse, and she and her friends attempt to find a way out of the seemingly fatal outcome. An independent horror film that took theatres by storm, it received critical acclaim and is considered a modern classic.

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Director: Guillermo Del Toro | Run Time: 119 minutes

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Holland, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver

Guillermo Del Toro infuses gothic horror with unsettling romance and haunted mansions in Crimson Peak. Proving Del Toro can conquer any niche sub-genre of horror, Mia Wasikowska (Damsel) stars as the naive Edith Cushing, and she’s swept off her feet by the dashing but dark sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), and he whisks her away to his isolated mansion in England after they get married. The fairytale dies when Edith arrives and meets Thomas’s cruel and imposing sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), and she soon realizes something is wrong. Del Toro takes his time revealing the horror that lives in the secluded home, and Hiddleston and Chastain will make the hair on your arm raise as Edith teams up with ghosts inside the house to solve the dark mystery the Sharpes hide in the shadows.

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Director: David Blue Garcia | Run Time: 83 minutes

Cast: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham, Olwen Fouéré, Jessica Allain

The film that created the final girl, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has cemented its legacy forever in horror cinema. The 2022 sequel carries on that legacy with a couple of generation Z scream queens meeting their worst nightmares in the cannibal serial killer, Leatherface. The bloodbath commences 50 years after the original 1973 film, when aspiring business partners Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Melody (Sarah Yarkin) arrive in the broken-down town of Harlow, Texas to auction off old properties. Melody’s little sister, Lila (Elsie Fisher), and Dante’s girlfriend Ruth come along for the ride, and they soon come face to face with Leatherface as he begins hunting them and the rest of the town members down. In a full circle moment, original final girl Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré) returns from the first film as the only survivor of Leatherface, and this time around she’s a hardened Texas Ranger out for blood.

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Director: Mike Flanagan | Run Time: 99 minutes

Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas

Ouija: Origin of Evil, is the much better, much more terrifying prequel to the 2014 supernatural horror film, Ouija. Set in the groovin’ 60s with beehive hairdos and miniskirts, widow Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) works as a phony medium in her Los Angeles home to support her two children, 15-year-old Paulina (Annalise Basso) and 9-year-old Doris (Lulu Wilson). The girls attend a catholic school run by Father Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas), and things take a turn when Alice buys an Ouija board that awakens evil spirits inside the house. Taking possession of Doris, Paulina and Father Hogan become aware of Doris’s disturbing behavior, and the film draws clear inspiration from The Exorcism in its third act. Directed by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep), he directs frequent co-workers Elizabeth Reaser and Henry Thomas as he pays homage to the various horror films of the 60s with grainy film, jump scares, and some rock and roll.

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Director: Leigh Janiak | Run Time: 110 minutes

Cast: Sadie Sink, Chiara Aurelia, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Michael Provos

If you want a pure, formulaic stab at the classic final girl horror film decorated with a maniacal, knife-wielding serial killer who preys upon sexually frustrated teens at sleepaway camp, Fear Street: 1978 has you covered. Sadie Sink was born to play a final girl, and she gets her well-deserving scream queen title as the 17-year-old camp counselor Christine “Ziggy” Bergman in the second chapter of the Leigh Janiak horror-directed trilogy. Set at Camp Nightwing, Christine, her sister, and her friends become terrorized by a sadistic killer as the movie reveals yet another reason behind why the town of Shadyside is haunted.

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Director: McG | Run Time: 85 minutes

Cast: Samara Weaving, Judah Lewis, Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell, Emily Alyn Lind

Move over Laurie Strode, the babysitter has become the villain. In the Netflix original comedy slasher film, The Babysitter, it’s the babysitter that’s trying to kill the children, not the boogeyman. Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) stars as girl next door and babysitter Bee, and she babysits awkward middle schooler Cole (Judah Lewis), who has a major crush on her. When his parents go out of town for the night, Bee comes over to spend the night and invites her friends over, who happen to be part of a devil-worshipping cult. As Cole witnesses them brutally murder a fellow high schooler, he must put aside his feelings for Bee, and try to survive the night as the teens begin hunting him.

