Some of us love a good scare, and that is why we watch horror movies. Most of the time, a movie of the genre will end up a massive disappointment if it doesn’t, at the very least, cause a lingering feeling of unease in the viewer. A while ago Netflix sent Forbes over a list of movies that they have deemed ‘too scary to finish’ due to viewers turning the movies off prematurely.
What if they just turned the movie off because it was terrible or they just didn’t like it? I hear your question and I echoed the sentiment when I first happened on the list. Worry not, Netflix also disclosed the criteria they used to determine whether the films were ‘too scary’ or just unenjoyable.
They use a 70% threshold, claiming that most people that really hate a movie will turn it off a longtime before then. Although I understand the thought process behind this, I am inclined to disagree. Many are the nights I have wasted watching terrible movies, simply because I don’t like not following things through, or because I held on to some shred of hope that something might happen that would improve my overall outlook on the film.
Well, I’ll let you be the judge. Without further procrastination, here is the list of Netflix’s too scary movies to finish…
10. Jeruzalem (2015)
In this found-footage horror, two American tourists head off to Tel Aviv for a vacation. The women are convinced to travel to Jerusalem with s stranger that one of them takes a liking to, I’m sure you can already tell how much of a good idea that turned out to be. At their chosen hostel they meet another fella and they all appear to be getting on charmingly well.
Some weird ass stuff starts happening in the shape of terrorist threats, an asylum, contagious demonic creatures and the city under quarantine. An escape is planned through some caves, where some more weird ass stuff happens, but this time with an angel, too.
For me, this movie started out interesting but as it went on that certainly wore off. This is just another jump-scare heavy found-footage horror with a different setting.
9. The Void (2016)
In The Void, a police officer takes an injured man to a run down, local hospital. The hospital was largely abandoned after a fire and is running on skeleton staff. A member of the team is our Deputy’s estranged wife.
Things start getting weird and creepy pretty quickly, and everything seems to be down to these cloaked figures that are surrounding the hospital, to keep those inside from getting out. Meanwhile, inside the building the people start turning insane and the officer attempts to save the rest of them by travelling deeper into the hospital and things get crazier in the basement.
The Void has major 80’s horror vibes and I love that. It is creepy and it is gory and it is definitely not the greatest horror movie I have ever seen, but it also doesn’t pretend to be. It’s definitely worth a watch, but I also don’t believe the people that were turning this movie off were doing it because they were too scared to watch the rest.
8. The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence (2011)
The Human Centipede 2 is the second installment of Tom Six‘s ambitious and gross Human Centipede trilogy. In this black and white sequel, we meet a creepy, messed up little man who has a complete and out of hand, sexual obsession with the original movie. He makes plans to, and largely does achieve, the making of a 12 person human centipede for his own grotesque pleasure. This time around, the guy isn’t an experienced medical professional like in the first one, so things get gross and extreme fairly quickly.
I know The Human Centipede franchise gets a lot of shit, and I totally understand why. However, I will defend this installment until the end of my days because it achieves a feeling of unease and needing to bathe in bleach from the beginning to the end. It achieves what it set out to achieve.
Not only that, but we have no dialogue from the main character at all, there is barely any dialogue in the film as a whole, and it is still one of the freakiest things I have ever seen in my life.
That being said, no one is turning this off because they are scared, they are doing it because they are disgusted.
7. The Conjuring (2013)
The Conjuring needs no introduction of explanation in my opinion. This is the movie which birthed the universe of Annabelle and the upcoming and highly anticipated movie, The Nun. The story follows Ed and Lorraine Warren, a couple of paranormal investigators who are called to a family’s farmhouse in which they are terrorized by a demonic presence.
Although the whole idea of the movie is painfully overdone and far from unique, The Conjuring works and works well, in some ways because it is horror stripped back to basics. It gives a breath of fresh life to conventional horror tropes but still remains traditional in style and it is a scary movie.
This is a movie that I do believe belongs on this list.
