The Best Thrillers to Watch on Netflix This July

Summer is finally here, and unfortunately that means that in most places it’s too hot to do anything outside. Instead, why not curl up in the air conditioning and relax with a good thriller or two?

Each month we select a few thrillers on Netflix that fit the current season. Sometimes they fit well with an upcoming release. Other titles may be new additions to the platform.

But these are all movies to watch this summer — with a healthy dose of serial killing thrown in. This time around, we have a modern South Korean classic about finding friends and the joys and tragedies of sunsets; Christian Bale’s most deranged performance; and a survival thriller that will definitely keep you out of trouble this summer.

Editor’s Choice: Burning

Director: Lee Chang-dong
Form: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo

Lee Chang-dong’s psychological thriller starts simply enough: Lee Jong-su (Hell bound’s Yoo Ah-in), an aspiring novelist living in Seoul, runs into Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), an old classmate, while delivering a package for his job. About to leave for a trip to Africa, Hae-mi asks Jong-su to look after her cat while she’s away. So far, so good. It’s when Hae-mi returns from Africa with Ben (Steven Yeun), a wealthy man she’s become close to, that things take a sinister turn.

What is the true nature of Ben and Hae-mi’s relationship? Did she really take a trip to Africa, and if not, where did she really go? I can’t promise you’ll find definitive answers to those questions by watching BurningWhat I can promise is that you will be treated to one of the most viscerally disturbing, tragic, and unforgettable films of the 2010s. —Toussaint Egan

American Psychopath

Image: Columbia Pictures

Director: Maria Harron
Form: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto

In his 1986 science fiction novel Count zeroWilliam Gibson wrote, “the extremely wealthy were no longer remotely human.” He might as well have been talking about the murderous yuppie protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel American PsychopathMary Harron’s film adaptation of Ellis’ novel stars Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a misanthropic investment banker who, at the height of the 1980s excesses, works as a serial killer, taking out his wrath on anyone unfortunate enough to be near him. Sex workers, the homeless, rival colleagues, you name it. Patrick’s depravity knows no bounds, and neither does the inhumanity of the corporate finance powers that seem to condone his episodes of relentless violence.

Harron’s film peers deep into the inky void at the heart of American financial institutions to better understand the emptiness and horror that rages beneath the surface of the dazzling corner offices and impeccably pressed suits. It’s a gripping, violent, and disorienting fugue dream of a horror film, and a damn good thriller to boot. -AT

Only

Image: XYZ Films/Magnet Release

Director: John Hyams
Form: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald

The serial killer theme remains, one of the best survival thrillers of recent years, Only, which follows a young woman who is kidnapped and held captive in a small cabin in the middle of nowhere. Like all good survival films, Only is primarily process-driven. We see our main character, Jessica, played with tremendous determination by Jules Wilcox, methodically work through her problems and plan her escape, while her unnamed attacker (Marc Menchaca) plots her murder.

Action director John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Judgment) films the scenes in which Jessica is imprisoned with his usual brutal, utilitarian precision, making the audience feel every attempt at escape in their stomachs. But for all the effectiveness of these confinement scenes, Hyams shines most in the moments when Jessica is literally fighting for her life. That elevates Only from a solid thriller to something truly heartbreaking. —Austen Goslin