24 Best Thrillers on Netflix Right Now
These thrillers are actually thrilling.
We already know Netflix is a solid destination for comedies, dramas, and horror movies, but have you checked out their thrillers lately? The options are stacked. Over the years, the streamer has racked up quite the collection—featuring stunning performances from Ethan Hawke, Jessica Chastain, Donald Sutherland, Jake Gyllenhaal, and more.
If you’re interested in exploring the genre, look no further. To make the selection process easier, we’ve rounded up the best thrillers that the streamer has to offer (24, to be exact). Each of these films has an excellent cast and an even better twist. Add a cocktail to the mix and, bam, you have the makings of a perfect movie night. Can you imagine anything better? All you need is a remote to tune in. From Leave the World Behind to The Good Nurse to Velvet Buzzsaw to Hypnotic, these are the best thrillers on Netflix.
Leave the World Behind
In Leave the World Behind, a family’s vacation on Long Island is cut short when another family knocks on their door. They claim there’s been a blackout—and the vacation house is theirs. As the world around them falls apart, both camps have to rely on each other for safety.
Society of the Snow
Society of the Snow is every frequent flyer’s worst nightmare. Set in 1972, this film follows a Uruguayan rugby team whose flight to Chile crashes into the Andes. When the survivors realize they’re stranded, they take extreme measures to make it home.
Rebecca
Rebecca stars Lily James as a newlywed woman who visits her in-laws’ estate in England. Upon her arrival, she learns about her husband’s first wife, Rebecca, who died years ago. Her husband may have moved on, but his family certainly has not.
The Good Nurse
Jessica Chastain stars as Amy Loughren in The Good Nurse. When one of her colleagues is accused of murdering several of his patients, she’s hesitant to believe it. But when a formal investigation begins, Amy realizes that her coworker might not be as innocent as he seems.
Luckiest Girl Alive
Luckiest Girl Alive is based on Jessica Knoll’s best-selling novel of the same name. The story follows Ani, a successful journalist with a seemingly perfect life in New York City. Her world implodes when she’s asked to participate in a true-crime documentary based on a high school tragedy.
The Stranger
In The Stranger, Mark—who works as an undercover cop—forms a close relationship with a murder suspect. He hopes to get a confession, but instead Mark puts both their lives at risk while searching for the truth.
Before I Wake
When a young boy admits that he’s afraid to go to sleep, his guardians think it’s just childhood nerves. But when a dead person appears in their home, they discover the boy’s dreams and nightmares have the power to transform reality. Creepy!
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
We don’t want to spoil too much here, but Mr Harrigan’s Phone sees, yes, a mysterious phone give a young boy named Craig the ability to communicate with the dead.
Hypnotic
In Hypnotic, Kate Siegel, the queen of scary movies, plays a young woman who hires a hypnotist to quell her anxiety. Things take a dangerous turn when her hypnotist turns out to be a master manipulator.
I’m Thinking of Ending Things
I’m Thinking of Ending Things is a Charlie Kaufman flick, which should give you an idea of what you’re queuing up—meaning it’s better to press play without knowing too much beforehand.
The Devil All the Time
British actors Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland brush up on their Ohioan accents for this American gothic tale of a town haunted by its mistakes. Harry Potter star Harry Melling also excels in his role as an evangelical preacher who pours spiders all over his head to prove his faith in God.
The Guilty
Jake Gyllenhaal sitting in a chair and responding to a single 911 caller gave Netflix one of the most thrilling films of 2021. On top of the stressful conversation, an asthmatic Gyllenhaal is also blasting his inhaler at full force just to get through the night.
The Platform
In a nightmarish scenario, residents of a strange facility known as the Pit are fed via a platform that is filled with food on top floors and slowly descends until the scraps reach those out of favor toward the bottom. A commentary on wealth inequality, this Spanish film is as revolting as it is captivating.
Stowaway
You know how sometimes you go to space with two other people and everything is fine, and then all of a sudden someone falls out of the top of the ship because they were doing last-minute maintenance and now y’all don’t have enough oxygen for everyone to live? Bummer.
The Woman in the Window
Notoriously awful? Messy in scope? Sure. Those things are true. But also: The Woman in the Window is a psychological thriller that is so over-the-top and campy that it’s impossible to stop watching. Seeing Amy Adams navigate the fallout after witnessing a murder is intoxicating, especially as you decide whether she’s a reliable witness.
I Care a Lot
Somewhere between terrifying and hilarious lies I Care a Lot, a thriller starring Rosamund Pike as a legal caregiver who manipulates the judicial system to scam elderly people out of everything they own. Things are going great until she nabs someone with ties that bind a little more tightly than she’s used to. The movie will literally have you asking if you’re more comfortable with human trafficking or elder abuse, which is really a no-win situation. And yet the film is so damn good.
See You Yesterday
You might have slept on this Spike Lee–produced film, but it’s on Netflix and waiting for your binge. The 2019 thriller focuses on two science prodigies who are experimenting with time travel, but when one of their brothers ends up murdered by an officer, their experiment becomes more important than ever.
Gerald’s Game
Directed by new horror master Mike Flanagan (the mind behind Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House), Gerald’s Game was ranked by Esquire as one of the top ten best Stephen King adaptations. It’s the story of a woman whose husband dies suddenly of a heart attack, but she’s left handcuffed to the bed and must find a way to survive
1922
1922 follows a farmer to Nebraska, where he sets out on the path to write a confession for a murder from his past. The Netflix film is adapted from a Stephen King novella.
Bird Box
Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, Trevante Rhodes, and John Malkovich star in this dystopian thriller (and Netflix original film) about a woman who must travel blindfolded along with her children to safety as an unseen force stalks them on their journey.
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