(Credit: Netflix)

Psychological thrillers are not exactly everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s okay since entertainment is subjective, but in case mindboggling fear is just what you seek, this Netflix watchlist will serve as a treasure trove for you.

The source of thrill in the genre is often restricted to the psyche of the protagonist; however, a mean one doesn’t just prey on the consciousness that’s onscreen but also on the other end of it.  

With Netflix’s vast collection, it’s easy to feel lost, but in the wake of The Woman in Cabin 10 and A House of Dynamite, the cravings simply don’t end.

So, if you’re still confused about what to do with the remaining energy, here are the five best psychological thrillers on Netflix to watch this October and satisfy your desires.

The five best psychological thrillers on Netflix

Fair Play (Chloe Domont, 2023)

They tell not to mix business with pleasure for the best of reasons, and Fair Play on Netflix is proof. Directed by Chloe Domont for her feature directorial debut, with Rian Johnson serving as the executive producer, the 2023 erotic psychological thriller revolves around two analysts, Emily and Luke, at a Manhattan hedge fund One Crest Capital, who are not just co-workers but also secret lovers.

Fair Play picks up pace when one of the company’s portfolio managers is fired, leaving Emily with the position Luke was eyeing all this time. While his support doesn’t die out immediately, the built-up tension unfolds over time, causing a wave of violence and jealousy, a need for assertion, blame-games, and toxicity.

Watcher (Chloe Okuno, 2022)

Despite being an underrated film from the genre, Chloe Okuno’s feature directorial debut, Watcher, tells the story of an American couple, Julia and Francis, who move to Bucharest to an apartment with a large picture window. However, Julia soon finds herself feeling uneasy because of the man in the apartment across the street who constantly watches her without any shame or guilt or any desire to hide his lechery.

What makes the situation worse is when Julia learns from the local news about a serial killer, inhumanely decapitating young women all over the town, along with the fact that she can also constantly feel the presence of a stalker whenever she’s out, whether it’s in a theatre or at the supermarket. But when the amateur investigations on her and Francis’ parts remain inconclusive and eventually backfire, the couple lets down their guard at the most alarming hour.

Reptile (Grant Singer, 2023)

There’s nothing worse than a crime that’s rooted in institutions that are meant to be protectors, and the often-underappreciated psychological crime thriller Reptile sheds light on that unfortunate reality. The film opens with the brutal murder of a local real estate agent, grabbing the eyes of two unassuming detectives, who barely know what they’re in for.

But as they pile up the clues and follow every new direction their investigation throws at them, they find suspects percolating a grave corruption scheme, leaving them to fish in a pond infested with crocodiles.

Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly, 2001)

Donnie Darko is not just any other psychological thriller but a pioneer of the genre in contemporary times that brings a complex blend of sci-fi and coming-of-age tenets to leave you quite frankly a little confused but in the best way. Currently streaming on Netflix US, Donnie Darko revolves around the eponymous troubled teenager who’s warned by a monstrous figure in a fearsome rabbit suit, Frank, that the world will end in exactly 28 days.

From surviving a close call with a jet engine crashing into his bedroom to flooding his school, Donnie is mysteriously drawn to every bizarre event that follows his hometown. But, unbeknownst to him, he’s actually confronting the wildest concepts surrounding time travel and destiny, all while being guided by Frank in a tangent universe.

The Wonder (Sebastián Leliom, 2022)

To wrap up the marathon, we have yet another underrated gem hiding in plain sight in the Netflix library, The Wonder. Set in 1862, the period drama follows Elizabeth Wright, an English nurse who served in the Crimean War, when she is sent to a rural village in Ireland to watch, study, and report on a ‘fasting girl’, Anna O’Donnell, in the aftermath of the Great Famine.

According to her family, Anna has miraculously survived despite not eating for four months, and while the nurse is not suspicious initially, when the patient’s condition deteriorates eventually, a cobweb of lies unravels, jolting our brains back from the ongoing trance to restore the senses we didn’t know were lost.