Summary
- Underrated thriller movies on Netflix offer compelling stories and standout performances, like Sandra Bullock in "The Unforgivable" and Liam Neeson in "A Walk Among The Tombstones."
- "Small Crimes" and "Hold The Dark" showcase the intense and dark storytelling skills of director Jeremy Saulnier, while "Creep" offers a unique and dread-filled found-footage experience.
- "Emily the Criminal" and "I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" blend crime and comedy, providing fascinating and offbeat takes on the thriller genre.
There are a number of underrated thriller movies on Netflix just waiting to be discovered. Netflix is one of the top streaming services in the world, offering endless choices for movie fans of all tastes. Those looking for thrills and chills in their viewing experience can find a lot of great choices, but perhaps they might try looking at some of the undiscovered gems in the thriller genre. For whatever reason, these underrated thriller movies on Netflix have not yet found the audience they deserve.
Thriller movies are effective when putting audiences on the edge of their seats or grabbing their attention and never letting go. These thrillers achieve that even if some people may have dismissed them or not even heard of them in the first place. Even with big stars like Sandra Bullock, Chris Hemsworth, and Jake Gyllenhaal involved, these movies never caught on. But now is the chance to catch up on some of the most underrated thriller movies on Netflix.
The Unforgivable (2021)
The Unforgivable may not rank as one of Sandra Bullock's best movies with all the classics she has starred in, but it remains a compelling thriller with a terrific and different performance from the Oscar winner. Bullock stars as a woman who is released from prison after decades behind bars for a violent crime. While she feels that she has paid her debt to society, she quickly finds that she is still judged by others and facing a hard time starting over. There is an intensity to the story of redemption that offers few simple answers and a lot of complexity. Bullock is excellent and she is joined by a supporting cast that includes Vincent D'Onofrio, Jon Bernthal, and Viola Davis.
Savages (2012)
Though Oliver Stone has a long directing career filled with many classics, Savages is his most straightforward action movie and feels like a fun ride. The movie stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Taylor Kitsch as two friends who run a drug empire that gets on the radar of a powerful drug cartel. In order to keep them in line, their shared girlfriend (Blake Lively) is taken hostage, forcing them to take drastic measures to get her back. The movie is often criticized for its questionable ending, but it is a stylish and gripping ride with a heavy roster of great actors including Salma Hayek, John Travolta, and Benicio Del Toro.
A Walk Among The Tombstones (2014)
Liam Neeson thrillers can sometimes be overlooked as the actor has made so many over the past couple of decades, several of which are largely forgettable. Unfortunately, one of the most overlooked ones is also perhaps the best of the bunch. A Walk Among the Tombstones stars Neeson as a private detective who is hired by a drug kingpin to find his missing wife and take out those responsible for taking her. The movie is written and directed by Scott Frank who is a veteran of the modern crime genre with the likes of The Lookout and Out of Sight. He creates a wonderful gritty throwback which makes great use of Neeson's intensity.
Arctic (2018)
One of the best survival movies of the 2010s is on Netflix as one of its best thrillers. Mads Mikkelsen stars in Arctic as a man who is stranded in a frozen wasteland following a plane crash. After saving a wounded woman from the crash, he attempts to wait for rescue before realizing that he will have to venture out into the wilderness if they are going to survive. There are few actors with the kind of screen presence to carry an entire movie as pretty much the only actor on screen, but Mikkelsen has those skills and the grounded story makes for a gripping journey.
The Stranger (2022)
An overlooked thriller from recent times deserves to be sought out by Netflix subscribers. The Stranger is an Australian thriller based on real events that follows an undercover officer (Joel Edgerton) investigating a child abduction case as he forms a friendship with the socially reserved man who is his prime suspect (Sean Harris). The performances from the two leads carry the slow-burn story along while there is a simmering tension boiling underneath that will have audiences on the edge of their seats the entire time.
The Kingdom (2007)
Peter Berg directs an impressive ensemble in The Kingdom. Rather than being a typical modern war movie, The Kingdom is not based on real events but uses the reality of the Middle East conflict to tell a tense investigative thriller. Jamie Foxx stars as a military operative who takes a team (Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, and Jason Bateman) to investigate a bombing at a US facility in Saudi Arabia. While there are some complex politics that the movie deals with to varying degrees of success, it is a high-intensity crime story that features a number of pulse-pounding sequences.
