One of the most exciting genres of storytelling to distract you from the real world is the thriller genre. It is the ultimate excitement of the cinematic kind. Fear, action, mystery, and more plot make these movies a true cinematic experience. Popular streaming platform Netflix has some of the most exciting thrillers that can get your heart pounding hard. Here are a few do the best ones from their titles.
Shutter Island
When it comes to mystery thrillers, nothing can top the Martin Scorsese classic- Shutter Island. With Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo in the lead roles, this psychological thriller is the perfect movie to start our list. The plot of the movie revolves around two agents who are visiting a mental asylum on an abandoned island. Their goal is to investigate a missing case that happened recently. However, this gets a lot darker than they bargained for and nothing is what it seems to be. This is one movie that you can thriller you can rewatch many times- even if you already know the ending. It is a masterpiece.
The Woman in the Window
The latest addition to Netflix’s thriller catalog is the new movie The Woman in the Window. Based on a book of the same name, the psychological thriller has Amy Adams in the lead role. Her character is trying to navigate through the fallout of witnessing a murder. However, she is not sure about the things that are happening around her, and that the murder that happened was actually something real or just her mind playing games with her.
Double Jeopardy
If you are a fan of the late 90’s era thrillers, then this one is the right pick for a nostalgia ride. With Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones playing the main characters, the movie is about a women who is framed for her husband’s murder. She is forced to serve her time and after being released from the prison, she decides to set off and uncover the truth. It turns out that her husband is not dead. What will happen if she kills him now? You can’t put her in jail because she killed the same person twice, right?!
Quantum of Solace
When it comes to spy thrillers you definitely know who the king is. It’s none other than James Bond 007. The character and the franchise have been thrilling us consistently for many generations, and the Craig era of Bond movies has shown us that the movies can adapt to suit the modern audience as well. Quantum of Solace may not be the best movie to come out from this era, however, it surely can keep us thrilled and entertained.
Uncut Gems
Adam Sandler is known for his fun, happy, family movies. We would have never placed him in an edge-of-the-seat thriller if it was not for the movie Uncut Gems. The movie is remarkable as a terrifying thriller and makes you feel like it could actually happen in real life. Playing the character of Howard Ratner, Adam Sandler dominates in his performance. Ratner is a jeweler who makes a big bet that can help to have a better financially secure life or no life at all. Anything can happen, when you are gambling with life.
See You Yesterday
This is one hidden gem that you might have missed. Produced by renowned filmmaker Spike Lee, See You Yesterday is a time travel thriller. The plot of the movie revolves around two science prodigies who are working on solving the puzzle of time travel. When one of their brothers gets murdered by an officer, their need for time travel becomes more relevant than before.
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
Winning the best screenplay at the Cannes, this psychological thriller from acclaimed director Yorgos Lanthinmos stars Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman in the lead roles. The actors play a married couple who invites an orphaned boy into their family. However, it kick starts a spiral of events that puts their family at risk and their relationship from falling apart.
93 Days
There is nothing more nail-biting and terrifying than the outbreak of a new disease. 93 days is a thriller that revolves around the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Based on real-life events, the movie takes us from the day an infected person arrives from Lagos to the Nigerian government’s response that ultimately saved the lives of many lives.
Bad Genius
Looking for some international thrillers?! Then you picked the right one. This 2017 heist film has a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes and is a must-watch for all out there. The plot revolves around a group of highly skilled students who cook up a college entrance exam scam that leads to greater stakes as it becomes more and more successful. The heist thriller is critically acclaimed worldwide and deserves a watch party with your movie buff friends.
Gerald’s Game
Few adaptations of Stephen King’s novels have succeeded in outdoing their source material. Directed by Mike Flanagan (the genius behind Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House), Gerald’s Game is among the top 10 Stephen King adaptations. It’s the story of a woman whose husband has a heart attack and dies suddenly, leaving her confined to bed with no way out.
Fractured
A family goes on a road trip for Thanksgiving in this Netflix psychological thriller. When Ray’s daughter suffers an injury, he and his wife use the nearest emergency room and waited till they undergo a CT scan. But the two disappear, and Ray becomes convinced that something is going on at the hospital.
Nightcrawler
In this underappreciated noir-thriller from 2014, Jake Gyllenhaal plays a small-time criminal hired to film gruesome crimes and accidents for a television station. Directed by Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler tells a tragic tale about consumers’ appetite for consumer goods and unethical journalism.
I Care a Lot
I Care a Lot is a thriller starring Rosamund Pike as a legal caregiver who manipulates the judicial system to scam elderly people out of everything they own. She’s having a good time until she catches someone with ties that bind a little tighter than she’s used to. The movie lands somewhere between terrifying and hilarious. You’ll be asked if you’re more comfortable with human trafficking or elder abuse, which is really a no-win situation. Yet, it is so damn good.
