Free Trial
20 mind-blowing thrillers available to stream in Australia
If you’re not that into horror, a twisty psychological thriller is guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat.
We’re reader-supported and may be paid when you visit links to partner sites. We don’t compare all products in the market, but we’re working on it!
We don’t know about you, but we like our thrillers with a little bit of substance. Not that there’s anything wrong with straight-up action flicks; in fact, they’re ideal for when you need to lay back and give your brain an entertaining break for a couple of hours. Otherwise, there’s nothing quite like a solid thriller of the psychological variety, one that will mess with your mind in exciting and unexpected ways.
But what makes a good thriller? Compelling protagonists? A copious dose of suspense? A few mind-bending twists? We vote all of the above. With so many titles out there waiting to be streamed, why settle? We’ve gathered some of the best thrillers currently available in Australia. Proceed with caution as some of these are not recommended for the faint of heart.
1. Nobody
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Aleksey Serebryakov, Connie Nielsen, Christopher Lloyd
There's no doubt that Bob Odenkirk is a star and Nobody only further cements his status as a versatile actor with talent to spare.
He plays Hutch, a husband and father often overlooked by those around him. When 2 thieves break into his home, Hutch refuses to defend himself and his family to prevent further violence. However, the aftermath of the incident propels him on a dangerous path that brings buried secrets and dangerous skills to life, forcing Hutch to keep his loved ones safe against a powerful adversary.
Nobody is bloody and fun, featuring a healthy amount of action and a hero you'll be enthusiastically cheering for. It's a crowd pleaser.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$6.99
$3
$5.99
$5.99
2. Till Death
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Megan Fox, Eoin Macken, Callan Mulvey, Jack Roth
After a romantic evening together, Emma finds herself handcuffed to her dead husband. Desperate and isolated in their secluded lake house in the dead of winter, Emma has to use all her skills and determination to escape her husband's twisted plan. When 2 men unexpectedly show up, the stakes are even higher.
With a committed performance from Megan Fox, Till Death delivers thrills from start to finish, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat. You don't even need popcorn for this one. You'll be too busy biting your nails.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$0.99
$0.99
$3.99
3. The Voyeurs
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Sydney Sweeney, Justice Smith, Ben Hardy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo
In the mood for a sexy thriller? The Voyeurs follows a young couple who move into a fancy apartment and start spying on their neighbours, whom they can see through the window. What starts as simple curiosity turns into full-blown obsession and their lives soon become tangled together in unexpected ways.
Tense and seductive, The Voyeurs offers plenty of twists that will keep you guessing about what's really going on. As long as you're willing to suspend disbelief, you'll be in for a wild ride.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
Sorry, we've found no buying or renting options for this title.
4. The Guilty
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, Christina Vida
Joe is a police detective currently working as a 911 operator. When he gets a call from a woman who has been abducted, he scrambles to save her over the course of a long and harrowing day.
Saying more about The Guilty would fall into spoiler territory. The movie is tense and riveting, which is even more impressive given that it's mostly confined to one location. Jake Gyllenhaal is fantastic throughout.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$2.99
5. Promising Young Woman
- Year: 2020
- Cast: Carey Mulligan, Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox
A dark comedy thriller, Promising Young Woman will give you a lot to think about. With a stunning aesthetic and a killer performance from Carey Mulligan, it's the kind of film that stays with you for a long time.
The action follows Cassie, a young woman who lives a secret double life. When she gets a chance to pursue vengeance for something that happened in the past, Cassie will go the extra mile to make sure that the men responsible are going down. The movie is bold, funny and necessary. Stream it ASAP.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$6.99
$6.99
$2.99
$6.99
6. Dark Waters
- Year: 2019
- Cast: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins, Bill Pullman
A terrific legal thriller, Dark Waters stars Mark Ruffalo as an attorney who uncovers a secret that connects a growing number of unexplained deaths to one of the world's largest corporations. Unfortunately, as he's struggling to expose the truth, he puts both his life and his family at risk.
The movie dramatises Robert Bilott's case against DuPont after the company contaminated a town with unregulated chemicals. It's powerful and compelling, with memorable performances from everyone involved. The fact that it tells a true story only makes it even more terrifying.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$5.99
$5.99
7. I Care a Lot
- Year: 2020
- Cast: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest, Chris Messina
If you like your thrills with a side of comedy, look no further than I Care a Lot. The story follows a crooked court-appointed guardian who takes advantage of the elderly by placing them in assisted living facilities and seizing their assets for her own gain. However, she lands in hot water when she tries to con a woman with ties to a powerful gangster.
I Care a Lot is a well-acted and outrageous black comedy that touches on capitalism, greed and the exploitation of those whom society deems unable to care for themselves. The characters are sort of irredeemable so you may have no-one to cheer for, but you'll have a whole lot of fun nonetheless.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
Sorry, we've found no buying or renting options for this title.
