Netflix has occasionally neglected its lineup of thrillers, but November has two very worthy additions. The first is Michael Mann’s Collateral, a stylish crime thriller that debuted 20 years ago. Angelina Jolie’s Salt is the second addition, and it’s one of her best action thrillers. At 14 years old, Salt is also older than most of the movies on Netflix, but it holds up very well.
Additionally, Netflix is the current streaming home for Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Red Dragon, and a lot of other thriller movies as well. So don’t hold yourself in suspense any longer, because these films and more are among the best thrillers on Netflix right now.
We’ve also rounded up the best thrillers on Amazon Prime Video and the best thrillers on Hulu if Netflix doesn’t have what you’re looking for.
Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
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Collateral2004 -
Salt2010
Collateral (2004)
71%
7.7/10Tom Cruise rarely plays villains in films, but he does it very well in director Michael Mann’s taut thriller Collateral. Vincent (Cruise) is in town for a short stay, and he’s got places to go and people to kill. Cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) innocently picks up Vincent and agrees to drive him around the city for a generous fee.
To his horror, Max soon learns that Vincent is a hired killer knocking off a list of targets with his help. Max is understandably scared for his life, especially since Vincent will almost certainly kill him when he’s no longer useful. And even if Max can escape, he still has to figure out how he can save Vincent’s victims from meeting an untimely end.
Salt (2010)
65%
6.5/10Even by the CIA’s standards, Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is having a bad day at work. A Russian defector, Oleg Vassily Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), tells the CIA that Salt is a sleeper agent for the KGB who plans to kill Russian President Boris Matveyev (Olek Krupa) during his visit to the U.S.
When the CIA takes the warning seriously, Salt fights her way out and goes on the run. Her CIA colleague Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber) and ONCIX agent Darryl Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) don’t know what to make of her actions. But the longer Salt stays free, the more the evidence seems to point to the truth behind Matveyev’s accusations and a conspiracy that may turn the world against America.
Red Dragon (2002)
60%
7.2/10Technically, Red Dragon is the second adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel of the same name after 1986’s Manhunter. But this remake gave Anthony Hopkins one more chance to play his Oscar-winning role as Hannibal Lecter. Although this Silence of the Lambs prequel is missing Jodie Foster, the spotlight falls on Ed Norton’s Will Graham, an FBI profiler who narrowly survives his initial encounter with Lecter after exposing him as a cannibal.
Years later, Graham reluctantly seeks help from Lecter to find another deadly serial killer, Francis Dolarhyde (Ralph Fiennes). Graham’s mistake was assuming that Lecter couldn’t find a way to hurt from behind bars. He was dead wrong, as Lecter finds a way to communicate with the Dolarhyde and puts Graham’s family in peril.
Psycho (1960)
97%
8.5/10Alfred Hitchcock directed several masterpieces, but few with the staying power of Psycho. The early part of this film belongs to Janet Leigh and her unforgettable turn as Marion Crane. Marion has just made a very bad moral choice, and it eats away at her as she attempts to escape the consequences of her actions. She also has the very bad misfortune of picking the wrong motel to stay at. Let’s just say that she doesn’t make it to check out time.
Marion’s sister, Lila Crane (Vera Miles), and private investigator Sam Loomis (John Gavin) soon show up looking for answers about Marion’s disappearance. The hotel’s owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), isn’t talking, and he’s determined to keep his mother from speaking to the police. The final reveal unnerved audiences in 1960, and it’s just as unsettling now as it was then.
Rebel Ridge (2024)
77%
7.0/10Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) is a good and reasonable man in Rebel Ridge. but some dirty cops are really pushing the limits of his patience. After Terry is pulled over and thousands of dollars are stolen from him in the name of “asset forfeiture,” he tries to cut a deal with Chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). Terry even offers to let the cops keep most of his money if they just give back enough for him to bail his cousin, Mike Simmons (C.J. LeBlanc), out of prison.
The bad cops mistook Terry’s good nature as a weakness. That might be their last mistake after reneging on the deal to save Mike. Now, Terry’s going to have to unleash his own law and order in this small town, and as a former Marine, Terry is more than a match for these crooks with badges.
The Catcher Was a Spy (2018)
49%
6.3/10The Catcher Was a Spy is based upon the true story of Moe Berg (Paul Rudd), an unremarkable Major League Baseball player who had a second career as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA.
While few would compare this movie to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, they both touch upon the race to build the atomic bomb. One of Moe’s missions is to determine how close Werner Heisenberg (Mark Strong) is to completing the bomb in Nazi Germany. If Heisenberg has found a breakthrough, then Moe is supposed to kill him.
