If you are in the mood for a movie that takes you on an intense ride, Netflix has more than a few options worth considering. Some of the streamer’s current, best and most intense film offerings include a 2014 thriller from “Se7en” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” filmmaker David Fincher, a queasy backwoods siege drama featuring a memorably villainous performance from star Patrick Stewart and a wildly underrated low-budget thriller about a social media influencer whose trip to Thailand takes an unexpected turn.
Without any further ado, here are the seven most intense thrillers on Netflix you can stream right now.
“Gone Girl” (2014)
Director David Fincher’s “Gone Girl” is what happens when pure, pulpy entertainment is executed at the highest possible level. Based on a 2012 novel of the same name by Gillian Flynn (who also wrote the film’s screenplay), “Gone Girl” is a twisty, delightfully demented psychological thriller about an unsuspecting everyman (Ben Affleck) who becomes local cops’ favorite suspect after his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) goes mysteriously missing.
Deranged, twisty and pitch-black in both its content and its sense of humor, “Gone Girl” is an effortlessly watchable thriller, one that is elevated greatly by Pike’s unforgettable, star-making lead turn.
“Green Room” (2016)
“Green Room,” the first of two Jeremy Saulnier-directed movies on this list, is one of the gnarliest and most intense movies of the last 10 years. Written and directed by Saulnier, this slow-burn thriller with a distinctly horror bent follows the unsuspecting members of a struggling punk band who find themselves stalked and hunted by neo-Nazi skinheads after they accidentally witness a murder at a remote venue in the Pacific Northwest.
Featuring a chilling, against-type supporting performance from Patrick Stewart as the film’s head neo-Nazi, “Green Room” is a shockingly violent, relentless thriller that grabs you by the throat early on and does not let go or loosen its grip until its darkly funny, exhausted final image.
“Caught Stealing” (2025)
Imperfect but underrated, director Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing” is a punk rock, blackly comic crime thriller that pushes its protagonist and its viewers to their absolute limits. Based on a 2004 novel of the same name by Charlie Huston (who also penned its screenplay), this cockeyed thriller follows a former baseball prodigy-turned-alcoholic bartender (Austin Butler) who ends up caught in a disorienting, dangerous and increasingly violent conspiracy after he agrees to take care of his neighbor’s cat.
“Caught Stealing” is not one of Aronofsky’s best films, but it proves itself to be more intense and nightmarish than any first-time viewer could ever see coming.
“Carry-On” (2024)
“Carry-On” is not nearly as cynical as “Green Room,” but this entertaining action thriller from director Jaume Collet-Serra is similarly relentless in both its pacing and plotting. The film follows a TSA officer (Taron Egerton) who ends up blackmailed by a malevolent individual (Jason Bateman) into allowing a nerve agent onto a Christmas Eve flight that will kill its 250 passengers.
As Egerton’s Ethan fights to save himself, his girlfriend (Sofia Carson) and the passengers in danger, “Carry-On” manages to ride the correct line between silly entertainment and genuinely nerve-wracking suspense. It is one of the most successful blockbusters that Netflix has produced and released in recent years.
“Influencer” (2022)
One of the most underrated thrillers of the last five years, director Kurtis David Harder’s “Influencer” is an expertly paced, wonderfully deceptive horror film with a fitting mean streak. Co-written by Harder and Tesh Guttikonda, the film follows a social media influencer (Emily Tennant) whose solo backpacking trip to Thailand takes multiple unexpected turns after she meets and befriends CW (Cassandra Naud), a fellow tourist whose interest in Madison proves to be far darker than she lets on.
Anchored by Naud’s chameleon-like central performance, “Influencer” proves itself to be far more clever than its opening minutes suggest. It is a low-budget thriller made consciously in the shadow of past cinematic provocateurs like Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma that, thankfully, knows how to keep you constantly on your toes.
“Rebel Ridge” (2024)
“Rebel Ridge,” the second film on this list from “Green Room” filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier, is a thrilling exercise in patience and restraint. Written, directed, produced and edited by Saulnier, the film follows a former Marine (Aaron Pierre) whose funds to pay for his cousin’s bail are unjustly seized via civil forfeiture by a corrupt small-town police force (led by Don Johnson’s Chief Sandy Burnne).
When his attempts to reacquire it are met with even more unlawful force by his law enforcement enemies, Pierre’s Terry Richmond finds himself in a Rambo-esque standoff against corruption. Featuring a star-making, commanding lead turn from Pierre, “Rebel Ridge” is a slow-burn pressure cooker that practically demands your time and attention.
“Gerald’s Game” (2017)
A year before he kicked off his immensely successful run of Netflix horror series, director Mike Flanagan partnered with the streamer on “Gerald’s Game.” An adaptation of the 1992 Stephen King novel of the same name, Flanagan’s film follows a woman (Carla Gugino) who is left handcuffed to a bed without a key in a remote cabin after her husband (Bruce Greenwood) dies in the middle of an intimate moment.
Over the course of much of its agonizing, deranged story, “Gerald’s Game” follows Gugino’s trapped Jessie as she is forced to resort to increasingly desperate means to free herself, all while facing down some long-buried demons from her own past. The film is an uncomfortable, riveting and extremely effective horror-thriller, and it might just be the most underrated movie Flanagan has ever made.
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