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Director: Scott Dale | Run Time: 88 minutes

Cast: Megan Fox, Eoin Macken, Callan Mulvey, Jack Roth, Aml Ameen

Megan Fox stars in this claustrophobic thriller as a woman trapped in a loveless, cruel marriage. On their 10th anniversary, Emma (Megan Fox), is taken away to an isolated lake house by her controlling husband Mark (Eoin Macken) to celebrate the occasion. When she awakens the next morning, she finds Marc dead next to her in bed and she’s handcuffed to his body. Emma desperately searches for a way to escape and solve the crime, and the movie draws clear inspiration from films such as Gerald’s Game as she fights not only murderous villains but also her mind.

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Director: Mike Flanagan | Run Time: 81 minutes

Cast: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Samantha Sloyan, Michael Trucco

Mike Flanagan once again directs a thrilling, tightly-paced horror movie in Hush, starring his frequent creative partner and wife, Kate Siegel (The Haunting of Hill House). Flanagan and Siegel co-wrote the script together, and the movie is an isolated, disturbing take on paranoia when deaf writer Maggie (Kate Siegel) moves to a secluded cabin in the woods to start over. What first seems to be a peaceful change of pace turns dangerous when a masked murderer begins stalking her and appears consistently at her window. Siegel has been deemed a scream queen and more than proves that title as Maddie fights back against the killer.

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Director: Patrick Brice | Run Time: 96 minutes

Cast: Sydney Park, Theodore Pellerin, Dale Whibley, Jesse LaTourette, Diego Josef

There’s Someone Inside Your House is a perfect combination of the many slasher films that have come before. Students at the local high school begin getting murdered by a serial killer who murders his victims while wearing masks of their faces because he deems them sinners. Social outcast and new student Makani Young (Sydney Park) becomes increasingly worried as she has dark secrets from her past that make her an obvious target. As everyone at school begins airing out their dirty laundry in attempts of keeping the killer at bay, more and more students wind up dead while Makani braces herself for an inevitable showdown with the murderer.

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Director: Mike Flanagan | Run Time: 103 minutes

Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Katie Siegel, Chiara Aurelia

With Gerald’s Game, Mike Flanaganonce again proves Stephen King’s work is always in good hands when he’s at the helm. The suspense thriller stars Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood as married couple Jessie and Gerald Burlingame, and a weekend getaway to rekindle old flames goes terrible wrong. When Gerald suffers a heart attack and dies after handcuffing Jessie to the bed, she must figure out a way to escape. While trapped in bed, Jessie begins seeing disturbing things, and it’s up to the audience to decide what’s real and what’s not as she begins to unravel over the course of the film.

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Director: William Brent Bell | Run Time: 97 minutes

Cast: Lauren Cohan, James Russell, Rupert Evans, Jett Klyne, Ben Robson

Newly employed nanny Greta (Lauren Cohan) arrives at the grand, secluded Heelshires mansion in England to discover that the boy she’s taking care of is an 8-year-old doll named Brahms. Stunned at the strange setup, Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire explain to Greta that she must treat Brahms like a real boy to which she shrugs off. As Greta spends more time with Brahms, she begins to believe he may have a heart and mind of his own as she hears a child’s voice throughout the home and other strange signs. As things begin to escalate, Greta begins to question if she’s being gaslit by the Heelshires, going insane, or if the doll really is alive.

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Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini | Run Time: 121 minutes

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton, Natalie Dyer, Rhea Seehorn, Karen Allen

Things Heard & Seen is a classic haunted house story with a fantastic cast at its core. Known best for her comedic and musical roles, Amanda Seyfried goes dark in the Netflix original as the newlywed Catherine Clair, who moves into an old Victorian home in a nice, quiet neighborhood. But, as it always goes in movies like this, it turns out there’s nothing nice about the home and evil ghosts have murderous agendas of their own. James Norton (Hidden Valley) co-stars as Catherine’s husband George, and the film also features an all-star supporting cast, including Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark), F. Murray Abraham (The White Lotus), and Alex Neustaedter (American Rust).

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Director: Dave Franco | Run Time: 88 minutes

Cast: Allison Brie, Jeremy Allen White, Sheila Vand, Dan Stevens

Dave Franco made his directorial debut with the horror film, The Rental. The title alone is an ominous threat, and he directs his wife Allison Brie (GLOW) in this stifling thriller. Brie stars as Michelle, and she rents a secluded house in Oregon with her husband Charlie (Dan Stevens), his brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White), and his girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand). What is supposed to be a stress-free, weekend away from everyday pressures turns into a nightmare when the couples become convinced they’re being watched within their rental. Franco proves he’s got an eye for horror and is just beginning his career as a director, and Brie embraces scream queen antics as she discards her comedic chops for bloody scares.

