Everyone these days has been a little crazy about crime movies, be it the crime enthusiasts or the ones just discovering the crime movie’s potential! Netflix is an absolute-to-go platform for the same, with a lot of options to choose from that offer not only quality but also quality.
Here is a list of 50 Crime Movies that are an absolute must-watch, and I dare say you cannot miss out on any of these, especially if you have a Netflix account. If not, these movies and their alluring stories will make you wish you did.
Just a disclaimer, there are a lot of movies mentioned below that might have content that mentions assault, murder, kidnapping, and other gruesome things, so viewer discretion is advised. Check out the content before watching the movie. Those who are interested in true crime, murder mysteries, and things like that are in for an absolute treat! Grab your favorite popcorn and read further on!
1. Woman in the Window
Woman in the Window is a psychological crime thriller that keeps you at the edge of your seat till the very end. It has a sense of mystery to it that just won’t let you get off the screen until you’re done with the movie completely. The movie revolves around Anna, a woman suffering from agoraphobia which does not allow her to get out of the house. She is not completely unaware of the world around her, though she is kind of a full-time stalker who observes her neighbors through the window. During one such day, she witnesses a crime, and things take a wild turn.
- Director: Joe Wright
- Cast: Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie
- Release Year: 2020
- Where to watch: Netflix
2. The Dark Knight
This movie is an evergreen classic from the year 2008; we have Christian Bale playing the character of Batman, who is facing a lot of challenges and has to prove his vigilance to protect Gotham. Joker, a manipulative mastermind, is here to test Batman’s limits, and now he must collaborate with Police Lieutenant James Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent to stop Gotham City from being destroyed.
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart.
- Release Year: 2008
- Where to watch: Netflix
3. The Good Nurse
This is a true crime movie based on a 2013 book of the same name, “The Good Nurse,” written by Charles Graeber. The movie has terrific leads and an amazing storyline. A night nurse who is stretching herself trying to carry out her professional and personal duties, she soon has a colleague helping her out through it all. As she gets closer to him, though, she starts suspecting he is involved in sinister things going on in the hospital.
- Director: Tobias Linholm
- Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Jessica Chastain, Denise Pillott
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
4. Murder Mystery
The movie revolves around a couple of a cop and a hairdresser as they go on their most awaited Europe trip and somehow find themselves caught up in the murder mystery of a billionaire. Stuck on a yacht and being the prime murder suspects, what will the couple do to get out of this?
- Director: Kyle Newacheck
- Cast: Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Luke Evans
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
5. The Guilty
This is a remake of a 2018 Danish Movie of the same name. Shot during the peak of the pandemic, this is a one-window movie, but let’s not move on from this just yet. We have Jake Gyllenhaal staring in this amazing thriller, where he stars as a 911 operator who is dealing with his own and the caller’s issues at the same time. As the movie goes on, things seem to be taking a much more serious turn.
- Director: Antonie Fuqua
- Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, Christina Vidaal.
- Release Year: 2021
- Where to watch: Netflix
6. The Craigslist Killer
This movie is an adaptation of a novel titled ‘Date with Death.’ Philip Markoff was a normal individual in the eyes of his fiance Megan McAllister and his professors, students, family, and friends. All of them were unaware of the dark, violent side he was hiding from them, though. A medical student and teacher who was preying on women through Craigslist. He will not be safe for long, though, as a vicious murder and series of assaults send police on his trail.
- Director: Stephen Kay
- Cast: Jake McDorman, Agnes Bruckner, Joshua Close, Julia Campbell.
- Release Year: 2011
- Where to watch: Netflix
7. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
This is thriller movie, considered to be the sequel to Knives Out, a 2019 movie. A classic movie about a dinner party gone wrong, or was it all planned? Billionaire Miles Bron’s Greek Island House is the party spot where everyone is a victim of the five guests.
(Source: Netflix)
- Director: Rian Johnson
- Cast: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn.
