Frightful Flix: 12 Great Horror Movies on Netflix

Finding a genuinely creepy movie in Netflix's horror category can be a challenge. The service's catalog is overflowing with B-movie horror—actually, giving many of the films a "B" ranking is being generous—that are heavy on camp and gore but largely light on real scares. Sure, some of these movies can be fun and funny, but if you want chills, you'll have to dig for them.

Somewhat surprisingly, the classic horror movies that established the genre, the Universal monster movies of the 1930s and 40s, are available for streaming on Netflix. Bela Lugosi's "Dracula" is here, as is Boris Karloff's "The Mummy" and Lon Chaney Jr.'s "The Wolfman." "Frankenstein" is missing, but "The Bride of Frankenstein" is present, and it's arguably a better film anyway. These movies might not be shockingly scary by today's standards, but there's something to be said for the eerie atmosphere of the ancestors of all modern horror movies.

Netflix also gives us access to a couple of the best scary movies from the 1970s. "Rosemary's Baby" makes the most of the dark, claustrophobic spaces of NYC's Dakota apartment building to create a place for Mia Farrow to be threatened in. The original 1976 adaptation of Stephen King's "Carrie" is bigger, with more blood and explosions, but Sissy Spacek gives the whole thing an ominous, simmering tension.

Some of the best horror on Netflix comes from abroad. "Let the Right One In" is a quiet, chilling vampire story from Sweden, and "The Host" (not the one based on a Stephenie Meyer novel) is a thrilling monster movie from South Korea. "Ju-on: The Grudge" is a Japanese ghost story that launched a multitude of lesser imitators and gave us the now-ubiquitous image of the scary ghost-girl lurking in the corner.

If your tastes run toward campy horror, gory zombie flicks, or both, try the 1981 original version of "The Evil Dead." This Sam Raimi-directed movie perfected the tongue-in-cheek zombie romp long before "Shaun of the Dead" or "Zombieland" were conceived.

Finally, a pair of more recent films combine effective shocks, understated atmosphere and surprising twists to great effect. "Session 9" explores the always-scary confines of an abandoned asylum, while "Silent House" traps Elizabeth Olsen in a boarded-up old house and messes with her head.