Stephen King Recommends 21 Creepy Horror Movies & Shows You Should Watch on Netflix

Stephen King said that this Mike Flanagan thriller about a deaf woman stalked by a masked killer at her remote home is “up there with Halloween,” which is high praise indeed. Flanagan later went on to adapt several Stephen King stories to film, including Gerald’s Game on Netflix and the theatrical release Doctor Sleep.

Adapted from the hit horror novel by Josh Malerman, King said that he was “absolutely riveted” by the Netflix original movie Bird Box, further urging his readers not to believe the “lukewarm reviews.”

“If you’re one of those sickos – like me – who enjoys being scared,” Stephen King says, then the French Netflix original series Marianne “will do the job.” The premise certainly sounds up King’s alley: a famous horror writer returns to her hometown, only to find that an ominous figure from her nightmares is loose in the real world.

Related: Here are All the New Horror Movies Coming to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video This May 

This political thriller series, which stars Kiefer Sutherland as a low-level U.S. official who suddenly finds himself thrust into the presidency after a deadly mass attack, only got better after its transition from ABC to Netflix. King called the Netflix season “tough-minded, complex, and involving.”

When Stephen King tells you that something is “surveying previously unexplored realms of gruesomeness,” you better pay attention. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a man slowly drowning in an industrial washer before,” King mused about this brutal French crime drama.

“It’s got a Hitchcock vibe with a little bit of The Wicker Man tossed in for good measure.” If that description from Stephen King doesn’t grab your attention, we don’t know what will. King also called this 2018 British thriller a “genuine nail-biter.”

Sometimes, it doesn’t take very many words to sell us on something. When Stephen King said this chilling crime thriller from David Fincher is “strongly recommended,” we added it to our queue immediately…

Related: 13 True Crime Books for Fans of Mindhunter 

With three seasons under its belt so far, this Israeli thriller—featuring a soldier on the hunt for a Palestinian fighter that he thought he had killed—has been called the best show to come out of Israel. See why for yourself why Stephen King remarked that “with episodes only a little longer than your average sitcom,” Fauda is “all killer and no filler.”

The latest attempt to adapt Dracula to the small screen—this time courtesy of BBC and Sherlock co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat—may have received somewhat mixed reviews, but Stephen King called it “smart, involving, and bloody terrific.” And, after all, who knows vampires better than King?

Calling it "dark and complex," King provides an excellent reference for Dark. If you get confused, King recommends you "go to MetaWitches and check out Metacrone's recaps. Detailed and helpful.

Not every Netflix title that Stephen King recommends falls squarely in the horror arena—but each suggestion certainly is thrilling! The hit Spanish series Money Heist sees eight thieves locking themselves, along with hostages, inside a vault at Spain’s Royal Mint. That’s just the beginning of this twisty series that King not only calls a “firecracker,” but even tweeted again to beg Netflix for more episodes.

Not usually a fan of supernatural horror? King’s still got you covered with this Belgian series about a woman investigating her own murder, which he calls “supernatural fare for those who don’t ordinarily like it.”

Related: 33 Horror Movie Quotes Every Horror Fan Needs to Know 

Cam made a big splash with reviewers and audiences alike when it first hit Netflix back in 2018—it boasts a whopping 93% at Rotten Tomatoes. But if you missed out on this techno-thriller film about a cam girl who finds herself replaced by an eerie doppelganger, you’ll be pleased to note that it counts King as one of its fans. In his complimentary tweet, he singled out the lead performance by actress Madeline Brewer.

Having already showered Mike Flanagan’s Hush with some high praise, King reserved even stronger words for Flanagan’s remix of Shirley Jackson’s classic novel. “I don’t usually care for this kind of revisionism, but this is great,” King said. “Close to a work of genius, really.”

Related: 14 Horror Books to Read While You Wait for The Haunting of Bly Manor 

“Just when you think there’s no more scare left in zombies,” Stephen King says of this Netflix original series from the producers of Z Nation, “THIS comes along.” With a second season having just been announced, there’s no better time to catch up on the zombie show that King calls “existential hell in the suburbs, stripped to the bone.”

Adapted from a novel by acclaimed mystery writer Harlan Coben, this British series stars Richard Armitage as Adam Price, a family man who becomes embroiled in a series of dark secrets after a mysterious stranger tells him shocking truths about his wife. King himself is no stranger to tales of towns with dark secrets, and he calls this new series, which just premiered on Netflix this year, “addictive.”

Anyone who follows Stephen King on Twitter knows he is very politically active—and he doesn't shy away from sharing his opinions and perspectives. He recommends The Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror, noting the documentary "makes the failures of our invasion of Afghanistan tragically clear."

“No explosions,” King says of this tense Australian political thriller series, “no fights,” but it “ramps up the tension” and “the whodunit aspect is beautifully handled.” Sounds like a perfect thinking person’s thriller. Unfortunately, King’s hope for a second season seems unlikely, given that the first aired back in 2018 and there’s been no word on a follow-up since.

Mike Flanigan has done it again—and by now, it's no secret Stephen King is a fan. This time, he raves about Midnight Mass, calling it a "beautifully photographed terror tale that climbs to a high pitch of horror."

With so many awesome movies and shows on Netflix, it's easy to miss awesome stuff! It's cool to see this happens to the King of Horror himself—even better when he finds something like The Clovehitch Killers. He says he"found it unbearably suspenseful" and warned that it's "not for the faint of heart."

King says the show Reckoning's "Fine mystery plot generates bursts of maximum suspense." It's a 10 episode miniseries—and sounds like the perfect thing to watch when you're in the mood for something thrilling and bingeable.