The fall film season has begun and on Netflix it was ushered in by the outstanding new film Rebel Crest. The new film from the director of Green Room is already a standout candidate for one of the best films of the year, but it’s also just one of the many great thrillers on Netflix in September.
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.
Next to Rebel Crestwe’ve rounded up a number of excellent films, including one of the most brutal mystery films of all time and a gritty thriller from Denzel Washington in which he essentially plays a villain from a slasher film.
Editor’s recommendation: Rebel Ridge
Image: Patti Perrett/Netflix
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Pour: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb
Jeremy Saulnier’s latest action thriller is not only the best thriller available on Netflix this month, but also a contender for one of the best films of this year, period. Aaron Pierre (Old
Pierre’s performance exudes a palpable, genuine anger that shines beneath the surface of his stoic and composed demeanor. Rebel CrestThe story of features some of the most efficient and memorable writing in recent memory, with otherwise innocuous lines and props later resurfacing with deeper meaning. The action is exciting, the editing and pacing are breathtaking, and the story is elemental in its sensitive resonance. If Aaron Pierre isn’t a star after this performance, it’s certainly not his fault. —Toussaint Egan
Image: NEON
Director: Park Chan-wook
Pour: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong
Old boy has one of the best 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 has been framed for the crime. He is 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.
Old boy is already a modern classic, but if you haven’t given this dark South Korean thriller from master director Park Chan-wook a chance, then you absolutely must watch it – if you have the stomach for it. –Austen Goslin
Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images
Director: Antoine Fuqua
Pour: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Eugenio Mastrandrea
The Equalizer 3 is a film for everyone who has ever been awake in the middle of the night wondering What if Jason Voorhees was a fatherly black man with a penchant for tea and fancy hats?
After a one-man raid on a Mafia drug den, Robert is nursed back to health and awakens in the Italian coastal town of Altamonte. During his recovery, Robert is slowly but surely taken in by the town’s residents and welcomed as one of their own. However, Robert’s actions attract the attention of not only CIA agent Emma Collins (Dakota Fanning), but also an Italian crime syndicate that has begun terrorizing Altamonte. Determined to save his adopted home, Robert secretly helps Emma with her investigation into the syndicate’s actions before eventually taking matters into his own hands.
The Equalizer 3 is a slower and more emotionally restrained film than previous installments in director Antoine Fuqua’s series, but no less violent and thrilling. Washington delivers a poignant portrayal of Robert as a man ready to truly step away from violence and embrace his newfound sense of community and peace, while also being willing to return to violence to protect that peace. What’s equally, if not more, compelling is seeing Washington and Fanning back on screen for the first time since 2004. Man under firewhich creates an unofficial mentor/mentee dynamic that makes the film worth watching in itself. —THE
