The 17 best horror films on Disney+
Mickey Mouse's streaming platform is surprisingly well-stocked with spooky movies
Disney+ might not be the obvious place to go for scary films, being unashamedly the most family-friendly of the major streaming services. But the platform’s ownership of the Fox movie studio (and its partnership with Hulu) means you’ll find significantly more creepy, adult-oriented horror films on Disney+ than you might think.
We’ve now combed through the Disney+ catalogue to bring you the best horror movies in the (haunted) House of Mouse. It’s not all spandex-clad superheroes, light sabres and squeaky-voiced rodents over here, so dive in and enjoy something far spookier with these horror films on Disney+.
The Omen
American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) gets himself into one hell of a post-fatherhood wobble in this classic 1970s psychological thriller. There’s something a bit off about his young son Damien; his creepily overprotective nanny and the menacing guard dog that just shows up one day aren’t the half of it – there’s also the fact that anyone who gets in his way seems to perish in a freak accident. Jerry Goldsmith’s Oscar-winning score isn’t subtle, but if you want a taste of slightly campy vintage horror, The Omen is more than happy to deliver.
Black Swan
Natalie Portman won an Oscar for her tour-de-force performance in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological horror. Portman plays a ballet dancer about to embark on the role of her life: the fragile White Swan in a New York production of Swan Lake. However, the pressures of rehearsals and the arrival of a primal, unrestrained new dancer in the company (Mila Kunis) begin to worry away at her mind, leaving her unstable and unable to discern between reality and hallucination. Black Swan is creepy, arty and wonderfully choreographed.
Matriarch
When a troubled London advertising exec nearly dies of a cocaine overdose, she decides to decamp to her childhood home, located somewhere deep in rural England. If the goal was some rest and recuperation, her fractious relationship with her mother seems to be the main obstacle – and speaking of her mother, why does she look so unnaturally young?
This folk horror movie about nurture, nature and confronting the past is creepy, clever and more than a little shocking. Proof positive that Disney+ isn’t just for da kids.
28 Weeks Later
In this more action-oriented sequel to the excellent 28 Days Later, the horrifying Rage virus has been wiped out – along with all the poor infected souls that it turned into violent bloodthirsty monsters. But any sense of safety swiftly dissipates when the virus reappears, having mutated into an even more dangerous form. A group of survivors in the London quarantine zone must make some terrifying choices in a bid to escape the carnage that ensues.
Watch 28 Weeks Later on Disney+
The Menu
Ralph Fiennes glowers wonderfully as world-renowned chef Jeremy Slowik, a culinary perfectionist who makes Gordon Ramsay look like Tinkerbell. When a young couple (Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult) travel to Slowik’s hyper-exclusive private island restaurant alongside a host of wealthy luminaries, the multi-course meal on offer isn’t quite what they expected. Each dish comes with a side-order of terror, bloodshed and righteous score-settling. Will any of the diners survive Slowik’s culinary masterpiece, or is this a last supper for the whole party? A deliciously gory satire.
No One Will Save You
A home invasion thriller with a twist, No One Will Save You features only five words of dialogue throughout its entire running time but succeeds in weaving an enjoyably suspenseful tale of one young woman’s struggle against an otherworldly threat.
That’s chiefly testament to the tour de force performance of Kaitlyn Dever in the lead role; she brings depth and nuance to a character who might otherwise have come across as flat and boring, and for the viewer, discovering her past as she fights for her future is a big part of what makes this film feel fresh for its genre.
Watch No One Will Save You on Disney+
Fresh
Sick of dreary or downright disastrous Tinder dates, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones) decides to ditch the apps and meet a man the old-fashioned way. She then crosses paths with the charming, handsome and goofy Steve (Sebastian Stan), and the pair swiftly hit it off. Despite her friend’s warnings, Noa takes up Steve’s invitation for a weekend break away – and then finds out that not all is what it seems with this apparently perfect man.
In a brilliant rug-pull, Fresh quickly transforms from breezy rom-com to disturbing psychological thriller and, while it doesn’t manage to sustain this air of creativity until the credits roll, it’s a wild ride while it lasts.
Signs
Mel Gibson plays a priest turned farmer, having lost his faith following his wife’s untimely death in a motor accident. He now lives in an old house with his two young children and younger brother (Joaquin Phoenix, back when he played “normal” people rather than just outcasts and villains), surrounded by seemingly endless fields of corn – corn which begins to display crop circle “signs” that some believe are left by visitors from space.
Following up a smash hit like The Sixth Sense couldn’t have been easy, but while M. Night Shyamalan’s Signs didn’t have quite as much cultural (or box office) impact as its predecessor it’s still a riveting suspense story with plenty of scares and a customary Shyamalan plot twist.
Alien
Alien is the best space-set horror movie ever made (not to mention one of the best horror movies full stop). It’s the film that spawned a sprawling franchise based around its iconic titular ‘xenomorph’, and is a masterpiece of tension and visuals with director Ridley Scott at the very top of his game.
