Last updated: September 25, 2026. This guide covers movies currently streaming on Netflix in the United States. Availability may vary by region.
Trying to find the best movies on Netflix right now can sometimes take longer than actually watching one.
Netflix has thousands of movies competing for attention, with new releases arriving every month and licensed favorites constantly rotating in and out of the library.
That is where this list comes in.
We have narrowed Netflix’s massive catalog down to 20 movies worth putting on your watchlist right now, ranging from recent Netflix releases to award-winning dramas, thrillers, animation, horror, comedy and modern classics.
The goal is not simply to highlight whatever happens to be trending this week. These are movies that are actually worth your time.
September also brought a particularly strong batch of licensed movies to the service. You can find the complete lineup in our guide to everything coming to Netflix in September 2026.
This guide will be updated regularly as Netflix adds and removes movies, so bookmark it whenever you are wondering what to watch on Netflix.
TL;DR: The Best Movies On Netflix Right Now
- Best new Netflix movie: Don’t Say Good Luck
- Best sci-fi thriller: The Last House
- Best action thriller: Rebel Ridge
- Best animated movie: KPop Demon Hunters
- Best comedy: Hit Man
- Best mystery: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
- Best horror movie: Smile 2
- Best international movie: Society of the Snow
- Best crime epic: The Irishman
- Best classic: Aliens
- Best family movie: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The 20 Best Movies On Netflix Right Now
The movies below are presented in no particular order. Every title was available on Netflix in the United States when this guide was last updated.
1. Don’t Say Good Luck (2026)
Genre: Coming-of-Age, Comedy, Drama
Starring: Sunny Sandler, Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield
Best for: Viewers looking for a heartfelt newer Netflix movie
One of Netflix’s bigger original movies of the summer, Don’t Say Good Luck gives Sunny Sandler the opportunity to step into the spotlight.
Sandler plays Sophie Birenbaum, a teenager who lands the lead in her high school musical at almost exactly the same time her life away from the stage becomes considerably more complicated.
The setup could easily have become another conventional teen comedy.
Instead, the movie is more interested in the messy overlap between adolescence, grief, family and the pressure to keep moving forward when life suddenly changes direction.
Melanie Lynskey and Max Greenfield give the family story additional weight without overwhelming the younger characters.
For anyone looking for one of Netflix’s stronger recent originals rather than something that has been sitting in your watchlist for years, this remains an easy place to start.
2. The Last House (2026)
Genre: Science Fiction, Thriller, Horror
Starring: Greta Lee, Wagner Moura, Gabriel Barbosa
Best for: Fans of contained survival thrillers
The Last House begins with a wonderfully simple nightmare:
What happens when your home suddenly becomes the one place you cannot escape?
Greta Lee and Wagner Moura play parents whose family discovers that their house has been mysteriously sealed off from the outside world.
Doors and windows provide no escape. Supplies begin running out. Days become increasingly difficult to measure, and the force keeping them trapped remains impossible to understand.
Director Louis Leterrier takes the familiar idea of home as a safe haven and turns it into the source of the movie’s tension.
The contained setting gives The Last House a different flavor from the huge spectacle normally associated with modern science fiction.
If you prefer mystery, survival and claustrophobia to endless exposition, this is worth putting on your list.
3. KPop Demon Hunters (2025)
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Action, Comedy
Voices: Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, Ken Jeong
Best for: Animation fans, families and anyone who loves a great soundtrack
Few Netflix animated movies have combined music, action and supernatural fantasy as confidently as KPop Demon Hunters.
Rumi, Mira and Zoey spend their public lives performing as K-pop superstars.
Behind the scenes, they have another job entirely: protecting humanity from demons.
Things become significantly more complicated when a rival boy band arrives with a supernatural secret of its own.
The energetic animation and monster-fighting action would be enough to carry a lesser movie, but the music, characters and emotional story are what gave this one genuine staying power.
GVN praised the movie’s exploration of identity, shame, self-love and fandom without losing the colorful energy that makes the premise so much fun.