The Platform (2019)
The inventive and thought-provoking Spanish sci-fi thriller The Platform is a perfect movie for genre fans who enjoy social commentary in their entertainment. The movie is set in a facility where citizens are split into different levels of a platform and are fed based on their respective platforms. The top platform is given all the food they can eat before the food is gradually moved down to the lower levels with each level getting whatever is leftover from the people above. It is a fascinating concept that sets up a story reminiscent of Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer.
No Escape (2015)
Owen Wilson may not be an actor fans often think of when it comes to the thriller genre, but he proves himself a fairly effective lead in No Escape. Taking place in an unnamed country, Wilson plays an expat engineer who arrives in the new country with his family only for the government to be overthrown and foreign citizens to become targeted by the rebel soldiers. The movie does a great job of showcasing the terror of being trapped in the middle of a war and the added fear of this man trying to get his family out alive. It is a solid popcorn thriller with a fun turn from Pierce Brosnan as a military operative who helps the family.
The November Man (2014)
The November Man is another thriller featuring Pierce Brosnan, this time leading the action. Brosnan plays a legendary CIA agent brought back in to help extract a key witness from danger, only to find himself facing off with his old protégé in order to complete the mission. The movie is a lot of fun if viewed as a continuation of Brosnan's time as Bond as he plays the renowned agent who may be past his prime but has a relentless determination to see the job done. Reviews were mixed but there are thrills to be found.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Though the critics were not kind to Law Abiding Citizen, there are a lot of people who find it to be a riveting thriller for most of its runtime. Jamie Foxx stars as a lawyer who makes a plea deal with a killer only for the man (Gerard Butler) whose loved ones were killed to target him in an elaborate plan to tear down the corrupt justice system. The movie is a fascinating ride as the audience initially sympathizes and even understands Butler only to be horrified by how far he takes it. The ending might not live up to the promise of the movie, but the first two-thirds are more than worth watching.
Small Crimes (2017)
There are a number of great original thrillers on Netflix that sadly go unnoticed including Small Crimes. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau stars as a man recently released from prison who seeks to set his life right only to be dragged back into his old world. This is a story that has been told countless times, but Small Crimes flips it on its head by making Coster-Waldau's character the cause of all the problems, becoming a deadly curse to everyone he comes in contact with. It is a darkly comedic anti-redemption story more people should seek out.
The Negotiator (1998)
The Negotiator is a perfect 90s mid-budget thriller with a great cast and a riveting premise. Samuel L. Jackson plays a police negotiator who finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of a fellow cop. Knowing he is being set up by someone else in the police force, Jackson's character takes hostages as he seeks to uncover the truth. Jackson's lead performance really elevates a story that offers some great twists and clever storytelling without ever getting too outlandish.
Unleashed (2005)
Jet Li's best movies usually consist of his martial arts movies in his native China while his American movies have been somewhat less worthy of his talents. However, Unleashed remains his best American movie as well as his most underrated. Li plays Danny, a man who is treated like an animal and raised by a vicious gangster to use as a weapon. When he finds himself lost from his cruel master, he meets a blind man (Morgan Freeman) whose kindness helps Danny start a new life. The movie showcases Li's incredible fighting skills while also giving him a real acting role which he excels at.
Hold The Dark (2018)
Following Blue Ruin and Green Room, thriller filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier's Hold the Dark failed to get the same kind of reaction among audiences and critics. However, it is yet another example of the young filmmaker's incredible skills at creating intense and dark stories the pull audiences in and don't let them go. Set in the Alaskan wilderness, Jeffrey Wright stars as a hunter tasked with tracking a wolf thought to be responsible for the deaths of local children. It is a slow-burn thriller with beautiful landscape images that explodes with brutality.
7 Prisoners (2021)
There are a lot of Netflix thrillers from other countries that fans should be seeking out. 7 Prisoners is a Brazilian movie about a young man who goes in search of employment to provide for his family only for he and others to get drawn into a world of modern slavery. He must then make a decision to work for his captor or risk his family's future. The premise is dealt with in an eerily grounded way, highlighting a real nightmare few people are aware of and telling a compelling story of injustice.
Kate (2021)
Mary Elizabeth Winstead shows off her amazing action-hero skills in the thriller Kate. She plays a skilled assassin working her last job only to discover she has been poisoned and will be dead within a day. She uses her remaining time to go on a rampage of revenge and find those who wronged her. The movie is a little too similar to some other action-thrillers that Netflix puts out, but the action sequences are wonderfully done and Winstead's performance makes it a fun ride that is worthwhile.
