The five best movies to watch on Netflix on a Sunday
Have you ever found yourself doomscrolling your way on Netflix just for that perfect watchlist? Well, looks like we’ve all been there.
If you’ve already shouldered the burden of what it truly means, you already know how difficult it is to keep up with it every weekend, especially now that it’s an official Sunday tradition to carry on.
Although there’s definitely no going back from the Sunday night marathon, for those struggling with what to watch next on Netflix, don’t sweat it; we’ve got you covered with a treasure trove of movies hiding in plain sight.
So, even if you feel unprepared for this binge session, just show up because we’ve already got the queue ready with the five best movies to watch on Netflix on a Sunday.
The five best movies to stream on Netflix on a Sunday
In the Shadow of the Moon (Jim Mickle, 2019)
Directed by Jim Mickle, In the Shadow of the Moon is a puzzling sci-fi horror on Netflix that will effortlessly put your brain to the test this Sunday and leave you scrambling for answers while at it. The movie follows Philadelphia native Officer Thomas Lockhart in 1988, who investigates a series of victims who bled from their eyes and ears with puncture wounds. But as we progress, we learn about the nine-year cycle, which continues in 1997, 2006, and so on.
In the Shadow of the Moon spans 27 years as Lockhart becomes incredibly obsessed with the mysterious serial killer who routinely reappears every nine years to commit those impossible murders, sending townspeople into panic. While the Philadelphia cop puts to use his last brain cell just to uncover the enigma surrounding the streak of killings, all we’re allowed to spoil for you is that time travel does come into play and in the most unexpected of ways.
Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants, 2024)
Up next on the Sunday watchlist, we have a Cillian Murphy starrer, Small Things Like These, adapted from Enda Walsh’s critically acclaimed 2021 novel. Since the film was recently added to the Netflix library, there’s no better time than the weekend to capitalise on it. Set in 1985 Ireland, the historical drama follows Bill Furlong, a coal merchant who learns about the skeletons hidden by the local Catholic convent that controls the community.
It is while making a delivery that Bill stumbles across a terrified girl locked in a cold coal – a living proof of the exploitations and abuses of the Magdalene Laundries. Despite being a devoted father himself, Small Things Like These revolves around Bill’s moral predicament of confronting his own past and the town’s complicit silence as he faces extreme pressure to turn a blind eye to the crimes unfolding right in front of everyone’s eyes.
The Silence of the Marsh (Marc Vigil, 2019)
Next on our Sunday queue is a Spanish mystery thriller, The Silence of the Marsh, starring one of the most fan-favourite Netflix stars of all time, Pedro Alonso, AKA Berlin from Money Heist. Directed by Marc Vigil, the Spanish web film, based on a Juanjo Barulio novel of the same name, follows Q, a former journalist who lives a double life as a renowned crime novelist and a cold-blooded psychopath with a compulsion to kill.
The Silence of the Marsh begins as Q researches for his new book in Valencia, realising that the reality is more criminal than his fiction when he uncovers links between real-world corruption connecting local politicians to a fearsome drug trade. The plot thickens when Q abandons the world of fiction, turning into a ruthless vigilante, exploring the deep-seated consequences of voluntarily playing with power and crime.
Nowhere (Albert Pinto, 2023)
If The Silence of the Marsh leaves you craving more thrills, carry on the Sunday marathon with another Spanish survival thriller, Nowhere on Netflix. Set in a dystopian, resource-deprived Spain controlled by a regime exterminating pregnant women and children, the Netflix movie follows Mia, a pregnant woman desperately trying to flee the totalitarian authority with her husband, Nico.
But during a raid on their shipping container in which they were hiding, they end up separated, with Mia left on her own. As if that’s not concerning enough, the shipping container in which she took refuge falls into the ocean. Nowhere follows Mia’s struggles to survive alone on the drifting container, relying on limited resources as she inches closer to giving birth without anyone to support her.
1922 (Zak Hilditch, 2017)
Finally, to wrap up the Sunday binge session on an intense note, we recommend 1922, based on Stephen King’s 2010 novella of the same name. The gripping thriller follows Nebraska farmer Wilfred James, who coerces his 14-year-old son, Henry, into murdering his wife, Arlette, in 1922, to stop her from selling their farm, after she inherits the land and expresses her wish to sell it to relocate to Omaha.
Although reluctant at first, Henry finally gives in to his father’s manipulation, murdering Arlette and dumping her body in a dry well, which they later fill with a cow’s carcass. While James travels the extra mile just to prevent selling the farm, not long after the murder, the family farm becomes plagued by rats. And haunted by guilt, 1922 follows the psychological and material unravelling of the family as bodies begin to pile up.