entertainment
From ‘The Wonder’ to ‘Don’t Worry Darling’
By Nakeisha Campbell
•
Published Sep 28, 2023
Additional reporting by
Marissa Wu
Watching horror movies that give us actual nightmares is one thing (we’re looking at you, The Conjuring). But that’s not the only genre that has us on the edge of our seats and dreaming of sinister clowns for weeks on end. Psychological thrillers can be just as terrifying and suspenseful because they delve into the complexities of our own minds, making them a whole different level of scary. And, OK, a lot of them are entertaining.
From mind-bending films like The Vanished to international thrillers like The Call, we found 40 of the best psychological thrillers on Netflix right now. So, pop the popcorn and be prepared to hide under a blanket. You won’t be sleeping for a while.
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1. Clinical (2017)
- Director: Alistair Legrand
- Cast:Vinessa Shaw, Kevin Rahm, William Atherton
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 44 minutes
You may want to watch this one with the lights on. In Clinical, Dr. Jane Mathis (Vinessa Shaw) is a psychiatrist who suffers from PTSD and sleep paralysis, all because of a patient’s terrifying attack. Against her doctor’s advice, she continues her practice and treats a new patient whose face is horribly disfigured from a car accident. When she takes on this new patient, strange things begin to occur in her home.
2. Tau (2018)
- Director: Federico D’Alessandro
- Cast:Maika Monroe, Ed Skrein, Gary Oldman
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes
A young woman named Julia (Maika Monroe) falls asleep at home and wakes up to find herself in a jail cell with a glowing implant in her neck. While trying to escape her high-tech prison, she discovers that she’s being used as a test subject for an even bigger project. Will she ever hack her way out?
3. Fractured (2019)
- Director: Brad Anderson
- Cast: Sam Worthington, Lily Rabe, Stephen Tobolowsky
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes
After his wife, Joanne (Lily Rabe), encounters a stray dog and suffers injuries, Ray (Sam Worthington) and their daughter decide to take her to the hospital. As Joanne goes to see a doctor, Ray falls asleep in the waiting area. When he wakes up, he finds that both his wife and his daughter are missing, and the hospital seems to have no record of them. Prepare for your mind to be blown.
4. Steel Rain (2019)
- Director: Yang Woo-seok
- Cast: Jung Woo-sung, Kwak Do-won, Kim Gap-soo
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 2 hours 19 minutes
An attempted coup triggers a war between North and South Korea. As chaos ensues, the North Korean supreme leader must be kept alive, lest the countries descend into nuclear war.
5. Calibre (2018)
- Director: Matt Palmer
- Cast: Jack Lowden, Martin McCann, Tony Curran
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 41 minutes
Childhood friends Vaughn (Jack Lowden) and Marcus (Martin McCann) go on a weekend hunting trip in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands. What starts off as a pretty normal trip turns into a series of nightmarish scenarios that neither of them prepared for.
6. The Platform (2019)
- Director: Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
- Cast: Iván Massagué, Antonia San Juan, Zorion Eguileor
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 34 minutes
If you’re into dystopian thrillers, then you’re in for a treat. In this compelling film, prisoners are kept in a Vertical Self-Management Center, also known as “The Pit.” And in the tower-style building, a wealth of food typically descends by floor where the lower-level inmates are left to starve while those on top eat to their heart’s content.
7. The Call (2020)
- Director: Lee Chung-hyeon
- Cast: Park Shin-hye, Jun Jong-seo, Kim Sung-ryoung
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 52 minutes
In this fascinating South Korean thriller, we follow Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye), who lives in the present, and Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), who lives in the past. Both women get to connect through a single phone call, which winds up twisting their fates.
8. The Girl on the Train (2021)
- Director: Ribhu Dasgupta
- Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Kirti Kulhari
- Rating: R
- Run time: 2 hours
This Bollywood remake of the terrifying 2016 film (originally based on Paula Hawkins’s book of the same name) actually jumped to the third spot on Netflix’s top ten list earlier this month. Parineeti Chopra stars as Mira Kapoor, who looks forward to observing a seemingly perfect couple during her daily commute. But one day, when she witnesses a disturbing event, causing her to get entangled in a murder case.
9. Bird Box (2018)
- Director: Susanne Bier
- Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich
- Rating: R
- Run time: 2 hours 4 minutes
Based on Josh Malerman’s best-selling novel of the same name, this movie takes place in a community where people are driven to commit suicide if they make eye contact with the manifestation of their worst fears. Determined to find a place that offers sanctuary, Malorie Hayes (Sandra Bullock) takes her two children and embarks on a terrifying journey—while totally blindfolded.
