Best Thriller Movies To Watch On Netflix

There is a virtual library of excellent suspense thrillers available on Netflix. We have compiled the best. Everything from thrilling action movies to thrillers with horror themes to gripping political stories is represented on this list.

Do you want to watch a scary movie but not have to stay up all night? Maybe something with a surreal twist or a terrifying story without all the blood and guts?

Here comes the enigmatic thriller. When you want a little bit of everything—drama, horror, action, and occasionally, a little amount of comedy—wrapped up into one spooky movie, this genre is ideal.

Although the genre has become extremely diverse over time, a superb thriller simply requires three essential components: a twisting storyline, a spooky lead character, and enough mystery to keep you on your toes.

20 Best Thriller Movies To Watch On Netflix

We have what you need if you want to enjoy a thriller during your upcoming movie night. For your convenience, we have compiled 20 of Netflix’s top thrillers below. Look through as you scroll or even watch a few if you dare?

1. Cam:

Babak Hassan’s chiller is skillfully made and an unnerving watch. This Netflix original, which was directed by Daniel Goldhaber, is about an adult webcam actress who learns that a menacing presence has stolen her place on the internet.

Cam addresses the subject of sex work with the required care and consideration and has some very frightful moments. Madeline Brewer gives a stunning lead performance, frequently juggling multiple characters on screen simultaneously.

Thanks to a crisp narrative written by real-life former cam girl Isa Mazzei, Cam often examines identity fragmentation, a topic that is undoubtedly not exclusive to the realm of adult entertainment.

Cam stumbles a little at the conclusion, but it is full of thought-provoking concepts, and Brewer just mesmerizes you with her performance.

2. I’m Thinking of Ending Things:

Jessie Buckley starred in Charlie Kaufman’s darkly comedic psychological thriller a year after she, quite simply, astounded us with her performance as a Scottish bad girl-turned-country singer in Wild Rose.

I am Thinking of Ending Things follows a young couple on a road trip and is based on the same-named 2016 novel. Although the movie may be a touch too clever for its own good, it is nonetheless an engaging movie that is definitely worth seeing.

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3. Gerald’s Game:

A career-best effort from the reliable Carla Gugino is the star of Mike Flanagan’s Netflix original, a Stephen King adaptation about a lady who wakes up to discover herself tied to a bed in the middle of nowhere when her husband dies.

This is pure, high-concept psychological dread that is compelling rather than spooky, and the ick factor is strong.

4. Hush:

A Netflix original about a deaf author ( Kate Siegel) is haunted by a masked intruder (John Gallaher Jr.) in her own home.

Hush owes a great lot to John Carpenter’s Halloween and even more to the 1967 Audrey Hepburn movie Wait Until Dark, but Mike Flanagan’s crisp direction and gift for suspense are enough to make Hush stand on its own.

Everything that you hope for in a movie is definitely delivered in this suspenseful thriller. It makes you want to scream but you find yourself gasping for words as you feel for Kate’s character.

Her portrayal is so well done, that you can feel her helplessness as she crawls through her own home hiding from the killer.

5. His House:

The South Sudanese refugees in Remi Weekes’ critically acclaimed supernatural horror debut are adjusting to a dangerous existence in small-town Europe.

This is horror as theatrical art rather than a collection of objects that spring out and go bump in the night, similar to The Babadook or Under the Shadow.

The lead actors, Wunmi Mosaku and Sope Dirisu, deliver twisted and devastating performances of the real-world subject matter.

6. Conjuring:

The Nun and Annabelle were preceded by James Wan’s spooky, masterfully performed thriller about a witch who terrorized a Rhode Island family in 1971.

Horror had a poor reputation by the summer of 2013. If there had ever been a purpose to the torture movies like Saw, it had long since vanished.

These movies had reigned for a decade. The marketing for The Conjuring claimed that it was “based on the true case files of” Ed and Lorraine Warren, two well-known ghost hunters who are portrayed by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga.

With this film, high-production-value thrillers like The Exorcist and Poltergeist were revived.

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7. Conjuring 2:

Shortly after the success of Conjuring 1 they released the sequel which turned out to be as good as its predecessor. James Wan made sure to bring another spell bounding screenplay that keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout.

This part is filmed in London where a family of 4 is possessed by an evil spirit. But what’s interesting about all the Conjuring/ Annabella and Nun series is that they are all connected.

There comes a point where you start to understand the timeline of all the events that have happened and join the dots leading to the bigger picture. Beautifully written and so well made.

8. The Gift:

A hotshot executive faces a crisis as the past returns to haunt him in this  frightening thriller starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, and writer, director, and co-producer Joel Edgerton.

The Gift garnered widespread praise from critics and had a modest box office success.

9. It Follows:

We are in the height of the horror genre right now. That talk would not be complete without It Follows.

David Robert Mitchell’s supernatural thriller about a shapeshifting killer passed around like a curse emanates a scorching, downright oppressive atmosphere of fear.

It is a cold-blooded nightmare that might induce an adult to sleep with a nightlight. Mitchell puts you off guard right away in subtle ways that you might not even notice: this movie is not even clearly set in a specific season or historical period, and many features in the production design and character actions just do not add together.

This reminds me of how Stanley Kubrick unnerved us during The Shining. In contrast to recent horror films like Annabelle and It, which largely rely on loud banging noises and jump scares to frighten viewers.

It Follows has a silence and stillness that you will not find anywhere else. It Follows is patient and masterful, rewarding attentive viewers with a distinctive, deeply unsettling experience.

10. Unfriended:

Teenagers are stalked by a malevolent spirit while they communicate on Skype in Universal’s trashy, truly terrifying, and brilliant found-footage thriller, which made $64 million on a $1 million budget.

