The number one most-watched English-language film on Netflix this week is a surprise, as it’s a new Netflix film that’s up against films that have had a lot more buzz and promotion around them. It’s called a twisty thriller Includedand it has been defeated like Netflix’s Painkillers (starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans) and critical hit Spider-Man: About the Spider-Verse (in the US at least), which also debuted last week.
It is a psychological thriller about a woman, Katherine (Famke Janssen, van X Men And Golden Eye fame), who wakes up after a car accident with lock-in syndrome, meaning she is awake but cannot move any part of her body except her eyes. Her nurse (played by Anna Friel from Pushing daisies) devises a way to communicate with Katherine and discovers a world of murder and cruelty as the events that led to Katherine’s injuries unfold.
To show how twisty the story is going to get, I’ll just quote directly from the Netflix site, because this movie sounds eventful for something like 96 minutes: “Through flashbacks, we see snapshots of Katherine’s life just after she adopts her late best friend’s daughter, Lina. Lina idolizes Katherine and quickly bonds with her chronically ill son, Jamie. Later Lina and Jamie marry – much to Katherine’s dismay, as Jamie is the heir to his late father’s mansion, where they all live. As Lina and Katherine’s relationship deteriorates, Lina bonds with Jamie’s doctor, Robert, and tragedies happened to Katherine’s family.
Good Lord. Regardless, it’s nice to see a relatively subdued thriller rocket to the top of the list, despite getting pretty much just one trailer a month ago and some limited previews before launch, compared to the bombast surrounding other new Netflix -movies.
The reviews and user ratings for Included hasn’t been overwhelmingly successful so far, so it probably won’t make our list of the best Netflix movies, but that won’t stop me from jumping on this one ASAP. There’s nothing I love more than a three-star thriller – Double jeopardy, A spider passed by, In the line of fire, The bone collector… They’re all classics to me.