Haunt: Netflix viewers ‘terrified’ by obscure 2019 horror movie that’s shot to top of film chart

The film, from the co-writers of ‘A Quiet Place’, revolves around masked killers stalking a group of teenagers – and was barely released in cinemas

Haunt, an obscure 2019 horror movie, has shot to the top of Netflix’s UK film chart – and viewers are declaring it “terrifying”.

The movie is currently sitting at the top of the chart, beating Netflix originals including the animated film Orion and the Dark and the Kevin Hart thriller Lift. It’s also beating the far starrier action movie Ambulance, with Jake Gyllenhaal, which arrived on the platform on Friday (2 February).

Haunt’s popularity is particularly shocking as it received an incredibly limited US cinema release back in 2019, and did not play in cinemas in the UK.

Haunt revolves around six teenagers who attend a haunted house attraction on Halloween, one that promises to make their nightmares a reality. Once they enter, however, they discover the promise isn’t bogus, and they begin to be stalked and murdered by a trio of masked killers.

Viewers have expressed their surprise over the movie’s scare quotient.

“Well Haunt on Netflix is pretty terrifying isn’t it,” one person wrote on Twitter/X.

Another user praised the film, tweeting: “Currently sat watching Haunt on Netflix, it’s giving me anxiety on the highest scale. Unlocked a new fear of horror houses and chainsaws.”

One other person described the film as a “must watch”.

But we shouldn’t be too taken aback by the film’s thrills, as Haunt is written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who also co-wrote the 2018 horror smash A Quiet Place. That movie, starring John Krasinski and Emily Blunt, was one of the biggest hits of 2018. It grossed $341m (£269m) on a budget of just $17m (£13m). A sequel was released in 2021, and a prequel is due for release this year.

In 2023, the pair wrote – to slightly less popular effect – the Adam Driver dinosaur movie 65.

Last week, Netflix viewers heaped praise on the “underrated” Sandra Bullock comedy The Lost City, which arrived on the platform and instantly rose to first place on the service’s UK film chart.

The most popular series on Netflix right now is the limited series Griselda, starring Sofia Vergara as the real-life Colombian druglord Griselda Blanco.