The Devil's Own (1997)
53%
6.2/10The Devil’s Own featured a young Brad Pitt (Wolfs) as Frankie McGuire, an IRA operative who has come to America to buy stinger missiles. In order to protect his cover, Frankie pretends that he’s an Irish immigrant who needs a place to stay. NYPD Sergeant Tom O’Meara (Harrison Ford) and his family generously take Frankie in.
Over time, Frankie and Tom bond even though the former is keeping deadly secrets from the latter. Frankie has picked a very volatile place to hide, and his sins will catch up to him before he’s ready to confront Tom with the truth.
Arkansas (2020)
55%
6.0/10Clark Duke co-wrote, directed, and co-stars in Arkansas as Swin Horn, a low-level drug smuggler who is working with Kyle Ribb (Liam Hemsworth) for Frog (Vince Vaughn), a man they’ve never met. When their first assignment together gets a loyal operative, Bright (John Malkovich), killed, Swin and Kyle decide to cover up his fate to escape the blame.
The perspective changes a few times in this story, and the characters will keep you on your toes as they reveal who they really are. Kyle and Swin don’t realize how much trouble they’re in, but they’re going to find out quickly.
Vanished into the Night (2024)
5.2/10Vanished Into the Night is an Italian thriller about a couple on the outs with each other. Pietro (Riccardo Scamarcio) and Elena (Annabelle Wallis), who are facing the impending end of their marriage, share two children, Giovanni (Lorenzo Ferrante) and Bianca (Gaia Coletti), whom they adore.
Although Pietro is trying to turn his life around, his shady past comes back to haunt him when his children are kidnapped and held for ransom. To get his kids back, Pietro has to turn to another morally questionable guy, Nico (Massimiliano Gallo). And Nico is all too eager to help … if Pietro handles a dangerous delivery for him.
American Psycho (2000)
64%
7.6/10One of the ironic things about American Psycho is that Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman absolutely hates Jared Leto’s Paul Allen. So a future Batman actor went up against a future Joker actor with their roles reversed. In this film, Bale is the one who plays a psychotic killer, while Leto’s character is Patrick’s clueless and affluent co-worker.
Once Paul goes to that big Arkham Asylum in the sky, Patrick’s killer hobby starts drawing the attention of private investigator Donald Kimbal (Nosferatu‘s Willem Dafoe). Patrick could keep the heat off of himself if he could stop murdering people and just enjoy the wealth and life of privilege that he has. But Patrick can’t stop, because this is his calling.
Captain Phillips (2013)
83%
7.8/10Tom Hanks has a history of playing real-life people in extraordinary circumstances, as he does once again in Captain Phillips. Hanks portrays the title character, Richard Phillips, the captain of a cargo ship called the MV Maersk Alabama. In 2009, off the coast of Africa, the Alabama is attacked by pirates.
Phillips’ first officer, Shane Murphy (Michael Chernus), is able to protect himself and the rest of the crew by locking themselves in the engine room. But that leaves Phillips alone to face the pirates, including their leader, Abduwali Muse (Barkhad Abdi). And they won’t let Phillips go without ransoming his life.
Patriots Day (2016)
69%
7.3/10The Boston Marathon bombing took place just over a decade ago, and the events surrounding that attack and the subsequent investigation are dramatized in Patriots Day. The main character, Sergeant Tommy Saunders (Mark Wahlberg), isn’t real because there wasn’t one person involved with so many aspects of the case. If you’re looking for a history lesson, this isn’t it.
What Patriots Day does have to offer is an increasingly intense manhunt for the two bombers, Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff) and Tamerlan Tsarnaev (Themo Melikidze). And as law enforcement officials get closer to the suspects, the Tsarnaev brothers prove to be more erratic and dangerous than expected.
A Simple Favor (2018)
67%
6.8/10Anna Kendrick stars in A Simple Favor as Stephanie Smothers, a single mother who befriends the glamorous Emily Nelson (Blake Lively). Since Emily’s son, Nicky (Ian Ho), is friends with Stephanie’s son, Stephanie agrees to look after him while Emily is in Miami.
When Emily goes missing and is feared dead, Stephanie is forced to wonder what happened to her friend. She also starts an affair with Stephanie’s husband, Sean Townsend (Henry Golding). But there’s more to this murder than meets the eye, and Emily’s secrets will come back to haunt both Stephanie and Sean.
Miller's Girl (2024)
41%
5.2/10The majority of the online discourse around Miller’s Girl centers on the large age gap between Martin Freeman and Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega, and the power imbalance of their respective characters, Jonathan Albert Miller and Cairo Sweet. And that’s kind of the point of the whole film.
Jonathan knows that Cairo is much too young for him, and so does she. Cairo is Jonathan’s student, and pursuing anything romantic with her would be career suicide. However, Cairo just can’t resist pushing Jonathan’s buttons to provoke a response. When Jonathan doesn’t give her the answer she hoped for, Cairo’s revenge may burn his entire life to ashes.
