15 Best Thriller Movies on Netflix

You are looking to watch a good thriller on Netflix right now? We’re here to help. Check our selection below, surely you’ll find a perfect pick. We will update this post frequently as movies are added or removed from the service so whenever you into watching some good thriller, visit this page.

RELATED: Best Thriller Movies on HBO Go

Here is our pick for the best thriller movies on Netflix right now:

1. Fatal Attraction (1987)

Genre: Drama, Thriller
Director: Adrian Lyne
Starring: Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, Anne Archer

A successful lawyer Dan Gallagher made a huge mistake and had an affair with a woman from work, while his wife was out of town. He believes that it’s clear this was a one-night stand and nothing more. But the woman becomes obsessed with him and will stop at nothing to have him for herself.

The film was made with a budget of $14 million and earned over $320 million.

2. The Bodyguard (1992)

Genre: Thriller, Drama, Music
Director: Mick Jackson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Gary Kemp

When a music star receives threatening notes from a stalker, her manager decides to hire the best bodyguard there is. He is a former Secret Service agent who is used to tight security, which is more than the star and her entourage feel is necessary. It will turn out that he was right after the stalker strikes close to home.

The movie grossed $411 million worldwide.

3. The Firm (1993)

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Director: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman

A young Harvard graduate Mitch McDeere joins a prestigious law firm that offers him money and perks that he simply can’t refuse. Everything seems perfect until two Associates are murdered. Mitch begins to realize that the Firm has its dark side. When the FBI steps in he was offered the choice to either work with them or stay with the firm and go down with it. Either way seems to be bad for Mitch, so he figures out his own way to solve this insane situation.

4. Donnie Brasco (1997)

Genre: Thriller, Biography, Crime, Drama
Director: Mike Newell
Starring: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen

Donnie Brasco is based on a true story and centers around an FBI agent (Depp) who infiltrated the mob in New York. In the 1970s, agent Joe Pistone infiltrated the Bonanno crime family under the alias Donnie Brasco. He gained the confidence of an aging gangster Lefty (Pacino) who vouched for him. The assignment is turning out be more than one can handle. Agent Pistone’s wife wants a divorce, the mob suspects a mole in the organization and he is starting to care for Lefty, who might get killed because of him.

5. Wild Things (1998)

Genre: Thriller, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director: John McNaughton
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, Matt Dillon

A high school counselor Sam Lombardo is accused of rape by a rich and popular student Kelly Van Ryan and poor outcast Suzie Toller. At trial, both girls admit they were lying about the rape to get revenge. Lombardo and his lawyer negotiate an $8.5 million settlement, but the cop suspects that there is more to the story. It will turn out that nothing is what it seems and all three, Sam, Kelly, and Suzi are in it together.

6. The Ninth Gate (1999)

Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin

Dean Corso is a rare book dealer who is hired by millionaire and book collector Balkan to verify the authenticity of his book. There are supposed to be only three copies of this book and Balkan believes that two are forgeries and only one is the original. It is believed that the book has special powers. While searching for other copies, Dean will face many mysteries, one of them being a woman who seems to follow his every step.

7. The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep

Two veterans from the Gulf War are brainwashed and programmed by the Manchurian Global corporation and they can be activated at any time to do whatever is necessary. While one of them starts to uncover the conspiracy, the other one is about to become the vice president.

8. The Bank Job (2008)

Genre: Crime, Thriller
Director: Roger Donaldson
Starring: Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore

Based on a true story, this heist thriller recounts a bank robbery that happened in 1971 in London. There is a box in a bank in which MI5 has taken an interest. The box contains compromising photos of Princess Margaret. An ex-model Martine Love is caught smuggling drugs and if she wants to avoid jail, she will help the MI5 to retrieve the box from the bank. Martine presents the scheme to a car dealer Terry Leather and since business is going slow for him, he decides to accept it. The team assembles and starts digging a tunnel to the bank, but none besides Martine knows that MI5 is pulling the strings.

9. The Next Three Days (2010)

Genre: Thriller, Action, Crime, Drama
Director: Paul Haggis
Starring: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson

A woman is arrested for murdering her boss and sentenced to prison. For years, her husband has been trying to get her released, but without success. After seeing that she will not be freed, her husband decides to break her out of the jail.

10. The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director: Brad Furman
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe

Defense lawyer Haller works in his car, instead of the office. He usually represents criminals, the fact that his ex-wife (Marisa Tomei) never appreciated. When the son of a wealthy real estate mogul is accused of beating a prostitute, Haller is hired to defend him. It will turn out that this case is connected to one of Haller’s previous cases.

11. Gravity (2013)

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris

Veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski and Dr. Ryan Stone are on a NASA space mission to repair the Hubble Telescope. What was supposed to be a routine spacewalk will turn out to be a disaster. Their shuttle is destroyed by space debris, communication with the Earth is lost and they are stranded in deep space.

12. The Gift (2015)

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Director: Joel Edgerton
Starring: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton

A happily married couple Simon and Robyn have just moved to Los Angeles because Simon got promoted. While shopping, Simon runs into Gordon, a guy he knew from high school 20 years ago. Soon Gordon starts sending gifts to the couple and starts showing up around their house. Things get creepy so they ask him not to come anymore, but Robyn believes that something happened in the schooldays between the two, so she starts to investigate.

13. The Foreigner (2017)

Genre: Action, Thriller
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Katie Leung, Jackie Chan, Rufus Jones

Quan is a Chinese restaurant owner in London who seeks revenge when his daughter is killed in a terrorist act. Since the group behind the attack calls itself the “Authentic IRA”, Quan focuses on Northern Ireland deputy First Minister Liam Hennessy for answers. Hennessy has a past in the IRA but now claims that he doesn’t know anything about the new IRA. Since Quan doesn’t believe him, a cat and mouse conflict between the two begins.

14. Searching (2018)

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Starring: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee

When David Kim’s (John Cho) 16-year-old daughter mysteriously disappears, without a single lead from the police, he decides to take the matter into his own hands. His daughter’s laptop is his best chance to track her down.

This is the first Hollywood thriller headlined by an Asian-American actor.

15. Uncut Gems (2019)

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie
Starring: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Idina Menzel

The film stars Adam Sandler in a role we don’t normally see him in. He plays Howard Ratner, a gambling addict, and once successful hems dealer, who owes the money to pretty much everybody. He believes that the big win will happen once he gets his hands on some rare uncut Ethiopian gems.

10 Best Thriller Movies on Netflix According to IMDb

According to IMDb, these are the 10 best thriller movies on Netflix (from the list above):

  • Donnie Brasco (1997) – 7.7
  • Gravity (2013) – 7.7
  • Searching (2018) – 7.6
  • Uncut Gems (2019) – 7.5
  • The Next Three Days (2010) – 7.4
  • The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) – 7.3
  • The Bank Job (2008) – 7.2
  • The Foreigner (2017) – 7.0
  • The Gift (2015) – 7.0
  • Fatal Attraction (1987) – 6.9

10 Best Thriller Movies on Netflix According to Box Office

  • Gravity (2013) – $723 million
  • The Bodyguard (1992) – $411 million
  • Fatal Attraction (1987) – $320 million
  • The Firm (1993) – $270 million
  • The Foreigner (2017) – $145 million
  • Donnie Brasco (1997) – $124 million
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004) – $96 million
  • The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) – $87 million
  • Searching (2018) – $75 million
  • The Next Three Days (2010) – $67 million