25 Best Horror TV Shows on Netflix That Will Keep You Up at Night

Horror TV shows on Netflix have turned late-night streaming into an endurance test for the nerves. Versus films that end in two hours, series stretch dread across episodes and seasons, letting mysteries ferment, characters deepen, and reveals hit harder. From haunted houses and demonic folklore to zombies, cults, and psychological nightmares, Netflix’s catalog is broad and global. Below you’ll find 25 standout horror TV shows on Netflix, each with clear metadata—runtime, number of episodes, number of seasons, and typical episode length—so you can plan exactly how much terror you’re signing up for. You’ll meet grieving families, doomed dynasties, and survivors who refuse to break even when the world ends. You’ll also see how different cultures reframe fear through folklore and history, refreshing familiar tropes. Lights off, volume up.

25. Marianne (2019)

• Run Time: 8 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~50 minutes each
• Starring: Victoire Du Bois, Lucie Boujenah, Tiphaine Daviot
• Creator: Samuel Bodin
• Genre: Supernatural Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

This French nightmare follows Emma, a bestselling horror novelist who returns home only to discover her fictional witch is terrifyingly real. Marianne leans into unnerving compositions, suffocating small-town paranoia, and bold, transgressive scares. The show weaponizes silence and shadow, staging jump scares that feel earned rather than cheap. Friends who once seemed safe become unreliable narrators as old loyalties corrode. Each episode tightens its vice with clues, curses, and a mounting sense of inevitability. The folklore feels ancient yet viciously alive, refusing tidy explanations. Compact but ruthless, it’s a one-season possession that lingers like a stain.

24. The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

• Run Time: 9 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: 50–60 minutes each
• Starring: Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Amelia Eve
• Creator: Mike Flanagan
• Genre: Gothic Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

A melancholic companion to Hill House, Bly Manor transforms Henry James into a bittersweet ghost story about love, memory, and the stories we tell to survive. The dread is patient and velvety: children whisper secrets, corridors breathe, lakes keep counsel. Rather than chase you with monsters, it lets grief creep under your skin. Performances are intimate and bruised, turning hauntings into metaphors for attachment and loss. Its timelines interlock like a locket, revealing new meanings on rewatch. The production design glows with candlelit sorrow and fog-draped gardens. It’s a lullaby that ends with a shiver.

23. Betaal (2020)

• Run Time: 4 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~45 minutes each
• Starring: Vineet Kumar Singh, Aahana Kumra, Suchitra Pillai
• Creators: Patrick Graham, Suhani Kanwar
• Genre: Action Horror, Folklore
• IMDb Rating: 5.5/10

Colonial ghosts meet modern militarism when a tunnel clearance awakens a battalion of undead Redcoats. Betaal marries siege-style action with myth, turning narrow corridors and dwindling ammo into pure panic. The political undertones bite, confronting histories that refuse to stay buried. Characters are sketched quickly but vividly, shifting from skepticism to terror. Practical effects and sound design make every scrape of armor and ritual chant feel immediate. It’s lean, mean, and unafraid to get weird with possession and curse lore. A brisk binge that proves the undead wear many uniforms.

22. Dracula (2020)

• Run Time: 3 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~90 minutes each
• Starring: Claes Bang, Dolly Wells, John Heffernan
• Creators: Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat
• Genre: Gothic Horror, Supernatural
• IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

Three feature-length chapters remix Stoker with modern wit and classic dread. Claes Bang’s Count is magnetic—seductive, sardonic, and venomous in every syllable. Each episode hops time and tone, interrogating faith, contagion, and the theater of fear. Sets and costumes luxuriate in decadence while bloodshed stays operatic. A sly, talky script keeps the old myths sharp enough to cut. Even the controversial swings feel like audacious invitations to debate. It’s an elegant weekend bite with plenty of aftertaste.

