Greatest Suspense Motion pictures on Netflix With an Imdb Ranking of seven and Above You Ought to Watch

IMDb rating: 8.5

Directed by: Bryan Singer

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak

Synopsis: After a truck hijack, five criminals are wrongly taken into custody. Being not guilty, they plan revenge and just when they think the plan is successful, they find themselves trapped in the game plan of fictional criminal mastermind Keyser Söse. The payback time ends in a massive explosion on a ship, killing nearly everyone but Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint (Spacey), who survives to tell the complex, thrilling tale.

About the film: The crime thriller dwells on the back-and-forth narration of Roger’s accounts. In the flashback scenes, Keyser’s ominous omnipresence and the gripping story make it an absolute gem.

Awards won: Spacey won the 1996 Oscar for Best Actor In a Supporting Role and Christopher McQuarrie won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Image: Courtesy The Usual Suspects/ © 1995 – MGM, Inc./ IMDb

IMDb rating: 8.2

Directed by: Sriram Raghavan

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte

Synopsis: Akash (Khurrana), who poses as a blind pianist, is invited to perform a private concert at a film star’s house who wishes to please his wife Simi (Tabu). However, upon arrival, Akash’s world turns upside down as a series of gruelling events await him. He must now report a murder that he shouldn’t have seen. The suspense builds as the question arises if he is really blind.

About the film: Andhadhun eschews the typical grim and heavy narrations of suspense films and has hints of romance, comedy and drama, along with the right dose of suspense. It is inspired by the French short film L’Accordeur (2010) by Oliver Treiner and has a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards won: Khurrana won Best Actor at the 2019 Filmfare Awards and National Film Awards. Andhadhun bagged Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Screenplay (Adapted) at the latter event.

IMDb rating: 8.2

Directed by: Nishikant Kamat

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Kamlesh Sawant

Synopsis: Vijay Salgaonkar (Devgn) is a cable operator who lives with his wife Nandini (Saran) and two daughters. Although a school dropout, he has a successful business and is an extremely intelligent man. On an unfortunate night, his world turns upside down when the family commits an unexpected crime involving the son of the IG Meera Deshmukh (Tabu) who goes missing. While she goes to lengths to find evidence against Vijay, the latter hatches an elaborate plan to protect his family at any cost, while being under constant police scrutiny.

About the film: The Hindi film is a remake of the 2013 Malayalam film of the same name starring Mohanlal. Both have highly successful sequels as well.

IMDb rating: 8.1

Directed by: David Fincher

Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris

Synopsis: New York-based writer Nick Dunne (Affleck) and his beautiful wife Amy (Pike) are a happy couple, albeit their relationship is wrought with differences which do not seem irreconcilable, at least at first. However, when Amy goes missing on their fifth anniversary, a thrilling media trial and police investigation make Nick the prime suspect. Did he kill Amy?

About the film: The suspense film is based on Gillian Flynn’s 2012 novel of the same name. She also wrote the screenplay.

Awards won: Pike was nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role at the 2015 Oscars and BAFTA Awards. Flynn won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2015 Critics Choice Awards and was nominated for the same at the BAFTA Awards.

IMDb rating: 8

Directed by: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak

Cast: Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Eric Tsang

Synopsis: Young cop Chan Wing-Yan (Leung) is sent as a mole to infiltrate the criminal triad. Meanwhile, group leader Hon Sam (Tsang) sends young triad member Lau Kin Ming (Lau) to the police force to sabotage all efforts. A decade later, both have risen in position. When their paths cross, it is a race against time to find the real mole.

Awards won: This thrilling suspense film from Hong Kong won Best Picture at the 2003 Hong Kong Film Awards. Lau and Mak won Best Director, Leung won Best Actor and Wong won Best Supporting Actor as well.

Image: Courtesy Infernal Affairs/ © 2002 – Miramax/ IMDb

IMDb rating: 7.4

Directed by: Jang Hang-jun

Cast: Kang Ha-neul, Kim Mu-yeol, Na Young-hee

Synopsis: Jin-seok (Kang) is a 21-year-old hypersensitive guy who recently moved into a new home with his parents and older brother Yoo-seok (Kim). One rainy evening, Jin-seok’s world comes crumbling down when he sees his brother being kidnapped. However, Yoo-seok returns after 19 days with no recollection of what happened. His brother notices changes in Yoo-seok’s personality which makes the former suspect the person to be Yoo-seok’s imposter. As he begins to probe the matter, Jin-seok mysteriously hears noises from a locked room which has the previous owner’s stuff.

Image: Courtesy Forgotten/ IMDb

IMDb rating: 7.4

Directed by: Anthony Minghella

Cast: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett

Synopsis: Tom Ripley (Damon), a young underachieving New Yorker in the 1950s, chances upon a wealthy father of a Princeton graduate. The latter offers him USD 1,000 to travel to Italy and bring his son Dickie Greenleaf (Law) back to America. Meanwhile, Dickie leads a life that Tom could only aspire for. Tom smoothly befriends Dickie and his girlfriend Marge Sherwood (Paltrow), and despite deploying his many talents like forgery, ventriloquism and deception, Dickey dismisses Tom and refuses to leave Italy. Tom then takes extreme measures to make Dickie’s life his own.

