The best thrillers to watch on Netflix this July

Summer is finally here and unfortunately it’s too hot in most places to do anything outside now. Instead, why not curl up in front of the air conditioning and relax with a good crime novel or two?

Each month we select a few thrillers on Netflix that fit the current season. Sometimes they’re a good fit for an upcoming release. Other titles could be new additions to the platform.

But these are all just top-notch summer movies – with a healthy dose of serial killing mixed in. This time around, we have a modern South Korean classic about finding friends and the joy and tragedy of sunsets; Christian Bale’s craziest performance yet; and a survival thriller that’s sure to keep you out of the woods this summer.

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Editor’s Choice: Burn

Image: Pinehouse film about the Everett Collection

Director: Lee Chang-dong
Pour: Yoo Ah-in, Steven Yeun, Jeon Jong-seo

Lee Chang-dong’s psychological thriller begins simply: Lee Jong-su (‘Hellbound’s Yoo Ah-in), an aspiring novelist from Seoul, meets Shin Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo), an old classmate, while delivering a package for her job. Hae-mi is about to leave for a trip to Africa and asks Jong-su to look after her cat while she is away. So far, so good. When Hae-mi returns from Africa with Ben (Steven Yeun), a wealthy man with whom she has a close bond, things get into an awkward situation.

What is the true nature of Ben and Hae-mi’s relationship? Did she really take a trip to Africa, and if not, where did she really go? I can’t promise that when you watch combustion. What I can promise, however, is that you will experience one of the most deeply disturbing, tragic and unforgettable films of the 2010s. –Toussaint Egan

American Psycho

Image: Columbia Pictures

Director: Maria Harron
Pour: Christian Bale, Willem Dafoe, Jared Leto

In his 1986 science fiction novel Count zerowrote William Gibson, “the extremely rich were no longer even remotely human.” He could just as well have meant the murderous yuppie protagonist of Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel American Psycho. In Mary Harron’s adaptation of Ellis’ novel, Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, a misanthropic investment banker who moonlights as a serial killer at the height of the excesses of the late ’80s, taking out his rage on anyone unfortunate enough to be near him. Sex workers, homeless people, rival colleagues, you name it. Patrick’s depravity knows no bounds, nor does the inhumanity of the powerful corporate finance that seemingly condones his outbursts of reckless violence.

Harron’s film looks deep into the inky void at the heart of America’s financial institutions to better understand the emptiness and terror that simmers beneath the surface of their stunning corner offices and immaculately pressed suits. It’s a harrowing, violent and disorienting horror film that feels like a dream, and a damn good thriller to boot. -THE

Alone

Image: XYZ Films/Magnet Releasing

Director: John Hyams
Pour: Jules Willcox, Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald

The theme of serial killers is continued in one of the best survival thrillers of recent years. Alone, The film is about a young woman who is kidnapped and locked up in a small hut in the middle of nowhere. Like all great survival films Alone is largely procedural-driven. We see our main character Jessica, played with tremendous grit by Jules Wilcox, methodically navigate her predicament and plan her escape while her nameless attacker (Marc Menchaca) plots her murder.

Action director John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) films the scenes in which Jessica is trapped with his usual relentless, utilitarian precision, so that the audience feels every attempt to escape in the pit of their stomach. But for all the effectiveness of these captivity scenes, Hyams shines most in the moments in which Jessica literally has to fight for her life. This elevates Alone from a solid thriller to something truly shocking. —Austen Goslin