21. Kingdom (2019–2020)

• Run Time: 12 episodes • 2 seasons
• Episode Length: 45–55 minutes each
• Starring: Ju Ji-hoon, Bae Doona, Ryu Seung-ryong
• Creator: Kim Eun-hee
• Genre: Historical Horror, Zombie
• IMDb Rating: 8.3/10

Joseon-era court intrigue collides with blistering undead warfare in this pulse-spiking epic. Kingdom frames plague as both medical catastrophe and moral rot. Daylight becomes strategy; nightfall is terror incarnate. The crown prince’s arc threads honor through impossible choices as conspiracies coil. Costuming and landscapes are breathtaking, giving siege sequences mythic heft. The lore behind the infection is clever, cruel, and satisfyingly revealed. It’s prestige zombie storytelling with a statesman’s spine.

20. Ghoul (2018)

• Run Time: 3 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~45 minutes each
• Starring: Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul, Ratnabali Bhattacharjee
• Creator: Patrick Graham
• Genre: Supernatural Horror, Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 7.0/10

Inside a black-site prison, an interrogation goes to hell—literally—when a demon turns everyone’s secrets into weapons. Ghoul is suffocating, political, and razor-focused on complicity. Apte’s protagonist is torn between duty and conscience as the entity dismantles lies. The folklore is deftly woven, reframing resistance as exorcism. Stark lighting and metallic soundscapes make the facility feel like a throat closing. Each reveal twists the knife with grim efficiency. Perfect for a single, devastating night of terror.

19. The Haunting of Hill House (2018)

• Run Time: 10 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: 50–70 minutes each
• Starring: Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Victoria Pedretti
• Creator: Mike Flanagan
• Genre: Supernatural Horror, Family Drama
• IMDb Rating: 8.6/10

The Crain family’s trauma echoes across decades as a house devours their hearts. Hill House is a ghost story with a pulse—formally daring, emotionally annihilating. Hidden specters, long-take episodes, and mirrored timelines reward careful viewing. Grief, addiction, and guilt haunt as fiercely as any phantom. Performances make every reconciliation and rupture cut deep. Production design turns rooms into memory traps, alive with whispers. By the end, the house feels like a character that never stops watching.

18. Sweet Home (2020–2023)

• Run Time: 20 episodes • 2 seasons (so far)
• Episode Length: 45–55 minutes each
• Starring: Song Kang, Lee Jin-wook, Lee Si-young
• Creator: Lee Eung-bok
• Genre: Monster Horror, Action, Fantasy
• IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

In a sealed apartment complex, human desires mutate bodies into nightmares. Sweet Home swings between gnarly creature fights and fragile neighborly alliances. The designs are inventive—from sinewy giants to insectoid horrors—showcasing blockbuster-level spectacle. Yet its real bite is empathy for the broken and brave. Personal demons become literal, demanding sacrifice and solidarity. The pacing alternates breathless chaos with quiet, aching beats. It’s gory, glossy, and unexpectedly humane.

17. All of Us Are Dead (2022– )

• Run Time: 12 episodes • 1 season (renewed)
• Episode Length: 55–70 minutes each
• Starring: Park Ji-hu, Yoon Chan-young, Cho Yi-hyun
• Creator: Lee Jae-kyoo
• Genre: Zombie Horror, Survival
• IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

A high school detonates into chaos as a lab-born virus tears through classrooms and cliques. Teen politics—bullying, crushes, hierarchies—become battlefield tactics. The show’s long takes and corridor sprints pin you to the moment. Characters harden or shatter under pressure, earning every gasp and goodbye. Social media chatter and parental panic widen the apocalypse. Moral lines blur when rescue equals risk. It’s a youth drama sharpened into a machete.