Shot Caller (2017)
59%
7.3/10Former Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has multiple thrillers on Netflix, but Shot Caller is the best one. Coster-Waldau plays Jacob Harlan, an ordinary stockbroker who accidentally got one of his friends killed while driving under the influence. Even a plea deal means Jacob has to go to prison. In order to survive behind bars, Jacob allows himself to become a hardened killer even though it adds years to his sentence.
When Jacob is finally released, he attempts to keep his distance from his wife, Kate Harlan (Lake Bell), and their son. But when Jacob’s criminal associates demand that he continue to work for them outside of prison, he’ll have to take matters into his own hands to protect his family.
Your Lucky Day (2023)
64%
5.8/10It’s the American dream to get rich without really trying. But the thriller Your Lucky Day is going to make Sterling (Angus Cloud) work for it. After hearing someone discover that he’s got a winning lottery ticket worth millions, Sterling kills the owner of the ticket and a cop who was at the scene. The big problem is that there are witnesses to Sterling’s crime: Amir (Mousa Hussein Kraish), Abraham (Elliot Knight), and his girlfriend, Ana-Marlene (Jessica Garza).
Sterling offers the survivors a share of his winnings if they help him cover up his murders. Unfortunately, it was never going to be that simple, and the money on the line is simply too enticing. There’s going to be more blood spilled before this story is over, but who will emerge with the lucky ticket?
Oldboy (2003)
78%
8.4/10There is an American remake of Oldboy by Spike Lee, but the South Korean original is the one that deserves all of the attention. Park Chan-wook directed and co-wrote this manga adaption, which follows the story of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a businessman who is arrested for being drunk in public. But Dae-su’s problems really begin after being released by the cops when he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a sealed hotel room.
Dae-su soon learns that his wife has been murdered, and the police think he killed her. This also means that their four-year-old daughter will grow up without him. For the next 15 years, Dae-su remains trapped by his captors until he is mysteriously released. Now, Dae-su has to discover who did this to him and why. One of the best thrillers with a twist ever, Old Boy is just as shocking and enthralling as it was 20 years ago.
Leave the World Behind (2023)
70%
6.7/10Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) and her husband, Clay (Ethan Hawke), just wanted to take a vacation in Leave the World Behind. But their kids, Rose (Farrah Mackenzie)and Archie (Charlie Evans) were the first to notice that their smartphones can’t connect to the internet.
The vacation continues uninterrupted until G.H. Scott (Mahershala Ali) and his daughter, Ruth (Myha’la), show up at the rental house and claim that it’s theirs. From there, things start to get super weird, and both families are left to question what happened to the rest of the world while they were in the woods and whether they can trust each other.
The Killer (2023)
73%
6.8/10Michael Fassbender’s unnamed assassin talks to the audience throughout The Killer, and he tells viewers all about his life except who he is. Perhaps he truly has no identity outside of meticulously planning and long stretches of waiting for his opportunity to kill. Yet before our eyes, the Killer botches a hit and kills the wrong person.
If the Killer thought he could slink away without consequences then he’s sadly mistaken. For his failure, the Killer’s lawyer, Hodges (Charles Parnell), has him marked for death. Two other assassins, The Expert (Tilda Swinton) and The Brute (Sala Baker), are sent to hunt down the Killer…if the Killer doesn’t hunt them down first.
Locked In (2023)
5.1/10Locked In apparently starts in the aftermath of an attempted murder, and only gets more twisted from there. Someone tried to kill Katherine (Famke Janssen), and they must have come pretty close to succeeding because she’s become trapped in her own body and left unable to move or properly communicate, with the exception of her eyes.
Suspicion immediately falls on Lina (Rose Williams), a young woman who is both Katherine’s adoptive daughter and her daughter-in-law. Nurse Mackenzie (Anna Friel) is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, but she may be kicking the proverbial hornet’s nest by asking questions that shouldn’t be asked.
Fair Play (2023)
74%
6.8/10Fair Play, follows a couple, Luke (Alden Ehrenreich) and Emily (Phoebe Dynevor), when their relationship is challenged by their mutual ambition. The pair keep their romance a secret from their co-workers at One Crest Capital. That only works for them until a promotion comes up, and Emily gets the job instead of Luke.
Although Luke initially takes the news well, he soon becomes obsessed with the idea that Emily’s success came at his own expense. This puts a lot of intense pressure on their relationship, especially when Emily discovers that Luke may be fired. And if Emily isn’t careful, she may lose more than just her romance.
