Mystic River This 2003 film was directed and scored by Clint Eastwood, and the cast is also full of talented actors: Sean Penn, Tim Collins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, and Laura Linney. Mystic River both starts and ends with a heartbreaking crime, and the action in between is full of twists and turns that you won't be able to predict. Warner Bros.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Story Aaron Paul reprised his award-winning role as Jesse Pinkman in El Camino, the official Breaking Bad epilogue. Expect the slow burn that also defined BB, but when the action ramps up, it goes to new heights. The actors that played fan favorites like Skinny Pete, Badger, and Mike Ehrmantraut all returned for El Camino, and there's also one reappearance that we won't spoil. Netflix
Snowpiercer While Bong Joon-ho shot to fame after his film Parasite won Best Picture at the 2020 Oscars, Snowpiercer was actually shot back in 2013. The film takes place on a train that houses the last of humanity after an attempt to stop global warming accidentally created a new Ice Age. However, passengers on the train are now separated by income, and one man (Chris Evans) decides to lead a revolution in order to get better conditions for those in lower-class. The movie also stars Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, and Ed Harris. iMDb
City of God One of the best foreign films to land on Netflix in a long time, this Brazilian movie tells the story of drug dealer Li'l Z and the various people living in the favela in Cidade de Deus, a suburb of Rio de Janeiro. Many of the characters in the film are played by actors with little to no prior acting experience, and many of the actors were actual residents of real-life favelas. City of God went on to receive four Academy Award nominations in 2004: Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay. iMDb
Bird Box Bird Box was the highlight of Thanksgiving 2018, but if you haven't seen the movie yet, here's a brief breakdownin a post-apocalyptic world, survivors have to cover their eyes when they outside or they'll be compelled to kill themselves by an unknown entity. Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) ends up in a house with some other survivors, and the rest of the movie follows her as she tries to navigate this new world with her two children. Trevante Rhodes, Sarah Paulson, John Malkovich, Lil Rel Howery, and BD Wong fill out the cast. Netflix
Apostle Visionary action director Gareth Evans (The Raid: Redemption) switches gears for this period piece set in 1905, about a disillusioned Christian missionary (a twitchy Dan Stevens) who heads to a Welsh island to find his missing sister. There, he infiltrates a religious cult thats seized control of the isle, and discovers that theyre hiding some pretty dark secrets (although really, has there ever been a secret cult in a movie that wasnt up to no good?). Its a bit deflating that the films conclusion leaves behind the exploration of life in a cult in favor of a more generic, supernatural-flavored confrontation between hero and villain, but at least it provides plenty of shocks and gripping set pieces along the way. Warren Orchard - Netflix
Kiss the Girls Morgan Freeman portrays Detective Alex Cross, a man tasked with finding a number of young women that have gone missing, including his very own niece. The movie is based on the James Patterson novel of the same name, and a sequel called Along Came a Spider followed four years later. Paramount
I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore Finally, a movie hero we can all relate to: Ruth (Melanie Lynskey) is a nursing assistant whos sick and tired of living in a world where assholes ruin everything and nobody has the courage to stop them. When her laptop is stolen during a home burglary, she decides shes had enough and takes matters into her own hands, tracking down and confronting the thieves with the help of her weirdo, karate-obsessed neighbor (Elijah Wood). So begins a darkly hilarious odyssey into a very low-rent criminal underworld, with Ruth acting as a righteously pissed-off avenger whos willing to confront societys worst jerks and stand up for basic human decency. Allyson Riggs - Netflix
Green Room Saulniers next film, 2015s Green Room, is one of the best trapped in a single location thrillers ever made. A down-on-their-luck punk band make the mistake of playing a bar in rural Oregon that doubles as a home base for a neo-Nazi gang. When they accidentally witness a murder there, the neo-Nazis (led by Patrick Stewart!) hold them hostage in the backstage green room, forcing the group to fight their way out. The film does an outstanding job of continually ramping up the tension, as the bands attempts to outsmart their captors eventually turn into a battle to the death. A24