More than a year after its debut, it remains one of Netflix’s easiest recommendations.
4. Smile 2 (2024)
Genre: Horror, Psychological Thriller
Starring: Naomi Scott, Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage
Best for: Horror fans getting ready for Halloween
Netflix added Smile 2 in September, and the timing could hardly be better with Halloween approaching.
Naomi Scott stars as global pop star Skye Riley, who is preparing for a major world tour when increasingly disturbing events begin tearing apart her already-fragile sense of reality.
The supernatural entity introduced in Smile returns, but the sequel uses celebrity and public scrutiny to expand its nightmare.
Scott is the biggest reason it works.
GVN praised her career-best performance and called the sequel a psychological hellscape that pushes the original movie’s ideas about trauma considerably further.
The kills are brutal, the imagery is unsettling and the uncertainty over what is actually happening makes Skye’s descent even more disturbing.
If you want horror on Netflix right now, this should be near the top of the list.
5. Aliens (1986)
Genre: Science Fiction, Horror, Action
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Bill Paxton
Best for: Anyone looking for an all-time science-fiction classic
Netflix’s September library update brought James Cameron’s Aliens back into subscription streaming.
Ridley Scott’s Alien was essentially a haunted-house movie set in space.
Cameron takes that foundation and transforms the sequel into a war movie.
Sigourney Weaver returns as Ellen Ripley, who awakens decades after surviving the Nostromo disaster only to discover that humans have colonized the same world where her crew encountered the alien eggs.
When contact with the colony is lost, Ripley returns alongside a squad of Colonial Marines.
Things go about as well as you would expect.
GVN called Aliens one of James Cameron’s finest movies and one of the great action-horror sequels.
Nearly four decades later, very little about that assessment has changed.
6. Rebel Ridge (2024)
Genre: Action, Thriller, Crime
Starring: Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb
Best for: Fans of grounded, intelligent action movies
Rebel Ridge proves that an action movie does not need superheroes, global destruction or an army of digital effects to generate tension.
Aaron Pierre stars as Terry Richmond, a former Marine traveling through a small town with money intended to post bail for his cousin.
Local police seize the cash.
What initially looks like another abuse of authority gradually exposes something much larger.
Jeremy Saulnier builds the movie around escalating confrontations rather than nonstop gunfire.
Pierre gives Terry the controlled presence of someone who knows exactly what he is capable of and would prefer not to demonstrate it.
That restraint makes the moments when things finally explode considerably more effective.
GVN called the movie a gripping success, with particular praise for Pierre’s commanding lead performance.
7. Hit Man (2024)
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Crime
Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio
Best for: Date night or anyone wanting something genuinely fun
Richard Linklater and Glen Powell turn an unusual undercover operation into one of Netflix’s most entertaining romantic comedies with Hit Man.
Powell plays Gary Johnson, a mild-mannered professor who assists police by pretending to be a professional killer during sting operations.
Gary proves disturbingly good at changing personalities to match whatever his targets imagine a hit man should look like.
Then he meets Madison, played by Adria Arjona.
The carefully constructed boundary between Gary’s ordinary identity and his increasingly confident alter ego begins disappearing.
GVN called the movie a note-perfect star vehicle for Powell, praising his chemistry with Arjona and the movie’s ability to move between romance, crime and comedy.
Sometimes a movie can simply be fun.
Hit Man is very good at it.
8. His Three Daughters (2024)
Genre: Drama
Starring: Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen
Best for: Character-driven dramas
Sometimes all a great movie needs is a room, a difficult situation and three exceptional actors.
His Three Daughters brings Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen together as estranged sisters who reunite in their father’s New York apartment during his final days.
Old resentments quickly return as each woman processes grief in a completely different way.
The limited setting places almost all of the attention on the performances and writing.
Rather than manufacturing melodrama, the movie finds tension in uncomfortable conversations, old habits and the strange practical details that accompany loss.
GVN praised the emotional impact of the movie and the balance between its three leads.
It is intimate, occasionally funny and often painful without feeling manipulative.