10. Fatal Affair (2020)
- Director: Peter Sullivan
- Cast: Nia Long, Omar Epps, Stephen Bishop
- Rating: TV-14
- Run time: 1 hour 29 minutes
Ellie Warren, a successful lawyer, agrees to have a few drinks with David Hammond (Omar Epps), an old college friend. Although Ellie is married, sparks seem to fly, but before things go too far, Ellie takes off and returns to her husband. Unfortunately, this prompts David to obsessively call and stalk her, and it escalates to a point where Ellie begins to fear for her safety.
11. The Occupant (2020)
- Directors: David Pastor, Àlex Pastor
- Cast: Javier Gutiérrez, Mario Casas, Bruna Cusí
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 43 minutes
Due to unemployment, former advertising executive Javier Muñoz (Javier Gutiérrez) is forced to sell his apartment to a new family. But he can’t seem to move on, because he begins to stalk the family—and his motives are far from pure.
12. The Weekend Away (2014)
- Director: Kim Farrant
- Cast: Leighton Meester, Christina Wolfe, Ziad Bakri
- Rating: TV-14
- Run time: 1 hour 31 minutes
Beth heads to Croatia with her best friend, Kate, for a needed getaway. But when Beth mysteriously vanishes after a night of clubbing, it’s up to Beth to investigate what really happened. As she gets closer to the truth, however, she uncovers a disturbing secret.
13. The Son (2019)
- Director: Sebastián Schindel
- Cast: Joaquín Furriel, Martina Gusmán, Luciano Cáceres
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 32 minutes
This critically acclaimed Argentinian film follows Lorenzo Roy (Joaquín Furriel), an artist and father whose pregnant wife, Julieta (Martina Gusman), exhibits disturbingly erratic behavior during her pregnancy. Once the child is born, her behavior gets even worse, putting a huge strain on the entire family. We won’t give away any more details, but the twist ending will definitely leave you speechless.
14. Lavender (2016)
- Director: Ed Gass-Donnelly
- Cast: Abbie Cornish, Diego Klattenhoff, Justin Long
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 32 minutes
Over 25 years after her entire family gets murdered, Jane (Abbie Cornish), who has amnesia due to a head injury, revisits her childhood home and discovers a dark secret about her past.
15. Dangerous Lies (2020)
- Director: Michael J.F. Scott
- Cast: Camila Mendes, Jessie T. Usher, Jamie Chung
- Rating: TV-14
- Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes
Riverdale star Camila Mendes is Katie Franklin, a caregiver whose life is turned upside down after she inherits the estate of her wealthy, elderly client. She comes to realize that she’s been drawn into a dangerous web of dark secrets—one that starts to make her question the people closest to her.
16. Intrusion (2021)
- Director: Adam Salky
- Cast: Freida Pinto, Logan Marshall-Green, Robert John Burke
- Rating: TV-14
- Run time: 1 hour 34 minutes
Therapist Meera Parsons and her husband, Henry, move from Boston to an isolated home in New Mexico in hopes of leading a more peaceful life. But when they become victims of a deadly home invasion, Meera is traumatized and desperate for answers. As she struggles to recover from the incident, however, she starts to think that she can’t trust the people around her.
17. The Woman In the Window (2015)
- Director: Joe Wright
- Cast: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Julianne Moore
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 41 minutes
In this remixed version of The Girl on the Train, an agoraphobic child psychologist named Dr. Anna Fox starts to spy on her new neighbors, the Russell family. But when she witnesses a brutal crime in their apartment, she suspects that her mind is playing tricks on her—thanks to her drinking addiction and her medications.
18. Before I Wake (2016)
- Director: Mike Flanagan
- Cast: Kate Bosworth, Thomas Jane, Jacob Tremblay
- Rating: PG-13
- Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes
After losing their son, Mark and Jessie decide to adopt an 8-year-old foster child named Cody. But when their dead son appears to them in their living room, they learn that their newly adopted son can make his nightmares become reality. Can they get to the bottom of his mysterious ability before his nightmares destroy them all?
