The 5 best thrillers to watch on Netflix in April 2023

Netflix offers a wide range of films to choose from, but not all are good. Five great thrillers are chosen each month to be great matches for that month. Maybe the movie is seasonally appropriate, maybe it’s leaving Netflix soon, maybe the people involved have a new project coming out, or maybe it just feels right — sometimes, it’s just vibes.

Our picks this month include an Alfred Hitchcock classic and a rare modern Hitchcock imitation, an exciting Denzel-led remake, and many more.

The Taking of Pelham 123

Columbia Pictures/MGM

Year: 2009
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, John Turturro

One of my favorite runs for a filmmaker is Tony Scott from 2004’s Man on Fire to his final film, 2010’s Inexorable. Scott was excited about digital filmmaking tools. He used them to enrich his films, using rapid editing and enhanced color tones to bring out the best in his action thrillers.

Scott worked with Denzel Washington several times during this era, which was a great collaboration. Additionally to Man on Fire InexorableThe sci-fi thriller was co-written by the two of them Deja Vu This remake is based on the classic 1974 train heist film.

Washington portrays Walter Garber, a subway dispatcher who becomes the negotiator during a hostage crisis at the station. John Travolta is appropriately unhinged as the lead hijacker, and the movie has a sprawling cast that features John Turturro (NYPD’s hostage negotiator, who Travolta rejects in favor of Washington’s Garber), Luis Guzmán, and James Gandolfini, among many others.

There are some fantastic train scenes in the movie, but Washington and Travolta’s interplay is what makes this movie stand out. —Pete Volk

I See You

Image: Saban Films

Year: 2019
Run time: 1h 38m
Director: Adam Randall
Cast: Helen Hunt, Jon Tenney, Owen Teague

This 2019 psychological thriller centers on the life 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. Greg is called in to help investigate mysterious, violent kidnappings that are linked to several similar events over many years.

As Greg’s investigation advances, the Harpers are menaced by a mysterious vandal with knowledge not only of their deepest secrets and whereabouts, but apparent access to their home. What is the connection between these disappearances and this mysterious masked attacker? What is the location? I See YouWhile it may have some shortcomings, such as a lackluster performance and a slow pacing sometimes, this film is incredibly clever at turning essentially the same premise into something more sinister and unexpected. If you’re looking for a murder mystery drama/slow-burn cerebral home invasion thriller with unsettling found-footage elements à la Michael Haneke’s Caché, I See YouThe perfect option. —Toussaint Egan

Psycho

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

Year: 1960
Run time: 1h 49m
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Anthony Perkins Vera Miles John Gavin

What could possibly be said about Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 psychological horror thriller that hasn’t already been said before several times over? PsychoThis film is undisputedly a masterpiece. It’s the filmography’s crown jewel. The film has been parodied and referenced so many times that it seems impossible to forget about.

Vera Miles (John Gavin) and Sam Loomis (Vera Miles) play Lila Crane/Sam Loomis. They are Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), the would-be embezzler who is on the loose after taking $40,000 from the job she held as a bank clerk. Investigating her disappearance, Lila and Sam track Marion’s last-known whereabouts to a motel run by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his mother. It would spoil the story to say more. You have probably never heard or seen it. Psycho, stop what you’re doing and make it your priority to watch this film. —TE

Image: Endgame Entertainment/Open Road Films

Year: 2013
Run time: 1h 46m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Rooney Mara and Jude Law. Channing Tatum

It’s now a Hitchcock classic and a Hitchcock inspired modern classic.

Before making movies with his iPhone, and before his “retirement” from directing, Steven Soderbergh made this captivating psychological thriller about the pharmaceutical industry, written by his frequent collaborator Scott Z. Burns (Contagion).

Side EffectsEmily (Rooney Mara), is a wealthy wife whose husband, Channing Tatum (insider trading) was recently released. Emily attempts suicide but her psychiatrists prescribe an experimental drug to her. The side effects are shocking.

Soderbergh’s most Hitchcockian movie (at least until Kimi), Side effects is a clever thriller with great central performances (especially Mara, who is fantastic in a great addition to the “a person has an extremely bad time” film canon) and plenty of twists to keep viewers guessing. It’s also the kind of movie that rewards rewatches — if you’ve already seen it, now’s a good opportunity to revisit it. —PV

The Guilty

Image by Netflix

Year: 2021
Run time: 1h 30m
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal and 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. Nic Pizzolatto authored this article True DetectiveFamed for its American remake of the Danish movie of the same title, Gyllenhaal stars in this drama about Joe Baylor (an LAPD officer who works a probationary night shift in a 911 center before an undisclosed court appearance). Joe is called by a woman kidnapped and he rushes to find the perpetrator in his own quest for redemption. Joe is not always right and will need to confront his own truth if he wants to redeem himself. An impeccably magnetic performance by Joe is the key to his success. The GuiltyIt is worth the effort to watch this entertaining thriller. —TE