Finding the best thriller movies on Netflix can be hard because many great movies are thrillers, and they often mix with horror, action, comedy, and drama. Our team worked hard to find the best ones by looking through Netflix’s movies. Some of the top thrillers we found are The Rip, Nuremberg, Bugonia, Apex, Influencer, and Green Room. Here are the top 10 thriller movies on Netflix. We will keep updating this list every month to add new movies and remove ones that are no longer on Netflix.
10. Relay
Riz Ahmed crossing a road.
Bleecker Street
Crime thriller
Director: David Mackenzie
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Lily James, Sam Worthington
Release date: August 22, 2025
Region: US
Run time: 1 hour 52 minutes
What it is about: A talented fixer helps whistleblowers and corporations to negotiate large payoffs while keeping his anonymity. However, one of his deals goes wrong, and he gets caught in a perilous game in which his life is at risk.
Why we like it: Relay is a slow-burn thriller that balances intrigue and surprise, with Riz Ahmed’s understated performance as the fixer who speaks little but is always expressive.
9. Green Room
Patrick Stewart standing in front of skinheads.
A24
Thriller
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Patrick Stewart
Release date: April 15, 2016
Region: US
Run time: 1 hour 35 minutes
What it is about: A punk band witnesses a killing after finishing their set at a neo-Nazi bar. They take refuge backstage but soon realize that the club’s owner and his skinhead employees intend to kill them.
Why we like it: Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier, Green Room is a tense survival horror that delivers some of the most frightening thrills. It is further elevated by the presence of Patrick Stewart, who delivers some of his best work in the lead role. Despite the short length, the film manages to sustain a punishing pace for 95 minutes.
8. Carry-On
Taron Egerton as Ethan in Carry-On on Netflix.
Netflix
Action thriller
Release date: December 5, 2024
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Taron Egerton, Sofia Carson, Jason Bateman
Regions: Everywhere
Duration: 1 hour and 59 minutes
What it is about: After his TSA screener partner tells him to ignore a suspicious bag, a security officer finds himself caught in a deadly terror plot on board an airplane.
Why we like it: Many critics have called Carry-On the Defining Thriller of the Decade and the Next Die Hard, although the latter comparison is unfair. However, the Netflix action thriller is genuinely entertaining, delivering everything fans of the genre could ask for.
If one had to make a checklist of all the possible elements of a good thriller, Carry-On would have them all. It has a time constraint, a contained environment (the airplane), a hero who is blackmailed, a villain with an absurd plan (to hijack an entire plane), and even a Christmas setting! We wish there was a sequel, as the entire package is simply too enjoyable.
Read our full Carry-On review here.
Words by Jessica Cullen
7. Woman of the Hour
Still from Woman of the Hour.
Netflix
Thriller, True Crime
Release date: October 18, 2024
Director: Anna Kendrick
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale
Regions: Everywhere
Duration: 1 hour 35 minutes
What it is about: Inspired by the true events surrounding the television dating show, Woman of the Hour reveals the unspeakable horrors from the past of the charming serial killer Rodney Alcala, also known as The Dating Game Killer. The docudrama follows a fictionalized version of the woman who got away with him on the show.
Why we like it: Woman of the Hour is among the best Netflix original true-crime thrillers. It is a chilling reimagining of the events surrounding the unsavory legacy of The Dating Game Killer. The film expertly captures the terror of the real-life victim and manages to heighten the tension by presenting the killer’s perspective, which is, ironically, fascinating.
Read our full Woman of the Hour review here.
Words by Jessica Cullen
6. Gerald’s Game
bruce_greenwood_carla_cugino_geralds_game
Netflix
Horror, Thriller
Release date: September 29, 2017
Director: Mike Flanagan
Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood
Regions: Everywhere
Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes
What it is about: A couple who finds themselves spending the weekend in the woods away from the stresses of the city decides to have a little fun by handcuffing themselves to a bed. However, when the husband dies from a heart attack, his wife wakes up chained and unable to reach the key, which sets the grisly horror show of Gerald’s Game in motion.
Why we like it: Based on Stephen King’s notoriously unfilmable classic novel, Gerald’s Game managed to achieve it by finding the right team to bring the story to life. First-time director Mike Flanagan and star Carla Gugino understood the material, generating tension, tragedy, and genuine horror. The infamous “degloving” scene is genuinely terrifying, making the film one of the best horror movies about an axe murderer.
