The Final Girls: The Best Female-Led Horror Movies to Watch on Netflix

Are you craving some horror? A plethora of terrifying films, including psychological thrillers, haunted home stories, and body horror, are available on Netflix. Horror has always been a genre where women have flourished in their struggle to survive against men, monsters, and otherworldly forces that wish to destroy them. A lasting influence of placing women in the driver's seat with guns dates back to the 1970s when films like Halloween (1978) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) popularised the "final girl" film cliche. When it comes to contemporary horror and scream queens, Netflix is a great resource. Below is a list of the top thrillers starring female leads that are currently available on the platform.

Raw (2016)

• Director: Julia Ducounau | Run Time: 99 minutes
• Cast: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Naït, Laurent Lucas

Please use caution, viewers. Ideally, Raw should be consumed empty-handed. The vegetarian Justine (Garance Marillier), who is starting her first year of veterinary school, is the subject of the French-Belgian film. After tasting meat for the first time, she develops a sudden and insatiable craving for it, becoming something of a voracious animal herself. When Raw made its Cannes Film Festival debut, it caused a stir with its graphic visuals and provocative statements about the food industry. It also received widespread praise from critics.

It Follows (2014)

• Director: David Robert Mitchell | Run Time: 100 minutes
• Cast: Maika Monroe, Jake Weary, Keir Gilchrist, Lili Sepe, Olivia Luccard

With good reason, It Follows launched the career of contemporary scream queen Maika Monroe (Tau). Monroe plays Jay, a teenage girl who, after being with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary), becomes the victim of a lethal curse. Because of the highly contagious curse, anyone who contracts it will perish unless they pass it on to someone else in a last-ditch effort to live. Jay and her pals try to find a way out of the obviously catastrophic situation, but Jay must determine how far she is ready to go to break free from the curse. An independent horror movie that blew up theatres and won praise from critics is now regarded as a modern masterpiece.

Crimson Peak (2015)

• Director: Guillermo Del Toro | Run Time: 119 minutes
• Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Tom Holland, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, Jim Beaver

In Crimson Peak, gothic horror is blended with eerie romance and haunted houses by Guillermo Del Toro. Demonstrating that Del Toro is capable of taking on any minor subgenre of horror, Mia Wasikowska (Damsel) plays the innocent Edith Cushing. After being swept off her feet by the handsome but mysterious Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston), he takes her to his remote estate in England. When Edith arrives and meets Thomas's harsh and controlling sister Lucille (Jessica Chastain), the fairytale ends, and she quickly realizes something is awry. As Edith teams up with spirits inside the mansion to discover the sinister mystery the Sharpes conceal in the shadows, Hiddleston and Chastain will sweat you. Del Toro takes his time presenting the terror that resides in the remote home.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

• Director: David Blue Garcia | Run Time: 83 minutes
• Cast: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham, Olwen Fouéré, Jessica Allain

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the movie that produced The Last Girl, has left a lasting reputation in the horror genre. In the 2022 follow-up, a few scream queens from Generation Z confront their darkest fears when they encounter the cannibal serial murderer, Leatherface. Fifty years after the events of the first 1973 movie, the carnage begins when ambitious business partners Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Melody (Sarah Yarkin) travel to the dilapidated hamlet of Harlow, Texas, to put up for auction some ancient properties. Along with the voyage are Dante's girlfriend Ruth and Lila (Elsie Fisher), Melody's younger sister. Soon after, they encounter Leatherface, who is hunting them and the other residents of the town down. In a moment of complete reversal, the original final girl Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), who was the only one to survive Leatherface in the first movie, reappears in the sequel as a bloodthirsty Texas Ranger.