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
8. Red Notice
A red notice is given out by the FBI, the highest level of urgency notice, wherein a criminal profiler and the infamous but world’s greatest art thief must collaborate to catch the most wanted art thief at the moment. There are a lot of twists and turns that one goes through, but with the duo of Thurber and Johnson by the side, things turn out just fine.
- Director: Marshall Thurber
- Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot.
- Release Year: 2021
- Where to watch: Netflix
9. Searching
A screen-life movie about a father who is trying to look for his missing daughter: the complete movie is seen through the phone and computer screens of the characters present in the movie. Will the father be able to find his daughter? More importantly, though, will your nails survive this nail bitting thriller?
- Director: Aneesh Chaganty
- Cast: Joseph Lee, John Cho, Debra Messing.
- Release Year: 2018
- Where to watch: Netflix
10. Fractured
This movie could be described as a car journey gone wrong, though not the way you imagine it to be. A father-mother duo and their daughter stay in a highway rest area, where their daughter fractures her hand; after rushing to the hospital, though, things take a wild turn, and the mother-daughter duo is lost without trace or memory in the heads of the hospital staff.
- Director: Marshall Thurber
- Cast: Sam Worthington, Lily Rabe, Stephen Tobolowsky
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
11. Love Birds
Thrills bring people closer, and what better thrill than being involved in a murder mystery? For this couple, it feels true, as they have to define moments of their relationship caught up in something they did not sign up for!
- Director: Michael Showalter
- Cast: Aaron Abrams, Brendan Gall, Martin Gero
- Release Year: 2020
- Where to watch: Netflix
12. Inception
Want to see a movie that will make you want to watch it over and over again? Inception is the one for you, then! There will be so many things you will miss out on the first time around; you will be shocked. Extracting secrets from people dream’s is his job, but his last mission to put something in a target’s mind turns dangerous very fast. Will he and his team make it through?
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page
- Release Year: 2010
- Where to watch: Netflix
13. Sweet Girl
A daughter has lost her mother, a husband has lost his wife, and the blame is on a pharmaceutical company. Now they are out for revenge.
- Director: Brian Andrew Mendoza
- Cast: Isabel Merced, Jason Momoa, Amy Brennenman
- Release Year: 2021
- Where to watch: Netflix
14. The Irish Man
This is an interesting story surrounding the life and workings of the mind of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. He talks about the secrets he shared with the Bufalino crime family, his role as a labor team leader, hitman, and learning skills that defined his mob career during the Second World War. It is an intriguing roller coaster ride that this movie will take you on.
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Cast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
15. Army of Thieves
This movie is considered to be a prequel to Army of The Dead; set years before the Army of Dead, Sebastian leads a solitary and normal life. But things are about to change as he gets a chance to outshine his skills related to locks and bank safes as a mysterious Gwendoline hires him and his to-be-crew members to crack legendary safes across the country of Europe.
- Director: Matthias Schweighofer
- Cast: Ruby O. Fee, Nathalie Emmanuel, Matthias Schweighofer, Stuart Martin
- Release Year: 2023
- Where to watch: Netflix
16. Zodiac
This movie is based on a true crime story of a killer who leaves cryptic letters and messages behind for the police to find. Soon a cartoonist becomes involved in the case, obsessive over solving the zodiac killer’s messages. Will they be able to capture the killer, or will he be a good runner like the Pisces?
- Director: David Fincher
- Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey
- Release Year: 2007
- Where to watch: Netflix
17. Pulp Fiction
A string of criminal occurrences that are showcased in the movie highlights the lives of two hitmen, their boos’ wife, and an aging boxer paid by the boss to lose a fight. Soon all of these people will be seen running into each other’s ways and having experiences that are both hilarious and thrilling.
- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Cast: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel Jackson, Bruce Willis
- Release Year: 1994
- Where to watch: Netflix
18. The Snowman
Every one of us looking forward to the first snow, aren’t we? Be it your first time experiencing it, or the thousandth. This serial killer is also looking forward to it, as he brutally murders his first victim, who might be an addition to the list of victims of a serial killer who was active years ago. Now the police are on the lookout for him; maybe you should be too.