9. Society of the Snow (2024)
Genre: Drama, Survival
Starring: Enzo Vogrincic, Agustín Pardella, Matías Recalt
Best for: Intense true-story survival dramas
J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow revisits the 1972 Andes flight disaster with extraordinary attention to both the scale of the catastrophe and the humanity of the people trapped inside it.
After a plane crashes deep in the Andes, the survivors face freezing temperatures, dwindling supplies and seemingly impossible decisions as days become weeks.
Rather than treating the disaster primarily as spectacle, Bayona emphasizes the relationships between the survivors.
GVN called the film a dark but ultimately hopeful story about resilience, brotherhood and the human will to survive.
It remains one of Netflix’s strongest international films.
10. May December (2023)
Genre: Drama, Psychological
Starring: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton
Best for: Viewers who like complicated and uncomfortable character studies
Todd Haynes gives audiences very little comfortable ground in May December.
Natalie Portman plays an actress researching a woman she is preparing to portray in an upcoming movie.
That woman, played by Julianne Moore, became notorious decades earlier because of a relationship that dominated tabloid headlines.
As the actress inserts herself deeper into the family’s daily life, observation slowly turns into imitation.
Everyone’s motives become harder to read.
Charles Melton delivers particularly impressive work as a man who is finally beginning to examine experiences he spent years accepting as normal.
GVN praised the movie’s strange ability to move between uncomfortable drama, dark humor and melodrama without ever allowing the audience to relax.
11. The Killer (2023)
Genre: Crime, Thriller
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton
Best for: David Fincher fans and methodical thrillers
David Fincher’s The Killer is a revenge movie stripped down to procedure.
Michael Fassbender plays an assassin whose meticulously controlled professional life begins unraveling after a job goes wrong.
What follows sends him across multiple locations as he hunts the people responsible for the consequences.
The fun comes from the contrast between the killer’s internal philosophy and what repeatedly happens around him.
He believes murder has become a science.
Reality keeps demonstrating otherwise.
GVN called the movie a simple but effective thriller and a welcome return to form for Fincher.
12. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)
Genre: Mystery, Comedy
Starring: Daniel Craig, Janelle Monáe, Edward Norton
Best for: Murder-mystery fans
Detective Benoit Blanc returns in Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
This time, the mystery unfolds on the private Greek island of billionaire technology entrepreneur Miles Bron.
Daniel Craig continues having enormous fun as Blanc, while Janelle Monáe, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn and Dave Bautista provide him with no shortage of suspicious personalities.
The central mystery is satisfying, but much of the enjoyment comes from watching Blanc dismantle the enormous egos surrounding him.
Rian Johnson uses the classic whodunit format while remaining completely willing to play with its rules.
13. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Genre: War, Drama
Starring: Felix Kammerer, Albrecht Schuch, Daniel Brühl
Best for: Serious historical and war dramas
Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front is deliberately exhausting.
The story follows teenage soldier Paul Bäumer as his initial excitement about joining the German army during World War I disappears almost immediately after reaching the Western Front.
Battlefields become machines that consume people faster than either side can replace them.
Decisions made far away from the trenches continue determining who lives long enough to see another day.
GVN praised Berger’s unflinching approach to war trauma and Felix Kammerer’s remarkable performance.
The film is visually enormous yet intensely personal.
It has no interest in making combat look glorious.
14. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Genre: Animation, Fantasy, Musical
Voices: Gregory Mann, Ewan McGregor, David Bradley
Best for: Families and animation lovers
Guillermo del Toro takes one of the world’s most familiar children’s stories and transforms it into something unmistakably his own.
This stop-motion version of Pinocchio retains the wooden puppet, Geppetto and many recognizable elements of Carlo Collodi’s story.
It also places them within a much darker historical context.
The handcrafted animation alone makes the movie worth watching.
What gives it staying power is del Toro’s refusal to talk down to younger viewers.
The movie can be funny and whimsical before suddenly confronting grief, mortality, authoritarianism and the meaning of a life well lived.
It is family animation made with the assumption that children are capable of understanding difficult ideas.
