Thanks for visiting our guide to the top Netflix hidden treasures. This is a thorough exploration of Netflix’s enormous catalog, where we have discovered some of the service’s top undiscovered gems at the moment.
Even though some cult movies are included, these are also movies and TV series that, in our opinion, haven’t received the credit they merit.
We are aware of how frustrating Netflix may be for you. The never-ending scrolling while looking for anything to watch, the argument with roommates and loved ones over what kind of film to watch, or whether you should turn on Tiger King for the forty-first time.
We attempt to assist with our many guidelines. We can help you find the top films on Netflix, incredible TV episodes, Netflix documentaries, or even crime dramas. What is that, though? You desire other suggestions.
This is why we put up this list of Netflix’s best-kept secrets. Those underrated movies and television programs that hardly appear on best-of lists do so not because they are subpar but because not enough people have discovered them.
Stream these, and you will immediately become more famous among your friends. Of course, that is complete fiction, but perhaps we can prevent some debates about what to watch tonight and in the future.
20. Fruitvale Station (2013)
- Director: Ryan Coogler
- Writer: Ryan Coogler
- Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand
- IMDb Ratings: 7.5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 94%
- Streaming Platforms: Netflix, Prime Videos, and Hulu
The movie describes the circumstances leading up to Oscar Grant III’s death at the Fruitvale district station in Oakland, California. It is tailored to the true story of Oscar Grant III, who was slain by a police officer in 2009.
Grant is portrayed by Michael B. Jordan in a stirring performance, whereas the two participating cops are portrayed by Chad Michael Murray as well as Kevin Durand.
19. I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore (2017)
- Director: Macon Blair
- Writer: Macon Blair
- Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Chris Doubek, Marilyn Faith Hickey, Jared Roylance
- IMDb Ratings: 6.9
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
Ruth’s (Melanie Lynskey) day is not going well. She has a tough day at work and returns home to find that she has been broken into. Even worse, the cops won’t assist her, so she asks an unexpected neighbor, Tony, for assistance (Elijah Wood). But when they look into it, they find they are dealing with deadly criminals.
18. His House (2020)
- Director: Remi Weekes
- Writer: Remi Weekes, Felicity Evans, Toby Venables
- Cast: Sope Dirisu, Wunmi Mosaku, Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba, Matt Smith
- IMDb Ratings: 6.5
- Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
His HouseHouse, the outstanding cinematic debut of filmmaker Remi Weekes, is a piece of absolute social horror in which the dread is not only found in the paranormal but also in the challenges an immigrant couple must undergo to exist.
In this film, Bol and Rial Major, who had recently narrowly fled conflict in South Sudan to try to start over in a little English town, are portrayed by Sope Dirisu & Wunmi Mosaku. But unfortunately, they discover that this town was not only not designed for them but was sometimes openly antagonistic against them.
They encounter hostility from others and constant pressure to fit in, making their challenging transition even more difficult. To make this situation worse, a terrible secret the two share is returning to torment them with horrific images, along with an evil presence hiding in their home.
It may sound like a typical haunted home tale, but it is so much more than just that. Yes, the utilization of audio and light fear is flawless, but the powerful emotional undertone makes this movie stand out.
17. Creep 2 (2017)
- Director: Patrick Brice
- Writer: Mark Duplass, Patrick Brice
- Cast: Karan Soni, Mark Duplass, Desiree Akhavan, Kyle Field
- IMDb Ratings: 6.4
- Rotten Tomatoes: 100%
- Streaming Platforms: Netflix, Prime Videos, and Vudu
A skin-crawlingly nasty found video horror-comedy about the dangers of masculinity, addiction, and narrative, The Original Creep is also available for Streaming. Your time is wisely spent on it. But its successor, a genuine horror classic for the twenty-first century, easily tops it.
The murder shown in the cold open is… horrifying. Mark Duplass is back as our identity-hopping serial murderer, bent on chronicling his atrocities as a voyeuristic glimpse into the soul posing as an attempt to create friendship.
However, this time he is coupled with the fiercely skilled actor/filmmaker Desiree Akhavan, who portrays a fiercely gifted filmmaker prone to taking strange people with strange demands. Disconcerting sparks erupt and bounce when Creep 2 latches into its two-handed framework.
Duplass and Akhavan make an excellent duo, creating the film’s unsettling moments of tension, comedy, and sometimes even real connection. Like most of the finest examples of contemporary horror, Creep 2 subtly makes several observations on our modern vices while simultaneously terrifying the living daylights out of you.
16. 1922 (2017)
- Director: Zak Hilditch
- Writer: Stephen King, Zak Hilditch
- Cast: Thomas Jane, Molly Parker, Dylan Schmid, Kaitlyn Bernard
- IMDb Ratings: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
One of the numerous new original films Netflix quietly released on its streaming platform without very much attention is 1922. Before it unexpectedly surfaced in my “Movies You May Like” section on Netflix, which is usually about as striking as blindfolded brain surgery, I had no idea this film was even in development.
But I decided to check it out since it featured a heavily overalled Thomas Jane and because a Stephen King tale inspired it, and I was greeted with a spooky supernatural murder mystery.
Similar to A Simple Plan but set inside the American heartland before the Great Depression and with real ghosts. The majority of the film is recounted in flashbacks, and Jane portrays a farmer nearing the end of his life and penning a complete confession of a very horrible act.
