10 Worst Netflix Original Horror Movies, According to Rotten Tomatoes

Horror movies tend to get a bad wrap. Critics initially balked at classics like 1980’s The Shining and turned up their noses at newer offerings like 30 Days of Night, so fans of the genre typically know better than to judge a film based only on its critical reception.

Yet when it comes to Netflix’s original horror content, critics and viewers seem to agree that much of it is pretty unimpressive. Beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, but with ratings rarely exceeding 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, these Netflix productions’ fans are few and far between.

10 Things Heard & Seen (2021) – 39%

When Catherine Claire moves with her husband to the rural town of Chosen, New York, she discovers sinister forces lurking on the old farmland the two have purchased. One part ghost story and one part domestic drama, Things Heard & Seen can’t seem to take its been-there-done-that premise in any new directions.

According to critics, the film’s greatest offense seems to be its total banality. The mark of a great horror movie comes from its ability to scare, disturb, or otherwise provoke the viewer, and Things Heard & Seen doesn’t seem capable of eliciting anything other than yawns.

9 In The Tall Grass (2019) – 36%

An adaptation of the 2012 novella of the same name, a collaboration between Stephen King and his son Joe Hill, In The Tall Grass sees a series of characters drawn into a weedy field only to discover that a dark presence is trapping them there.

Featuring a premise reminiscent of other King works like Children of the Korn and 1922  (another Netflix horror feature), In The Tall Grass overstays its welcome and stretches its thin plot to the point of absurdity. As critic Allan Allmacher of The MacGuffin puts it, “This was a great short film stretched out and padded to become a dull feature length flick.”

8 Cadaver (2020) – 33%

In the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse, a desperate couple takes their daughter to a dinner theater performance which goes horribly awry when the hosts are revealed to be sadistic cannibals. Cadaver aims to be a sort of clever allegory, but it’s bogged down by plot contrivances and odd narrative choices.

One of a handful of foreign horror films on Netflix, Cadaver is interesting in parts, although it doesn’t quite deliver on its promises of social satire and delicately-crafted scares, and it easily ranks among the worst horror movies of 2020.

7 Death Note (2017) – 30%

An adaptation of the famous anime series, 2017’s Death Note tells the tale of a man who comes to possess a book able to bring death to those whose names have been written in it. It’s a cerebral and complex exploration of justice, power, and criminality, but the Netflix film streamlines things into ineptitude.

While the source material is weight, dire, and captivating, the live-action adaptation seems content to be nothing more than a cheap thriller. It joins 2021’s Cowboy Bebop in being a Netflix anime adaptation that fails to understand the appeal of its source.

6 Rattlesnake (2019) – 30%

When a mother unwittingly makes a deal with the devil to save her child from a rattlesnake bite, she is forced to take the life of another to repay the debt. While 2019’s Rattlesnake features an interesting setup, it ultimately feels like little more than a collection of stylish shots of a desert wasteland.

Much like In The Tall Grass, Rattlesnake‘s plot doesn’t seem robust enough to warrant a feature-length film. It’s more or less a short story tediously stretched to the hour-thirty mark, and it’s made all the worse for it.

5 The Silence (2019) – 29%

Even the presence of the esteemed Stanley Tucci couldn’t save this project from falling from the clichéd horror tree and hitting every trope on the way down. 2019’s The Silence sees a group of survivors struggle to eke out an existence after extraterrestrial monsters with supremely adept hearing invade the Earth.

If that premise sounds familiar, it’s because The Silence is more or less a complete rip-off of A Quiet Place, which debuted the year prior. Unfortunately, this film lacks the tension and terror present in the film which very likely inspired its creation.

4 Ghost Lab (2021) – 29%

2021’s Ghost Lab is a Thai horror movie that has the feel of a passion project gone awry. It begins with an interesting enough premise; two hospital employees are determined to provide scientific evidence of the paranormal after encountering something during the night shift. However, the narrative, tone, and presentation all feel far too uneven and experimental.

Switching from jump-scare-laden fright-fest to weird comedy at the drop of a hat, Ghost Lab will have audiences bending over backward to keep up, and most Netflix subscribers likely aren’t willing to become that invested in a film that only managed a 29% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

3 Secret Obsession (2019) – 28%

When an amnesiac wife returns home to her husband, she quickly discovers that nothing is as it seems and that the man claiming to be her spouse isn’t the kind and caring person he first seemed to be.

Starring Brenda Song of Disney fame, Secret Obsession is a low-budget thriller that features twists so obvious that they’re more or less given away in the trailer. It may intrigue those unfamiliar with the genre, but more seasoned viewers will be left rolling their eyes as the movie works through every overdone cliché available to it.

2 The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) – 21%

In 2016, 10 Cloverfield Lane garnered praise for its terrifying intensity generated by John Goodman in a very out-of-his-element role. Its 2018 psuedo-sequel The Cloverfield Paradox was more or less forgotten after premiering on Netflix.

While it establishes an interesting cosmic horror premise and takes the Cloverfield anthology to new places, the film spends far too much time on exposition. Attempting to replicate interstellar horror epics like Alien or Event Horizon, The Cloverfield Paradox is bogged down by its tell-don’t-show manner of storytelling.

1 The Open House (2018) – 13%

A mother and her son are looking to sell their family home following the death of her husband, but strange occurrences befall them. Continually accosted by a figure dressed in dark clothing, they must do what they can to both ward off a supernatural presence and ensure the house sells.

Feeling less like a horror movie and more like a History Channel dramatization of a family’s real-life paranormal encounter, The Open House is excessively predictable and formulaic, taking no risks and puttering along, content in the knowledge that no horror fan will ever find it scary in the least.