16. The Mist (2017)

• Run Time: 10 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~42 minutes each
• Starring: Morgan Spector, Alyssa Sutherland, Gus Birney
• Creator: Christian Torpe
• Genre: Horror, Mystery, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 5.4/10

Stephen King’s creeping fog turns a New England town into a morality play. Creatures lurk, but the bigger terror is how people collapse into zealotry and violence. The series is uneven yet fascinating in its psychological focus. Stores and churches become warring fortresses. Fog-bound set pieces deliver eerie, tactile dread. Characters cycle through denial, faith, and feral pragmatism. It’s a sociological panic attack with tentacles.

15. Hemlock Grove (2013–2015)

• Run Time: 33 episodes • 3 seasons
• Episode Length: 45–55 minutes each
• Starring: Famke Janssen, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron
• Creators: Brian McGreevy, Lee Shipman
• Genre: Supernatural Horror, Mystery
• IMDb Rating: 7.0/10

Early Netflix Gothic soaked in bloodline curses and biotech whispers. A posh family hides rot beneath crystal and couture, while werewolf lore snaps bones in unforgettable transformations. The town itself feels cursed, with myths and science circling each other like predators. Characters brood, betray, and cling to broken versions of love. Tone swings from operatic to pulpy, always aiming for audacity. When it hits, it hits viscerally hard. Messy, magnetic, and proudly strange.

14. Penny Dreadful (2014–2016)

• Run Time: 27 episodes • 3 seasons
• Episode Length: 50–60 minutes each
• Starring: Eva Green, Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton
• Creator: John Logan
• Genre: Gothic Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 8.2/10

Victorian London gathers monsters of literature under gaslight and guilt. Eva Green’s Vanessa is a tempest—possessed, devout, and devastating. The series savors language and ritual, making prayer and blasphemy equally dangerous. It’s sexy and sorrowful, with violence that feels like fate collecting its due. Creature design and costuming are museum-grade. Friendships form covenants against the dark, however doomed. A sumptuous, sinful communion of Gothic hearts.

13. Ratched (2020)

• Run Time: 8 episodes • 1 season (renewed)
• Episode Length: 45–60 minutes each
• Starring: Sarah Paulson, Finn Wittrock, Cynthia Nixon
• Creators: Evan Romansky, Ryan Murphy
• Genre: Psychological Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

Behind the immaculate uniforms and pastel palettes, the asylum grinds souls into shapes that fit the era. Paulson’s Mildred plays the system like a violin, masking trauma with precision control. Murders and cover-ups unfold with operatic cruelty. The show’s design lures you into complicity before slamming the door. Power, identity, and institutional violence braid into a thorny crown. Side characters bloom into tragic case studies. It’s a cold beauty that cuts.

12. Slasher (2016– )

• Run Time: 39 episodes • 5 seasons
• Episode Length: ~45 minutes each
• Starring: Paula Brancati, Katie McGrath, Steve Byers
• Creator: Aaron Martin
• Genre: Anthology, Mystery, Gore
• IMDb Rating: 6.7/10

Each season resets the board: new mask, new sins, new small town with old secrets. The kills are creative, mean, and meticulously staged. Red herrings pile up like bodies, daring you to guess wrong. Characters deserve their fates more often than they escape them. The moral calculus is savage, but the puzzle is addictive. It’s comfort food for gorehounds—if your comfort is serrated. Bring theories and a strong stomach.

11. American Horror Story (2011– )

• Run Time: 120+ episodes • 12 seasons (availability varies)
• Episode Length: 45–60 minutes each
• Starring: Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters
• Creators: Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
• Genre: Horror Anthology
• IMDb Rating: 8.0/10

AHS re-skins itself yearly: haunted houses, asylums, witches, freak shows, cults, the apocalypse—and then some. Camp and cruelty walk hand in hand, with production design doing maximalist storytelling. The repertory cast devours scenery and sometimes each other. Peaks are sky-high; valleys are fascinating train wrecks. But the audacity is consistent and addictive. If you want a sampler platter of horror subgenres, few buffets are richer. It’s television as bloodstained cabaret.

