Here’s our list of the best thrillers on Netflix that you can watch right now via the streaming service
Wanna Netflix and thrill?
We know it’s hard to select something when you’ve got that overwhelming menu in your face. Don’t fret cause if you at least know you’re in the mood for some suspense, we’ve got you covered.
Here is a top 10 selection of some of the best thrillers on Netflix. From the intensity of foreign psychological and violent thrillers to some of the US’s neo-noir and throwback infused hits, we have an array to pick from. These must see movies include cult essentials like Oldboy, Battle Royale, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Guest to fill in your movie buff holes. Should you have them, of course.
Best Thrillers on Netflix: Nightcrawler
The 2014 American neo-noir crime thriller from Dan Gilroy was met with critical acclaim for star Jake Gyllenhaal’s transformative performance. In it, he played the unsettling Louis Bloom, a former thief who graduates from selling stolen scrap pieces to finding a lucrative career in shooting live footage of accidents and crimes in Los Angeles. Selling the content to local news channels as a stringer, he begins to tamper with the crime scenes and manipulates other reporters for financial gain and glory. The film also stars Rene Russo and Bill Paxton.
Netflix rating: 5 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The original Swedish film based on the hot novel by Steig Larsson features Noomi Rapace as Lizabeth Salander in the most faithful of the adaptations. Rapace shines as the brilliant-but-scarred hacker with the dragon tattoo in the first installment of the millennium trilogy where she is enlisted by journalist Mikael Blomkvist to investigate a disappearance. Together, the pair uncover the well kept secrets of the family that hired them and find themselves in the dangerous cross-hairs of someone who doesn’t want to be found out.
Netflix rating: 5 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: The Guest
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s 2014 American thriller is definitely a Netflix gem that needs to gain cult status. Its ’80s throwback-inspired tone set in the modern day brings together the suspense of films like Terminator and Halloween with a killer synth fueled soundtrack. In it, the Peterson family welcomes a stranger named David (Dan Stevens) into their home when he explains that it was their son’s final wish when they served together for him to make sure they were okay. Even though he seems like the perfect gentlemen and becomes a brother figure the family embraces, the Peterson’s eldest daughter Anna (Maika Monroe) isn’t entirely sold on his “good” intentions. Especially when a string of murders begins to occur in their hometown right after he showed up out of the blue.
Netflix rating: 4 1/2 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: Snowpiercer
Based on the French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige” by Jacques Lob, Bong Joo-ho’s first english language film stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, and Ed Harris as the last remnants of humanity aboard the globe-spanning Snowpiercer train. The sci-fi action thriller centers around the lower-class passengers at the tail end of the train who have had enough of being exploited by the first class at the front. Led by Curtis Everett (Evans), they revolt against the elite putting themselves at risk to be exposed to the dangerous ice age outside of their means of survival.
Netflix rating: 4 1/2 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: Oldboy
The South Korean mystery thriller and neo-noir film from Park Chan-wook is considered to be one of the greatest revenge films ever made. After being locked in a hotel for 15 years without knowing the identity of his captor, the film’s lead Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is released into a world where he isn’t really free. Still caught in a web of his captor’s creation, he decides to seek out revenge and find love on his path which complicates his journey in more ways than he can imagine. The film is highly praised by Quentin Tarantino, who would of course love this gorgeously messed up movie. The American adaptation starring Josh Brolin from Spike Lee doesn’t hold a candle to the original.
Netflix rating: 5 stars
The Japanese action thriller released in the year 2000 is an adaptation of a hit 1999 novel by Koushun Takami that centered on a dystopic government game where children are left on an island to fight to the death until only one victor comes out on top. There’s a reason why people refer to The Hunger Games as a neutered version of this original Japanese concept. The film holds no punches and gratuitously depicts the violence of these kids fighting for the entertainment of the masses. The final film from Kinji Fukasaku is regarded as one of Japan’s most successful films due to it’s controversial commentary.
Netflix Rating: 5 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: The Iceman
This 2012 crime thriller stars Michael Shannon in an fictionalized biography based on the real-life hitman Richard Kuklinski. The film is directed by Ariel Vromen and co-starred Winona Ryder as his wife and Ray Liotta as a mob boss. The film gives an account of how Kuklinski lived a double life, one as a family man and the other as a ruthless killer. The film also features a surprising turn by an almost unrecognizable Chris Evans as one of Kuklinski’s associates.
Netflix Rating: 3 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: Lord of War
Highly underrated, this Nicholas Cage crime-thriller features him as an illegal arms dealer who gives audiences a look at what war profiteering is all about. Cage breaks the fourth wall with candor as Yuri Orlov as he and his brother Vitaly (Jared Leto) partner up to be a part of the industry that’s always booming. Ethan Hawke plays Jack Valentine, an idealistic agent set to bring Yuri in at any cost and naively believes the justice system of the US government is on his side.
Netflix Rating: 3 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: Creep
The premise of this simple indie flick centers around a videographer (Patrick Bryce) who answers a craigslist ad for a one-day job in a remote mountain home. Mark Duplass co-stars as the man who put the ad up and might not be what he seems.The found-footage film was met with mild acclaim but features great performances from the two actors.
Netflix Rating: 3 stars
Best Thrillers on Netflix: I Saw the Devil
The 2010 South Korean psychological horror/thriller film from director Kim Jee-woon and written by Park Hoon-jung is regarded as one of the most intense films you’ll ever see. The brutal story unfolds when NIS agent Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-hun) sets out to track down the psychopathic murderer, Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik) who murdered his fiancee. The lengths that Soo-hyun goes to beat Kyung-chul at a game of cat and mouse isn’t for the weak and is known for it’s extreme violence. The film found success at the Sundance film fest and is praised for it’s acting, cinematography and tone that will keep you on the edge of your couch.
Netflix Rating: 4 1/2 stars