 

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)

• Director: Mike Flanagan | Run Time: 99 minutes
• Cast: Elizabeth Reaser, Lulu Wilson, Annalise Basso, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas

The more superior and horrifying prequel to Ouija, the 2014 supernatural horror movie, is called Ouija: Origin of Evil. Set in the groovy 1960s with miniskirts and beehive hairstyles, widow Alice Zander (Elizabeth Reaser) supports her two children, Paulina (Annalise Basso), 15, and Doris (Lulu Wilson), 9, by working as a phony medium in her Los Angeles home. The situation changes when Alice purchases an Ouija board that calls forth evil spirits within the house. The girls attend a Catholic school overseen by Father Tom Hogan (Henry Thomas). After taking control of Doris, Paulina, and Father Hogan learn of her unsettling behavior, and the third act of the movie obviously takes cues from The Exorcism. Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) is the director. He uses jump scares, grainy footage, and a little rock & roll to pay homage to the many horror films from the 1960s. His regular coworkers are Elizabeth Reaser and Henry Thomas.

Fear Street: 1978 (2021)

• Director: Leigh Janiak | Run Time: 110 minutes
• Cast: Sadie Sink, Chiara Aurelia, Ted Sutherland, Gillian Jacobs, Michael Provos

Fear Street: 1978 is a good choice if you're looking for a straightforward, predictable try at the iconic last female horror movie, complete with a crazy, knife-wielding serial killer who preys on sexually frustrated teens at a sleepaway camp. Sadie Sink was destined to portray the last girl, and in the second installment of the Leigh Janiak horror trilogy, she earns the rightful moniker of "scream queen" as 17-year-old camp counselor Christine "Ziggy" Bergman. The film, which is set at Camp Nightwing, tells another story of why Shadyside is haunted as Christine, her sister, and her friends are terrorized by a vicious killer.

The Babysitter (2017)

• Director: McG | Run Time: 85 minutes
• Cast: Samara Weaving, Judah Lewis, Bella Thorne, Robbie Amell, Emily Alyn Lind

Step over The babysitter Laurie Strode has become evil. In the comedy-slasher Netflix original movie, The Babysitter, the babysitter—rather than the boogeyman—is attempting to kill the kids. In the film Ready or Not, Samara Weaving plays the shy middle schooler Cole (Judah Lewis), who has a serious crush on her. Bee is the babysitter and the girl next door. Bee stays over when his parents are out of town for the evening and invites her friends—who are members of a cult that worships the devil—over. Cole has to set aside his love for Bee as he watches them savagely kill a fellow high school student. The kids start chasing him, so he has to focus on getting through the night.

Till Death (2021)

• Director: Scott Dale | Run Time: 88 minutes
• Cast: Megan Fox, Eoin Macken, Callan Mulvey, Jack Roth, Aml Ameen

In this cramped thriller, Megan Fox plays a woman forced into a nasty and unloving marriage. Emma (Megan Fox) and her domineering husband Mark (Eoin Macken) celebrate their tenth anniversary by being whisked away to a remote lake property. The following morning, she awakens to discover Marc dead in bed beside her, with handcuffs around his torso. Emma confronts not just deadly villains but also her own mind as she frantically looks for a method to get away and solve the crime. Gerald's Game and other films are obvious inspirations for this picture.

Hush (2016)

• Director: Mike Flanagan | Run Time: 81 minutes
• Cast: Kate Siegel, John Gallagher Jr., Samantha Sloyan, Michael Trucco

Mike Flanagan, who frequently collaborates on projects with wife Kate Siegel (The Haunting of Hill House), directs another exciting, fast-paced horror film, Hush. The film is a solitary, unsettling look at paranoia as deaf writer Maggie (Kate Siegel) retreats to a remote cabin in the woods to start over. Flanagan and Siegel co-wrote the script. A seemingly calm change of scenery quickly becomes hazardous when a masked killer starts stalking her and keeps showing up at her window. As Maddie battles the killer back, Siegel more than lives up to the reputation as "scream queen."

There’s Someone Inside Your House (2021)

• Director: Patrick Brice | Run Time: 96 minutes
• Cast: Sydney Park, Theodore Pellerin, Dale Whibley, Jesse LaTourette, Diego Josef

A superb synthesis of the several slasher flicks that have come before is found in There's Someone Inside Your House. A serial murderer starts killing students at the nearby high school. He covers his victims' faces with masks before killing them because he believes they are sinners. Makani Young (Sydney Park), a social misfit and new student, worries more and more because she has sinister secrets from her past that make her a clear target. Makani prepares herself for an impending confrontation with the murderer as more and more kids perish and everyone at the school starts to air out their dirty laundry to ward off the attacker.

