Looking for a thrilling movie night, but stuck on what to watch?
Don't worry, Netflix is jam-packed with great thrillers that'll send a chill up your spine.
From criminally overlooked heist flicks to gritty, hard-boiled revenge tales, here are
all the best thrillers on Netflix that nobody seems to be talking about.
Small Crimes
Directed by Evan Katz, 2017's Small Crimes takes Jaime Lannister out of Westeros and
sticks him in the middle of small town America.
Played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Denton is a corrupt cop recently released from prison
after carving up the local DA.
Now that he's a free man, this alcoholic narcissist is trapped in limbo, with everyone giving
him the evil eye.
His mom is pressuring him to clean up his life, his wife and kids won't talk to him,
and random strangers are trying to bash his head in.
E across Worse still, a sleazy police lieutenant wants
Joe to take out a dying gangster to make sure the mobster doesn't squeal on all the dirty
cops in town.
But really, this is a movie that defies plot description, as Small Crimes delves into some
twisty plotlines involving prostitution, drunken soldiers, and a deranged gangster with his
own personal torture dungeon.
Coster-Waldau is at his best here, and this complicated plot unfolds with a gut-punch
of a final showdown, one that will leave you looking at the deadbeat protagonist in a completely
different light.
Despite all the twists and turns, Small Crimes is ultimately a movie about forgiveness and
whether or not we deserve it.
The Crying Game
Directed by Neil Jordan, The Crying Game was hailed as one of the best films of 1992, but
in subsequent years, it's been overshadowed by some of its cinematic cousins.
That's a shame, because this moody thriller has it all, from heart-wrenching romance to
hair-pulling tension.
The film follows an IRA terrorist named Fergus who befriends a British soldier, played by
Forest Whitaker.
Unfortunately for their friendship, Fergus is supposed to shoot the poor trooper.
Whitaker's character asks Fergus to check on his girlfriend after he's gone.
Eventually Fergus leaves the IRA, travels to London, and meets Dil, the soldier's girlfriend.
He quickly falls for her, but that whole "I shot your boyfriend" secret is always looming
in the background.
It doesn't help matters that the IRA is busy looking for Fergus, wanting to bring him back
to the fold.
Honestly, there's a lot more going on in this film than we can possibly say.
So if you want to experience the entire emotional experience then you'll definitely want to
visit Netflix and try playing The Crying Game.
Cartel Land
Produced by Kathryn Bigelow and directed by Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land is a visceral
thriller that feels a lot like The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty.
The only difference is that Cartel Land is a documentary.
There are no actors, no script, just real-life people armed to the teeth.
This white-knuckle 2015 thriller follows two vigilante groups on opposite sides of the
border as they battle incredibly violent Mexican cartels.
We witness actual gunfights, real-life torture, and one of the most harrowing car rides in
cinematic history.
The movie also takes a nuanced look at the issue, showing how vigilantes are fighting
for their lives against gangs.
On the other hand, these vigilante groups have a tendency to go overboard, and over
on the American side, there's some horrible racism fueling their efforts to hunt down
people who come across the border.
"Why would you put two races in the same nation and expect them to get along."
Cartel Land plunges viewers right into the blood-and-guts-reality of the drug war, and
even though it's a documentary, it's as thrilling as any fictional film you'll ever see.
The Gift
Written and directed by Joel Edgerton, The Gift is a creepy little suspense flick from
2015 that will make you think twice when an old friend calls and wants to catch up.
The plot follows Simon and Robyn Callem, a seemingly happy couple played by Jason Bateman
and Rebecca Hall.
They've gone through some trauma, but now they're looking to start over in a new city,
in a new house, and with new lives.
Unfortunately for the couple, Simon runs into an old friend from school, a man named Gordo.
"Gordo the weirdo."
"That's not very nice."
"Everybody had a name."
At first, Gordo just seems a little too eager to please, but as strange gifts show up on
the Callems' porch and tensions escalate, it looks like Gordo might have more on his
mind than reminiscing about the good old days.
That's just scratching the surface of the story, and without saying much more about
the plot, The Gift is a tense and nasty little movie with unsettling performances from its
three brilliant leads, not to mention an ending that will likely leave you genuinely upset.
A Patch of Fog
If you've seen Boardwalk Empire, then you know Stephen Graham can be one intimidating
dude, and he brings that same manic energy to A Patch of Fog.
In this atmospheric 2015 film, Game of Thrones' Conleth Hill plays a famous author named Sandy
Duff who's living off the proceeds of a 20-year-old book.
