3 exciting Netflix thrillers to watch this week (November 9-15)

Published Nov 8, 2026, 6:00 PM EST After graduating from Marist University with a degree in communications and journalism, Dan Girolamo has over 10 years of experience writing about entertainment and sports. Dan's work can be seen in various publications, including Digital Trends, SportsCasting, and Tom's Guide. Throughout his career, Dan has interviewed several high-profile filmmakers and creatives, including Brendan Fraser, Jamie Lee Curtis, Caitriona Balfe, Frank Grillo, Miranda Cosgrove, Jai Courtney, Chris Columbus and James Cameron. Dan joins How-To Geek as a Senior Editor. When he's not writing about entertainment, Dan is either watching a movie or praying for the New York Knicks to win a championship. November is packed with new movies on Netflix in the U.S. Even though we're only about a week into the new month, two of our top picks have already been released, including A Dog's Perfect Christmas and Possible Love. Stick around the service, and you'll see more movies coming your way, including Heartland and The Mosquito Bowl. As for the thrillers this week, my list starts with a video game adaptation that quickly became a cult classic. The next movie on this list elevated an iconic monster to new levels. Finally, my top selection is a disaster epic from the early 2000s. 3 Resident Evil (2002) Welcome to Raccoon City 2026 has been a year of resurgence for Resident Evil, the Capcom franchise that started in 1996. The survival horror franchise reached new heights this year thanks to Zach Cregger, who adapted the material into a live-action movie. Cregger opted to capture the spirit of the game instead of a shot-for-shot adaptation. The gamble worked, as 2026's Resident Evil has crossed $400 million worldwide. Cregger's interpretation is the best Resident Evil movie, but if I had to award the silver medal to an earlier adaptation, it would go to 2002's Resident Evil. Before Austin Abrams became a Resident Evil star, the franchise belonged to Milla Jovovich, who portrayed the film's heroine, Alice. Inside an isolated mansion outside Raccoon City, Alice wakes up with no memory of how she arrived. As she meets a few other stragglers, she learns that a deadly virus has infected a secret facility known as the Hive. The Umbrella Corporation's AI ("The Red Queen") sealed off the Hive to prevent the virus from getting outside. Alice and her group are tasked with shutting down the Red Queen. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, Resident Evil is an over-the-top zombie movie packed with sci-fi horror and action-packed thrills. At times, it's silly, but it always entertains. I mean this in the nicest way: Anderson turns sci-fi trash into treasure. While the subsequent Resident Evil sequels decline in quality, the first movie has stood the test of time. Resident Evil Release Date March 15, 2002 2 Godzilla Minus One It's more than a monster movie One of the notable movies released in theaters this past weekend was Godzilla Minus Zero. Serving as the sequel to Godzilla Minus One, Godzilla Minus Zero picks up two years after the events of the first film in post-war Japan. The reviews are positive, and the opening weekend box office numbers could be record-breaking for a live-action foreign-language movie. I haven't seen Godzilla Minus Zero just yet, but I can vouch for Minus One. If it's anything like the first movie, then we're in for a treat. Near the end of World War II, Japanese kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) lands his plane for repairs. However, he plans to abandon his duty. It's there he encounters Godzilla, the monstrous creature that destroys everything in sight. Shikishima cowers in fear and refuses to act. Nevertheless, he survives. Two years later, Godzilla returns and has his sights set on Japan. With the Japanese government failing to act quickly enough, a group of brave scientists and soldiers devise their own plan to stop Godzilla from destroying their country. Shikishima gets another chance to restore his honor, but will he take it? Godzilla Minus One is a kaiju film, so the action sequences and Godzilla scenes are incredible. It's even more unbelievable knowing the film was made for around $10 million to $15 million. It looks better than most $200 million blockbusters, so the Godzilla Minus One team deserved their Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. What sets this Godzilla movie apart from the MonsterVerse films is how it deals with trauma and PTSD. It's a beautiful story about humanity that happens to have a giant monster in it. 1 The Day After Tomorrow The world is about to change Hollywood loves disasters. The peak era of disaster movies came in the 1970s, with films like Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and Earthquake. The genre lost popularity in the 1980s, partly because of disaster spoofs (think Airplane!), but experienced a resurgence in the 1990s thanks to CGI. The two highest-grossing movies of 1996—Independence Day and Twister—were disaster movies. Roland Emmerich, who directed Independence Day, continued making disaster movies throughout his career. One of those films, The Day After Tomorrow, is now trending on Netflix. Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) believes climate change could lead to an extinction-level event with the dawn of the next ice age. ​​​​​​​Unfortunately, Jack's theory proves right when natural disasters occur all around the world. The only chance of survival is to evacuate south to a warmer climate. The only problem is Jack's son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), is in New York City, and the eye of the storm is coming his way. The Day After Tomorrow becomes a father-son story as Jack races to the Big Apple to save his son and a small group of survivors who hunker down at the New York Public Library. The award-winning visual effects in The Day After Tomorrow are superb. Like most of Emmerich's movies, the film is a crowd-pleasing blockbuster. Grab some popcorn, embrace the ridiculousness of nature, and enjoy the ride. ​​​​​​​More Netflix movies and shows to check out Can I interest you in some new Netflix shows? Black Doves season 2 just premiered, so if you love espionage, you'll enjoy this show. As for Netflix documentaries, true crime fans will want to check out Taken: Natalee Holloway. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four