Netflix has a great selection of movies to watch, but only a few can be winners. Each month we pick five great thrillers to watch that go well with that particular month. Maybe the movie is right for the season, maybe it’s leaving Netflix soon, maybe there’s a new project coming out from the people involved, or maybe it just feels right – sometimes it’s just vibes.
This month, our picks to enjoy at home include an Alfred Hitchcock classic, a rare successful modern Hitchcock impersonator, an exciting Denzel-led remake of a classic, and more to watch this month.
The Conquest of Pelham 123
Image: Columbia Pictures/MGM
Year: 2009
Duration: 1h 46m
Director: Tony Scott
Form: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro
One of my favorite films for a filmmaker is Tony Scott’s 2004 Man on fire to his last film, 2010’s Unstoppable. Scott embraced the advent of digital filmmaking tools and used them to enhance his work, with lightning-fast editing and enhanced color toning that brought out the most in his action thrillers.
This era also saw Scott team up with Denzel Washington on numerous occasions, and the two never missed. In addition to Man on fire And Unstoppablethe two collaborated on the sci-fi thriller Deja Vu and this remake of the classic 1974 train heist movie.
Washington stars as subway dispatcher Walter Garber, who finds himself a negotiator in an ongoing hostage crisis aboard the titular train. John Travolta is rightly unhinged as the main hijacker, and the film has a sprawling cast that includes John Turturro (the NYPD negotiator, who rejects Travolta in favor of Washington’s Garber), Luis Guzmán and James Gandolfini, among many others.
The film contains some great train action scenes, but the highlight is the interplay between Washington and Travolta, both at their best in this cat-and-mouse thriller. —Piet Volk
I see you
Image: Saban Films
Year: 2019
Duration: 1h 38m
Director: Adam Randal
Form: Helen Hunt, Jon Tenney, Owen Teague
This 2019 psychological thriller revolves around the lives of the Harper family: Jackie (Helen Hunt), a successful psychologist; Greg (Jon Tenney), a police detective and Jackie’s husband; and Connor (Judah Lewis), Jackie and Greg’s teenage son. After Jackie’s infidelity with another man is revealed, the Harpers struggle to rebuild their lives together. As this is happening, Greg is called in to investigate a series of mysterious and violent kidnappings linked to a series of similar incidents dating back several years.
As Greg’s investigation progresses, the Harpers are threatened by a mysterious vandal who not only knows their deepest secrets and whereabouts, but also seemingly has access to their home. Who is this masked attacker and what is their connection to these recent disappearances? Where I see you may occasionally suffer from wooden performances and admittedly substandard pacing, it excels at twisting its relatively simple premise into increasingly macabre and startling new forms. If you’re looking for a murder-mystery-drama/slow-burn cerebral home-invasion thriller with disturbing found-footage elements à la Michael Haneke’s cache, I see you is the perfect choice. —Toussaint Egan
Psycho
Image: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment
Year: 1960
Duration: 1h 49m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Form: Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin
What could be said about Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 psychological horror thriller that hasn’t already been said several times? Psycho is an undisputed masterpiece, the crown jewel in a filmography from a director with no shortage of cinematic gems, a film so iconic, often referenced and parodied by countless other films and television series, the thought that anyone could go without having to recognizing it feels anything but impossible.
The film stars Vera Miles and John Gavin as Lila Crane and Sam Loomis, the sister and lover, respectively, of Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a would-be embezzler on the run after stealing $40,000 from her job as a bank clerk. Lila and Sam investigate her disappearance and track Marion’s last known whereabouts to a motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his mother. To say more would spoil the plot. If somehow you’ve never seen or heard of it Psychostop what you’re doing and make it your priority to watch this movie. -AT
Image: Endgame Entertainment/Open Road Films
Year: 2013
Duration: 1h 46m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Form: Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum
Now, from a Hitchcock classic to a Hitchcock-inspired modern classic.
Before he made movies with his iPhone and before he “retired” as a director, Steven Soderbergh made this captivating psychological thriller about the pharmaceutical industry, written by longtime collaborator Scott Z. Burns (Infection).
In Side effects, Emily (Rooney Mara) a wealthy woman whose husband (Channing Tatum) recently got out of prison after a bid for insider trading. After trying to take her own life, Emily is prescribed an experimental drug by a pair of psychiatrists (Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones), with shocking… side effects.
Soderbergh’s most Hitchcockian film (at least until Kimi), Side effects is a smart thriller with great central performances (especially Mara, who is fantastic in a great addition to the “one person is having an extremely bad time” movie canon) and plenty of twists to keep viewers guessing. It’s also the kind of movie that rewards rewatching – if you’ve already seen it, this is a good opportunity to watch it again. —PV
The guilty
Image: Netflix
Year: 2021
Duration: 1h 30m
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Form: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard
If you’re looking for another unhinged, nail-biting Jake Gyllenhaal performance similar to 2014’s Nightcrawler, Antoine Fuqua’s 2021 crime thriller is the movie for you. Written by Nic Pizzolatto of Real detective fame, this American remake of the 2018 Danish film of the same name stars Gyllenhaal in this one-man drama as Joe Baylor, an LAPD officer on probationary night shift at a 911 call center leading up to a secret hearing. When Joe receives a distress call from a kidnapped woman, he frantically tries to track down the culprit in his personal attempt at redemption. But all is not as it seems, and Joe will have to face not only the truth of the situation, but himself if he has a chance to make things right. Powered by impeccable magnetic lead performance, The guilty is a solid and entertaining thriller worth watching. -AT