Words by Jessica Cullen
5. Rebel Ridge
Aaron Pierre in Rebel Ridge
Netflix
Action thriller
Release date: August 27, 2024
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, Anna Sophia Robb, David Denman
Duration: 2 hours 11 minutes
What it is about: Terry Richmond has one goal – to get his cousin out of jail and help him establish a new life. However, the corrupt police force of Shelby Springs is determined to stop him. The only thing left for Terry is “I gotta haunt these motherfkers myself.”
Why we like it: With its 21st-century equivalent of Rambo (First Blood), Rebel Ridge is one of the best Netflix Original films we’ve seen. This action movie is reminiscent of the “Dad movies” of the 90s like Reacher while still managing to have the benefit of a modern cinematic touch. The film’s star Aaron Pierre is so impressive in the lead role that it is hard not to get caught up in his performance. His “beard and biceps” could rival even the most fearsome tough guys, and he manages to hold his own next to Don Johnson’s “sht-eating grin.”
Read our full Rebel Ridge review here.
Words by Cameron Frew
4. Nightcrawler
jake gyllenhaal in nightcrawler
Open Road Films
Satirical crime thriller
Release date: October 31, 2014
Director: Dan Gilroy
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton
Regions: Everywhere
Duration: 1 hour 52 minutes
What it is about: Lou Bloom is a petty criminal who takes up a new line of work as a freelance stringer for a local news channel, searching the streets of Los Angeles for graphic crime scenes to report and profit from their occurrence.
Why we like it: Jake Gyllenhaal delivers an incredible performance as the amoral antihero who remains engaging throughout the film. Nightcrawler is a darkly comic take on the crime beat and news media, as well as a satirical take on society’s insatiable appetite for tragedy and gratuitous violence.
Words by Liam Mackay
3. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
The suspects in Knives Out 3 spot the crime.
Netflix
The Knives Out 3 ensemble find the impossible crime.
Whodunnit
Release date: November 26, 2025
Director: Rian Johnson
Cast: Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin
Regions: Everywhere
Duration: 2 hours 12 minutes
What it is about: Gentleman detective Benoit Blanc gets caught up in a church mystery that leaves many of the townspeople as suspects.
Why we like it: Writer-director Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig were two-for-two with their previous Knives Out whodunnit, Glass Onion, and Wake Up Dead Man looks to be another triumph for the pairing. This one boasts an even more impressively constructed locked-room mystery, and the cast enjoys its time with the material, delivering a performance that is equal parts clever and emotionally deep.
Words by Chris Tilly
2. Bugonia
Emma Stone as she appears in Bugonia.
YouTube: Focus Features
Genre: Comedy sci-fi thriller
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Aidan Delbis
Release date: October 24, 2025
Region: US
Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
What it is about: Two conspiracy theorists kidnap the CEO of a pharmaceutical giant, thinking she is a representative of an extraterrestrial race, and subject her to a series of physical and psychological tests to prove their theory.
Why we like it: Bugonia sees Lanthimos re-uniting with his muse Emma Stone, as the Oscar-winning director brings his uniquely dark sense of humor to this sci-fi thriller, inspired by the Korean classic Save the Green Planet. While it does not reach the dizzying heights of that film, Bugonia is an incredibly entertaining examination of power and privilege.
Words by Chris Tilly
1. I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
The dynamic duo at the heart of I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore looking mean and moody.
Netflix
Thriller, Comedy
Release date: February 24, 2017
Director: Macon Blair
Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Elijah Wood, Jane Levy
Regions: Everywhere
Duration: 1 hour 36 minutes
What it is about: While in the middle of an existential crisis, Ruth’s house is burgled, so she teams up with strange neighbor Tony and sets off on a misguided quest to track down the thieves and make them pay for their insolence.
Why we like it: Written and directed by Macon Blair, who also makes a cameo appearance in the film, I Don’t Feel at Home is a comedy-thriller that turns nasty when things start getting too serious for the leads. It is all in good fun, however, as the plot and tone are reminiscent of the Coen’s finest thrillers. Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood are also a great odd couple, so we hope they revisit this universe in the near future.