The screen-based found-footage storytelling technique, which was previously employed in Open Windows, has improved over time. Searching and Host have received praise from critics.

Unfriended: Dark Web, a darker and possibly superior sequel, was released in 2018 after the original Unfriended.

11. Ouija:

Origin of Evil, a box office success and a promising sign for Mike Flanagan, is approximately a million times better than its predecessor Ouija and about ten times better than you would anticipate a film with the title Ouija: Origin of Evil to be.

The spooky thriller centers on a widow, the bogus seance business run by her family, and a malevolent ghost that takes a liking to the widow’s daughter.

12. Berlin Syndrome:

You might believe that you have watched enough films about women in captivity to last at least one or two lifetimes. Who could blame you, though?

Movies involving kidnapped women typically follow one of two paths because they are so prevalent that they could as well be their own genre:

\It is either all about the suspense, trying to figure out whether and how she will escape, or there is the nastier option, where certain movies make a spectacle out of a woman’s pain and humiliation.

Despite being a thriller (at times quite heart-pounding) and much of the woman’s mistreatment being extremely difficult to watch, Australian director Cate Shortland’s adaptation of Melanie Joosten’s novel about a tourist imprisoned by a handsome teacher after a passionate one-night stand stands out because it is all about her.

13. El Camino:

Aaron Paul, a three-time Emmy winner, just made a deserving comeback as the endlessly tormented drug lord Jesse Pinkman in El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, giving one of the greatest television dramas in history a fitting conclusion.

Netflix has produced the eagerly awaited continuation of Vince Gilligan’s criminal drama Breaking Bad. On the one hand, this is obviously fan service.

Additionally, this is fan service from the genre’s masters. It is difficult to picture any Breaking Bad fans being dissatisfied with this tense, unvarnished, and occasionally just humorous sequel. Paul is undoubtedly captivating in a variety of ways.

14. Apostle:

After a methodical buildup, The Raid director Gareth Evans’ horror/action freakout rewards it with some horrifying violence and gore in the climax.

Dan Stevens plays an Englishman who infiltrates a secluded cult to save his sister in the period drama set at the turn of the 20th century.

15. Creep:

The psychological thriller from Patrick Brice, one of the best found-footage movies that came after Paranormal Activity’s enormous success, centers on a videographer tasked with filming a peculiar, presumably deranged customer. (Mark Duplass).

Creep achieved success on streaming after a successful South by Southwest premiere and theatrical run.

16. Creep 2:

Following the cult hit “Creep,” it was revealed that Brice and Blumhouse would create a trilogy since the idea is so simple so why the hell not? Fortunately, “Creep 2” makes the effort worthwhile by allowing Duplass to build on the persona that gave the previous installment an original hook.

Duplass has transformed eccentric thirtysomethings into countless more conventional anti-heroes, and “Creep” underscores the deeper psychological components hidden behind his amiable exterior. However, the sequel adds another element to that potent insight.

In contrast to “Creep,” which implied that the obnoxious man-child is scarier than you may believe, “Creep 2” demonstrates just how scary he becomes as he ages.

17. Nocturnal Animals:

Tom Ford’s second film twists the blade in the body of a poisonous, broken love. It is as cruel as it is sad—and it is both.

In gloomy, lavishly realized parallel narratives, Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Michael Shannon (who received an Oscar nomination) all deliver superb performances. (about half of the film is a fictional book within the narrative). Nocturnal Animals is a movie that is both visually stunning and troubling thematically.

18. The Guilty:

Jake Gyllenhaal plays a 911 operator who receives a frightening call in Antoine Fuqua’s version of the acclaimed 2018 thriller of the same name, which was shot over the course of 11 days during lockdown.

Riley Keough, Ethan Hawke, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, and Bill Burr all appear in the movie. But the main character, which is played by Jake Gylenhall, has the entire screenplay on his shoulders.

Jake Gylenall is a master of his art, this movie is a true reflection of his skill and brilliance as an actor. The entire movie carries through his emotions, reactions, and his dilemma. Truly a must watch.

19. The Good Nurse:

In the terrifying true account of Charlie Cullen, a serial murderer who murdered patients while working as a nurse, Oscar winners Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain feature in the intimate and masterfully performed crime drama The Good Nurse.

To rave reviews, The Good Nurse made its debut in the fall of 2022.  Good Nurse is a somber thriller that purports to be about a serial killer but is really more interested in the healthcare system that let him get away with it for 15 years before he was ultimately caught.

The most important life of all is an institutional existence in this additional situation with life or death stakes.

Forget the Hippocratic oath: Is it really worth unleashing a Pandora’s Box of legal disputes and criminal charges if you consider the possibility that a worker killed patients on purpose?

20. Under The Shadow:

The writer/director Babak Anvari feature film debut blurs the boundary between supernatural and the horrors of the real world like few movies you will ever see.

It is an impeccably produced and unsettling chiller. Narges Rashidi plays Shideh, a medical student who is disqualified from continuing her education due to her engagement in revolutionary politics.

This film is set in 1980s Tehran amid The War of the Cities, which serves as the setting for Anvari’s own troubled childhood. Shideh is put in charge of guarding their young daughter Dorsa (Avin Manshadi) when her husband leaves for the front as the fighting and explosions intensify all around them.

Shideh and Dorsa are afflicted by an evil genie just when it seems like things can not get much worse.

Conclusion:

This brief roundup of some of our must watch movies, we have tried to present an array of “thriller” movies that are not only horror or gruesome but also touch along lines psychological, mystery, and well the unknown entities.

These movies are not only spine chilling but thought provoking as well, as they are not that far from the reality of life as we know it. If you have any recommendations to add, let us know!