Blue Ruin All four feature films of director Jeremy Saulnier, more or less the reigning champ of low-budget thrillers, are currently available on Netflix. We recommend starting off with Blue Ruin, his 2013 breakout film, which centers on a vagrant named Dwight (Macon Blair) as he seeks vengeance for the murder of his parents after the killer is released from jail early. Saulnier takes what initially seems like a straightforward revenge thriller and twists it into an almost Kafkaesque tragicomedy about the impossibility of finding satisfaction through violence. Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection
Hold the Dark Like many promising filmmakers these days, Saulnier was only able to jump from low-budget endeavors to something larger in scope when Netflix offered to bankroll his next film (since, unfortunately, the mid-budget tier basically doesnt exist anymore at most Hollywood studios). Jeffrey Wright stars as a renowned naturalist whos summoned to a small village in Alaska to investigate a series of child disappearances that may be the result of wolf attacks. As is usually the case with Saulnier, that basic setup is just the tip of the iceberg for a story about the dark and animalistic impulses lying at the heart of humanity. Netflix/David Bukach
What Lies Beneath Dr. Norman Spencer (Harrison Ford) is a successful college professor and scientist, and he and his wife Claire (Michelle Pfeiffer) seem to have the perfect life. However, some sinister things start to come to the surface (literally), after a woman in their town goes missing. Fun fact director Robert Zemeckis shot What Lies Beneath while Cast Away shut down production so that Tom Hanks could have time to lose weight and grow a beard. 20th Century Fox
1922 This movie is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, so you know things are going to get creepy. 1922 follows a disgruntled husband (Thomas Jane) that decides to kill his wife in order to halt the sale of their land. However, her murder leads to many more problems for the man. Netflix
Drafthouse Films
Hell or High Water Two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) rob banks in Texas in this neo-Western, which provides the thrills youd expect from a heist movie, but also functions as a portrait of people struggling to get by in small-town America. As the duo attempt to stay ahead of the Texas Rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) who are hunting them, both crooks and the law must navigate a changing world in which economic desperation has widened the gulf between the haves and have-nots. CBS Films/Everett Collection
Netflix
The Hateful Eight This Tarantino film is a locked room Western thriller about a group of shifty-eyed strangers (more than eight, weirdly) stuck snowbound at a stagecoach lodge in Wyoming just after the end of the Civil War is one of his messiest works. The solution to several of its mysteries feels like a cheat, and its never quite clear what the movie is trying to say about racial prejudice as the characters first needle each other and then settle into new alliances. But even if The Hateful Eight resists any easy interpretation, Tarantinos sterling dialogue and tense filmmaking ensure that its long, slow build to an apocalyptic reckoning will keep you hooked. Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection
Slow West This odd little gem of a movie, a mix of thriller, Western, and absurdist comedy, feels like the bizarre love child of Sergio Leone and Wes Anderson. Michael Fassbender stars as Silas, a bounty hunter drifting through the Old West in the manner of Clint Eastwoods Man With No Name. He soon becomes the protector of a young Scottish nobleman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) whos hilariously out of his depth in the dog-eat-dog world of the Wild West, and their growing friendship ends up testing the limits of Silas heartless, solitary nature. Courtesy Everett Collection
Hush This taut thriller strays ever-so-slightly into slasher territory, but far from being gratuitously gory, Hush mines its scares from ratcheting up the tension to the point where youll be on the edge of your seat. The premise is simple; Maddie (Kate Siegel) is a reclusive deaf-mute author who lives a solitary life in a remote woodland cabin and finds herself vulnerable when a masked stalker attempts to break in. A heart-pounding game of cat and mouse ensues, and the inclusion of a deaf protagonist never feels gimmicky, with writer/director Mike Flanagan using sound in a way which enhances the story and ensures the viewer is rooting for Maddie to survive every step of the way. SXSW
Velvet Buzzsaw Jake Gyllenhaal is the master of creepy thrillers, and this Netflix original sees him starring as Morf Vandewalt, an art critic. Morf, his girlfriend Josephina (Zawe Ashton), and gallery owner Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo) stumble upon a series of paintings by a recently deceased artist, and they decide to keep and sell the artwork. However, the paintings are not what they seem, and the trio and those around them soon suffer some dire consequences. Netflix
The Perfection Girls star Alison Williams showed off her creepy acting chops in Jordan Peeles Get Out, and her latest movie, The Perfection, gives her another chance to stretch those psychological thriller muscles. All well say is that Williams plays a gifted cellist, and critics have called The Perfection smart and gripping, but this really is one best watched without seeing the trailer or reading any reviews so that the twisty plot can surprise you. Netflix
