Wanna watch a good thriller on Netflix? Critic Eliza Janssen has trawled through the archives and picked the very best tense movies currently available on the streaming platform.
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* Best new movies & TV series on Netflix
* All new streaming movies & series
22 July (2018)
Watch on NetflixIf you’re on this list, chances are you enjoy thrillers for the escapism of their unbelievable plots and tense scenes—moments which we can all be relieved will likely never happen to normal folk like us. Unfortunately, Paul Greengrass’s unbearably suspenseful movie is based on the actual incident of a massacre at a Norwegian youth summer camp, and it chronicles each life-or-death decision of those involved with a sense of dreadful realism. Tough, but worth your attention.
American Psycho (2000)
Watch on NetflixDirector Mary Harron massively improved on Bret Easton Ellis’ twisted post-modern novel, casting Christian Bale as grinning facsimile of a human Patrick Bateman in this sickly hilarious horror film. He’s an expensively-dressed homicidal maniac in mergers and acquisitions—or “murders and executions”, as he lets slip at a nightclub—who seriously hates being shown up in the business card big leagues.
The Courier (2021)
Watch on NetflixBased on a true story from the annals of Cold War history, this spy thriller stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a British bureaucrat sent behind the Iron Curtain. His agent must work with a Russian source to pull off a secret mission that might bring about the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis—if only his tenuous network doesn’t pull the rug out from under his feet at just the wrong moment. Not a brilliant spy thriller, but a satisfying and illuminating one.
Ex Machina (2014)
Watch on NetflixThe best sci-fi films force us to confront the very question of what defines us as humans, and this thriller is practically a feature-length Turing test. Domnhall Gleeson plays the nebbish underling of a tech baron (Oscar Isaac, dance machine) who gets chosen to test out his boss’s most troubling, secret invention: a convincing AI creature played with robotic grace by Alicia Vikander. It proved that screenwriter Alex Garland could direct the hell out of his own scripts, too.
Fatal Attraction (1987)
Watch on NetflixThe film that propelled Glenn Close to international stardom, and added the phrase “bunny-boiler” into the cultural lexicon. Michael Douglas doesn’t have to stretch much to achieve his usual mode of slimy suspense, but Close’s spurned mistress is an unforgettable presence—rewatching this 1980s phenomenon, you might even feel a touch more sympathy towards her than audiences of the heated-up erotic thriller’s heyday once did. Director Adrian Lyne, the genre’s biggest trendsetter, coats everything in sinister steam and frosted glass.
Gerald’s Game (2017)
Watch on NetflixMike Flanagan’s streak of series for Netflix is going great and all, but I can’t help hoping he returns to making nasty, stand-alone features like this one. He perfectly captures the sickness and sentiment of Stephen King’s messed-up story, all about a downtrodden woman’s nightmarish ordeal of being handcuffed to a bed by her controlling husband. And just because he’s swiftly knocked off by a heart attack doesn’t mean he can’t still hang around as a cruel voice in her head.
The Good Nurse (2022)
Watch on NetflixA pair of Oscar winners bring out the best in each other in this true crime tale of disturbing medical malpractice. It’s based on true events, so if you don’t know anything about nurse Charlie Cullen, prepare to be unsettled. He’s played by a warm yet unnerving Eddie Redmayne, and Jessica Chastain is his heroic coworker struggling with a cruel combination of her own heart problems and relative poverty. The negligent US healthcare system might just end up seeming more villainous than the film’s killer.
I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore (2017)
Watch on NetflixYou don’t want to steal John Wick’s dog, and you don’t want to nick any knick-knacks from Melanie Lynskey—especially not her grandma’s silver cutlery. The inciting incident for this low-key suburban thriller is simple, but it leads to a characterful crime conclusion, with Elijah Wood turning out to be a loveable partner-in-crime to the always-wonderful Lynskey.
The Irishman (2019)
Watch on NetflixIf you’ve got three and a bit hours to spare and are happy to have the glamour of gangster stories destroyed for you forever, Marty Scorsese’s elegy to the genre will hit hard. Some viewers have railed against that runtime and the somewhat uncanny use of de-ageing to see actors De Niro, Pacino and Pesci traverse across decades of betrayal and bloodshed. Nonetheless, this film is an emotional epic, feeling much like you’re watching a novel in crushing realtime rather than your usual guns-and-cars gangster flick.