When he's not giving lectures or appearing on TV, he spends his spare time shoplifting,
which majorly backfires when he's caught by a psycho security guard named Robert, played
by Graham.
However, Robert doesn't want to turn Sandy over to the police.
Robert just wants to be friends.
Obviously, when a super stalker wants to be your buddy, that's never a good sign, and
their freaky friendship soon escalates to a game of cat-and-mouse with some very serious
stakes.
"You make it sound like I wanna stick pins in ya."
"I just wanna be your friend."
While we've seen similar stories before, the highlight here is the tension between Graham
and Hill, both playing characters we empathize with, even though we wouldn't necessarily
want to hang out with either one of them.
Buster's Mal Heart
Thrillers don't come much stranger than 2016's Buster's Mal Heart.
Written and directed by Sarah Smith, the movie finds Rami Malek playing a bearded mountain
man on the run from the cops.
This outlaw hobo is named Buster, and when he's not breaking into cabins, he's ranting
about an upcoming apocalypse he calls "The Inversion."
But how did Buster get to this place, with gun-wielding cops on his trail?
Well, you'll start to find out as the film jumps back to when Buster was a family man
named Jonah.
Clean-shaven and suffocating, Jonah is a hotel concierge who feels trapped by the system…until
a conspiracy theorist shows up with wild ideas about Y2K and robbing banks.
Making all this even stranger, we occasionally get glimpses of a third version of Malek,
lost at sea, adding to the uneasy dream vibe of the whole film.
Buster's Mal Heart has some twists that will keep you guessing, but ultimately, it's a
mind-bending movie that will cause you to praise Rami Malek's acting abilities while
questioning the nature of reality itself.
The Fury of a Patient Man
Set in Madrid, The Fury of a Patient Man follows a seemingly gentle man named Jose who falls
in love with a lonely woman named Ana.
Her husband, Luis, has been behind bars for his part in a jewel heist, and of course,
we all know things are going to get messy when he's finally released.
But just when you think you know where it's going, the movie sets off in an entirely different
direction.
This brutal 2016 Spanish-language film features some brilliantly suspenseful scenes, like
a tense moment in a boxing gym and a one-shot car chase that ends in a terrific wreck.
Bad Day for the Cut
Set in Northern Ireland, 2017's Bad Day for the Cut is gory proof that you don't mess
with farmers, and you especially don't mess with farmers' moms.
This film focuses on a middle-aged man named Donal, a farmer who's spent most of his life
taking care of his elderly mother.
But his quiet existence is turned upside down when she's killed after what seems to be a
home invasion gone wrong.
After joining forces with another victim, Donal sets out to collect an eye for an eye,
but he quickly realizes there are quite a few secrets in his family tree.
Still, that doesn't stop him from taking on an army of bad guys to take revenge against
the crime lord responsible for taking out his mom.
If you're a fan of crime flicks from the UK, Bad Day for the Cut will definitely be a good
time on Netflix.
Icarus
Directed by Bryan Fogel, 2017's Icarus picked up the Oscar for Best Documentary at the 90th
Academy Awards.
The film opens with Fogel wanting to explore the world of performance enhancing drugs by
injecting himself with all kinds of chemicals before competing in a bike race.
His little stunt soon leads him to Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, a colorful character and the man
in charge of Russia's anti-doping program.
Soon, Rodchenkov is fearing for his life, and we watch as he maneuvers around KGB agents,
escapes the country, and faces the possibility of assassination.
A documentary that will have you on the edge of your seat, Icarus is the perfect mix of
informative storytelling and real-life thrills.
Shimmer Lake
Sort of like Fargo crossed with Memento, Shimmer Lake is a backwards story of bumbling criminals
who can't stop screwing up.
Taking a page from the Christopher Nolan playbook, this 2017 Netflix Original starts at the end
and works its way toward the beginning, as a group of small-town crooks plan and carry
out a robbery.
"Yeah Chris, it's going real good. Super good!"
Without a doubt, the highlight of the film is Benjamin Walker as Zeke Sikes, a local
sheriff who walks softly, carries a big stick, and is forced to deal with everything from
idiot FBI agents to a devious femme fatale.
Rainn Wilson is also great as Zeke's brother Andy, a disgraced attorney who plays a key
role in the twisty plot.
If you've seen James Gunn's Super, then you know Wilson has impressive dramatic chops,
and he's pretty great here as a despicable, desperate loser.
"Where have I been?"
"Where have I been?
In a car, forever.
A corn field.
I spent the night in a junkyard."
And if the backwards timeline sounds a bit gimmicky, don't worry.
It pays off beautifully, making Shimmer Lake a dark tale that's totally worth unraveling.