15. His House (2020)
Genre: Horror
Starring: Ṣọpẹ Dìrísù, Wunmi Mosaku, Matt Smith
Best for: Horror fans who want more than jump scares
His House is frightening before anything supernatural even happens.
A refugee couple from South Sudan arrives in England hoping to rebuild their lives.
They are placed in a deteriorating house under strict conditions while attempting to adjust to a country that does not necessarily make them feel welcome.
Then something begins moving inside the walls.
Director Remi Weekes uses haunted-house conventions to explore trauma, guilt and displacement.
The supernatural story and the couple’s past gradually become impossible to separate.
Smile 2 may now be the flashier horror recommendation on Netflix, but His House remains one of the strongest original horror movies the service has released.
16. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)
Genre: Drama, Music
Starring: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Colman Domingo
Best for: Performance-driven dramas
Adapted from August Wilson’s play, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom takes place largely during a recording session in 1927 Chicago.
Tensions between musicians, producers and legendary blues singer Ma Rainey steadily rise.
Viola Davis dominates every room she enters as Ma, but the movie also features one of Chadwick Boseman’s most memorable performances as ambitious trumpet player Levee.
GVN called the film a masterclass in acting, highlighting Davis and Boseman’s performances in particular.
The confined location turns the recording studio into a pressure chamber.
Conversations about music gradually become arguments about race, ambition, exploitation and ownership.
17. The Irishman (2019)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci
Best for: Crime-movie fans ready for an epic
Martin Scorsese assembled Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci for a gangster movie that gradually reveals itself to be something much sadder.
De Niro plays Frank Sheeran, a truck driver who becomes connected to organized crime and eventually union leader Jimmy Hoffa.
The movie moves across decades while Frank repeatedly convinces himself that loyalty and obedience will somehow shield him from the consequences of his decisions.
The Irishman is long.
It is deliberately long.
The final stretch would not have nearly the same impact without spending so much time watching these men construct the lives they eventually have to sit alone and remember.
18. Marriage Story (2019)
Genre: Drama
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern
Best for: Emotional, dialogue-heavy dramas
Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story begins after much of the love story has already happened.
Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver play Nicole and Charlie, a married couple attempting to separate without destroying the family they built together.
That goal becomes increasingly difficult once geography, careers, lawyers and years of unresolved frustration enter the process.
The movie’s greatest strength is its refusal to reduce the relationship to one villain and one victim.
Both characters can be sympathetic in one scene and deeply frustrating in the next.
Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta add another layer as attorneys who demonstrate how quickly a deeply personal situation can become adversarial once other people become involved.
19. Roma (2018)
Genre: Drama
Starring: Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira
Best for: Fans of international and visually ambitious cinema
Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma is one of the movies that helped fundamentally change perceptions of what a Netflix original could be.
Set in Mexico City during the early 1970s, the black-and-white drama centers on Cleo, a domestic worker caring for a middle-class family while both her own life and the world surrounding the household undergo enormous changes.
Cuarón finds extraordinary detail in ordinary routines.
Domestic work, family arguments, crowded streets and quiet moments are given the same visual importance normally reserved for huge dramatic events.
The result is intimate while somehow feeling enormous.
For anyone interested in exploring Netflix’s history as a serious movie studio, this is essential.
20. Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (2025)
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Voices: Ben Whitehead, Peter Kay, Lauren Patel
Best for: Family movie night
Wallace and Gromit prove that decades of history have done little to slow down Aardman’s most famous duo.
In Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Wallace once again embraces technology with considerably more enthusiasm than caution.
His latest invention creates a new problem for Gromit while the return of a familiar enemy adds another layer to the chaos.
GVN found the sequel lighter than some of the duo’s earlier adventures but praised its visual comedy, meticulous stop-motion work and the welcome return of Feathers McGraw.
For families looking for something everyone can watch together, this remains one of Netflix’s safest recommendations.
Which Netflix Movie Should You Watch Tonight?
If 20 choices still feel like too many, start with the kind of movie you are in the mood for.
- Want something relatively new? Try Don’t Say Good Luck or The Last House.
