Top 11 Netflix Horror Movies Based On Books

Director: Olaf de Fleur | Runtime: 88 minutes

Based on: Hush (2011) by Eva Konstantopoulos

A brother and sister team of scammers posing as genuine paranormal investigators take a job that will forever change their lives in the supernatural horror movie Malevolent.

Director: David Bruckner | Runtime: 94 minutes

Based on: The Ritual (2011) by Adam Nevill

The Ritual is an insidious folk horror movie with exceptionally strong characters and conflict. It is a movie about the fracturing of a friend group first, and about the horrors contained in the Swedish wilderness second.

Director: Takashi Shimizu | Runtime: 116 minutes

Based on: the manga Homunculus (2003-2011) by Hideo Yamamoto

After a homeless man, Susumi Nokoshi (Go Ayano), undergoes an experimental surgery, he begins to see people as distorted versions of themselves when he closes his right eye. Homunculus is more of a psychological thriller than horror, but Japanese director Takashi Shimizu includes some horror elements for good measure.

Director: Álex Pastor, David Pastor | Available starting July 14

Based on: Bird Box Barcelona is a spinoff sequel to the movie Bird Box (2018) which was based on the novel Bird Box (2014) by Josh Malerman.

Bird Box Barcelona promises a similar kind of apocalyptic and cosmic horror as the first Bird Box movie, but with a production set in Spain and created by Spanish filmmakers, it could provide a completely new take on the subject.

Director: Leigh Janiak | Runtime: 331 minutes total

Based on: the Fear Street series of books by R.L. Stine

The Fear Street movies are R-rated horror movies that feel a lot like throwbacks to teen slasher flicks ranging from the late 1970s to the 1990s. The trilogy takes a trip back to the 1600s for a witch-hunt movie towards the finale, but the overall slasher feel of this well-made supernatural horror series sticks around to the end.

Director: Mike Flanagan | Runtime: 103 minutes

Based on: Gerald’s Game (1992) by Stephen King

Lauded horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan directed this adaptation of Stephen King’s novel which many people thought was unfilmable. As always, Flanagan did great work, making Gerald’s Game a supremely unsettling experience.

Director: Scott Cooper | Runtime: 130 minutes

Based on: The Pale Blue Eye (2006) by Louis Bayard

Though it is more of a detective movie than a horror movie, the specifics of the crimes in The Pale Blue Eye veer it in the direction of horror at times.

Director: Santiago Menghini | Runtime: 87 minutes

Based on: No One Gets Out Alive (2014) by Adam Nevill

An undocumented immigrant, Ambar (Cristina Rodlo) finds there is no escape from the horror, both supernatural and disturbingly human, when she begins her stay at a haunted boarding house.

Director: Denis Rovira van Boekholt | Runtime: 102 minutes

Based on: The Influence (1988) by Ramsey Campbell

In The Influence, Alicia (Manuela Vellés) and her family move into her childhood home to help her sister take care of their dying mother. As Alicia struggles in this new phase of her life, she also struggles with her family’s history which includes witchcraft.

Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. | Runtime: 102 minutes

Based on: It is a prequel to the movie The Thing (1982) which was based on the novella Who Goes There? (1938) by John W. Campbell Jr.

The Thing (2011) is a prequel to The Thing (1982). It follows a similar plot structure of the earlier film by telling the story of an isolated crew discovering that a deadly shapeshifting alien is among them.

Director: Gore Verbinski | Runtime: 115 minutes

Based on: It is a remake of the movie Ring (1998) which is based on the novel Ring (1991) by Koji Suzuki.

The Ring is a perfect case study for why you should maybe read a book instead of watching television. But as one of the best movies of the 2000s, The Ring is something everyone needs to see.