19. The Paramedic (2020)
- Director: Carles Torras
- Cast: Mario Casas, Déborah François, Guillermo Pfening
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 34 minutes
An accident leaves paramedic Ángel Hernández (Mario Casas) paralyzed from the waist down, and, unfortunately, things only go downhill from there. Ángel’s paranoia leads him to suspect that his partner, Vanesa (Déborah François) is cheating on him. But when his disturbing behavior pushes her to leave him for good, his obsession with her actually increases tenfold.
20. The Warning (2018)
- Director: Daniel Calparsoro
- Cast: Raúl Arévalo, Aura Garrido, Hugo Arbués
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 32 minutes
Ten years after he witnesses his friend get killed at a gas station, a mathematician named Jon comes to realize that there’s a numerical pattern behind all the deaths that occurred there. But is it enough to save the next target?
21. Rebirth (2016)
- Director: Karl Mueller
- Cast: Fran Kranz, Adam Goldberg, Nicky Whelan
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 40 minutes
In this thriller, we follow Kyle, a suburban dad who’s convinced to go on a weekend-long Rebirth retreat that requires him to give up his phone. Then, he gets pulled down a bizarre rabbit hole that’s virtually inescapable.
22. Red Dot (2021)
- Director: Alain Darborg
- Cast: Nanna Blondell, Anastasios Soulis, Thomas Hanzon
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 26 minutes
After Nadja and her husband, David, learn that they’re expecting a child, they attempt to rekindle their relationship by going to Sweden for a romantic hiking trip. But their trip takes a dark turn when a mysterious killer begins to stalk them.
23. The Perfection (2018)
- Director: Richard Shepard
- Cast: Allison Williams, Logan Browning, Steven Weber
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 30 minutes
In this twisty horror-thriller, a once-promising music prodigy reconnects with her former mentors, only to find them taken with a talented new pupil.
24. Secret Obsession (2019)
- Director: Peter Sullivan
- Cast:Brenda Song, Mike Vogel, Dennis Haysbert
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 37 minutes
After Jennifer Williams (Brenda Song) gets struck by a car, she wakes up in a hospital with amnesia. Shortly after, a man appears and introduces himself as her husband, Russell Williams (Mike Vogel), proceeding to fill her in on all the details she’s forgotten. But after Jennifer is discharged and Russell takes her home, she suspects that Russell isn’t who he says he is.
25. Spiderhead (2022)
- Director: Joseph Kosinski
- Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller, Jurnee Smollett
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 47 minutes
Set in a futuristic world, where convicted felons can choose to shorten their sentence by participating in a medical experiment, one prisoner decides to test out a drug that can generate feelings of love. As a result, he starts to question if any of his emotions are real.
26. Gerald’s Game (2017)
- Director: Mike Flanagan
- Cast: Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Henry Thomas
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 43 minutes
A kinky sex game between a married couple goes horribly wrong when Gerald (Bruce Greenwood), Jessie’s (Carla Gugino) husband, suddenly dies of a heart attack. As a result, Jessie is left handcuffed to the bed—without a key—in an isolated house. Worse yet, her past begins to haunt her and she starts to hear strange voices.
27. Hypnotic (2021)
- Directors: Suzanne Coote, Matt Angel
- Cast: Kate Siegel, Jason O'Mara, Dulé Hill
- Rating: TV-14
- Run time: 1 hour 29 minutes
Jenn is not only unhappy and unfulfilled at her job, but her love life is also a mess. In a desperate attempt to improve her life, she enlists the help of a hypnotist named Dr. Collin Meade. And at first, it works. But she soon realizes that she’s trapped in a deadly mind game.
28. Circle (2015)
- Directors: Aaron Hann, Mario Miscione
- Cast: Julie Benz, Mercy Malick, Carter Jenkins
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 26 minutes
The film’s plot is kind of like a competitive game, except there’s a deadly and sinister twist. When 50 strangers awake to find themselves trapped in a darkened room, with no memory of how they got there…and they’re forced to choose the one person among them who should survive.
29. The Devil All the Time (2020)
- Director: Antonio Campos
- Cast: Tom Holland, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough
- Rating: R
- Run time: 2 hours 18 minutes
The star-studded film revolves around a group of bizarre characters—from a spider-eating preacher to a murderous couple, whose paths intersect at the end of World War II. If you’re into slow-burn thrillers that tackle deep themes, add this to your list.
30. Fever Dream (2021)
- Director: Claudia Llosa
- Cast: María Valverde, Dolores Fonzi, Germán Palacios
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 33 minutes
The haunting film centers on Amanda, a suffering patient at a clinic who can’t seem to remember how she got there. But with her is a teenager named David, who is desperately trying to get her to remember. Prepare to be thoroughly creeped out to the point of questioning everything.