8. Split
- Year: 2016
- Cast: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula
Would this list be complete without M. Night Shyamalan? Probably not. When 3 girls are kidnapped by a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder and having 23 distinct personalities, they must find a way to escape before a 24th one emerges. Yikes!
If that premise isn't enough to get your blood pumping, we're happy to report that Split is both gripping and fascinating. James McAvoy is a treat in the lead role, perfectly capturing the battle between his character's many alter egos. To say that you'll be glued to the screen would be an understatement.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$3.99
$4.99
$12.99
9. Searching
- Year: 2018
- Cast: John Cho, Debra Messing, Joseph Lee, Michelle La
Searching is a brilliantly-executed mystery thriller, one that uses an original format to draw you in.
The story revolves around a father who becomes desperate when his teen daughter goes missing. He decides to take matters into his own hands and looks through his daughter's laptop, hoping to uncover clues that will lead him to her whereabouts.
The movie is set entirely on computer screens and smartphones – a gimmick, but an effective one. Suspenseful and twisty, Searching is the kind of movie you'll want to tell your friends about. That's always a good thing.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$4.99
$3.99
$3.99
10. Buried
- Year: 2010
- Cast: Ryan Reynolds, José Luis GarcÃa Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky
Probably the most claustrophobic thriller of all time, Buried centres on Paul, a truck driver in Iraq who is attacked by insurgents and buried underground with just a lighter and a cellphone.
Faced with a dwindling oxygen supply, Paul has to keep his anxiety in check as he waits for a rescue team that may not reach him in time.
The movie is intense and exciting, to the point where it will leave you gasping for breath. Who thought that watching a man trapped inside a coffin for an hour and a half could be anything but boring?
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$4.99
11. Mulholland Drive
- Year: 2001
- Cast: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Jeanne Bates
Mulholland Drive is about an aspiring actress, Betty, newly arrived in Los Angeles. She meets and befriends an amnesiac woman, Rita, who is recovering from a car accident. Together, the two attempt to solve the mystery of Rita's real identity and figure out what happened to her.
Directed by David Lynch, this neo-noir thriller has an unconventional structure and a dream-like quality that instantly makes it stand out from the crowd. Stream it when you're in the mood for something artsy, but with enough twists to keep you entertained.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
Sorry, we've found no buying or renting options for this title.
12. A Quiet Place
- Year: 2018
- Cast: Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Millicent Simmonds
If you like your thrillers with a touch of horror, A Quiet Place fits the bill. The movie follows a family that struggles for survival in a world where most humans have been killed by blind but noise-sensitive alien-like creatures. They have to make as little noise as possible to keep undetected, which can be quite a challenge as far as everyday life is concerned.
Dark and chilling, A Quiet Place manages to create suspense with very little dialogue and excellent editing, proving that a relatively simple premise can go a long way.
WATCH NOW
13. Ex Machina
- Year: 2014
- Cast: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
A sci-fi thriller that will mess with your mind in the best way possible, Ex Machina revolves around a programmer tasked by his CEO to assess an intelligent humanoid robot by interacting with it.
Things escalate to the point where the programmer isn't sure who to believe, the CEO or the robot, especially when the robot turns out to be way more deceptive than anyone would have thought.
This is a movie about a small group of people conspiring against each other – and it's sensational from beginning to end. Sit back and enjoy the ride.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$3.99
Let the thrillers blow your mind with these free trials
Free Trial
Free Trial
Free Trial
Free Trial
14. Parasite
- Year: 2019
- Cast: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Cho
All the buzz and acclaim surrounding the 2020 Best Picture winner is well-earned, to the point where this movie should be on everyone's watchlist. A black comedy, Parasite starts off funny only to evolve into a beast of thrills and class commentary.
To put it simply, the movie follows a symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan. Who are the real bottom feeders? It's up to you to decide.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$4.99
$3.99
15. The Machinist
- Year: 2004
- Cast: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón
The Machinist is an uncomfortable movie, to say the least. It centres on Trevor, a factory worker who suffers from a severe case of insomnia that causes him to lose a concerning amount of weight and also severely affects his mental health. When Trevor causes an accident that injures a co-worker, his condition gets even worse, escalating into full-on paranoia.
While the movie became popular due to Christian Bale’s extreme physical transformation for the role, it’s also important to note that the actor offers a brilliant performance – one that will stay with you for a long time. The Machinist is the kind of movie you admire more than enjoy. However, we guarantee that you won’t forget this trip into Trevor’s nightmarish reality anytime soon.
WATCH NOW
16. The Usual Suspects
- Year: 1995
- Cast: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri
The Usual Suspects is, like The Sixth Sense, the type of movie everyone loves to spoil, so you might be familiar with the big twist already. But if you somehow made it this far without seeing the movie and learning the ending, rejoice! You can bask in its glory without a pre-blown mind.
A massive explosion leaves 27 men dead and millions of dollars worth of cocaine missing. The movie follows the interrogation of Kint, a small-time con man who tells a convoluted tale about the days before the explosion. Although The Usual Suspects looks like a pretty straightforward whodunnit at first glance, it turns into much more as Kint’s story progresses.