- Director: Quentin Tarantino
- Cast: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Fergusson, Charlotte Gainsborg, Jonas Karlson
- Release Year: 2017
- Where to watch: Netflix
19. Enola Holmes 2
Enola Holmes, the sister of Sherlock Holmes, is taking on her first case. Yes. The sister of THE SHERLOCK HOLMES. She is trying her hands on the disappearance of the match stick girl’s sister and finds herself tangles up in the mess of sinister music halls and factories.
- Director: Harry Bradbeer
- Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, David Thelvis
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
20. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie
This movie is considered to be a sequel and an epilogue to the TV Series Breaking Bad. It continues the story of Jesse Pinkman, a drug empire partner, and how he is trying to escape his past right now and all the bad it holds.
- Director: Vince Gilligan
- Cast: Aaron Paul, Jesse Plemons, Robert Forster
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
21. Night Agent
This movie is considered to be the dramatization of a novel by Matthew Quirk, which goes by the same name as ‘Night Agent.’ It revolves around the workings of a case received by a Night action desk worker relating to a conspiracy going on in the White House. This is turning out to be another one of Netflix’s hits, do not miss out on a chance at grabbing something from this Oscar-listed squad of actors!
- Director: Shawn Ryan
- Cast: Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Hong Chau
- Release Year: 2023
- Where to watch: Netflix
22. Abducted in Plain Sight
The title can seem a little bizarre, but watching the movie will help you understand that this was exactly the case of what happened with Jan Broberg as she was kidnapped by someone her family trusted with their lives, and their daughter too. Scenes from this movie are likely to infuriate you, as to the lack of apparent understanding and immaculate trust of the adults in one another.
- Director: Skye Borgman
- Release Year: 2017
- Where to watch: Netflix
23. Catch Me if You Can
This movie is about a man who fooled the world, the police, and countless people for the longest time. The number one con man, and a master of manipulation and disguises, you wouldn’t be able to catch him if he passed you by, will the police?
- Director: Steven Spielberg
- Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken
- Release Year: 2002
- Where to watch: Netflix
24. FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
FYRE is based on the scandalous 2017 FYRE festival organized by Billy McFarland, which landed him in prison for six years.
- Director: Chris Smith
- Release Year: 2018
- Where to watch: Netflix
25. Luckiest Girl Alive
Another movie based on a novel that is ready to have you in its grasp. Based on the 2017 New York Times bestseller, “The Luckiest Girl Alive,” revolves around the life or rather an incident that happened in Ani Fanelli’s life, which indeed defined and altered her completely. Secrets are about to come out, though, as she is approached by a true crime director to share her side of the story.
- Director: Jessica Knoll
- Cast: Mila Kunis, Finn Wittrock, Connie Britton
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
26. Girl in the Picture
Another true crime documentary that revolves around the life and death of Tonya Tadlock. This documentary is seen to cover so many different aspects and hidden aspects of Tonya’s life that it leaves you shaken. At one point, the question pertains was Tonya a real person or an alias.
- Director: Skye Borgman
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
27. Snowden
This is a real-life story about Edward Snowden, who the movie is named after. Snowden had leaked some extremely classified information about the CIA and was caught red-handed. This movie tells us how.
- Director: Oliver Stone
- Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Quinto
- Release Year: 2016
- Where to watch: Netflix
28. In the Shadow of the Moon
Follow a Philadelphia detective as he tries to find a female serial killer who has a gruesome way of killing her victims and seems to lack any kind of pattern or rules that serial killers go by.
- Director: Jim Mickle
- Cast: Boyd Holbrook, Michael C. Hall, Cleopatra Coleman
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
29. Blackout
When a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent goes on an undercover mission, he finds himself caught up in a mess. He wakes only to find himself in a locked-down hospital, with amnesia and the Cartel behind him to bring him down.