10. The Order (2019–2020)

• Run Time: 20 episodes • 2 seasons
• Episode Length: ~45 minutes each
• Starring: Jake Manley, Sarah Grey, Adam DiMarco
• Creator: Dennis Heaton
• Genre: Supernatural Horror, Fantasy
• IMDb Rating: 6.8/10

College life collides with dark sorcery as a secret society drafts a freshman with a personal vendetta. Werewolves, warlocks, and memory-warping rituals keep alliances brittle. The tone finds a nimble balance between quippy and lethal. Campus landmarks become ritual spaces where love and loyalty get taxed. Season arcs play like chess, with gambits that actually cost. Practical creature moments pop amid spellcraft politics. A fun, fangy two-season binge.

9. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018–2020)

• Run Time: 36 episodes • 4 seasons
• Episode Length: 50–60 minutes each
• Starring: Kiernan Shipka, Ross Lynch, Lucy Davis
• Creator: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
• Genre: Occult Horror, Teen Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.4/10

Hexes, Hell, and homework collide as Sabrina splits her life between mortal routine and infernal destiny. The show revels in witch-lit pageantry: blood oaths, goat-headed idols, and rituals that bite back. Teenage romances become Faustian bargains with adorable, terrifying consequences. The supporting coven shines with complicated women and dangerous mentors. Practical effects and creature cameos keep the satanic carnival lively. Its moral arc wrestles with power, autonomy, and family legacy. A teen show with fangs and flair.

8. Black Summer (2019–2021)

• Run Time: 16 episodes • 2 seasons
• Episode Length: ~40 minutes each
• Starring: Jaime King, Justin Chu Cary, Christine Lee
• Creators: Karl Schaefer, John Hyams
• Genre: Zombie Horror, Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 6.6/10

A brutal, breathless take on the outbreak’s first days where plans fail and sprinting undead win. Dialogue is sparse; geography is the antagonist. Long, unbroken shots force you to feel every wrong turn. Strangers form alliances made of smoke and necessity. The randomness of death makes heroism suspect and cowardice relatable. When quiet arrives, it’s a trap, not relief. A panic attack in episodic form—and that’s praise.

7. Stranger Things (2016– )

• Run Time: 34 episodes • 4 seasons (S5 upcoming)
• Episode Length: 45–80 minutes each
• Starring: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown
• Creators: The Duffer Brothers
• Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Mystery
• IMDb Rating: 8.7/10

A missing kid opens a gate to the Upside Down and a decade of pop culture adoration. Government labs, psychic children, and small-town courage make the show sing. It’s equal parts Spielberg warmth and Lovecraft chill. Creature work and synths build a mythos you can hum. Friendships fracture and mend under cosmic pressure. Each season scales up stakes without losing heart. Nostalgia is the bait; sincere horror is the hook.

6. The Walking Dead (2010–2022)

• Run Time: 177 episodes • 11 seasons (availability varies)
• Episode Length: ~45 minutes each
• Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride
• Creator: Frank Darabont
• Genre: Zombie Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 8.1/10

Post-apocalypse survival becomes a referendum on ethics, leadership, and grief. Communities rise from ashes and immediately start arguing over the matchbox. Iconic villains sharpen the ensemble like whetstones. The zombie threat evolves from shock to landscape, still deadly when ignored. Long arcs let characters earn reinvention—or ruin. It’s inconsistent and still essential, a sprawling map of human cracks. If commitment horror is your thing, welcome to the marathon.

5. Castlevania (2017–2021)

• Run Time: 32 episodes • 4 seasons
• Episode Length: 23–28 minutes each
• Starring: Richard Armitage, James Callis, Alejandra Reynoso
• Creator: Warren Ellis
• Genre: Animated Horror, Fantasy
• IMDb Rating: 8.3/10

Baroque castles, whip-cracks, and a vampire court drowning in grief power this animated Gothic. Combat choreography is a ballet of blood and magic. The trio at its heart—Belmont, Sypha, Alucard—spar and bond with irresistible chemistry. Politics of monster and man interlace, asking who deserves extinction. Villains get backstories sharp enough to draw sympathy. Humor punctures gloom without deflating stakes. It’s a feast that goes down in quick, potent servings.

