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There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a well-crafted twist—that moment when the tables turn and the puzzle finally clicks into place. It’s why I hunt down every thriller I can find on Netflix. Right now, the streamer has several top-tier movies with shocking reveals that you (probably) won't see coming.
To protect your experience, this list is completely spoiler-free. I know the despair of a ruined ending, so while I’ll tell you why these movies are great, I won’t give even a vague hint at the secrets they hold. You’ll have to stream them to find out.
At a Glance: Best Netflix Thrillers to Stream Now
- "Parasite": A genre-bending masterpiece (Watch before it leaves Netflix).
- "Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery": Benoit Blanc’s twistiest case yet.
- "Relay": A high-stakes corporate thriller starring Riz Ahmed.
- "The Outfit": A claustrophobic, single-location mob mystery.
- "Before I Go to Sleep": A fast-paced "amnesia thriller" for a quick binge.
‘Relay’ (2025)
I rank “Relay” as one of 2025’s most overlooked movies, and even its arrival on Netflix last month didn’t lead to the wave of popularity I feel it deserves.
I’ll always take any chance I can to champion this crime thriller, which offers a sharp narrative and plenty of twists and turns. It’s also another showcase of Oscar-winning Riz Ahmed, paired up with strong support from Lily James, Sam Worthington and Willa Fitzgerald. It had me utterly hooked from start to finish, and I can confirm it even holds up supremely well on rewatch.
Ahmed plays an unnamed fixer who offers a very unique service. He acts as a middleman between large corporations and whistleblowers looking to return classified documents in exchange for a payout. To facilitate his services, he follows a careful set of rules to ensure the safety of himself and his client, but when he becomes personally invested in the plight of a woman named Sarah (James), he starts breaking these rules with disastrous consequences.
Watch "Relay" on Netflix now
‘Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery’ (2025)
I’m sort of cheating here because, after all, “Wake Up Dead Man” is the latest installment in the “Knives Out” franchise, so of course, there’s a twist. The murder-mystery genre is built on unexpected reveals, so I doubt it comes as any shock when I confirm that “Knives Out 3” has a couple up its sleeves.
What’s most impressive about this new entry in Rian Johnson’s series is that “Wake Up Dead Man’s” best moments are the quieter ones between its phenomenal cast of interesting characters, most particularly, Josh O’Connor’s conflicted priest, Rev. Jud Duplenticy.
Charismatic detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is called to a small upstate New York parish when its leader, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), is murdered. In classic “Knives Out” fashion, it’s up to Blanc to root out the culprit and solve this seemingly “impossible” killing. Also starring Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Mila Kunis and Andrew Scott, “Wake Up Dead Man” might just be the strongest “Knives Out” to date.
Watch "Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery" on Netflix now
‘The Outfit’ (2022)
“The Outfit” is proof that you can achieve a lot with minimal components. This crime thriller is set almost entirely within one location, a Chicago tailor shop, which gives it a theatrical quality that I personally loved. It places the focus squarely on increasingly tense dialogue exchanges. Wth several of its key characters belonging to the Irish Mob, it’s no surprise that when talking won’t solve the issues at hand, the situation escalates and turns violent.
Leonard Burling (Mark Rylance) is a master tailor forced to work for a group of mobsters. The criminals use his shop as a hideout and a place to stash their ill-gotten money. When mob boss Roy Boyle (Simon Russel Beale) suspects a mole in his crew, and comes into conflict with a rival gang and the FBI, Leonard finds himself trapped in a tense standoff trying to survive an increasingly dangerous night as he looks for a way to escape Roy’s control.
Watch "The Outfit" on Netflix now
‘Before I Go to Sleep’ (2014)
I’ll freely admit that “Before I Go to Sleep” is the lowest quality entry on this list, and if you don’t want to take my word for it, the movie holds a poor 36% score on Rotten Tomatoes. But stick with me, because there’s something oddly enjoyable about it all the same, in a sort of guilty pleasure way. It’s sort of like the thriller movie equivalent of trash television. Or maybe I’m just easily swayed by a typically excellent performance from Nicole Kidman.
Based on the best-selling novel by S. J. Watson, “Before I Go to Sleep” centers on Christine (Kidman), the survivor of a devastating car accident that left her with severe trauma and an inability to form new memories. Every morning, she wakes up and has to become reacquainted with her husband, Ben (Colin Firth). Under her doctor’s (Mark Strong) orders, she keeps a video diary, but is alarmed when terrifying truths start to surface. “Before I Go to Sleep” is basically what you’d get if “50 First Dates” were a thriller, not a comedy.
Watch "Before I Go to Sleep" on Netflix now
‘Parasite’ (2019)
“Parasite” is set to be removed from Netflix’s movie library at the end of this month, and that makes now an essential time to watch it, or to make time for a rewatch, if you’ve alreaady had the pleasure of seeing it before. The first non-English language movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture, “Parasite” is one of the 21st century’s defining masterpieces.
In fact, the tricky thing when talking about director Bong Joon Ho’s acclaimed film is deciding where to start. I could praise just about every aspect, from the biting social commentary to the stellar performances from the entire cast. It’s a thriller that comes close to perfection.
The movie focuses on two families, the struggling Kims and the wealthy Parks. When the son of the Kim family is employed to work as an English tutor for the Parks’ daughter, the family sees it as a golden opportunity to lift themselves out of their current financial woes and hatch a crafty plan to integrate themselves into the Parks’ affluent lifestyle. What starts as almost a high-concept comedy quickly descends into something much darker.
Watch "Parasite" on Netflix now
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