Tense movies on Netflix

Films that will not let you settle. The top of the tension axis, across every genre.

The films least likely to let you relax, across every genre rather than just thrillers.

Alien

Ridley ScottBrandywine Productions

1979

Speed

Jan de Bont20th Century Fox

1994

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Tobe HooperVortex

1974

1917

Sam MendesDreamWorks Pictures

2019

Gone Girl

David Fincher20th Century Fox

2014

Aliens

James CameronSLM Production Group

1986

Green Room

Jeremy Saulnierfilmscience

2016

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion

Hideaki AnnoGAINAX

1997

Jaws

Steven SpielbergThe Zanuck/Brown Company

1975

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle

Haruo Sotozakiufotable

2025

Don't Move

Adam SchindlerCapstone Studios

2024

Facing El Chapo

Chava CartasDraco Films

2026

Memento

Christopher NolanNewmarket Films

2000

Scarface

Brian De PalmaUniversal Pictures

1983

Nightcrawler

Dan GilroySierra/Affinity

2014

Oxygen

Alexandre AjaGetaway Films

2021

All Quiet on the Western Front

Edward BergerAmusement Park Films

2022

American Murder: The Family Next Door

Jenny PopplewellKnickerbockerglory TV

2020

Forgotten

Chang Hang-junBA Entertainment

2017

Apollo 13

Ron HowardImagine Entertainment

1995

Godzilla Minus One

Takashi YamazakiTOHO

2023

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

David FincherColumbia Pictures

2011

A Quiet Place Part II

John KrasinskiParamount Pictures

2021

RRR

S. S. RajamouliDVV Entertainment

2022

The Impossible

J. A. BayonaApaches Films

2012

Law Abiding Citizen

F. Gary GrayThe Film Department

2009

The Shadow in My Eye

Ole BornedalMiso Film

2021

Extraction

Sam HargraveAGBO

2020

Silenced

Hwang Dong-hyukSangeori Pictures

2011

Extraction 2

Sam HargraveAGBO

2023

The Night Comes For Us

Timo TjahjantoScreenplay Infinite Films

2018

What Happened to Monday

Tommy WirkolaSND

2017

Cell 211

Daniel MonzónVaca Films

2009

The Platform

Galder Gaztelu-UrrutiaBasque Films

2019

The Witch

Robert EggersVery Special Projects

2016

Nowhere

Albert PintóRock & Ruz

2023

The Guilty

Antoine FuquaNine Stories Productions

2021

Saw X

Kevin GreutertTwisted Pictures

2023

Pandora

Park Jung-wooNext Entertainment World

2016

Upgrade

Leigh WhannellGoalpost Pictures

2018

Zero Dark Thirty

Kathryn BigelowAnnapurna Pictures

2012

Sisu: Road to Revenge

Jalmari HelanderCosmic Snowball

2025

Counterattack

Chava CartasDraco Films

2025

The Rip

Joe CarnahanArtists Equity

2026

Beasts of No Nation

Cary Joji FukunagaParticipant

2015

STRAW

Tyler PerryTyler Perry Studios

2025

The Outfit

Graham MooreFocus Features

2022

Anthropoid

Sean Ellis22H22

2016

Carry-On

Jaume Collet-SerraDylan Clark Productions

2024

Apex

Baltasar KormákurChernin Entertainment

2026

Fractured

Brad AndersonKoji Productions

2019

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Francis LawrenceLionsgate

2013

Scream

Matt Bettinelli-OlpinParamount Pictures

2022

Ready or Not

Matt Bettinelli-OlpinMythology Entertainment

2019

The Power of the Dog

Jane CampionSee-Saw Films

2021

Blood Red Sky

Peter ThorwarthRat Pack Filmproduktion

2021

The Grey

Joe CarnahanOpen Road Films

2012

The Whisper Man

James AshcroftAGBO

2026

The Black Phone

Scott DerricksonBlumhouse Productions

2022

A Quiet Place: Day One

Michael SarnoskiParamount Pictures

2024

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