6. Teeth (2007)
Coming up next on ‘they were turning this off because they were grossed out, not scared’ is Teeth! I’m sure if you haven’t seen it, you probably have heard of the premise behind this film. A girl named Dawn is faced with a violent situation and in that moment discovers that she has a unique situation downstairs. She has a set of teeth in her vagina. Dawn goes to a gynecologist to confirm her vagina dentata, where assaults her with a gloveless hand, of course he gets four of his fingers bitten clean off.
That is pretty much how the movie goes.
This is not a scary movie, it’s gross and I’m sure the concept offended or weirded a few people out, but that’s all. It was watchable in the way that it was a new concept but it also got predictable super quickly, if i had to guess I would say that’s why this movie is getting switched off.
5. Raw (2016)
Raw is a French horror movie that follows a vegetarian girl called Justine as she starts veterinary school alongside her sister Alexia, who is an existing student.
During her first days there she is encouraged to eat meat for the first time. This situation brings her out in a rash which is diagnosed as food poisoning by the doctor. Despite the diagnosis Justine gets a craving for meat and as the film progresses is gets super cannibal-crazy between the sisters.
Raw is definitely a freaky and disturbing movie. I can understand why people turned it off but again, I wouldn’t say that they turned it off because it was too scary, more because it is gross and gory.
4. Piranha (2010)
Piranha is a reimagining of 1978’s movie of the same name. The movie is a comedy-horror and was widely released in 3D, with a sequel that was released in 2012. In the movie, an earthquake happens which opens the floor beneath Lake Victoria and starts a whirlpool.
From this, a bunch of flesh-eating piranhas emerge. It happens during spring break and so warnings to evacuate the lake are of course ignored, and you can imagine how well that turns out. At the end of the movie once it seems like things have been taken care of, it is revealed that the fish they had killed were only the babies, and a giant ass adult piranha jumps out of the water.
The movie was certainly interesting in the same way that most sea-life based horror movies seem to be. Although, I don’t believe people found it too scary to watch. This is another one that was perhaps too gory for people to handle, but scare-wise the movie was pretty weak.
3. México Bárbaro (2014)
México Bárbaro is a Median anthology horror movie, consisting of 8 different stories. Each story was directed by a different Mexican director and they all centre around different tales of Mexican legend and myth. The stories include drug dealers performing Aztec rituals, A teenage girl envisioning that she has to drain blood from her sisters vagina following smoking a joint she found on a dead body, a man performing a ritual to raise the dead and strippers taking revenge on the Day of the Dead.
As far as horror anthologies go, I thought this was pretty good. Although the linking cultural theme was at the forefront, some of the segments didn’t seem like a good fit with it’s predecessor but this can often be the way with anthologies.
I would assume that rather than it being too scary to finish, some shorts that make up the movie were simply stronger, or more to certain tastes than others.
2. Carnage Park (2016)
Carnage Park is a horror survival movie set in the 1970’s. It follows two criminals that fail at a bank heist and escape into the dessert. There, the two crooks and their hostage end up stumbling upon a patch of land that is occupied by a psychotic ex-military sniper. The sniper stalks the group and unwittingly engages them in his twisted game.
As a movie Carnage Park starts off fairly strong with a lot of potential, although the many inspirations of the film come across a bit too obvious in parts. This is not too scary to finish, but too dull.
The plot of the film is stretched unnecessarily thin and gets less watchable as it progresses and loses traction.
Cabin Fever (2016)
This was a remake of the 2002 Eli Roth movie of the same name. The plot is the ever unique story about bunch of college graduates travelling to a secluded cabin in the woods to celebrate, but end up getting attacked by a brutal flesh-eating virus. This zombie-esque comedy horror contains many a cliché and largely copies big chunks from the original movie, making it questionable as to why this remake was necessary at all.
I would say the most likely reason for turning this off before the end is that if you have seen the first one there is absolutely no need to watch this mediocre copy. Of course any movie of this sub-genre features a lot of gore so that could just as likely have been too much for people, considering they weren’t a fan or hadn’t seen the original movie.
So, there you have it. I would say that it’s very bold to claim these as the scariest movies on Netflix, 70% threshold or not. Maybe too gory or gross would be more appropriate but I wouldn’t rush to watch the majority of these titles if you are looking for something that will scare you.
What do you think is the scariest movie on Netflix? Let us know in the comments!