The 5 best horror movies to watch on Netflix this April and more

Another month, another great excuse to watch some horror movies.

Horror movies are a year-long occupation for us here at Polygon. Sure, we have our list of the best horror movies to watch right now, or the best horror movies of 2023, ranked by scariness. But each month we also compile a smaller list of five tips that are perfect for this time of year.

This month we’ve selected films that should fit perfectly into the surprisingly gorgeous range of theatrical horror. There’s the star Evil Dead RiseThat is a lot of fun The Pope’s Exorcist… and also Renfield, if that’s more your speed. To prepare you for a terrifying trip to the cinema or to keep the spooky buzz going, we’ve handpicked a few movies that fit these patterns, as well as an all-time classic placeholder for this month’s movies.

Without further ado, let’s get into that.

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The birds

Image: Universal Pictures

Year: 1963
Duration: 1h 59m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Pour: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, and Jessica Tandy

Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock’s overtly supernatural film, and certainly his darkest, The birds tells the story of a small town overrun by a flock of inexplicably hostile, bloodthirsty, and fearsome birds bent on humanity’s annihilation. The film never attempts to explore or explain what caused all the bird creatures (possibly across the world?) to turn evil overnight, but the result is an unrelentingly weird film that will leave you at least a little uneasy next time will make flocks circling over them.

The birds is streaming on Netflix.

Evil Death II

Image: Studio Canal

Year: 1987
Duration: 1h 24m
Director: Sam Raimi
Pour: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, DanHicks

Evil Death II is a very weird sequel in that it’s mostly a bigger, weirder, meaner, funnier, and overall more ridiculous remake of the original movie. The film accompanies Ash Williams and his girlfriend Linda on a trip to an abandoned cabin in the woods. Just like in the first film, a passage from the cursed book, the Necronomicon, is read aloud and spirits possessing dead or living people are released. However, compared to the first film, the killing starts much earlier and gets much more silly and violent, eventually leading to chainsaws, shotguns, and possessed hands.

Evil Death II streams on IndieFlix.

The Exorcist

Image: Warner Bros.

Year: 1973
Duration: 2h 2m
Director: William Friedkin
Pour: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair

One of the clearest transition points between modern and classic horror, The Exorcist still holds up 50 years after its publication. The film follows a movie star mother and her young daughter who becomes possessed by the ancient demon Pazuzu. The demon devastates the family until two priests, one near the end of his career and life and the other suffering from a crisis of faith, arrive to perform an exorcism in hopes of saving the girl and her immortal soul. Despite dozens of exorcism movies following in the footsteps of this one, there are still few that can match it in terms of horror or sheer quality.

The Exorcist will continue to be streamed HBO Max.

overlord

Photo Credit: Peter Mountain/Paramount Pictures

Year: 2018
Duration: 1h 50m
Director: Julius Avery
Pour: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, and Mathilde Ollivier

One problem with most WWII movies is that they just don’t have enough zombies in them, but overlord isn’t most WWII movies. It follows a team of soldiers on D-Day who are sent to blow up a Nazi radio tower in a church. Instead, they find a hidden research facility and a new weapon of the empire: the undead. Ridiculous, funny, gory and a great time overlord is excellent action horror and always charming thanks to the magnetic pull of its star Wyatt Russell. The film is also directed by The Pope’s Exorcist Director Julius Avery!

overlord streams on FuboTV and Outstanding plus.

30 days night

Image: Columbia Pictures

Year: 2007
Duration: 1h 54m
Director: David Slade
Pour: Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston

Starting with one of the greatest horror film premise of all time, 30 days night couldn’t help but have a good time. A group of humans try to survive the night after a group of vampires appear in Barrow, Alaska, a town suffering from months of polar nights in which the sun does not rise for 30 days. In other words, it’s the perfect place to stage a vampire nightmare. The film mixes together all the hallmarks of survival horror, vampires, slashers and chilling winter horror and ultimately manages to live up to its excellent premise.

30 days night will continue to be streamed Hello.