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Cam (2018)

Director: Daniel Goldhaber | Run Time: 95 minutes

Cast: Madeline Brewer, Samantha Robinson, David Druid, Patch Daragh, Quei Tann, Michael Dempsey

Netflix doesn’t mess around, and its horror original Cam is a heart-pounding trip of relentless paranoia. Starring Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale) as webcam worker Alice, what starts off as a fun, innovative way to pay the bills takes a dark turn when her identity is stolen by a lookalike. Impossible to look away from but hard to watch, Alice begins to hunt down her lookalike who starts posting videos of her own, and the psychological thriller has plenty to say about love, connection, and online social networking in the modern age.

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Director: Iris Shim | Run Time: 83 minutes

Cast: Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, Odeya Rush, Dermot Mulroney, MeeWha Alana Lee

Mother-daughter relationships can be a complicated thing. The supernatural horror movie Umma delves into all the nooks and crannies of the relationship between Amanda and her daughter, Chris, and they live together on a secluded farm. Due to Amanda’s allergy to modern technology, the women live without phones or any other connection to the outside world, leaving Chris isolated. Yearning to go to college and explore the world despite her mother’s wishes, Amanda becomes triggered by her own abusive childhood when she receives the ashes of her dead mother and begins turning into a monster of her own.

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What Lies Below (2020)

Director: Braden R. Duemmler | Run Time: 87 minutes

Cast: Ema Horvath, Mena Suvari, Trey Tucker, Haskiri Velazquez

What Lies Below is a grim horror movie offering murky waters full of terrifying monsters. Ema Horvathstars Liberty Wells, a loner teen living with her carefree single mother, Michelle (Mena Suvari). When Michelle introduces Liberty to her charming younger boyfriend John (Trey Tucker), he instantly takes an interest in Liberty despite her clear discomfort and suspicions of his true intentions. Liberty witnesses John’s odd, supernatural behavior with water, and other strange indicators that he may be more than human. The result is a hair-raising body horror film that clocks in at just 87 minutes.

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Director: James Wan | Run Time: 134 minutes

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Frances O’Connor, Lauren Esposito

The Conjuring 2 travels to London where yet another child is under duress as sinister demons begin to infiltrate and ruin a family’s life. Lucky for them, they’ve got paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren on their side to help rid their house of the evil spirits. Based on the true story and set in 1977, the Hodgson family begins to suffer from inexplicable phenomena that require the help of the paranormal power couple. As they make the journey to London, possessed children, gory exorcisms, and bone-crushing monsters unleash pandemonium upon the house and neighborhood. The Conjuring 2 is just as scary, if not scarier than the first installment, and Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson are old pros at playing the gifted couple that’s seen it all.

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Director: Santiago Menghini | Run Time: 87 minutes

Cast: Cristina Rodlo, Marc Menchaca, David Figioli, Vala Noren, Moonke Akinola

As the title of the movie suggests, things don’t turn out well for a lot of people in No One Gets Out Alive. Death is around every corner awaiting its next victim, and director Santiago Menghini has a fun time scaring audiences with disturbing demises. Cristina Rodlo stars as Ambar, a Mexican undocumented immigrant who moves into a rundown boarding house in Cleveland. Running rampant with suspicious characters hard-pressed for cash, Ambar begins seeing disturbing visions and people within the boarding house but has nowhere else to go. A haunted house tale with a shot of adrenaline, Ambar goes down a dark rabbit hole as she uncovers what really goes on inside.

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Director: Olaf de Fleur | Run Time: 88 minutes

Cast: Florence Pugh, Ben Lloyd-Jones, Scott Chambers, Georgina Bevan

Expect the unexpected, especially where the paranormal is involved. Brother and sister Jackson (Ben Lloyd-Jones) and Angela Sayers (Florence Pugh) make a living as scam artists by pretending to investigate the paranormal for clients who believe their houses are being haunted by otherworldly entities. Together with the rest of the crew, they get more than they bargained for when they enter a house with actual ghosts living inside, and things take a terrifying turn as they come face to face with sinister spirits.

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