Gerald’s Game (2017)

• Director: Mike Flanagan | Run Time: 103 minutes
• Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas, Katie Siegel, Chiara Aurelia

Mike Flanagan once again demonstrates that Stephen King's work is in capable hands when he is in charge of Gerald's Game. Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood play married couple Jessie and Gerald Burlingame in the suspenseful thriller, in which a weekend excursion intended to reignite old passions goes horribly wrong. Jessie has to find a way out after Gerald handcuffs her to the bed and passes away from a heart attack. As Jessie starts to unravel during the movie, it's up to the audience to determine what's genuine and what isn't as she starts seeing unsettling things while she's stuck in bed.

The Boy (2016)

• Director: William Brent Bell | Run Time: 97 minutes
• Cast: Lauren Cohan, James Russell, Rupert Evans, Jett Klyne, Ben Robson

When Lauren Cohan, a newly hired nanny, arrives at the magnificent, remote Heelshires home in England, she finds that the boy she is caring for is an eight-year-old doll named Brahms. Greta is stunned by the peculiar arrangement and dismisses Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire's explanation that she needs to treat Brahms like a genuine boy. Greta starts to think that Brahms might have a heart and thought of his own as they spend more time together because she starts to notice odd signals like hearing a child's voice around the house. Greta starts to wonder if she's going crazy, being gaslighted by the Heelshires, or if the doll is actually alive as things start to get out of hand.

Things Heard & Seen (2021)

• Director: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini | Run Time: 121 minutes
• Cast: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton, Natalie Dyer, Rhea Seehorn, Karen Allen

With an amazing cast at its center, Things Heard & Seen is a timeless tale of a haunted house. In the Netflix original, Amanda Seyfried, who is best known for her humorous and musical roles, takes on a darker part as bride Catherine Clair, who moves into an old Victorian house in a peaceful neighborhood. However, as is typically the case with films such as this, it soon becomes apparent that the house is bloodthirsty and that the demonic spirits living within have other plans. Along with an all-star supporting cast that includes Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark), F. Murray Abraham (The White Lotus), and Alex Neustaedter (American Rust), James Norton (Hidden Valley) co-stars as Catherine's husband George.

The Rental (2020)

• Director: Dave Franco | Run Time: 88 minutes
• Cast: Allison Brie, Jeremy Allen White, Sheila Vand, Dan Stevens

With the horror movie The Rental, Dave Franco makes his feature film directing debut. He helms this oppressive thriller with his wife Allison Brie (GLOW), and the title alone is a menacing threat. With her husband Charlie (Dan Stevens), his brother Josh (Jeremy Allen White), and his girlfriend Mina (Sheila Vand), Brie plays Michelle. The four of them rent a remote home in Oregon. The couple's planned stress-free weekend away from daily obligations becomes a nightmare when they start to suspect their rental is being observed. Franco demonstrates his talent for horror and his recent start as a filmmaker, while Brie embraces her role as a scream queen and forgoes her humorous skills in favor of gory horrors.

Cam (2018)

• Director: Daniel Goldhaber | Run Time: 95 minutes
• Cast: Madeline Brewer, Samantha Robinson, David Druid, Patch Daragh, Quei Tann, Michael Dempsey

Cam, Netflix's horror original series, is an intense journey of unrelenting paranoia. The streaming service doesn't play around. Featuring Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid's Tale) as webcam worker Alice, the story takes a tragic turn when a lookalike steals her identity. The original plan is to use her as a creative and entertaining way to pay the bills. Unbearably captivating yet difficult to watch, Alice sets out to track down her impostor who is sharing videos of herself. This psychological suspense story explores themes of love, relationships, and contemporary online social networking.

