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Five great horror movies to screen on Netflix

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Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman enjoy story time in “The Babadook.”

Netflix’s horror selection is full of bargain-basement obscurities that the service can license cheaply, alongside a handful of worthwhile entries. Here are a few worth watching over Halloween week.

The Babadook (2014) A sinister children’s-book character comes to terrifying life in this haunting story about the horrors of parenthood, featuring one of the most memorably creepy sing-song catch phrases of all time.

Hellraiser (1987) Forget all the terrible straight-to-video sequels; Clive Barker’s original is a nasty, kinky exploration of the intersection between sadomasochism and the occult, introducing iconic horror villain Pinhead in the process.

Hush (2016) This ingenious home-invasion thriller from rising horror filmmaking star Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Ouija: Origin of Evil) features a deaf-mute woman fending off a sadistic killer at her remote home in the woods.

Monsters (2010) Although it’s not a traditional horror movie, this low-budget favorite uses horror concepts (two characters traveling through a no man’s land populated by dangerous aliens) to explore dynamics of class, race and gender, with a slow-building dread in the background.

New Nightmare (1994) Even if you haven’t seen every movie in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, Wes Craven’s meta-take on Freddy Krueger is a clever deconstruction of the genre that doubles as a genuinely scary franchise reboot.

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