Jaws (1975)
Watch on NetflixThe element that marks Jaws as a brilliant thriller, as opposed to just a nice gnarly creature feature, lies in one of Spielberg’s biggest production limitations. It was so damn difficult to get a convincing shark model working (one ended up at the bottom of the ocean!) that the film barely shows us the man-eating beastie, resulting in one of the very first blockbusters and a tense tale of survival that still terrifies us today.
The Killer (2023)
Watch on NetflixThe newest of many David Fincher films on Netflix, this slick revenge saga stars Michael Fassbender as a hitman who spends the opening sequence of the film eloquently explaining his modus operandi. It sounds convincing…until he completely flubs his shot, and spends the rest of the film cleaning up the botched job’s many loose ends. There’s a hollowness to the drama of the film that is probably by design, and the (sporadic) action sequences are impeccable.
Leave The World Behind (2023)
Watch on NetflixHere’s an apocalyptic vision that left viewers divided, some left feeling like nothing much happens when holidayers Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke get interrupted by the owners (Mahershala Ali and Myha’la Herrold) of the swanky holiday rental that may turn out to be their doomsday bunker. Sci-fi auteur Sam Esmail builds a distinctly contemporary, uncertain sense of doom, and then peppers it with memorably deranged omens; swarming stags, crashing cruise-liners, and Friends DVD boxsets as the last precious relics of a dying old world.
Parasite (2019)
Watch on NetflixOne of the most deserving Best Picture winners in yonks, Bong Joon-ho’s twisty battle of haves and have-nots unveils details that’ll make you laugh and gasp even beyond your first wrapt viewing. After some impeccably executed twists and deceptions, where do our sympathies lie; with the cunning, hilarious Kim family, or the clueless, moneyed Parks? Some stomach-dropping bursts of violence—and a few serves of Ram-Don—later, director Bong sticks the landing with a climax that’ll leave you thinking.
Run (2020)
Watch on NetflixSarah Paulson goes all Joan Crawford on us in this suspenseful film, hilariously released on Mother’s Day. You see, the story follows a homeschooled and physically disabled teen (Kiera Allen), who starts to wonder whether her controlling mum (Paulson) might have a bad case of Munchausen by Proxy. She’ll have to fight her own blood tooth and nail to flee the gilded cage.
Se7en (1995)
Watch on NetflixThis serial killer classic is drenched in a grungy, hopeless 90s aesthetic borrowed straight from a Nine Inch Nails music video—which is apt, because director David Fincher got his start directing music videos, including one for NIN’s song “Only”. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are a benevolent older detective and a hot-shot young cop respectively, always two steps behind a madman who’s picking off victims with punishments that mirror the seven deadly sins.
The Stranger (2022)
Watch on NetflixTwo bearded blokes who begin to look disarmingly similar are on an unclear, criminal mission in this bone-chilling Aussie thriller from director Thomas M. Wright. The shadowy plot details slowly become clear, but Sean Harris’ disturbing title character always remains a bit of a question mark—in this most upsetting and realistic of ways.
Synchronic (2019)
Watch on NetflixOne of few sci-fi entries on this list, directing pair Moorhead and Benson’s trippy time-travel venture stands as a worthwhile thriller for its grounded sensibility. Friendship in the face of unknowable chaos is the redeeming element here, with Anthony Mackie going to extraordinary lengths to help his friend and fellow paramedic Jamie Dornan—namely, testing out the dangerous new drug on the streets of New Orleans that seemingly sends its addicted users back into the distant past.
Uncut Gems (2019)
Watch on NetflixNot many movies on this list will make you laugh with incredulity while you’re still gripping the edge of your armchair, but the Safdie brothers managed it with the help of an unlikely Adam Sandler performance. Sandler’s conniving jewellery dealer has huge balls but not much emotional intelligence, digging himself deeper and deeper into the kind of con that’s hard to wriggle out of in one piece.
Whiplash (2014)
Watch on NetflixJ.K. Simmons stomps on student hearts to the beat of his own drum in Damien Chazelle’s stressful drama. Who knew knocking out some jazz tunes on a drum kit could be so viscerally upsetting? The anxiety-inducing story of an ambitious young drummer (Miles Teller) and his manipulative band conductor builds to a maddening musical climax, with plenty of gut-punch moments of pathos in between.
Windfall (2022)
Watch on NetflixNetflix barely promoted this suspenseful black comedy, despite a trio of recognisable stars: Jesse Plemons as a clueless CEO, Lily Collins as his disrespected wife, and Jason Segel as the “nobody” who tries to burgle their luxe home. Perhaps the formulaic twists and turns won’t surprise you, but the acting sure will. All three talents are clearly having a ball satirising Silicon Valley excess.
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