- Want horror? Watch Smile 2 or His House.
- Want action? Choose Rebel Ridge or Aliens.
- Want a mystery? Try Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
- Want something funny? Go with Hit Man.
- Want animation? Watch KPop Demon Hunters or Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
- Want a serious drama? Pick Marriage Story, His Three Daughters or Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
- Want a crime thriller? Choose The Killer.
- Want a crime epic? Set aside an evening for The Irishman.
- Want an international movie? Watch Society of the Snow or Roma.
- Want something for the family? Choose Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
- Want a classic? Watch Aliens.
How We Choose The Best Movies On Netflix
This list is designed to be more useful than simply copying Netflix’s daily Top 10 chart.
Popularity matters, especially when a major new movie arrives, but it is only one part of the selection process.
Movies are considered based on overall quality, performances, filmmaking, audience appeal, critical reception, genre variety and whether they offer something distinctive compared with the rest of Netflix’s library.
We also deliberately mix Netflix originals with licensed movies.
A great movie does not suddenly become a worse recommendation because it was made 20 or 40 years ago.
Most importantly, we check that the movies are actually available to stream on Netflix before including them.
Because licensing agreements constantly change, licensed titles may move off the service much faster than Netflix originals.
That is why this guide will continue changing.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Best Movies On Netflix
What are the best movies on Netflix right now?
Some of the best movies currently streaming on Netflix include KPop Demon Hunters, Rebel Ridge, Hit Man, Smile 2, Aliens, Society of the Snow, The Killer, Marriage Story and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.
Newer 2026 options include Don’t Say Good Luck and The Last House.
What are the best new movies on Netflix?
Don’t Say Good Luck and The Last House are two of Netflix’s stronger recent original movies.
September also added a substantial number of licensed films, including Smile 2, Alien, Aliens, Jaws, About Time and several other recognizable titles.
What is the best action movie on Netflix?
Rebel Ridge remains one of the strongest modern action-thriller choices available.
Viewers looking for something larger and more explosive should consider James Cameron’s Aliens, which remains one of the defining action-horror films.
What is a good scary movie on Netflix?
Smile 2 is currently one of the easiest horror recommendations, particularly with Halloween approaching.
For something more grounded in haunted-house horror and emotional trauma, His House remains one of Netflix’s strongest originals.
What are the best Netflix movies for families?
KPop Demon Hunters, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio are three strong animated options.
Parents should keep in mind that Pinocchio deals with significantly darker themes than the average children’s movie.
What is the best comedy on Netflix?
Hit Man remains one of the best comedy choices on Netflix, particularly for viewers who also enjoy romance and crime stories.
What are the best serious dramas on Netflix?
Marriage Story, His Three Daughters, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Roma and All Quiet on the Western Front are excellent choices for viewers looking for more dramatic material.
Does Netflix change its movie selection every month?
Yes.
Netflix regularly adds new movies while removing licensed titles as streaming agreements begin and expire.
Netflix originals generally provide more stable recommendations, while movies licensed from outside studios are much more likely to rotate on and off the service.
How often is this list updated?
This guide is updated regularly to account for new Netflix releases, movies leaving the service and older titles that deserve a place among the best movies currently available.
More Great Movies Are Always Coming To Netflix
Netflix’s movie library never stays still.
New originals arrive throughout the year, major studio movies cycle through the service and unexpected older releases can suddenly become some of the most-watched titles on the platform.
September is a perfect example.
Alongside newer Netflix originals, subscribers suddenly gained access to movies including Alien, Aliens, Smile 2, Jaws, Ready or Not, Phantom Thread and About Time.
Next month’s library will look different again.
That constant turnover is exactly why this page will continue to evolve.
Whether you are looking for action, horror, comedy, animation, science fiction, international cinema or a serious drama, these are some of the best movies on Netflix right now.
Check back regularly as we add new recommendations and remove titles that are no longer available.
DC Fanboy! Superman is the greatest comic book character of all time. Favorite movies are Man of Steel, Goonies, Back To the Future
