Look. It's October and we know you want to watch horror movies until you're scared of everything that moves.

But you don't want to spend all the money to go to the theater or digitally rent them. Netflix is the obvious first choice. However, Netflix is full of many, many, many bad horror movies not worth your time. Maybe you've seen some of the independent good ones like The Babadook and Troll Hunter currently available on the streaming service, but you want to dig deeper. But how do you know what's good?

What you need is someone who has wasted probably hundreds of hours scouring the bottom of the Netflix barrel trying to find the hidden diamonds in the rough, rough horror selections.

I have done this task for you. I have watched so many terrible movies to find the best for you. And I present the top 13 here.

The Invitation

I'm a huge fans of slow burn movies, and films about cults — The Invitation is both of those things. It's the newest film on this list, released in 2015, and it tells the story of a man taking his girlfriend to a dinner party at his estranged ex-wife's house with her new husband. Dealing with the ideas of grief, loss, acceptance and escapism, The Invitation draws you in as you try to unravel just what these hosts are up to and what they believe to be the answer to life's pain.

It's not an amazing movie, but it's very well executed and good for some tense dread.





Pontypool

Pontypool is a gimmicky film, but one that mostly works. An old washed up shock jock, Grant Mazzy, has found himself working the midnight shift in the small titular town of Pontypool. He hates the job, himself and everything about his life. Then, calls start coming in of an unusual disturbance and he's left all alone in his radio booth while everything begins to go to hell outside.

The perspective stays in the radio station and so most of the suspense is locked within both your and Mazzy's imagination as calls and reports only reveal so much of the disturbing situation. It doesn't quite stick the landing, but it's pretty enjoyable while it lasts.





Honeymoon

Honeymoon is a great movie about two newlyweds (one of them Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie) taking their post-marriage vacation in a cabin in the woods. It isn't long before the creepiness begins. And, my friends, it is creeeeeeepy.

This is one of those horror movies where you don't really know what the external threat is until later in the film and even when it's (kinda) revealed, the suspense heightens even more. Paranoia, hallucinations and a sprinkling of body horror make this truly one of the best hidden gems buried in Netflix's trash heap.

Creep

Due to his many other roles on many other productions, you'd be forgiven if you didn't think Mark Duplass (The Puffy Chair, Togetherness, The League) could pull off starring in a horror movie. Well, you should watch Creep and it will change your mind.

My man Mark plays a dying person who hires a freelance videographer to film something like a memoriam for the child he's leaving behind. He has a very positive outlook on it and tries to show his guest a good time. Then things take a turn.

This is a very good thriller that makes you terribly suspicious of every stranger you meet.

Baskin

If the words "Turkish horror film" don't make you nervous, you haven't watched enough of them. In Baskin, a drunk van of police officers get lost in the backwoods of Turkey and wind up somewhere otherworldly. It is probably hell.

From beginning to end, this high concept film leaves you wondering what you're watching and whether it's actually happening to the characters or in their mind. It's weird and twisted and revolting and inexplicable and crazy and a lot of fun to watch if you're into some dark stuff.

Just be warned: Baskin is a purely horrifying experience.

From the Dark

Ireland has really had a renaissance in horror films the last five to 10 years. With strong titles like The Canal and The Hallow also on Netflix, I thought I would highlight Under the Dark as a pretty great broken-down-car story that turns into a monster movie.

Two 20-somethings are driving through rural Ireland and they happen upon an old farmhouse that has recently unearthed something dreadful.

It's fairly rote, but very well done as the couple tries to evade the lurking monster and stay alive with the environment in which they are stuck. Definitely worth watching.

The Mirror

So, most everything about The Mirror sounds like you should roll your eyes at it.

It's a found footage movie based around a guy who buys a haunted mirror off of Ebay and tries to film the hauntedness while his roommates suffer the consequences.

HOWEVER, it actually is super well done. The tension of the tight space really ups the suspense. If I've learned anything about myself while watching so many horror films, it's that the smaller the setting and scope of a movie, the better. This list is mostly representative of that, and I think The Mirror really nails that sense of intense proximity that holds the danger so very close to you. I really, really love this movie.

The Houses October Built

In terms of scope, The Houses October Built is a good deal bigger, but still as scary.

It's a found footage fake-documentary that follows some hard core haunted house fanatics, winding their way across the Southern United States, trying to find the best ones. They catch wind of an underground network of ultra-violent attractions and things begin to get extremely terrible as some of the same ghouls appear to be following them across state lines.

The Houses October Built is a very chilling and gritty look at chasing scares and being careful what you wish for.

Last Shift

Last Shift might not be the strongest, most effective horror movie, but what it lacks in substance, it makes up for in heart and execution (pun intended).

This ghost story documents a lone rookie police officer working the last shift in a derelict police station wear some horribly demonic sh*t went down. And, wouldn't you know it, the unrepentant monsters who died there just won't stay dead.

Definitely watch Last Shift when you've seen all the movies on this list and need something more.

The Sacrament

The Sacrament is, admittedly, writer/director Ti West's worst movie, but that doesn't mean it's a bad one! Plus, it's the only one of his on Netflix.

Still, this found footage exploration of a Vice reporter investigating an Africa-based cult certainly provides some chilling moments, along with many touches of West's signature, slow-burning dread.

West's other horror films The Innkeepers and the truly great House of the Devil appear occasionally on Netlix. So, if nothing else, watch this as an amuse bouche for his other movies.

The Taking of Deborah Logan

I remember entering The Taking of Deborah Logan with a medium amount of skepticism. I've seen a fair amount of possession movies and most paint-by-numbers plots follow the same routine.

This movie came a genuine surprise. The phenomenal acting of its leading (possessed) lady Jill Larson makes this found footage movie stand out. She plays an elderly woman suffering from dementia and definitely quite a bit more as her family struggles between caring for her and surviving her severe personality turn.

In Fear

Yet another "Irish" horror film makes this list! Unfortunately, In Fear is only set in Ireland, but not filmed there.

This great, tight, actually scary movie is about two youngsters trying to get home from a music festival in the back roads of Ireland. Things take a terrifying turn as their road trip becomes the target for a crazy game played by an indeterminate number of people. And the stakes raise higher and higher as the consequences of losing get revealed.

Again, small scale, intense focus on the story and a genuinely nerve-wracking plot make In Fear one to watch.

Here Comes the Devil

Whoo boy. Here Comes the Devil is my personal favorite hidden Netflix horror movie.

It is a batsh*t insane Mexican film that watches a married couple lose their children in the wild outback, find them the next day and gradually realized just what they actually brought back with them.

It is uncanny and compelling and constantly makes you wonder just what in the hell is going on. As the plot continues its wayward, bonkers journey you can only watch with a mouth wide open at the unfolding events.

Here Come the Devil grabs onto your leg and won't let go, like a feral, starving coyote overjoyed to come upon such fresh meat in the wilds of Netflix refuse.

Of course, this is not a complete list. But, for the time being, I am confident that true lovers of horror will find many things of value in this list.

BONUS: Kittens recreate classic horror films, just for you!