Suspenseful and entertaining, the movie serves plenty of fun twists along the way, building up to a truly satisfying ending. You can’t go wrong with this one.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$4.99
$3.99
$4.99
17. Looper
- Year: 2012
- Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt
Looper’s premise is mind-bending enough, but the movie ups the ante with some fine acting and exciting action scenes.
In a future society, time travel is invented. There’s a catch, though – it’s illegal and only available to those with the means to pay for such sought-after black market shenanigans. For instance, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, they send their target 30 years into the past, where a hired gun known as a looper lays in wait to mop up. All goes well until one day when the mob sends the looper’s future self back in time for assassination.
Starring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Looper is thrilling, smart, fast-paced and riveting. It may suffer from the occasional plot hole, but the movie has enough going on to keep you entertained.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
$4.99
$4.99
$4.99
18. Bird Box
- Year: 2018
- Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson
Based on the book of the same name, Bird Box takes place in a world where a mysterious force has decimated the population. Only one thing is certain – if you see it, you die. As a result, a woman and her children have to embark on a dangerous journey in the hope of finding sanctuary.
Look, taking a trip blindfolded is challenging, which is exactly how Bird Box manages to build tension. Add in the fact that Sandra Bullock is perfectly cast, offering an exquisite performance, and you've got yourself a winner.
WATCH NOW
SUBSCRIBE
RENT/BUY
Sorry, we've found no buying or renting options for this title.
19. Gone Girl
- Year: 2014
- Cast: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris
Gone Girl is a terrific psychological thriller adapted with flair and elegance from the popular novel of the same name. The movie follows Nick Dunne, whose wife Amy mysteriously disappears one day. The result? A bona fide media frenzy as everyone starts to suspect him of wrongdoing. But are they right?
We won't spoil the big twist – enough to say you'll be in for the surprise of a lifetime. Gone Girl is nutty in the best way possible, dark, compelling and tremendously entertaining. Buckle up.
WATCH NOW
20. John Wick
- Year: 2014
- Cast: Keanu Reeves, Michael Nyqvist, Alfie Allen
Never mess with a man's dog. That's the message behind John Wick, a revenge movie about a retired hitman who is forced to return to his old ways after Russian gangsters steal his car and kill his puppy. Mayhem ensues.
Sleek and brutal, this movie kicked off an entire franchise, with sequels you might want to check out as well. With gripping action scenes and swift fighting choreography, John Wick makes for a highly satisfying watch.
WATCH NOW
What changed on our list?
New additions
- Nobody
- Till Death
- The Voyeurs
- The Guilty
- Promising Young Woman
No longer streaming
- Zodiac
- The Invitation
- A Simple Favor
- The Others
- Widows
Latest streaming news
Where to watch I Love a Mama’s Boy online in Australia
Uncomfortable family moments abound in this intriguing reality series.
Read more…
Where to watch Escape to the Chateau online in Australia
This renovation show is on a whole new level.
Read more…
More guides on Finder
-
Amazon Australia Black Friday 2021: All the best deals so far
Amazon's best Black Friday deals include 50% off video games, 40% on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, 70% off Kindle books.
-
Black Friday deal: 34% off PlayStation Plus 12-month membership
Amazon has knocked 34% off PlayStation Plus 12 Month Membership cards as part of its mid-year sale - save $27.95!
-
How I saved $16k by refinancing my home loan twice in 2 years
Bank CEOs must hate me, because I save so much money on my mortgage. Here's how I do it.
-
Ethereum price crashes as major market meltdown continues to unfold
Ethereum continues to struggle mightily as the currency’s weekly losses now stand at a staggering 13.3%!
-
Jetstar’s EPIC Return for Free sale is back with international flights
There are over 500,000 seats on sale and for the first time in 2 years, fly to 22 international destinations.
-
Black Friday pre sale: Get up to 45% off laptops
Black Friday's best early laptop deals include 56% off at Lenovo, half-price Dell 2-in-1 laptops and $399 Lenovo Chromebooks.
-
Money Mistakes Report 2021
From credit card debt to online shopping addictions to not knowing how to get a better deal, 70% of Aussies have made money mistakes.
-
When should you sell your Bitcoin?
With Bitcoin near record highs, is it time to sell? Here's what to consider.
-
Why is the CBA share price weighing on the bank sector?
Shares in Australia's biggest bank are still up 33% over the past 12 months despite strong falls over the last 2 trading days.
-
Black Friday PlayStation deals: Up to 70% off (PS4 and PS5)
Score up to 66% off PlayStation games and tech in the lead up to Black Friday.
Stream the best and save
Test out BINGE for 14 days free
All the biggest shows and movies from HBO and more on-demand.
Check out Disney+
Watch your faves from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and more.
Movies, shows and more on Prime Video
Try Amazon Prime Video's huge library for 30 days free.
Try Kayo for free
Get heaps of sports including the NRL and AFL live or on-demand.
Ask an Expert
