Good Scary Movies on Netflix Instant

If you're looking for some good scary movies on Netflix instant, read on. These movies are scary but light on the horror. They are big on thrills but low on gore. These also all happen to be movies about mansions or have historic settings. Mansion movies make for great scary movies. A big old house has so many stories to tell -- so let's find out about a few of them.

Flowers in the Attic

PG-13 1987

When this movie came out when I was a child, a lot of parents took their kids to see it, thinking it was kid-friendly because it showcased a beautiful family of blonde children on the movie poster. Not so. This movie, though not gorey, has some psychological aspects children don't need to see.

In Flowers in the Attic, an accident causes four children to lose their father. The children and their mother move into the grandmother's mansion with hopes of gaining security and an inheritance. But the grandmother turns out to be an evil woman who finds the children's presence a nuisance. This film tells a chilling story and is a great netflix movie for a quiet, rainy evening at home.

It's also one of the best movies about mansions because the house the children move into is so vast and stately.

The Awakening

2011 R 1hr 46m

The Awakening is a sophisticated horror film like no other. The imagery is breathtaking as are the historical settings.

It is post-WWI and Florence Cathcart arrives at a private boarding school in the countryside of England to investigate occurrences of apparitions there. Although she disproves hoaxes for a living, she might be in for a surprise.

This movie has a mood like a cross between The Others and Downton Abbey. It is a great horror movie for those who do not like gore, or prefer a bit of a romantic setting in their supernatural films.

Burnt Offerings

PG 1976

A family rents a California Victorian mansion from an elderly quirky brother and sister during the summer and spooky things start happening.

For example, people start to attack others when they take a dip in the pool, and a whacked out Hearse chauffer keeps driving by with a creepy grin on his face.

This stars an older Bette Davis and 70s icon Karen Black. This is the kind of scary flick I prefer to watch -- the 70s B-movie that keeps you a bit on edge but it's still cheesy enough to not take too seriously.

Make no mistake, this little forgotten gem is a great example of the horror genre. If you are a fan of haunted house films, Burnt Offerings is the perfect pick for you.

The Skeleton Key

PG-13 2005

Young Caroline (played by Kate Hudson) does hospice care for a living and she is sent to Louisiana to care for a mute, bedridden man that lives in a big old mansion with his wife.

This movie is basically an example of the snoopy nature of females and how a young woman can't help but unlock Pandora's box, looking for trouble in keyholes and sealed off rooms.

But don't get me wrong, this is a good scary movie on Netflix instant because it is quite suspenseful and is different from modern mainstream horror films.

The Skeleton Key displays a rare storyline about American southern voodoo culture and has the great twists and turns of a whodunit. It might also scare you off from ever looking in an attic again.