3 Scariest Thrillers To Watch on Netflix This Weekend (October 31-November 1)

Published Oct 30, 2026, 3:29 PM EDT

David is a Senior Editor at Collider focused primarily on Lists. His professional journey began in the mid-2010s as a Marketing specialist before embarking on his writing career in the 2020s. At Collider, David started as a Senior Writer in late 2022 and has been a Senior Editor since mid-2023. He is in charge of ideating compelling and engaging List articles by working closely with writers, both Senior and Junior, as well as other editors. Occasionally, David also reviews movies and TV shows and writes episode recaps. Currently, David is also writing his second novel, a psychological horror satire that will, hopefully, be picked up for publication sometime next year.

Sign in to your Collider account

Thrillers are among the most reliable sources for good, old-fashioned cinematic scares. Sure, a proper horror movie will undoubtedly be far more effective at making you scream and want to hide under the covers, but there's something so effective about a thriller that gets your heart racing in anticipation of the next reveal. After all, there's a reason why a well-made thriller can be just as chilling as a horror movie.

If you're in the mood for a scary thriller this weekend, then Netflix has you covered. The streaming service has one of the best and largest libraries in the business, and you can always find something to watch. However, its thriller game is particularly strong, meaning that if you're in the mood for some proper thrills and chills, then you have plenty of choices. Here, we give you the three scariest thrillers to watch on Netflix this weekend that will have you second-guessing whether to turn the lights off.

'Psycho' (1960)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Classics are classics for a reason; no matter how many times you watch, they can always make you feel something. In the case of Alfred Hitchcock's timeless masterpiece Psycho, that feeling is dread and anticipation. The plot is well-known by now: Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) steals from her boss and goes on the run, seeking refuge in the secluded Bates Motel. There, she meets the meek owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), and gets far more than she bargained for.

A god-tier horror movie and a masterclass in suspense, Psycho can still keep you on the edge of your seat, just like it did when it wowed audiences in the 1960s. The twist might already be spoiled, and the iconic shower scene might have been parodied to death, but Psycho is still an effective and chilling thriller. Hitchcock's atmospheric approach, Bernard Hermann's timeless score, and Perkins subtly creepy performance all work in perfect harmony, resulting in an incredible movie that will never go out of style and will never stop being a great source of frights.

'Jaws' (1975)

Image via Universal Pictures

And speaking of classics, we have what is arguably the greatest thriller movie in cinematic history: Steven Spielberg's game-changing Jaws. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, and Robert Shaw as a marine biologist, a concerned sheriff, and a shark hunter who team up to hunt a great white shark terrorizing a small beach resort town. It was adapted by Peter Benchley from his eponymous 1974 novel, with Carl Gottlieb doing rewrites during production.

Jaws forever redefined our collective idea of what a great thriller could be. The foundational film made us terrified of what we could not see, the danger that lurks beneath the surface, waiting to strike at the right moment. Spielberg turned what could have easily been a shortcoming — a failing mechanical shark — into one of the film's greatest strengths, keeping the main villain off-screen for much of the action and thus keeping the suspense going, even in scenes where the shark wasn't even a factor. Jaws is also widely considered the first-ever summer blockbuster, yet another feather in its already impressive cap.

'Green Room' (2015)

Image via A24

Lastly, we have a more recent but no less chilling movie. Green Room stars the late Anton Yelchin as the drummer of a punk band, The Ain't Rights, who accept a last-minute gig at a skinhead bar. The problem is that the bar is plagued by Neo-Nazis, led by the ruthless Darcy Banker (Patrick Stewart). Locked in the green room and with the Neo-Nazis standing outside, the band must find a way to survive the night.

One of the most intense movies of the 21st century, the exhilarating Green Room is not for the faint of heart. Director Jeremy Saulnier fills every scene with an anxiety-inducing atmosphere that keeps escalating, to the point where later scenes become quite stressful. Yelchin and his co-stars, including Callum Turner and Alia Shawkat, perfectly portray the group's devastation at their situation, making us easily root for them. However, the film belongs to Stewart, cast against-type as the truly disturbing and terrifying Darcy. It's hard to believe the man who is most famous for playing Professor X and Captain Picard can be so effective as a brutal, psychopathic neo-Nazi.

Green Room