Umma (2022)

• Director: Iris Shim | Run Time: 83 minutes
• Cast: Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart, Odeya Rush, Dermot Mulroney, MeeWha Alana Lee

Mother-daughter interactions are not always easy to understand. Umma is a supernatural horror film that explores every nuance of the connection between Amanda and her daughter Chris, who share a remote farm. Chris is alone because Amanda, who is allergic to modern technology, prevents the women from having phones or any other kind of communication with the outside world. Despite her mother's wishes, Amanda is determined to go to college and travel the globe. However, when she receives her mother's ashes, the memories of her harsh upbringing resurface, and she starts to transform into her own monster.

What Lies Below (2020)

• Director: Braden R. Duemmler | Run Time: 87 minutes
• Cast: Ema Horvath, Mena Suvari, Trey Tucker, Haskiri Velazquez

A dark horror film with scary creatures and muddy waterways is called What Lies Below. Liberty Wells, a reclusive teenager living with her carefree single mother Michelle (Mena Suvari), is portrayed by Ema Horvath. Despite her obvious uneasiness and misgivings about his true motives, John (Trey Tucker), Michelle's suave younger lover, shows an immediate interest in Liberty after she is introduced to him. Liberty notices peculiar clues that John might not be human, such as his unusual, otherworldly behavior with water. The end product is an 87-minute body horror movie that will make your hair stand up.

The Conjuring 2 (2016)

• Director: James Wan | Run Time: 134 minutes
• Cast: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Wolfe, Frances O’Connor, Lauren Esposito

In The Conjuring 2, the story moves to London, where a family's existence is ruined by evil spirits, and another child is forced into captivity. Fortunately, Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators, are on their side to assist in driving the bad spirits out of their home. The Hodgson family, whose 1977 story is based on a true event, starts experiencing unexplained occurrences and needs the paranormal power couple's assistance. Possession-ridden kids, graphic exorcisms, and bone-crushing monsters devastate the home and surrounding area as they go to London. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson portray the talented couple who have seen it all, and The Conjuring 2 is every bit as scary as the original film, if not more so.

No One Gets Out Alive (2021)

• Director: Santiago Menghini | Run Time: 87 minutes
• Cast: Cristina Rodlo, Marc Menchaca, David Figioli, Vala Noren, Moonke Akinola

As implied by the film's title, many people in No One Gets Out Alive have unhappy endings. With chilling deaths lurking around every corner, death is always waiting for its next victim. Director Santiago Menghini enjoys frightening viewers with these macabre deaths. Ambar, a Mexican undocumented immigrant who comes into a dilapidated boarding home in Cleveland, is portrayed by Cristina Rodlo. With no other options and a boarding house full of sketchy characters who are desperate for money, Ambar starts having unsettling visions and encounters with strangers but is stuck there. An adrenaline-pumping tale of a haunted mansion, Ambar falls into a dark rabbit hole to discover the true nature of the place.

Malevolent (2018)

• Director: Olaf de Fleur | Run Time: 88 minutes
• Cast: Florence Pugh, Ben Lloyd-Jones, Scott Chambers, Georgina Bevan

Be prepared for the unexpected, particularly when it involves the paranormal. Ben Lloyd-Jones's character Jackson and Florence Pugh's character Angela Sayers work as con artists, posing as paranormal investigators for those who think their homes are haunted by ghosts. When they approach a house with real ghosts inside with the rest of the gang, they receive more than they bargained for, and things get horrific when they encounter evil spirits.

I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)

• Director: Oz Perkins | Run Time: 87 minutes
• Cast: Ruth Wilson, Paula Prentiss, Bob Balaban, Brad Mine, Beatrix Perkins

After a house has seen enough lives, memories, and scars over many years, it might be considered a part of the family. This is the situation with the sad tale I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, which explores aging and what it means to grow old once beauty fades. After giving a daring and unsettling performance as the younger Lily, Ruth Wilson is brought in to live-in nurse Iris Blum (Paula Prentiss), an elderly novelist. Lily starts to believe the mansion is haunted, and Paula Prentiss, a legendary actress making her movie comeback after a 30-year hiatus, gives an equally strong performance as Wilson.