3 exciting Netflix thrillers to watch this week (October 19-25)

Published Oct 18, 2026, 6:00 PM EDT 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. We're moving further into the Halloween season, and Netflix continues to turn up the thrills. Not everything has to be scary this month to qualify as a thriller. In fact, our first movie on this list is not a horror, though if your family had to deal with a kidnapping like the one in the movie, it might be scary to you. The next movie on this list is a pure horror film and features one of the most recognizable characters in the genre's history. However, this movie doesn't have a hockey mask. Finally, I'm taking it back to 1991 for my top selection, which ushered in an era of complex action heroes. Stream all three movies on Netflix in the U.S. 3 Animals What would you do to save your child? I just realized that five of the six movies that Ben Affleck has directed have been thrillers. The first three—Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo—are legitimately excellent. The fourth, Live by Night, was a miss, but it's easy to see why he adapted the Dennis Lehane novel. Affleck pivoted to sports for his fifth directorial effort, Air. He returned to his bread and butter this year with another thriller, Animals. Political candidate Mark Kimball (Affleck) is doing whatever he can to win the Los Angeles mayoral race. The campaign has taken over his life, making him more emotionally distant from his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington). With the election approaching, Mark's attention drastically shifts toward his young son, who is kidnapped on Halloween. The criminals demand a $7 million ransom by the end of the night. They don't have the money to pay the full ransom, so they bring in a fixer (Gillian Anderson) to solve their problems. Animals has a twist about 40 minutes into the story that I won't spoil. Many cinephiles can probably predict what's going to happen if they've seen Akira Kurosawa's High and Low. Kurosawa's movie is much better than Affleck's, something that the latter would have no problem admitting. Animals is a pulpy thriller that will play well with viewers looking for that style on Netflix. At this point, I'm giving any Affleck movie a chance, and I think some of you looking for a watchable movie on Netflix might respond well to this movie. Animals Release Date October 9, 2026 2 Friday the 13th Before Jason put on the mask When I think of Friday the 13th, one name comes to mind: Jason Voorhees. The hockey-mask-wearing killer with an affinity for a machete has been a staple of horror for over 40 years. The success of 1980's Friday the 13th started a franchise that has spawned 11 additional movies in the franchise. I give credit to Friday the 13th for coming up with some of the most ridiculous and hilarious titles, like Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday. It's Mad Libs with Jason Voorhees. It's quite easy to forget that Jason doesn't become the hockey-mask slasher until Friday the 13th Part III. The version of Jason horror fans have come to know and love doesn't appear in his familiar form in the franchise's first movie, Friday the 13th. That story begins at Camp Crystal Lake, a summer camp with a tragic past. Over a decade before the events of the movie, a young boy drowned in the lake, and ever since then, the camp has been somewhat cursed. When a new group of teenage counselors prepares the camp for the summer, a mysterious figure begins to take them out one by one in the most brutal fashion. Even though it's probably fair game to spoil a movie that's over 45 years old, I'll keep the identity of the killer to myself. What I can say is that Friday the 13th built on the success of Halloween to help popularize the slasher genre. It also laid the groundwork for an important unwritten rule in horror: if you have premarital sex, chances are you will die. If you're still digging this franchise afterward, head to Peacock to watch the new prequel series Crystal Lake. ​​​​​​​ 1 Point Break Vaya con Dios Keanu Reeves has built a résumé of memorable characters, including Neo from The Matrix and John Wick from the titular franchise. In 1991, Reeves was not known for action. I'd argue his most noteworthy role to that point was Ted in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. So director Kathryn Bigelow decided to pair the Bill & Ted star with Patrick Swayze, arguably the biggest star on the planet coming off of Ghost. The pairing formed an electric tandem in my favorite movie from Bigelow. In Los Angeles, a group of criminals known as the Ex-Presidents—four armed assailants who wear masks of former U.S. presidents—successfully rob a string of banks in the area. Former college football player turned FBI agent Johnny Utah (Reeves) teams with veteran agent Angelo Pappas (Gary Busey) to unmask the robbers. Believing the thieves to be surfers, Utah goes undercover at the beach and learns to ride some waves. His journey leads him to Bodhi (Swayze), a larger-than-life adrenaline junkie who takes Utah under his wing. Their relationship forces the FBI agent to make a choice. I feel alive whenever I watch Point Break. I'm not an extreme sports star, but watching Utah catch some waves with Bodhi or jump out of a plane gets my blood going. It's an adrenaline rush, to say the least. Swayze looks like the coolest person alive as Bodhi, who feels more like a mythological figure than a man. Reeves' steady demeanor is the perfect match for Swayze's exuberant presence. Point Break also provides many moments of unintentional comedy, including Reeves' pronunciation of FBI, which I still mimic to this day. More movies and shows to check out this week If you're searching for a new documentary special, check out Super Scam Me, which follows a journalist going undercover to investigate romance scams. At Paramount+, check out the service's wide collection of sci-fi, including Interstellar and Edge of Tomorrow. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four