When Angels Sleep When businessman Germn (Julin Viligrn) is forced to miss his daughters birthday due to work, he promises his wife he will be home as soon as he can. Driving back down an isolated country road late at night, an exhausted Germn briefly falls asleep at the wheel leading to a fatal car accident. The rest of this Spanish-language thriller makes for uneasy viewing as an increasingly unhinged Germn spends the rest of the night attempting to cover up his part in the crash by silencing Silvia (a terrific Ester Expsito, best known for playing queen bee Carla in Netflixs Spanish teen drama Elite). ralan Films
You While technically not a movie, the You series is a social media favorite and a streaming darling. Penn Badgley plays Joe Goldberg, a man who obsesses over, and then stalks, the objects of his affection. While his love seems (somewhat) pure, Joe later proves that he's willing to go to violent ends to get what he wantsand he has one ex-girlfriend that knows that he's a lot darker than most people know. Netflix
Secret in Their Eyes Secret in Their Eyes is a thriller with one of the most stacked casts we'e seen in a whileChiwetel Ejiofor, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Dean Norris, Alfred Molina, and Michael Kelly all appear in this great pick. A team of FBI investigators are shaken up when the teenage daughter of the Assistant District Attorney is found murdered, but what seems to be an open and shut case later turns into a complicated web. STX Productions
Mute Alexander Skarsgrd (True Blood, Big Little Lies ) stars in this neo-noir film as Leo, the titular mute bartender who embarks on an Orphic odyssey into the criminal underworld of near-future Berlin in search of his missing girlfriend Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh). Justin Theroux and Paul Rudd also star as a pair of surgeons who run a black market clinic and whose paths cross with that of Leo. Visually arresting and influenced by David Bowies Berlin trilogy of albums, Mute was written and directed by Bowies son, Duncan Jones. Keith Bernstein / Netflix
Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 Tarantino took what could have been your run-of-the-mill thriller and turned it into something totally different. Kill Bill is also an action-samurai-western-revenge film and the story of Beatrix Kiddo(Uma Thurman) is moving and badass at the same time. Attacked by her former friends and colleagues, Kiddo, a.k.a The Bride, plans to kill all of them one by one, leaving Bill (David Carradine), their leader and her former lover, for last.. Miramax
Rebirth Any time a character in a movie says their group is not a cult, we all know what that really means. In Rebirth, Kyle (Fran Kranz) is living in a rut until his old friend from college reaches out to him. Zack (Adam Goldberg) seems happy and full of life, having just completed a self help program called, you guessed it, Rebirth. Kyle decides to give the program a try, and embarks on a weekend retreat which requires him to hand over his wallet and cellphone. Of course, its not long before he discovers that not everything is as it seems. Netflix
Shimmer Lake Telling a story in reverse can elevate a movie, lending a sense of tragedy by showing the audience how it ends and then walking them through the steps needed to get there. Memento and Irreversible are both exemplars of this device. In Shimmer Lake, its more of a gimmick than something essential to the plot, which is about a small-town sheriff investigating a bank robbery in which his own brother is a suspect. Fortunately, Shimmer Lake is a tightly woven crime story with or without the non-linear narrative, with some pleasantly surprising comic touches thanks to cast members Rainn Wilson, Adam Pally and Rob Corddry. Netflix
Drive Ryan Gosling plays an unnamed Hollywood stunt driver who is secretly also a getaway driver. When his neighbor's husband, Standard (Oscar Isaac), is released from prison, they take part in what later turns out to be a botched million-dollar heist that endangers the lives of everyone around them. FilmDistrict
Cam The perils of online life make for a great hook, as everybody can relate to the panic of being locked out of an account or trolled online, but its still difficult to mine cinematic thrills from somebody typing. Cam manages just that by taking the viewer into the heightened, colourful world of online sex work. The films protagonist (Madeline Brewer) lives a double life as Alice in the real world, and cam girl Lola online: when her webcam account is stolen by an unknown party, she has to fight to reclaim her identity, eventually coming face to face with a digital doppelganger. Written by former cam girl Isa Mazzei, Cam is a wildly entertaining cyber-thriller which unfolds with the rising tension of an episode of Black Mirror, but offers fewer sweeping generalizations or clichd judgments. Netflix
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