4. Midnight Mass (2021)

• Run Time: 7 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~60 minutes each
• Starring: Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Hamish Linklater
• Creator: Mike Flanagan
• Genre: Supernatural Horror, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 7.7/10

A mysterious priest brings miracles to an island that has forgotten hope, and the cost is steep. Sermons become spells that rationalize the unspeakable. Monologues dig into guilt, addiction, and the ache of being mortal. The horror rarely shouts; it testifies. Performances glow with conviction and denial, sometimes in the same breath. When blood flows, it does so with liturgical gravity. A vampire parable about the stories we’ll believe to feel chosen.

3. Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (2022)

• Run Time: 8 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: 45–60 minutes each
• Starring: Andrew Lincoln, F. Murray Abraham, Sofia Boutella
• Curator: Guillermo del Toro
• Genre: Horror Anthology
• IMDb Rating: 7.0/10

Different directors unlock a trove of nightmares: cosmic fungi, cursed art, graves that won’t stay shut. Practical effects and tactile sets scratch the old-school monster itch. Some episodes whisper dread; others revel in pulp mayhem. The introductions feel like bedtime stories told by a benevolent crypt-keeper. Themes circle greed, grief, and the price of curiosity. It’s a sampler where even the weaker chocolates are pleasantly poisonous. Horror tourism at its classiest.

2. Hannibal (2013–2015)

• Run Time: 39 episodes • 3 seasons
• Episode Length: ~42 minutes each
• Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne
• Creator: Bryan Fuller
• Genre: Psychological Horror, Thriller
• IMDb Rating: 8.5/10

High-art homicide rendered in frame-worthy tableaux where appetites define morality. Mikkelsen’s Lecter is a velvet guillotine—charming, erudite, and exacting. Will Graham’s empathy becomes a cursed superpower, binding them in exquisite ruin. Dialogue tastes like wine; violence looks like sculpture. Cases-of-the-week mutate into a grand romance with hellish consequences. Food porn becomes a dare you can’t accept. Terrifying, beautiful, and perversely tender.

1. The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

• Run Time: 8 episodes • 1 season
• Episode Length: ~60 minutes each
• Starring: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell
• Creator: Mike Flanagan
• Genre: Gothic Horror, Supernatural, Drama
• IMDb Rating: 8.0/10

Poe reborn as a corporate curse where every heir meets a bespoke doom. A shape-shifting Carla Gugino presides like fate’s attorney, smiling as debts come due. The writing is barbed, weaving greed, grief, and public rot into private hauntings. Easter eggs reward Poe devotees without alienating newcomers. Visuals drip with decadence: black tie, red blood, gold guilt. Each episode refracts a classic tale into modern malice. As a capstone to Flanagan’s Netflix era, it tolls like a bell.

Why Horror TV Shows on Netflix Keep Us Watching (Final Thoughts)

Horror TV shows on Netflix thrive because the format lets dread breathe—characters make messy choices, secrets metastasize, and everyday spaces warp into thresholds. This list spans Gothic elegies, occult teen terrors, monster-smashing survival, and psychological labyrinths; the connective tissue is craftsmanship and conviction. If you want further expert curations from major U.S. outlets, check respected roundups like Variety and longform features from Vulture (New York Magazine) for evolving picks, interviews, and context. Whether you start with a compact mini-series or sink into a multi-season epic, the best horror TV shows on Netflix don’t just scare—they linger, turning the next quiet hallway or late-night buzz into something charged. They also prove that horror is a flexible mirror for culture, reflecting anxieties about faith, science, power, and belonging. Return to favorites and you’ll find new shadows in familiar rooms. Choose your poison, set your episode timer, and let the darkness do what it does best.

Frequently Asked Questions about the best Horror TV Shows on Netflix