If the surge in true crime content is anything to go by, it’s clear we love a thrilling story. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of thrillers on Netflix.
Whether they’re crime-oriented, psychological or borderline horror, these movies and TV shows on Netflix will ensure you’re on the edge of your seat the entire time.
Here are some of the best thrillers on Netflix you can watch right now.
Table of contents
Best thriller movies on Netflix
What is the best thriller on Netflix right now?
You’re reading this list so we can assume you don’t just want any thriller, you want the best thriller movie on Netflix right now.
You’re in luck. Since Netflix started publishing its top 10 lists we have a better idea of how popular something is and right now a thriller movie that is topping the charts worldwide is What Jennifer Did.
The true crime documentary is a look inside a chilling story that rocked a small Canadian town in 2010. The crime saw Jennifer Pan call the police to report that her parents had been shot, only to become the heart of a captivating criminal case.
Other great thriller movies
Leave the World Behind
Sam Esmail has become known for his tense mystery thrillers where you never quite know what’s going to happen (Mr Robot, Homecoming). The same can be said for Leave the World Behind, which sees a family take a holiday to Long Island only to be warned of a dangerous blackout by two strangers. Tensions rise as the characters try to determine what is true and who they can trust amidst the impending threat.
The Mother
The Mother stars Jennifer Lopez as an assassin who comes out of hiding to protect the daughter she left earlier in her life. It was, at one point, the most popular thriller on Netflix, so you know this one is worth a watch.
Extraction
Chris Hemsworth’s blockbuster thriller Extraction sees the Aussie play Tyler Rake, a black market mercenary who is hired to rescue the kidnapped son of an imprisoned international crime lord.
The Pale Blue Eye
The Pale Blue Eye was one of the top thrillers on Netflix when it first debuted. The movie stars Christian Bale as a veteran detective, who teams up with a young cadet (who will eventually go on to become the poet Edgar Allan Poe) to investigate a series of murders.
The Good Nurse
The Good Nurse garnered Golden Globe nominations for its star Eddie Redmayne, who leads the film alongside Jessica Chastain. Chastain plays a nurse who discovers that one of her colleagues is responsible for the murder of dozens of patients over a period of sixteen years and has never been charged.
The Informer
The Informer is a 2019 thriller that stars Joel Kinnamon, Rosamund Pike and Clive Owen. Kinnamon is the lead as an FBI informant who is imprisoned after a drug bust gone wrong and must continue his undercover work behind bars to crack a notorious crime ring.
The Unforgivable
Sandra Bullock stars in one of Netflix’s best thriller movies from 2021. The Unforgivable follows a woman who is released from prison after being convicted of a violent murder and struggles to put her life back together in a society that won’t forgive her.
The Platform
The Platform is a chilling look at greed and class in society. The Spanish-language film puts us in a futuristic prison where a slab of food descends through the floor each day and those on the top floors feast while those on the bottom floors starve.
It’s a dark and unique concept you won’t be able to look away from.
1922
Aussie director Zak Hilditch picked up this Stephen King novella and turned it into a suspenseful horror drama on Netflix.
1922 follows the tale of a farmer who conspires to kill his wife and drags his teen son into his dark plans. Things get even more twisted from there as the duo experience the consequences of their actions.
Bird Box
Bird Box throws us into a world where if you gaze upon a monster you’ll meet a quick death. Think A Quiet Place but with the focus on sight instead of sound and the same level of thrills.
Sandra Bullock leads the cast as a mother and survivor who embarks on a trek across the dangerous post-apocalyptic world to get her two children to safety, all while completely blindfolded.
Awake
We’ve all imagined what life would be like if you didn’t need to sleep. No more reliance on coffee, no passing out at your desk after a late night, extra hours to spend the way you want – sounds great, right? Not so much in Netflix’s thriller Awake.
After a global event wipes out humanity’s ability to sleep, an ex-soldier must save her family, all while spiralling from the effects of sleep deprivation.
