The best thrillers to watch on Netflix this September

The fall movie season has begun, and on Netflix it’s been heralded by the outstanding new movie Rebel Ridge. The new movie from the director of Green Room is already a standout candidate for one of the best movies of the year, but it’s also just one of the many great thrillers on Netflix in September.

Every month, we handpick a few thrillers on Netflix that fit the current season. Sometimes they pair well with an upcoming release. Other titles might be new additions to the platform.

Alongside Rebel Ridge, we’ve put together a lineup of excellent movies, including one of the most brutal mysteries movies of all time, and a dark Denzel Washington thriller where he practically plays a slasher movie villain.

Editor’s pick: Rebel Ridge

Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Cast: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb

Jeremy Saulnier’s latest action thriller isn’t just the best thriller available on Netflix this month, but a contender for one of this year’s best films, full stop. Aaron Pierre (Old, The Underground Railroad) stars as Terry Richmond, a former Marine who is stopped by police while he’s cycling through a small rural town to post bail for his recently incarcerated cousin. After the money he was carrying is confiscated by the authorities via civil asset forfeiture, Terry’s drive to save his cousin’s life puts him on a collision course with the town’s corrupt sheriff (Don Johnson). 

Pierre’s performance exudes a palpable righteous fury that radiates from beneath the surface of his stoic and composed demeanor. Rebel Ridge’s story displays some of the most efficient and memorable scriptwriting in recent memory, with otherwise innocuous lines and props reappearing later with profound significance. The action is exhilarating, the editing and pacing are breathtaking, and the story is elemental in its empathetic resonance. If Aaron Pierre isn’t a star after this performance, it’ll absolutely be through no fault of his own. —Toussaint Egan

Oldboy

Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong

Oldboy has one of the greatest thriller premises of all time: A drunk man is kidnapped and locked in a tiny hotel room, where he learns that his wife has been murdered and he’s been framed for the crime. He stays locked in that room for 15 years, and when he gets out, all he wants is revenge. And that revenge takes shape in brutal, shocking, and very unexpected ways.

Oldboy is already a modern classic, but if you haven’t given this dark South Korean thriller from master director Park Chan-wook a shot yet, then you absolutely have to check it out — if you have the stomach for it. —Austen Goslin

The Equalizer 3

Director: Antoine Fuqua
Cast: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea

The Equalizer 3 is a movie for every person who’s ever laid awake in the dead of night and wondered, What if Jason Voorhees was an avuncular Black man with an affinity for tea and fancy hats? Denzel Washington reprises his role as Robert McCall, a retired Defense Intelligence Agency officer with a very particular set of skills, acquired over a very long career of what I would describe as “artisanal ass-kicking.” 

Following a one-man assault on a Mafia drug compound, Robert is nursed back to health and awakens in the Italian coastal town of Altamonte. During his convalescence, Robert slowly but surely is embraced by the townspeople, who welcome him as one of their own. However, Robert’s actions eventually draw the attention of not only CIA officer Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), but an Italian crime syndicate that’s begun terrorizing Altamonte. Determined to save his new adopted home, Robert secretly aids Emma in her investigation of the syndicate’s actions before ultimately taking matters into his own hands.

The Equalizer 3 is a more slow-paced and emotionally subdued film than director Antoine Fuqua’s previous installments in the series, but no less violent and exciting. Washington delivers an affecting performance of Robert as a man who’s ready to truly retire from violence and embrace his newfound sense of community and peace, while at the same time ready to return to violence in service of protecting that peace. What’s just as, if not arguably more, compelling is seeing Washington and Fanning reunite on screen for the first time since 2004’s Man on Fire, which results in an unofficial mentor/mentee dynamic that alone makes the film worth watching. —TE