- Director: Sam Macaroni
- Cast: Josh Duhamel, Abbie Cornish, Omar Chaparro
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
30. The Call
This movie can be considered a prank gone wrong classic. A group of teenagers decides to play a prank on a house in the woods, but things go downhill when the inhabitants and the house wants revenge now!
- Director: Timothy Woodward Jr
- Cast: Lin Shaye, Tobin Bell, Erin Sanders, Chester Rushing, Mike Manning
- Release Year: 2020
- Where to watch: Netflix
31. The Takeover
This movie has a classic storyline, where the protagonist tries to block a privacy breach by a bad guy’s company and is now being chased down by them so that she cannot reveal their secrets. A movie to watch on a lazy Sunday that gives you just the right amount of adrenaline rush.
- Director: Troy Cook
- Cast: Holly Mae Brood, Géza Weisz, Frank Lammers
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
32. The Stepfather
Do we know the person we are dating? Or the person, our parent, is? This is the exact question Michael Harding is asking himself as he comes home to see his mother dating a man who he is growing to be highly suspicious of being a serial murderer.
- Director: Nelson McCormick
- Cast: Dylan Walsh, Sela Ward, Penn Badgley
- Release Year: 2009
- Where to watch: Netflix
33. Heatwave
Claire is an ambitious young woman who is living her dream life right now; she has a passionate romantic partner, a good job, and everything nice. But all things do come to an end, as they say; her’s do too. She is caught up in a deep web of malice and secrets from her past. All she needs to do is come out from it unscratched now.
- Director: Ernie Barbarash
- Cast: Kat Graham, Merritt Patterson, Sebastian Roché
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
34. 22nd July
This movie is seen as a documentation of the Norway attacks of 2011. It is also seen to be based on the book One of Us: The Story of a Massacre in Norway — and Its Aftermath by Åsne Seierstad. This gives us a deep insight into the attack and what are the potential and brutal aftermath of something like this happening.
- Director: Paul Greengrass
- Cast: Jonas Strand Gravli, Anders Danielsen Lie, Jon Øigarden
- Release Year: 2018
- Where to watch: Netflix
35. American Hustle
This movie is considered to be a classic dark comedy working its way through the dark world of Mafias and powerbrokers. An odd group of people consisting of a con man, his partner, his significant other, an FBI agent, and a political operator are trying to solve a scandal that could bring the world crashing down.
- Director: David O. Russell
- Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams
- Release Year: 2013
- Where to watch: Netflix
36. A Walk Among Tombstones
Based on a novel by Lawrence Black written in 1992 that goes by the same name as the movie, the movie shows us a sinister side of the world to us through the lens of Matthew Scudder, a former cop and now a private detective. With complex characters and sassy dialogues, this movie also has an amazing suspenseful plotline and is an absolute must-watch.
- Director: Scott Frank
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens, David Harbour
- Release Year: 2014
- Where to watch: Netflix
37. I Care a Lot
In this movie, we have Marla Grayson, the fraudster who is legally responsible for a lot of elderly wards and embezzled money from them but working through the loopholes of the system. When she is appointed as a legal guardian for an older woman who has no heir in line, she learns deeper and darker secrets about her and is caught up in a fight that she cannot win playing fair.
- Director: J Blakeson
- Cast: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González
- Release Year: 2020
- Where to watch: Netflix
38. The Unforgivable
After being convicted of murder, Ruth Slather is sentenced to twenty years in jail. Having completed her sentence, she comes back to look for her younger sister Katie. The movie revolves around her trying to look for her sister, the consequences she faces trying to do so and trying to save herself from someone out for revenge.
- Director: Nora Fingscheidt
- Cast: Sandra Bullock, Vincent D’Onofrio, Viola Davis
- Release Year: 2021
- Where to watch: Netflix
39. The HighwayMen
Set in the 1930s, this is a period drama that revolves around two Texas Rangers, Frank and Maney, as they look for the Notorious couple Bonnie and Clyde.