Oxygen (2021)
The French thriller Oxygen is the kind of movie that will have audiences inadvertently holding their breath. The sci-fi tale stars Mélanie Laurent as a woman who wakes up in a malfunctioning medical cryogenic unit unable to get out and with the oxygen levels rapidly dropping. Laurent has the difficult task of putting on a solo show in a very confined setting but her performance and the work of horror director Alexandre Aja makes it anything but dull. One scenario after another makes the most of the tension and claustrophobic chills.
The Guilty (2021)
Serving as a remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name and with a screenplay by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto, The Guilty follows demoted police officer Joe Baylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) working the night shift at a 911 call center. When Joe receives a call from a woman claiming to have been abducted, the narrative pacing accelerates as he focuses on handling the emergency situation. The core strength of this thriller is rooted in Jake Gyllenhaal's superb performance restricted within the confinements of the call center, and the developing intensity in the room is further embellished by commendable voice performances from Riley Keough and Ethan Hawke, among others.
Blackhat (2015)
Though there are many brilliant Michael Mann movies out there that audiences watch endlessly, there are some that failed to find the audience they deserve. Blackhat is a techno-thriller from the acclaimed auteur that stars Chris Hemsworth as a hacker who is given a chance to avoid prison by helping track down a high-level cybercrime organization. The movie hardly made a dent at the box office and critical response was mixed. However, Mann's taut direction and the gripping story make it a solid entry that deserves further evaluation.
Missing (2023)
The sequel to the surprisingly effective Searching, Missing tells a new story but uses the same format of a mystery thriller told entirely through screens. Missing stars Storm Reid as a young girl who investigates the disappearance of her mother who went missing on a vacation in Colombia. Just as Searching surprised people with how well it used its screen format gimmick, Missing surprisingly shows that it hasn't outworn that style in telling another exciting story in that way and with a genuinely good mystery. Reviews were strong and it became a hit on streaming after it left the box office.
Miami Vice (2006)
Decades after Michael Mann helped the Miami Vice franchise on television, he returned to bring the story to the big screen. Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell star as two Miami detectives who team with the FBI to take down a powerful drug lord. Unlike 21 Jump Street or Starsky and Hutch, Miami Vice doesn't lean into the cheesiness of the 80s cop show and instead reinvents it as a gritty modern cop thriller. It is another one of Mann's movies that seems misunderstood in its time but has gained more appreciation in recent years.
Creep (2014)
The found-footage format can make for an effective thriller and Creep is one of the most unique movies of this kind. The movie follows a videographer who responds to an ad about recording the final messages from a man who is dying. Venturing out to the man's isolated home, he soon finds the subject of his video to be an eccentric individual whose behavior gets more worrying as the day goes on. There is a strange sense of humor to the movie while also filling it with an overwhelming sense of dread for where things are heading.
Dragged Across Concrete (2018)
Following his movies Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99, write-director S. Craig Zahler delivers another brutal and gritty thriller with the crime movie Dragged Across Concrete. Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn star as a pair of cops who use brutal methods to get results. When they find themselves suspended and in need of money, they make plans to rip off a group of thieves. Dragged Across Concrete is a controversial movie and won't sit well with anyone. But those who enjoy the exploitation genre where there are few likable characters and plenty of ugliness, it is an effective throwback.
Emily The Criminal (2022)
Emily the Criminal is one of the most underrated movies of the last few years. Aubrey Plaza gives one of her best performances as an ex-convict who is unable to find a stable source of income due to her criminal record. After coming across a scam involving fake credit cards, she decides to go deeper into this underground criminal world. It is a fascinating grounded crime thriller that pulls tension out of small-scale scenarios. Plaza's protagonist is also a wonderful complex lead as the audience is jostled between feeling for her struggle and seeing her embrace the criminal life.
I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore (2017)
Thriller fanatics looking for a more comedic approach to the film genre will likely enjoy the quirks of I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore. Depressed and middle-aged Ruth Kimke (Melanie Lynskey) arrives home to a burglarized house and decides to take matters into her own hands by tracking down the stolen belongings, assisted by eccentric neighbor Tony (Elijah Wood). While the momentum earlier in the film lends itself more to precise character development, unraveling events lead the central characters into increasingly dangerous predicaments in a deeply satisfying yet offbeat story.