Feel as if you’ve already streamed everything Netflix has to offer? Think again: the streaming platform has vowed to keep us supplied with new movies throughout the entirety of 2021.

In the meantime, though, there are plenty of psychological thriller films available to watch via the entertainment giant – many of which we highly doubt you will have stumbled across while feverishly scrolling through the plethora of titles available. 

To help you out, here are just a few of our favourite high-octane thriller movies, then, all of which are guaranteed to chill you, thrill you, and get your heart pounding like mad.

And don’t worry: we will be sure to keep this list updated with new titles as and when they become available, too.

See You Yesterday

Produced by Spike Lee, See You Yesterday tells the story of two teen prodigies, Claudette “CJ” Walker (Eden Duncan Smith) and Sebastian Thomas (Dante Crichlow), who develop the technology to time travel. The duo’s science project, however, soon becomes CJ’s only hope at saving her brother Calvin (Astro) from being shot and killed by a police officer in a case of mistaken identity.

The Invitation

Nobody likes spending time with their ex. Not really. But, while attending a dinner party at his own ex-wife’s house, Will (Logan Marshall-Green) soon realises that she and her new husband have seriously sinister plans for their guests…

The Call 

Boasting that much coveted 100% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, this South Korean film straddles the line between thriller and horror as a woman finds herself connected by phone to a serial killer in her house.

The big twist? They’re both in the same house, but set 20 years apart – and everything our heroine says has the potential to put another woman’s past, and life, on the line. Gulp

Misery

A nurse takes her favourite romance novelist hostage in this beloved adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. And, while Kathy Bates is sweet-as-a-button at first, things soon take a turn for the terrifying when she learns he’s planning on killing off her favourite character…

The Legacy Of The Bones 

A 2019 Spanish supernatural crime-thriller film directed by Fernando González Molina, The Legacy Of The Bones is an adaptation based on the eponymous novel by Dolores Redondo. 

All you really need to know is this: Amaia Salazar (Marta Etura), an exceedingly capable detective, returns to the Baztán’s valley to investigate a string of apparent suicides that are seemingly linked to a murder case which she solved in Northern Spain a year before.

And, yes, it is a sequel to the 2017 thriller film The Invisible Guardian, but it can absolutely be watched as a standalone. We promise.

The Prestige

An oldie but a goodie, Christopher Nolan’s beloved film tells the tale of two  illusionists who become bitter enemies after a sudden tragedy. Cue them fully committing themselves to topping and sabotaging one another, regardless of the consequences.

Se7en

Originally released back in 1995, Se7en sees Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt’s detectives work against the clock to stop a diabolical serial killer in his tracks. A serial killer who has made a point of murdering his victims in homage to the seven deadly sins, no less.

And, whether you already know “what’s in the box” or not, rest assured this film’s stinger of an ending will sit with you long after the credits roll.

Mirage

Prefer your thrills to come with a side of sci-fi fun? This Spanish mystery delivers all of that and more, as a space-time continuum glitch allows Vera (Adriana Ugarte) to save a boy’s life 25 years in the past. Rest assured, though, that her actions have extreme consequences of the so-called ‘Butterfly Effect’ variety, resulting in Vera embarking upon a race against time in order to fix her own timeline.

Panic Room

Quite possibly the ultimate in popcorn entertainment, the plot of Panic Room is exactly what you might expect from the title: Meg (Jodie Foster) and her young daughter, Sarah (a baby-faced Kristen Stewart), are forced to hide in a panic room in their house when intruders break in. 

Unfortunately for them, though, those same intruders want something that is hidden inside the room. And they will stop at nothing, absolutely nothing, to claim it.

The Platform

The Platform focuses on a collection of prisoners in a stacked prison where the only food available to inmates is the leftovers of those people above them. Of course, this doesn’t bode well for prisoners in the lower levels.

Some starve to death. Some brutally attack their fellow inmates in order to get their hands on the food they so desperately need. And some partake in a little (un)healthy cannibalism.

Essentially, it’s a nightmare – one entirely focused on the worst impulses of human nature to abandon people in the service of your own needs. 