31. The Ritual (2017)
- Director: David Bruckner
- Cast: Arsher Ali, Rob James-Collier, Rafe Spall
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 1 hour 34 minutes
Four college friends embark on a hike through the Swedish wilderness after the death of their good friend. But one wrong turn leads them into a mysterious and deadly forest, where ancient evil spirits live.
32. Sightless (2020)
- Director: Cooper Karl
- Cast: Madelaine Petsch, Alexander Koch, December Ensminger
- Rating: TV14
- Run time: 1 hour 29 minutes
Ellen Ashland, a former violinist, is left blind after surviving a violentassault. As she starts to recover, she's helped by a kind caregiver namedClayton. But over time, she begins to suspect that thepeople around her aren't really who theyclaim to be.
33. The Drug King (2018)
- Director: Woo Min-ho
- Cast: Song Kang-ho, Cho Jung-seok, Bae Doona
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 2 hours 18 minutes
The Drug King charts the rise of petty narcotics dealer Lee Doo-sam as he becomes an infamous drug lord in 1970s Korea. Diamonds, socialites and a prosecutor hot on his tail—what could go wrong?
34. Under the Shadow (2016)
- Director: Babak Anvari
- Cast: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi
- Rating: PG-13
- Run time: 1 hour 24 minutes
A former medical student and her daughter stay in war-torn Tehran. As the fighting grows worse, mother and child must also figure out how to protect themselves from the invisible presence of the Djin, whose apparitions haunt them.
35. Mirage (2018)
- Director: Oriol Paulo
- Cast: Adriana Ugarte, Chino Darín, Javier Gutiérrez, Álvaro Morte, Nora Navas, Miquel Fernández
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run time: 2 hours 9 minutes
An old camcorder serves as a glitch in the space-time continuum, pulling Vera Roy from her life and family in 2014 to 1989 during the fall of the Berlin Wall. One action changes her future, and now she must fight to get it back.
36. The Wonder (2022)
- Director: Sebastián Lelio
- Cast: Florence Pugh, Tom Burke, Kíla Lord Cassidy
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 49 minutes
The Wonder is a psychological thriller on Netflix that is based on historical events of the Victorian-era “fasting girl.” Florence Pugh plays a nurse, Lib Wright, hired by a village to observe Anna O’Donnell, whose family claims she has not eaten in four months. As time weathers on, Lib uncovers sinister family secrets that put Anna’s life at risk.
37. Don’t Worry Darling (2022)
- Director: Olivia Wilde
- Cast: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, Chris Pine
- Rating: R
- Run time: 2 hours 2 minutes
In an idyllic ’50s company town, everything is picture perfect. That is, until one of the housewives, Alice Chambers (played by Pugh), starts asking too many questions. Soon, she must decide how much she is willing to pay for the truth.
38. The Earthquake Bird (2019)
- Director: Wash Westmoreland
- Cast: Alicia Vikander, Riley Keough, Naoki Kobayashi
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 our 46 minutes
The psychological thriller features Daisy Jones and the Six star Riley Keough. It takes place in 1989 in Tokyo, Japan, and follows a Swedish immigrant who’s arrested for the murder of her friend. Flashbacks explore their friendship before a love triangle destroys it all.
39. Missing (2023)
- Director: Will Merrick, Nicholas D. Johnson
- Cast: Storm Reid, Nia Long, Megan Suri
- Rating: PG-13
- Run time: 1 hour 50 minutes
When 18-year-old June’s mother goes missing while on a trip to Columbia, the teenager must use digital evidence to uncover a web of dangerous deceptions and bring her mom back home.
40. Unfriended (2014)
- Director: Levan Gabriadze
- Cast: Shelley Hennig, Moses Bohrer, Mickey River
- Rating: R
- Run time: 1 hour 22 minutes
A group of friends find their video chat haunted by a former classmate who committed suicide following the upload of an embarrassing viral video. As the night progresses, secrets are revealed and lives gruesomely taken. Will anyone survive?
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Nakeisha Campbell
Associate Editor, News and Entertainment
Nakeisha has been interviewing celebrities and covering all things entertainment for over 8 years, but she has also written on a widerange of topics,like career...
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Marissa Wu
Associate SEO Editor
I’ve covered the lifestyle space for the last three years after majoring in journalism (and minoring in French) at Boston University. Talk to me about all things sustainable &...
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