When the crew of commercial space hauler the Nostromo (a great cast of ‘normal’, highly relatable characters rather than exaggerated, OTT personalities) detect a transmission from a moon out in deep space, they land to investigate and discover a strange derelict craft full of large eggs. When one of these hatches, it sparks off a deadly sequence of events that we wouldn’t dream of spoiling here. But, yes, it involves a murderous, predatory alien stalking its prey through the corridors and vents of the ship. It’s fantastic cat-and-mouse sci-fi stuff and, courtesy of Scott’s mastery of lighting and the stellar production design, looks so, so good for a movie now over 40 years old.
The Sixth Sense
If, by some miracle, you (a) haven’t already seen The Sixth Sense and (b) haven’t had the knockout ending spoiled for you, we urge you to spend an evening with Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment and a bunch of restless spirits. Willis plays child psychologist, Malcolm Crowe, handed his toughest case yet. That of a troubled boy who says he can see dead people. But even as Crowe becomes more and more convinced by the boy’s claims, he finds himself drifting further and further away from his wife.
Time has perhaps been less kind to The Sixth Sense than it deserves, thanks mainly to that oft-spoiled ending. But it remains a powerful chiller that relies more on a steady build-up of creepiness than gore or jump scares.
Watch The Sixth Sense on Disney+
Ready or Not
This riotous horror comedy stars Samara Weaving as a blushing young bride, freshly inducted into the wealthy clan of her new spouse. When she’s cajoled into partaking in the family’s traditional wedding night ritual, however, things take a turn for the bizarre and brutal. Suddenly, she’s running around their palatial mansion in a lethal game of hide and seek.
Bristling with subversive humour, tension and gory violence, this is one of the more light-hearted horror flicks of recent years. A talented cast, acerbic script and crowd-pleasing action add up to a winning combination.
The Fly
David Cronenberg’s sci-fi horror classic stars Jeff Goldblum as a reclusive and socially awkward scientist who’s spent years working on a device that will change the world. On the verge of success, he meets a journalist (Geena Davis) who offers to chronicle and document his process. Together, the two set about completing the final experiments – only for something to go terribly wrong. What follows is a horrifying transformation that cemented Cronenberg’s reputation for disturbing body horror and incredible special effects.
Predator
If you reduced Arnold Schwarzenegger to a Platonian concept – a simple distillation of what constituted Peak Arnie – you’d get Predator. He chews on a big cigar; he kills people then makes corny wisecracks; he shoots guns; he has muscles; he gurns and grimaces and grunts; he acts like the goddamn American hero he is; he Arnies.
Predator’s not just an Arnie film though. It’s a suspenseful, occasionally quite creepy monster movie about an alien who stalks Arnold and his elite team of hyper-macho special forces operatives through the Central American jungle, picking them off one at a time in a twisted game of cat and mouse. It’s not subtle and it’s not that clever, but it’s not like you watch an Arnie film expecting Cinema Paradiso. Accept it for what it is and enjoy it. You won’t be disappointed.
The Night House
Having recently lost her husband Owen for reasons unclear, Rebecca Hall’s Beth has taken to spending every night drinking herself into oblivion in their lakeside house. But when she starts experiencing unexplainable visions and finds a disturbing mirror-image floorplan for the house, apparently drawn up by Owen, she senses that the answer to the mystery of his death may be within reach.
There’s not much in the way of new horror films on Disney+, but this taut psychological thriller ticks all the boxes. It’s clever, creepy and treats its viewers with a bit of respect.
Watch The Night House on Disney+
The Woman in Black
Probably best known for its long-running stage play adaptation and 1989 TV movie, this classic British novel was brought to the screen for a second time in 2012. Daniel Radcliffe plays a young lawyer sent to a remote coastal town to settle the affairs of a deceased client. A client who lived in a creepy mansion surrounded by even creepier marshes.
With the locals and weather decidedly unfriendly, our hero decides to spend some time at the house – and discover a tragic story involving death, revenge and lots of strange noises. To reveal much more would risk spoiling the methodical build-up of this slow-burning shocker, which manages to make an old-fashioned spooky story feel pleasingly modern.
Watch The Woman in Black on Disney+
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
A star-studding musical that celebrates both vintage horror and sci-fi movies and drag, this camp cult classic isn’t particularly scary or bloody – but it’s a riot all the same. A critical and commercial flop upon its initial release in the 1970s, it gradually garnered cultural significance through late night screenings with audiences turning up in costume and participating in the on-screen action.
Watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Disney+
What Lies Beneath
A big budget haunted house movie starring A listers like Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer and directed by Robert Zemeckis would be basically unthinkable in today’s franchise-fixated movie culture. While What Lies Beneath may be a solid rather than stellar ghost story we suggest you enjoy it for what it is: an enjoyable and occasionally brilliant Hitchcockian suspense thriller with two of the period’s biggest stars doing their thing.
Watch What Lies Beneath on Disney+
Sam Kieldsen
Contributor