The Best Movies on Netflix to Watch Right Now 2021

It's always movie night thanks to Netflix and its never-ending bounty of fine films and not-so-fine flicks, but what movie should you watch? Our list of the best movies to watch on Netflix right now will help you decide. Our latest addition is the South American Spanish-language film Fever Dream, which mixes art-house surrealism with supernatural existentialism while telling a story about a mother's love for her child. More direct and intense is Jake Gyllenhaal's The Guilty, a thriller about a 9-1-1 operator who becomes obsessed with a case. They join other recent additions, like No One Gets Out Alive and the Romanian film The Father Who Moves Mountains. 

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This is a list of the best movies to watch on Netflix right now. To keep things relevant, we're specifically highlighting the best recent releases (whether they're new to the world or just Netflix), Netflix originals, and some of our own personal favorites. 

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Looking for the 50 best movies and TV shows to watch on Netflix or the best TV shows on Netflix? Or more recommendations of what to watch next? We have a ton of them! We also have hand-picked selections based on shows you already love.

Last updated Oct. 14, 2021; newer additions are at the top

Fever Dream
For fans of: Artsy films, beautiful confusion, slightly supernatural films

Dolores Fonzi and María Valverde, Fever Dream
Dolores Fonzi and María Valverde, Fever Dream Diego Araya/NETFLIX
This Chilean film based on a novel by Argentine author Samantha Schwelbin dabbles in the supernatural while telling the story of a mother who realizes her friend's young son may not be all she thinks he is. There's some great philosophy inside -- especially about how a parent protects their child from danger -- but you're more likely to come away from this wonderfully shot film peppered with a sense of imminent doom with only a hazy understanding of the open-to-interpretation storytelling as nothing is spoon-fed to the viewer. But dig a little deeper and you'll find a chilling story of what a parent is willing do for their child. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

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The Guilty
For fans of: One-man plays, Jake Gyllenhaal, thrilling phone conversations

Jake Gyllenhaal, The Guilty
Jake Gyllenhaal, The Guilty Joe Bayler/Netflix
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a cop sent to desk duty at a 9-1-1 call center and becomes embroiled in a case when a woman being held against her will calls to ask for help. An adaptation of a 2018 Danish film, The Guilty is the rare intense thriller without any of the action as it's mostly set in the call center with Jake on the phone and only voices coming from the other end. But director Antoine Fuqua and Gyllenhaal keep things mesmerizing. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review]

No One Gets Out Alive
For fans of: The class division, the immigrant experience, spooks

REPELIS

Cristina Rodlo, No One Gets Out Alive
Cristina Rodlo, No One Gets Out Alive Teddy Cavendish/Netflix
A Latin American immigrant seeking work and housing in America shacks up in a boarding house where things aren't not haunted, if you get my drift. It's a great horror gem that taps into the immigrant experience and the difficulties the poor have with basic needs. -Tim Surette [Trailer | Review]

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Jaws
For fans of: Red water, scar talk

Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, Jaws
Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw, Jaws Universal
Steven Spielberg's classic about a great white shark that terrorized a tourist community still holds up today as one of the greatest horror movies ever. All of the Jaws movies are now on Netflix, but you're on your own if you want to watch any of the disappointing sequels. [Trailer]

The Father Who Moves Mountains
For fans of: Cinematography, the battle between sanity and madness, fast snow & slow burns

The Father Who Moves Mountains
The Father Who Moves Mountains Netflix
This Romanian film follows a powerful man of means desperate to find his son after he goes missing on a mountain trek. It's not an action film, but rather a contemplative exploration of how far a man will go to save his son and at what cost to others. You'll understand why he does what he does, but you might not like him for it. [Trailer]

Nightbooks
For fans of: Kids horror between Goosebumps and Fear Street, Krysten Ritter. hairless cats | Is it good?: It's pretty cool for kids and tweens who can handle scares

Krysten Ritter, Nightbooks
Krysten Ritter, Nightbooks Christos Kalohoridis/Netflix
This adaptation of the 2018 children's fantasy-horror book by J.A. White is the perfect movie for the young horror fan in your life who is too old for things like Goosebumps but not quite ready for the teen-slasher gore of the Fear Street movies. It follows a young boy who is captured by a witch (a delectable Krysten Ritter) and bargains for his life by agreeing to tell her a new scary story that he writes each night. While there's no real blood and gore, there are definitely some creepy things -- Sam Raimi is a producer -- that will give some young ones nightmares for weeks, so make sure your kiddo is mentally prepared before they sit down to watch this. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Worth
For fans of: Incredibly difficult questions about life, sentimental biopics, Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci, Worth
Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci, Worth Monika Lek/Netflix
Michael Keaton plays lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, who was assigned the task of formulating how money was distributed through the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, which the government granted to families whose loved ones were killed in the 9/11 attacks. It essentially asks how much a life is worth and whether they're all equal. Strong acting and directing overcome some pretty melodramatic moments. [Trailer]