Shutter Island

This one wasn’t all that popular with critics, but viewers quickly fell in love with its twisty, turny story (this writer included). Based on Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same name, Shutter Island sees US marshals Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) sent to an asylum on a remote island in order to investigate the disappearance of patient Rachel Solando (Emily Mortimer), who was originally incarcerated for drowning her three children. While he’s there, though, Teddy uncovers a shocking truth about the place – resulting in the sort of WTF ending that’s guaranteed to get everyone arguing over what they just witnessed.

Prisoners

In this stomach-churner of a revenge film, Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) faces a parent’s worst nightmare when his 6-year-old daughter and her friend go missing. Unsatisfied with the police investigation, he decides to go on a search himself and, while his desperation leads him closer to finding the truth, it also throws his own life in jeopardy.

Now You See Me

In this hugely entertaining thriller, four master magicians team up and start staging massively lavish and intricate robberies… only to give the money away afterwards. No one knows how they’re doing it, or why, but trust us; the twist in the story’s tail is more than enough to keep you interested throughout!.

The Royal Bengal Tiger

In this Indian Bengali suspense thriller, formerly timid man Abhi (Abir Chatterjee) turns aggressive and stands up to his enemies after a chance encounter. It’s up to a psychologist, then, to try and get to the bottom of Abhi’s changed behaviour.

Searching

As you’ve no doubt gathered from the trailer, the entirety of the action in Searching unfolds on screens, apps and online – and that’s due to the fact that David Kim (John Cho), desperate to find his missing daughter, unravels string of hidden truths unravels when he checks her laptop.

Unbridled

In this searing political thriller, a devoted politician’s wife struggles to stave off threats that could ruin their promising new life. But, when she learns the truth about her husband, she soon discovers how far she’s willing to go to stay with him…

10 Cloverfield Lane

Forget everything you know about the original Cloverfield film, because this tense thriller is nothing like it! Set just after a terrifying car accident, Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) wakes up to find herself in a bunker with the seemingly unhinged Howard (John Goodman), a stranger who informs her that she is safe with him and that the world outside is inhabitable. Is he telling the truth? What’s really going on outside? And will she ever be able to escape Howard’s clutches?

The Forest Of Love

Based on the murders, torture and extortion committed in Kyushu, Japan by convicted serial killer Futoshi Matsunaga, this brutal and twisted crime thriller is another film that’s managed to score the all-important 1oo% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

The Fury Of A Patient Man

After The Fury Of A Patient Man made its debut in the Horizons section at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, the Spanish thriller was met with critical acclaim. Set in Madrid in August 2007, it tells the story of Curro (Luis Callejo), a man who finds himself imprisoned after taking part in the robbery of a jewelry store. Eight years later, he leaves prison with the intention of beginning a new life, together with his girlfriend Ana (Ruth Díaz) and his son, but an unexpected meeting with enigmatic stranger José (Antonio de la Torre) soon sets him on a bloody quest for vengeance.

The Son

Love Rosemary’s Baby and The Ones Below? Then you’ll definitely want to check out this Argentine thriller, which sees a pregnant woman becomes increasingly erratic as her due date approaches, isolating herself from her husband. 

As her obsessive, overprotective behaviour only worsens after the child is born, though, she soon forces her husband to make a desperate decision. The sort of desperate decision, we hasten to add, that caused countless viewers to take to Twitter for answers over the film’s WTF ending.

Obsessed

Things couldn’t be better for Derek Charles (Idris Elba): he’s just received a big promotion at work, he lives in a gorgeous house, and he’s madly in love with his beautiful wife, Sharon (Beyoncé Knowles). Into this idyllic world, though, steps temp worker Lisa (Ali Larter), who slowly begins to stalk Derek, throwing everything he holds dear into jeopardy.

Is this a cinematic masterpiece? Hell no: it has a 19% ‘rotten’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Is it an incredibly fun and glossy bit of entertainment, though? You bet your bottom dollar it is! 

Calibre

In this rare gem of a movie, longtime BFFs Vaughn (Jack Lowden) and Marcus (Martin McCann) head to a devastatingly beautiful – and incredibly remote – area of the Scottish Highlands for a hunting trip. There, though, they find themselves thrown into a terrific and intensely terrifying situation which neither could have prepared for.

Images: Netflix