We’re still in the hazy days between Christmas and New Year’s Eve where time means nothing and our only purpose is to lay around watching films.
The past 12 months have been a rollercoaster ride – and not just in the headlines, our big and small screen offerings have been just as explosive.
From high-stakes espionage to against-the-clock missions to save the general public, the thriller genre has been producing some of the most hair-raising titles of 2025.
Netflix has become synonymous with hair-raising thriller films thanks to its extensive collection of original offerings and buzzy titles that have come to the platform over the years.
And 2025 has been no exception, with several impossibly twisty movies grabbing out attention and keeping us talking for months on end.
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So as we draw a close on the year, these are the top 2025 thriller films available on Netflix right now that you need to watch before the clock strikes midnight on the 31st.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
The third installment in the Knives Out franchise is officially here to stream.
Bond icon Daniel Craig is back as Benoit Blanc to solve another twisty mystery in a cast rounded out by the likes of Cailee Spaeny, Andrew Scott, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Thomas Haden Church, and more.
In the latest film, Wake Up Dead Man, Blanc heads to a small church in upstate New York following the seemingly impossible murder of fiery priest, Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin), in which Father Jud (Josh O’Connor) is the prime suspect.
Straw
Tyler Perry’s Straw proved an enormous hit when it arrived on Netflix earlier this year, amassing a whopping 74 million streams within two days.
Written, directed, and produced by the Alex Cross star, Straw follows single mother Janiyah Wiltkinson (Taraji P Henson), who becomes embroiled in a sequence of terrible and violent events as she struggles to care for her ill daughter.
Oscar-nominee Henson stars alongside Teyana Taylor, Sinbad, and Sherri Shepherd.
A House of Dynamite
A House of Dynamite was one of the most explosive offerings on the streaming giant this year, with Metro’s own five-star review branding it ‘captivating’ and ‘the most thought-provoking movie of the 2025 Venice Film Festival.’
Starring the likes of Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Jason Clarke, Gabriel Basso, and Anthony Ramos, this film dives into the scramble in real-time after a single unattributed missile is launched at the US.
Governmental and military teams, alongside the president (Elba), race to try and work out who is responsible, if it’s a genuine threat, and how to respond.
The Woman in Cabin 10
Even lead star Keira Knightley was left thoroughly unsettled by her latest thriller, The Woman in Cabin 10.
Directed by Simon Stone and based on the book by Ruth Ware, the film follows Knightley as journalist Laura ‘Lo’ Blacklock, who is convinced she’s witnessed a passenger being thrown overboard a luxury cruise ship.
However, all guests and crew remain accounted for, leading Lo to risk her life to uncover the truth.
Night Always Comes
Back in August, Netflix added a rollercoaster ride of a thriller to the service with little to no fanfare.
Night Always Comes, starring Vanessa Kirby, is based on the best-selling novel by Willy Vlautin and follows former sex worker Lynette (Kirby), a desperate woman who risks everything to try and raise $25,000 (£18,432) to secure the house that represents a future for her family.
Set across one single night, she is forced to confront her dark past in order to break free and keep her family safe.
Brick
Despite being dubbed the ‘grandmother of all bad movies’, Brick certainly got people talking when it hit Netflix.
In the German thriller, a couple wakes up to find an ominous brick wall has been built overnight, surrounding their apartment building and trapping them inside.
They must then unite with their wary neighbours to uncover the secrets of the wall and try to find a way out alive.
Carry-On
Carry-On quickly became one of Netflix’s most-watched films of all time following its release in 2024, so what better time to revisit it than 12 months on?
Directed by Jaume Collet-Sera, Carry-On follows an airport security officer who races to outsmart a mysterious traveller attempting to slip a dangerous item onto a Christmas Eve flight.
It stars Taron Egerton as TSA agent Ethan, alongside Jason Bateman and Sofia Carson, with plenty of terrifying suspense, airport chases, and security showdowns as the stakes grow ever higher.
Havoc
Havoc is one of the most brutal films on the list, so much so that lead star Tom Hardy sustained an injury during one of its infamous fight scenes.
He stars as Patrick Walker, a homicide detective, who is tasked with rescuing a politician’s estranged son when a drug deal goes wrong.
With a bruised ego and limited time, Patrick must infiltrate a world of corruption and conspiracy before it’s too late
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