Four dark thrillers to stream on Netflix this weekend
Over the years, Netflix has made quite a lucrative business out of our appetite for psychological misery, and in all fairness, it’s not all to be blamed since whenever a dark thriller is out there, people jump on it like someone does on food after a two-day water cleanse.
David Fincher, in particular, has spent decades making audiences voluntarily pay to have their minds blown and nerves shredded. Take Se7en, for instance. Two detectives spend the film hunting a murderer obsessed with the seven deadly sins, and by the time of the climax, you’re wondering why on earth you paid good money for such an ordeal. And the worst part is, we’d happily watch it again.
And don’t think Hollywood has a monopoly on this psychological torture, either. Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder turned a real South Korean murder investigation into a maddening police procedural, while Netflix thriller The Invisible Guest made trusting anyone feel like the most foolish decision you’d ever made.
Anyway, Netflix has four deliciously dark thrillers ready to make an absolute mess of your weekend composure. So, settle in and enjoy the paranoia, but don’t come crying when the films end and you start doubting your friends. You’ve been warned!
Four dark thrillers to stream on Netflix this weekend
The Killer (David Fincher, 2023)
Fincher, ahh, the bane of our existence! This man has spent years making us root for people with questionable morals, and look at you, shamelessly coming back for more! And The Killer? Oh, you’re in for quite a ride. Michael Fassbender plays a professional assassin who spends his days listening to The Smiths and giving himself lectures about discipline. The man has rules for everything and seems convinced he’s mastered the art of killing.
But when a man’s too smug, destiny has a way of bringing him down, and hence, he goes and botches an assignment in Paris. Embarrassing doesn’t even begin to describe it. But hold on, because his problems are far from over. Our assassin returns to his home in the Dominican Republic to find that his girlfriend has been attacked.
He sets out to hunt down those responsible, and you get a front-row seat to his plans falling apart. Based on the French graphic novel series by Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon, the film has a field day poking fun at its protagonist’s obsession with professionalism.
The Chalk Line (Ignacio Tatay, 2022)
When a little girl doesn’t want to step outside a line drawn in chalk, you’d probably brush it off as some weird childhood phase. Kids do the strangest things, after all! But the little girl in The Chalk Line is a whole different story. This Netflix psychological thriller follows Paula and her husband Simón, who stumble upon a frightened young girl wandering alone on a road. No parents, no family, nobody looking for her. And the girl, Clara? She barely speaks and gets scared out of her wits whenever someone tries to make her cross a chalk line.
So, Paula takes Clara into her home, hoping to figure out what’s going on, but the more Paula tries to figure her out, the darker the mystery becomes. All throughout the film, you are left wondering what on earth happened to this poor child to make her believe a bit of chalk could keep her safe.
Helpless (Byun Young-joo, 2012)
Oh, weddings! The excitement, the preparations, the promise of a lifetime together. Lovely stuff, right? Well, someone should’ve warned poor Mun-ho that his wedding plans were about to turn into a criminal investigation. In the South Korean thriller Helpless, Mun-ho, a veterinarian, stops at a roadside service station to grab some coffee while travelling with his fiancée, Seon-yeong. Except when he comes back, his bride-to-be has vanished. No note, no explanation, not a trace.
And you know the case with these dark thrillers – the more you look, the murkier it gets. Because the woman he was planning to marry? Turns out she might not be who she claimed to be. With help from his cousin, a former detective, he starts poking around her past, and let’s just say trust silently slips off the picture. It is adapted from Miyuki Miyabe’s novel ‘All She Was Worth’, weaving financial desperation into the mystery.
Chokehold (Onur Saylak, 2023)
If you’ve ever dreamed of leaving the chaotic city life and moving to a gorgeous little village on the coast, meet Yalın and Beyza from Chokehold who will convince you to do otherwise. This Netflix movie takes us to Turkey, where this Istanbul couple move to the village after a financial scandal, hoping to put the whole mess behind them. But the locals are not quite happy. These villagers seem to have taken one look at the newcomers and decided to make their lives a living hell.
And if you think dirty looks are all they’ve got, know that they are just the beginning! The locals aren’t content with giving Yalın the cold shoulder. Things turn violent, and before you know it, he’s caught in a confrontation with people who want absolutely nothing to do with him. Honestly, by the time you finish watching this Turkish thriller, that peaceful village retirement might be something you wouldn’t want in your worst nightmare.