About the film: One of the best thrillers and suspense movies on Netflix, The Talented Mr. Ripley is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1995 novel of the same name.

Awards won: The film was nominated for five Oscars, and Law won the 2000 BAFTA for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.

Image: Courtesy The Talented Mr. Ripley/ IMDb

IMDb rating: 7.2

Directed by: Graham Moore

Cast: Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, Simon Russell Beale, Johnny Flynn

Synopsis: Leonard (Rylance), a master tailor who moved from England to Chicago to lead a quiet life, runs a tailor shop with his assistant Mable (Deutch). Meanwhile, the Boyles, a local gangster family, are his biggest customers who also use Leonard’s backspace as their headquarters. One night, when two members of the same outfit, Richie (O’Brien) and Francis (Flynn), knock on his door for a “favour”, Leonard gets involved in a web of murder and deception.

About the film: This suspense movie is the debut directorial of screenwriter and novelist Moore who won the 2015 Oscar for the critically acclaimed World War II title The Imitation Game (2014).

IMDb rating: 7.2

Directed by: Abhay Chopra

Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Sidharth Malhotra, Akshaye Khanna

Synopsis: UK-based novelist Vikram Sethi (Malhotra) is on the run on a pouring evening after murdering his wife Catherine. In a bid to lose the police, he ends up at Maya Sinha’s (Sinha) house. Vikram finds himself in deeper waters when he finds the corpse of Maya’s husband. The double murder case is taken up by detective Dev Verma (Khanna) who has to unearth the truth as both suspects present completely different versions of the fateful night.

About the film: Ittefaq is inspired by Yash Chopra’s 1969 suspense film of the same name, starring Rakesh Khanna and Nanda.

IMDb rating: 7.1

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Directed by: Reema Kagti

Cast: Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Rani Mukerji, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

Synopsis: Inspector Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Khan) is given the responsibility of investigating the high-profile murder of a Mumbai film actor. On the personal front, Surjan and his wife Roshni (Mukerji) are going through a rough patch in their relationship. To escape it, he buries himself in work. Piecing the puzzle together of a high-profile murder case, Surjan reaches Mumbai’s red-light area where he comes across a call girl named Rosie, who has a mysterious and alluring personality.

Awards won: Siddiqui effortlessly plays a street hustler and won the Special Jury Award at the 2013 National Film Awards.

IMDb rating: 7.1

Directed by: Antonio Campos

Cast: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Sebastian Stan, Kristin Griffith

Synopsis: Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, the film follows several dark characters embroiled in a dilemma between faith and evil. Willard Russell (Skarsgård) is a World War II veteran who tries in vain to save his dying wife from an agonising cancer. While other sinister characters intersect the plot, it focuses on his now grown-up son Arvin (Holland) who tries to protect his loved ones but has an extremely violent side to him.

About the film: One of the must-watch horror thriller movies on Netflix, The Devil All The Time is adapted from Donald Ray Pollock’s 2011 novel by the same name.

IMDb rating: 7.1

Directed by: Lee Chung-hyun

Cast: Park Shin-hye, Jeon Jong-seo, Kim Sung-ryung

Synopsis: On visiting her old home to see her hospitalised mother, Seo-yeon (Park) speaks on the phone with a woman named Young-Sook (Jun), who claims to be in extreme distress. The mystery and suspense rise as Seo-yeon realises that the call is coming from the same house, but the two women are separated by 20 years. Does this phone call hint at something large looming around them?

About the film: This Korean horror movie is inspired by the British-Puerto Rican supernatural thriller The Caller (2011). It has garnered a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

IMDb rating: 7.1

Directed by: Yang Woo-seok

Cast: Jung Woo-sung, Kwak Do-won, King Kap-su

Synopsis: Eom Chul-Woo (Jung) is a high-ranking North Korean soldier who is tasked to eliminate two closest aides to their leader. Upon learning the men are planning a coup, he accepts the offer and waits for them to arrive at a public event convened by the leader. Thrill and action grow when suddenly bombs come crashing on the crows, and Eom takes the injured leader to safety in Seoul. Will Eom be able to prevent a Korean war?

About the film: The Korean action thriller is based on the director’s 2011 webtoon of the same name.

Image: Courtesy Steel Rain/ IMDb

IMDb rating: 7

Directed by: Sujoy Ghosh

Cast: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Vijay Varma, Jaideep Ahlawat

Synopsis: Maya D’Souza (Khan), a single mother and cafe owner, lives in Kalimpong with her daughter. Her neighbour is a lonely eccentric maths teacher Naren Vyas (Ahlawat). One day, Maya’s ex-husband visits her and threatens to take her daughter away. They get into a tussle and the mother-daughter duo accidentally kills him. What ensues is a thrilling cover-up story with inspector Karan Anand (Varma) piecing the puzzle together and keeping an eye on them.

About the film: Jaane Jaan is adapted from Keigo Higashino’s murder suspense novel The Devotion of Suspect X (2017).