8 Netflix thrillers where knowing less makes the movie much better

There are multiple thrillers on Netflix that are easy to recommend based on their premise alone. Then there are the ones that are better approached with as little information as possible. That's especially true when a story depends on a change in perspective, a revelation about one of its characters, or an odd situation that's difficult to explain.

In these instances, knowing where the story is going can take some of the fun out of figuring it out. The good thing about the movies on this list is that they don't all rely on the same kind of twist ending. Some are weird from the beginning, while others take their time before showing you what's really going on. If you haven't seen any of these, it is worth resisting the temptation to look them up.

The Call (2020)

A phone call connects two women in different years

The Call begins when Kim Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) returns to her childhood home and finds an old cordless phone that allows her to speak to Oh Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), a woman living in the same house 20 years earlier. The discovery is fun at first. Seo-yeon enjoys telling Young-sook things about the future, and Young-sook can change events that affect Seo-yeon's life.

But it doesn't take long for the situation to become really complicated. As the two women begin influencing each other's lives, Seo-yeon discovers that Young-sook is not the person she initially thought she was. The movie keeps finding new ways to alter the relationship between its two leads, and knowing too much about where that relationship goes takes away some of the drama.

Calibre (2018)

One hunting trip turns into a much bigger problem

Calibre follows Marcus (Martin McCann) and Vaughn (Jack Lowden), who head into the Scottish Highlands for a hunting trip, hoping to spend some time away from their everyday lives. But after an unfortunate accident during the trip, the friends are faced with a decision that becomes increasingly difficult to undo. What follows is two people trying to contain a situation that keeps getting worse.

Their attempt to hide the truth about what happened brings them into conflict with the people in the nearby village, while Marcus and Vaughn also have very different ideas about how they should handle the situation. Calibre benefits from not knowing exactly what happens during that hunting trip. It's also a good example of a thriller that doesn't need to keep throwing huge twists at you to be entertaining.

Fractured (2019)

A man can't find his wife and daughter

Fractured tells the story of Ray Monroe (Sam Worthington), who is traveling with his wife Joanne (Lily Rabe) and their daughter when an accident leaves him injured. After taking them to a nearby hospital, Ray discovers that his wife and daughter have disappeared. The hospital staff insists that they were never admitted, leaving Ray convinced that something has gone seriously wrong.

He starts searching for them while trying to work out why nobody seems to remember seeing them. At the same time, Ray's own head injury raises questions about his recollection of events. Fractured is probably the most straightforward thriller on this list in terms of its setup. But if you don't think about it too much, you will have a lot of fun questioning what you are seeing alongside Ray.

Creep (2014)

A simple filming job slowly becomes strange

Creep follows Aaron (Patrick Brice), a videographer who answers an online advert for a job filming a man named Josef (Mark Duplass). Josef has a terminal illness and wants Aaron to record a video for his unborn child. The job seems a little unusual from the beginning. But Aaron agrees to spend the day with Josef at his remote home.

As the filming continues, Josef's behavior slowly becomes uncomfortable, and Aaron starts to question the reason he was hired. The most entertaining thing about Creep is that it doesn't immediately tell you how seriously you should take Josef, which makes it difficult for Aaron to know how to respond. The only certain thing is that Aaron probably shouldn't have taken the job.

God's Crooked Lines (2022)

A detective enters a psychiatric hospital to investigate a death

God's Crooked Lines begins when Alice Gould de Almenara (Bárbara Lennie) enters a psychiatric hospital claiming to be a private investigator looking into the death of a patient. But the doctors aren't convinced that everything Alice says is true. As she begins looking into the circumstances surrounding the death, the movie keeps raising questions about Alice's own account of events.

Samuel Alvar (Eduard Fernández), the director of the hospital, eventually becomes an important part of the story as Alice tries to establish what happened while also defending her version of reality. God's Crooked Lines spends a lot of time making you question Alice's story, but it also gives you enough information to make different interpretations seem possible.

Mirage (2018)

Changing one event changes an entire life

Mirage follows Vera Roy (Adriana Ugarte), who moves into a new home with her husband David (Álvaro Morte) and daughter Gloria. During a storm, she discovers that an old television set can somehow connect her with Nico Lasarte (Julio Bohigas-Couto), a boy living in the same house 25 years earlier. When Nico is about to witness something terrible, Vera is able to warn him and save his life.

But Vera's intervention has some serious consequences. When she wakes up the next day, she finds that her life as she knew it no longer exists. Her husband is married to someone else, and they never had a daughter together. So Vera has to work out what happened and find a way to restore the timeline she remembers. Although Mirage does get a little complicated, its setup is enough to keep you interested.

The Invitation (2015)

A dinner party becomes harder to explain

The Invitation begins when Will (Logan Marshall-Green) agrees to have dinner at the home he once shared with his former wife Eden (Tammy Blanchard). It's been some time since they separated, and Eden is now married to David (Michiel Huisman). The evening starts with the usual awkwardness of seeing your ex, but Will slowly becomes convinced that something isn't right.

Eden and David have embraced a new group of friends and a new outlook on life, while Will struggles to understand why everyone seems so comfortable with what he considers strange behavior. The clever thing about The Invitation is that it gives you lots of reasons to doubt Will without making his concerns easy to dismiss. And the movie keeps both possibilities alive for a long time.

The Gift (2015)

An acquaintance won't leave an old friend alone

The Gift follows Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn Callem (Rebecca Hall), who move to California and begin settling into their new home. Their lives are disrupted when Simon's former schoolmate Gordon Moseley (Joel Edgerton) unexpectedly turns up. Gordon initially seems friendly enough, leaving gifts at the house and trying to reconnect with Simon.

Simon, however, doesn't seem particularly interested in renewing the friendship. As Gordon continues appearing in their lives, Robyn starts to question what happened between the two men when they were younger. As Robyn starts digging into their shared past, the movie becomes less about an unwanted visitor and more about something Simon would rather keep buried.

Some thrillers are better when you don't know the answers

Ignorance is bliss takes on a new meaning

A lot of thrillers become less enjoyable the more you know about it. That is what makes The Call, God's Crooked Lines, and Mirage especially suited to a blind watch. They keep changing the information available to you. Calibre, Creep, The Invitation, The Gift, and Fractured take a different approach, putting their characters into situations where the truth becomes harder to ignore as the story progresses.

So if you're browsing Netflix for a thriller and the premise sounds deliberately vague, that may be a good thing. With these movies, there's usually more to gain from pressing play than from reading the next 10 minutes of the plot in a review or on a Reddit thread.