10 highest-rated thrillers to watch now on Netflix

Netflix has some of the most unmiscible thrillers available on any streaming platform.

The following list of darkly gripping movies include undercover police operations, addictive assassin dramas, and perilous hijacking odysseys based on true stories.

Ranked from worst to best, these ten thriller films get increasingly better as the list goes on – or at least, according to the critical consensus from Rotten Tomatoes. The best one even has a Certified Fresh Score of a perfect 100%, despite being a film not many people have heard of.

‘Prevenge’

Certified Fresh Score: 92%
Audience Score: 53%
Streaming Date: Apr 13, 2017
Synopsis: “Ruth is seven months pregnant when, believing herself to be guided by her unborn baby, she embarks on a homicidal rampage, dispatching anyone who stands in her way.”

‘The Stranger’

Certified Fresh Score: 92%
Audience Score: 74%
Streaming Date: Oct 19, 2022
Synopsis: “A small circle of seasoned undercover cops must pose as a vast and influential criminal network to catch a murderer who has evaded conviction for eight years.”

‘Captain Phillips’

Certified Fresh Score: 93%
Audience Score: 89%
Streaming Date: Jan 21, 2014
Synopsis: “Captain Phillips is a multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the U.S. container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates.”

‘Emily the Criminal’

Certified Fresh Score: 93%
Audience Score: 79%
Streaming Date: Oct 28, 2022
Synopsis: “Emily (Aubrey Plaza) is saddled with student debt and locked out of the job market due to a minor criminal record. Desperate for income, she takes a shady gig as a “dummy shopper,” buying goods with stolen credit cards supplied by a handsome and charismatic middleman named Youcef (Theo Rossi).”

‘Hit Man’

Certified Fresh Score: 95%
Audience Score: 89%
Streaming Date: Jun 7, 2024
Synopsis: “Oscar-nominated director Richard Linklater’s sunlit neo-noir stars Glen Powell as strait-laced professor Gary Johnson, who moonlights as a fake hit man for the New Orleans Police Department.”

‘The Hurt Locker’

Certified Fresh Score: 96%
Audience Score: 84%
Streaming Date: Sep 24, 2014
Synopsis: “The Hurt Locker is an intense portrayal of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat.”

‘Pig’

Certified Fresh Score: 97%
Audience Score: 83%
Streaming Date: Aug 3, 2021
Synopsis: “Pig tells the story of a truffle hunter (Nicolas Cage) who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness. When his beloved foraging pig is kidnapped, he must journey into Portland — and his long-abandoned past — to recover her.”

‘Host’

Certified Fresh Score: 98%
Audience Score: 71%
Streaming Date: Jul 30, 2020
Synopsis: “Host is the story of six friends who hire a medium to hold a séance over Zoom during lockdown, but they get far more than they bargain for as things quickly go wrong. When an evil spirit starts invading their homes, they begin to realize they might not survive the night.”

‘Under the Shadow’

Certified Fresh Score: 99%
Audience Score: 71%
Streaming Date: Jan 17, 2017
Synopsis: “After Shideh’s building is hit by a missile during the Iran-Iraq War, a superstitious neighbor suggests that the missile was cursed and might be carrying malevolent Middle-Eastern spirits.”

‘His House’

Certified Fresh Score: 100%
Audience Score: 72%
Streaming Date: Oct 30, 2020
Synopsis: “After making a harrowing escape from war-torn South Sudan, a young refugee couple struggle to adjust to their new life in a small English town that has an unspeakable evil lurking beneath the surface.”