Suspense is not really a genre, at least not on its own terms. And yet, when you’re watching a suspenseful movie, you recognize the sensation almost instantly. Netflix, for its part, has a pretty outstanding lineup of suspenseful movies that are all available to you at the click of a button.
While not all of these movies were heavy-hitters with awards bodies, many of them should have been. They’re incredibly well made, in addition to being smart and sometimes pulpy genre fare.
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For my money, a great suspense movie is the best kind of movie there is. It takes the act of sitting down a watching a movie and makes it feel like a theme park attraction, and sometimes, that’s exactly what you want:
Rebel Ridge (2024)
132m
Genre
Crime, Action, Thriller, Drama
Stars
Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb
Directed by
Jeremy Saulnier
Watch on Netflix
A smart, tense, action thriller, Rebel Ridge follows a former marine who finds himself at cross purposes with a local police department in the Deep South. As he uncovers corruption inside the department, he comes toe-to-toe with the sheriff, who is driving the corruption of his cops. In addition to several hugely thrilling action sequences, Rebel Ridge is tense throughout and anchored by a brilliant central performance from Aaron Pierre. It’s also surprisingly political, but not in the ways you might expect.
Fair Play (2023)
113m
Genre
Drama, Thriller, Romance
Stars
Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan
Directed by
Chloe Domont
Watch on Netflix
An erotic thriller that feels ripped right out of the ’90s, Fair Play follows two financial brokers who are seeing one another unbeknownst to their bosses. When one of them gets a promotion, it slowly unravels their entire relationship as the power shifts from one half of the relationship to the other. Anchored by two excellent central performances from Alden Ehrenreich and Phoebe Dynevor, Fair Play is just fun and silly enough to pull off the tension at its core, and just serious enough to know how to take its character’s emotions seriously.
Trap (2024)
105m
Genre
Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Stars
Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Night Shyamalan
Directed by
M. Night Shyamalan
Watch on Netflix
M. Night Shyamalan is a master of suspense, and Trap is one of his more impressive feats. The movie follows a serial killer who is also a dad as he discovers that the concert he took his daughter to is actually a trap designed to catch him. It’s an admittedly pulpy premise, but one that Shyamalan wrings every ounce of drama out of. As he works to escape the clutches of the FBI, Josh Hartnett’s killer proves to be genuinely crafty, and Hartnett delivers one of the best performances of his career.
Carry-On (2024)
120m
Genre
Thriller, Action
Stars
Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson
Directed by
Jaume Collet-Serra
Watch on Netflix
Die Hard 2 is set in an airport, but Carry-On is the Die Hard airport sequel we deserve. The film follows a TSA agent who finds himself being pressured into letting a dangerous item through baggage check. After his girlfriend is threatened, he lets the package go through, only to take action once the bag is on its way toward a flight. Thrilling from beginning to end, director Jaum Collett-Sera put together one of the most tense, functional action movies of the 21st century. Add in Jason Bateman in thriller mode and you’ve got a genuinely great movie.
The Killer (2023)
118m
Genre
Crime, Thriller
Stars
Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell
Directed by
David Fincher
Watch on Netflix
David Fincher had made some of the most suspenseful movies of all time, including Zodiac and Se7en, and The Killer is a return to that kind of story. The film, which is an adaptation of a graphic novel of the same name, follows a contract killer who makes a mistake at the very beginning of the movie. After he fails to assassinate his target, he makes a series of increasingly messy mistakes, all of which seem to suggest that he might not be quite as good at this he seems. A movie that is both silly and tense, The Killer captures everything that Fincher does well.
Woman of the Hour (2024)
94m
Genre
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Stars
Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale
Directed by
Anna Kendrick
Watch on Netflix
Ann Kendrick’s directorial debut is the remarkably tense Woman of the Hour, which tells the story of a woman who found herself on a dating game show in the 1970s in which one of the male contestants was a serial killer. The film, which alternates between a real-time depiction of the taping of the show and a chronicling of this criminal’s many victims, is tense and gripping, in part because we understand who this man is far better than Kendrick’s main character does. In a genre that often sidelines female victims, Woman of the Hour is also the rare movie to shine a spotlight on them.
Parasite (2019)
133m
Genre
Comedy, Thriller, Drama
Stars
Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong
Directed by
Bong Joon Ho
Watch on Netflix
Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece, Parasite follows two intertwined Korean families, one wealthy and one constantly scheming to earn a buck. As the poorer family slowly ingratiates themselves into the lives of their wealthier counterparts, they come to realize that they’re not the only people trying to take advantage of the family’s wealth. At its core, Parasite is a movie about how impossible it is to live a rich and fulfilling life under capitalism. Bong’s politics have never been particularly subtle, but in Parasite, he communicates them beautifully.
Psycho (1960)
109m
Genre
Horror, Thriller, Mystery
Stars
Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles
Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock
Watch on Netflix
Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense, and Psycho is one of his most acclaimed movies. The film tells the story of a young woman who steals a large sum of cash from her boss, goes on the run, and finds herself at a secluded motel. When she meets the motel’s proprietor, though, the entire movie transforms in a way that’s best experienced unspoiled if you can somehow manage it. Psycho is terrifying, thrilling, and surprising, and it fundamentally changed what was possible in movies for decades to come. It’s more than 60 years old, and it’s still more terrifying than many modern horror movies.