Reptile (2023)
52%
6.9/10The brutal murder of Summer Elswick (Matilda Lutz) is the beginning of the mystery in Reptile, a thriller starring Benicio del Toro as Detective Tom Nichols (del Toro), the man in charge of the murder investigation. Summer’s body was found by her boyfriend, Will Grady (Justin Timberlake), but there are suspicious details that may draw suspicion to all of the men in Summer’s life.
Nichols is able to share some of the details with his wife, Judy (Alicia Silverstone), who acts as a sounding board for him. Regardless, the unfolding case forces Nichols to more closely examine his own life as well. However, he may not like what he finds.
The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
56%
6.6/10Given its extremely short stay in theaters in late 2022, you probably missed seeing The Pale Blue Eye when it was on the big screen. But the cast is too good for this movie to simply disappear among the other streaming thrillers. Christian Bale headlines the film as Augustus Landor, a former detective who has fallen on hard times following the death of his wife.
When Leroy Fry (Steven Maier), a cadet at West Point, is found ritualistically murdered, Landor is coaxed out of retirement to solve the mystery. But Landor can’t do it alone, which is why he turns to one of Fry’s classmates to act as his partner on the case: Cadet Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling).
The Snowman (2017)
23%
5.1/10It’s very appropriate that Michael Fassbender’s character in The Snowman is a detective named Harry Hole, because his life is in a deep hole when the story opens. Harry has broken up with the woman he loves, Rakel Fauke (Charlotte Gainsbourg), while struggling with his sobriety. Unfortunately for Harry, a serial killer has already started sending him enigmatic messages.
Harry’s new partner, Katrine Bratt (Silo‘s Rebecca Ferguson), is convinced that the killer is somehow linked to a case that was once investigated by Gert Rafto (Val Kilmer), an alcoholic former detective who was very much like Harry himself. But as the mystery intensifies, Harry realizes that Katrine has a personal connection that fuels her obsession with the case.
I Came By (2022)
Circle (2015)
The Good Nurse (2022)
Adapted from the true-crime novel of the same name, The Good Nurse stars Jessica Chastain as Amy Loughren, a single mother and ICU nurse. When a series of untimely patient deaths start cropping up around the hospital, Amy begins to suspect that new hire Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) is the man responsible. Both Chastain and Redmayne are the kind of talents we expect greatness from, and truly, both actors go out of their way to foster a sort of surreal pathos for their characters, especially the latter. It’s a solid thriller and a tragic and haunting reminder that we don’t have to dig into fiction to tell some of the most grueling stories imaginable.
Lou (2022)
If you’re in the mood for something a little more on the action-heavy side, director Anna Foerster’s Lou will likely satiate. It stars Allison Janney as the titular protagonist, a reclusive woman living on Orcas Island, Washington. When a wicked storm threatens the Pacific Northwest, a single mother named Hannah (Jurnee Smollet) begs Lou for help when her young daughter is kidnapped by a vicious ex-pat (Logan Marshall-Green). But as the two women set off on their rescue mission, Hannah soon learns that there’s far more to Lou than meets the eye. A grim gut-punch of an action-thriller, Lou is a big win for the genre.
The Stranger (2022)
74%
6.6/10A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
57%
6.5/10Munich: The Edge of War (2022)
53%
6.8/10The Platform (2019)
73%
7/10Have you ever seen or heard of famed French-Canadian Denis Villeneuve’s short film Next Floor? If not, here’s a quick summary: A baroquely-costumed set of aristocrats gorge on a handsome feast, with their increasingly accrued weight plummeting them (and their table, chairs, and food) through the floor, where they resume said gorging. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s The Platform plays with some of the same narrative bits, albeit in the form of a more realized social commentary.
The story follows the imprisoned residents of a Vertical Self-Management Center, a dystopian vessel that delivers food to its captives by way of an elevator system. In order of randomized hierarchy, those at the top get the most food, while those at the bottom get the scraps. Inevitably, this leads to an uprising of horrific proportions. The Platform is a satirical production that grapples with Darwinism in some bizarre and all-consuming ways. One thing is for sure: It’s a flick you don’t want to miss.
Spiderhead (2022)
54%
5.4/10Triple Frontier (2019)
61%
6.4/10The Devil All the Time (2020)
55%
7.1/10Windfall (2022)
52%
5.7/10Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
52%
NaN/10Fever Dream (2021)
75%
5.4/10Coming Home in the Dark (2021)
64%Sentinelle (2021)
4.7/10Army of Thieves (2021)
49%
6.4/10The Guilty (2021)
63%
6.3/10In the Shadow of the Moon (2019)
48%
6.2/10Creep (2014)
74%
6.4/10Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)
47%
6.0/10The Vault (2021)
50%
6.4/10Hold the Dark (2018)
63%
5.6/10Red Dot (2021)
Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
61%
5.7/10Calibre (2018)
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
72%
7.3/10