Joker
With Joker 2 coming down the line, it’s not a bad time to see why the first movie was so critically acclaimed (and divisive).
The origin story of Batman’s greatest foe sits well outside anything done with the character before and even earned Joaquin Phoenix an Oscar. Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck is a struggling comedian and party clown who is shunned by society and instead turns to a life of crime and chaos.
Best thriller TV series on Netflix
Baby Reindeer
Baby Reindeer and the haunting true story it is based on has taken the world by storm. The series is created by and stars Richard Gadd and is inspired by his experiences with being stalked and assaulted in his 20s.
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets is a gripping survival thriller about a girls football team that crash lands in the Canadian wilderness and are forced to endure not only the harsh natural landscape, but something more supernatural. The series has an incredible cast of talent playing both the younger and older versions of the characters, that includes the likes of Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis, Ella Purnell, Liv Hewson and Sophie Thatcher.
Bodies
British sci-fi thriller series Bodies has been a hit on Netflix. The series is based on the DC Vertigo graphic novel that sees a dead body appear in Longharvest Lane in London at four different time periods – 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053 – and results in four different investigations that eventually link together.
You
Penn Badgley’s serial killer in hiding will star in his final season this year, but it’s never too late to catch up on the previous four instalments. You is the chilling tale of fictional killer Joe Goldberg, an obsessive romantic who will do just about anything for love, including murder.
Keep Breathing
Netflix’s limited thriller series Keep Breathing pushes the limits of the survival drama. Melissa Barrera (Scream) stars as Liv, the sole survivor of a plane crash that must overcome unforgiving cold and personal traumas to survive in the Canadian wilderness.
Squid Game
There’s no doubt that the thriller no one can stop talking about is the super violent Korean drama Squid Game. It’s possibly the most suspenseful thriller on Netflix just due to the amount of tension it builds.
The series follows hundreds of contestants who are forced to compete in deadly children’s games in order to try and win a cash prize to help pay off their debts. Season 2 is on the way this year so be sure to catch up while you can!
Mindhunter
Based on a true story, Mindhunter dives into the psyche of some of the most dangerous serial killers to ever live.
The gripping character study of these twisted killers, and the detectives who question them, comes from the master of thrillers: David Fincher (Zodiac).
Pieces of Her
Netflix’s original series Pieces of Her, based on the Kain Slaughter novel, is nothing short of thrilling.
The series stars Toni Collette as Laura Oliver and Bella Heathcote as her daughter Andy who starts piecing together her mother’s dark past after a violent attack occurs in their small town. This one will keep you guessing.
Ozark
Ozark’s final season was released this year to a thrilling conclusion. The crime drama stars Jason Bateman as a financial planner who is sucked into a world of trouble after he gets in deep with a Mexican drug lord.
If you haven’t crossed Ozark off your list now is the time.
The Sinner
All three seasons of this police procedural anthology thriller on Netflix will have you hitting “play next episode”.
Each season of The Sinner sees detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman) unwind the mystery behind perplexing crimes, with stars like Jessica Biel and Matt Bomer giving performances of a lifetime.
Behind Her Eyes
If combining noir, supernatural, psychological and thriller all sounds good to you, then check out Behind Her Eyes.
The show follows a single mother as she begins an affair with her psychiatrist boss and befriends his mysterious wife. It’s a love triangle with a dose of mind games from which you just cannot look away.
Money Heist
Netflix’s incredibly successful Spanish crime thriller series Money Heist spanned five seasons of on-the-edge-of-your-seat tension and heists.
The series follows a group of special-skilled individuals who are recruited by a criminal mastermind known as The Professor to plan off the biggest bank heists in history.
Clickbait
Filmed in Australia, Clickbait stars Adrian Grenier as a family man who is abducted in a sinister online crime that his family must race to uncover the source of in order to save him.
You can check out all of the above titles on Netflix Australia right now.
Once you’ve been through all these thrillers on Netflix, check out our list of the top TV series you need to add to your watchlist.
This article has been updated with additional titles.
Lead Image Credit: Netflix
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