Wind River
For fans of: Yellowstone, Marvel stars in other things, snowy shootouts

Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner, Wind River
Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner, Wind River 
Taylor Sheridan, who created the Paramount hit drama Yellowstone, sticks to the wilderness for this 2018 movie starring Jeremy Renner as a sharpshooting game official and Elizabeth Olsen as an FBI agent trying to solve a rape and murder on a Native American reservation in Wyoming during the winter. It's a character-driven whodunnit in America's untamed land. [Trailer]

The Old Ways
For fans of: Witchcraft, Latin American demonology, creepy crawlies

The Old Ways
The Old Ways Netflix
A young journalist goes deep into the jungles of Veracruz, Mexico, for a story on indigenous people who practice ancient witchcraft, only to be kidnapped by them when they believe she is possessed by a demon. It's full of terrifying imagery, as is expected, but it's the claustrophobia of being imprisoned that really drives the horror. On top of that, there are themes of cultural identity that take it to a smarter level than your typical horror film, and visually, it's aces. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

The Edge of Seventeen
For fans of: Remembering how much high school sucked

Hailee Steinfeld, Edge of Seventeen
Hailee Steinfeld, Edge of Seventeen STX Entertainment
One of the best teen comedies of the last decade, The Edge of Seventeen has everything you want in a coming-of-age movie. After finding out her best friend is hooking up with her popular older brother, awkward outsider Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is thrown into crisis mode. Meanwhile, Nadine is navigating a strained relationship with her mother (Kyra Sedgwick) and a crush on an older boy by herself, with her only friend being her teacher, Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson), who barely tolerates her existential ramblings. It's a funny, sweet movie that will remind you of the classics you already love, like Clueless and Mean Girls, while standing totally on its own. [Trailer]

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf
For fans of: The Witcher, animated gore

The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf Netflix
This anime Witcher prequel film follows Geralt's mentor, Vesemir (voiced here by Theo James). The film, set several years before the events of the series, explores Vesemir's origin story, showing him as a young lad who is only concerned with monster slaying and getting paid for monster slaying.

The Fear Street trilogy
For fans of: Gruesome horror, not wanting to wait for the sequel

Fear Street Part Two: 1978
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 Netflix
R.L. Stine, the guy who wrote the Goosebumps books, set his sights on a slightly older crowd with his Fear Street novel series, which are now the foundation for one of Netflix's biggest film experiments yet. The three teen-slasher horror films, which all tell the origin story of a cursed town, were each released over three consecutive Fridays in July 2021. Each film is set in a different year (1994, 1978, and 1666), culminating in a flashback to witch trials in the 1600s, and feature carryover cast members and plenty of gory deaths. Let's just say you'll be extra careful around a bread slicer. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Blood Red Sky
For fans of: Monstrous surprises, small-space horror

Peri Baumeister and Carl Koch, Blood Red Sky
Peri Baumeister and Carl Koch, Blood Red Sky Netflix
This German-English language action-forward horror film is set on a Transatlantic flight between Berlin and New York City that is besieged by hijackers. But they don't know that one of the passengers on board possesses supernatural powers, and will do anything to protect her young son, which sometimes means eating the bad guys. It's a taut thriller with a paranormal twist that's one of Netflix's better original horror films. -Tim Surette [Trailer]

Army of the Dead
For fans of: Zombie gore, Tig Notaro

Omari Hardwick, Army of the Dead
Omari Hardwick, Army of the Dead Clay Enos/Netflix
Say what you want about Zack Snyder, but the movie that put him on the map, 2004's remake of the classic zombie flick Dawn of the Dead, was pretty frickin' great. Snyder returns to the undead with this Netflix original film starring former pro wrestler Dave Bautista as a soldier planning a casino heist in a post-apocalyptic Las Vegas swarming with zombies who have evolved to be smart, faster, and more organized than their numb-skulled ancestors. Snyder. Bautista. Zombies. And somehow Tig Notaro? You know what you're getting with this movie: dumb fun. -Tim Surette