- Director: John Lee Hancock
- Cast: Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, Kathy Bates
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
40. Pain and Gain
This is an action comedy that involves three bodybuilders who suddenly find themselves involved in crimes like kidnapping and extortion.
- Director: Michael Bay
- Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie
- Release Year: 2013
- Where to watch: Netflix
41. The Gentleman
Getting into a crime and engaging with criminals come with its consequences. So goes for this Oxford Graduate who comes up with his Marijuana empire and, while trying to sell it to another individual, gets caught up in a series of comedic events.
- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong
- Release Year: 2019
- Where to watch: Netflix
42. Luther: The Fallen Sun
How far will you go to stop a sadistic serial killer? Not as far as John Luther, certainly. After being discarded and up into jail, Luther takes it upon himself to solve the crime and stop the serial killer from terrorizing London. No matter what it takes.
- Director: Jamie Payne
- Cast: Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis
- Release Year: 2023
- Where to watch: Netflix
43. The Net
Angela discovers some secret information on a program sent to her by an internet friend just hours before Angela is set to leave for vacation. Now, she is suddenly caught up in a race against the ones who are out to get her.
- Director: Irwin Winkler
- Cast: Sandra Bullock, Jeremy Northam, Dennis Miller
- Release Year: 1995
- Where to watch: Netflix
44. Shutter Island
Have you ever had moments where you felt like the universe is indeed not real, and it is all a metaverse? You can relate to this US Marshal then who goes into a psychiatric hospital to investigate a missing patient case and is caught up in a web that makes him reconsider all he knows about himself and the people around him.
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley
- Release Year: 2010
- Where to watch: Netflix
45. The Pale Blue Eye
A detective story captivating like none other. This movie is based on a 2003 novel written by Louis Bayard. It was hard living in the 1830s, especially without the commodities that we have today, and even more, if you were a part of the West Point regime. The conditions were so bad that suicides were common for them, but when several cadets died, sparks of suspicion flew, putting veteran detective Augustus Landor on alert. Who, along with a fellow cadet Edgar Allen Poe tries to solve the case.
- Director: Scott Cooper
- Cast: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Gillian Anderson
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
46. Lou
Any kidnapping is never rooted in things just in the present, and neither was this one. During a storm, a mother tries to look for her kid with the help of an enigmatic neighbor and discovers disturbing secrets from her past.
- Director: Anna Foerster
- Cast: Allison Janney, Jurnee Smollett, Logan Marshall-Green
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
47. The Weekend Away
Imagine the worst thing that can happen on a getaway. Not multiply the intensity by 10. Because that is how deep of a mess Beth lands herself in a while on a getaway with her best friend, Katie. She was convicted of murder, and a secret that came up to change her life forever.
- Director: Kim Farrant
- Cast: Leighton Meester, Christina Wolfe, Ziad Bakri
- Release Year: 2022
- Where to watch: Netflix
48. Wrath Of Man
A new security guard joins a cash truck enterprise, but he is here for something more than just the stipend. A deep conspiracy, perhaps against someone powerful.
- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Cast: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Jeffrey Donovan
- Release Year: 2021
- Where to watch: Netflix
49. Athlete A
Larry Nassar was a sexual abuser with hundreds of victims, and Indianapolis Star Reporters are ready to show the world his true colors. The reality of the USA Gymnastics Doctor comes out now.
- Director: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
- Release Year: 2020
- Where to watch: Netflix
50. Lost Girls
When Mari Gilbert’s daughter goes missing, she decides to take matters into her own hands and look for her. She soon discovers a trail of murders and cannot get them out of her mind, and neither will she let anyone else forget about them.
- Director: Liz Garbus
- Cast: Amy Ryan, Gabriel Byrne, Thomasin McKenzie
- Release Year: 2020
- Where to watch: Netflix