You will indeed be hit in the face with the conclusion that Thomas Jane is Doing A Thing within the first sixty seconds of the film. If I’m being sincere, his portrayal is utterly batshit in the most excellent manner imaginable, and he’s very brilliant. It’s a suspenseful slow-burn drama with a villainous center figure who makes the corruption of everything around him nearly tolerable.
15. The Big Flower Fight (2020)
- Production Company: Multistory Media
- Cast: Natassia Demetriou, Vic Reeves, Kristen Griffith-Vanderyacht, Helen Lockwood
- IMDb Ratings: 7.4
- Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
The Big Flower Fight uses the format of The Great British Baking Show to showcase the enormous talents and aesthetic appeal of landscaping and botany. It’s difficult to conceive that the frivolous realm of flower arrangement could have been even the slightest bit interesting.
However, even if you have no interest in plants, you will undoubtedly have a favorite by the film’s end because of the diverse cast’s immediate likability.
14. Berlin Syndrome (2017)
- Director: Cate Shortland
- Writer: Shaun Grant, Melanie Joosten, Cate Shortland
- Cast: Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt, Matthias Habich, Emma Bading
- IMDb Ratings: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes: 76%
- Streaming Platforms: Netflix, Prime Videos, and Vudu
Films about abducted females typically follow one of two paths: either this is all about the dramatic tension, struggling to figure out how and whether she will get out—or there’s the filthier route, the minimal road, when some movies concentrate on a woman’s torment and mortification, attempting to turn it into a spectacle. Unfortunately, these movies are so common that we might just as well start making them their genre.
Before directing the criminally underappreciated thriller Berlin Syndrome, Cate Shortland directed the lengthy solo feature in which she told the Black Widow’s narrative. While on vacation in Berlin, Clare (Theresa Palmer), an Australian traveler, enjoys the day with a gorgeous, pleasant guy.
At first, everything goes well; on her final day, he takes her around the city, they share a bed, and she stays the night at his house.
When Andi (Max Riemelt) traps her in his home the next day before he goes to work and won’t let her out when he gets home, their connection initially has all the makings of a charming, innocent vacation affair. However, Berlin Syndrome purposefully and gradually increases the strain level from this point on.
Every exchange between them exudes tension, as if Andi may lose control at any second and murder her. You can’t bear to think if Clare will ever leave Andi’s home alive and how much longer she has to live.
13. Derry Girls (2018)
- Creator: Lisa McGee
- Cast: Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Louisa Harland, Tara Lynne O’Neill, Kathy Kiera Clarke
- IMDb Ratings: 8.4
- Rotten Tomatoes: 99%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
With its focus on a group of adolescent girls living in Derry, Ireland, mainly during the Troubles in the mid-late 1990s, Derry Girls has become somewhat of a sleeper success among viewers. The program engages in general political turmoil while incorporating amusing banter and scenarios for the bunch of Catholic teenage girls.
12. The Fundamentals Of Caring (2016)
- Director: Rob Burnett
- Writer: Rob Burnett, Jonathan Evison
- Cast: Craig Roberts, Paul Rudd, Selena Gomez
- IMDb Ratings: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes: 77%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
We’re on a long drive, so pack your luggage. The Fundamentals of Caring, a delightful diamond in the rough inspired by Jonathan Evison’s book The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, depicts Ben (Paul Rudd), a heartbroken yet optimistic man seeking meaning in his life.
He enrolls in a caregiving course and is employed to look for Trevor (Craig Roberts), an 18-year-old with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who is hard to persuade and gloomy.
Trevor, whose father abandoned him & his mother while he was three, detests the lousy luck he received and longs to lead typical teenage years.
Ben drives Trevor on a cross-country road trip wherein they meet Dot (Selena Gomez), a similarly disgruntled adolescent, and connect through their lovely (mis)adventures because he is committed to giving Trevor the adventurous life he deserves. Ben is a reminder that life should be experienced, flaws and all.
11. Okja (2017)
- Director: Bong Joon Ho
- Writer: Bong Joon Ho, Jon Ronson
- Cast: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Seo-hyun Ahn, Jake Gyllenhaal
- IMDb Ratings: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
Okja is a creative picture that thrills and energizes while tugging at emotions. It is diversified and dynamic. The movie chronicles the voyage of a little girl named Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) as she tries to preserve Okja, the genetically altered pig she’s been raising since it was a piglet and who has been sent to the US to be butchered for food.
The movie questions popular perceptions about the wider meat industry and big businesses, and it is unafraid to confront their frightening truths.
However, this movie also has a great mix of drama, mystery, and combat. Director Bong Joon-Ho, renowned for the film Snowpiercer and Parasite, yet again crafts a tale that takes pleasure in defying expectations and has a bittersweet finish.
10. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)
- Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
- Writer: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Jack London
- Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Willie Watson, Clancy Brown, Danny McCarthy
- IMDb Ratings: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
The chance exists that The Ballad of Buster Scruggs will be the final movie Joel and Ethan Coen ultimately make together. Joel oversaw the direction of A24’s The Tragedy of Macbeth without his brother Ethan because the latter is now performing on stage in New York.
So if The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is their final film, it’s a fitting end to one of the most successful collaborations in movie history.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an assortment of six stories about death and finality that combines everything the Coen brothers are known for with dark humor.
Longtime admirers of their job have argued about which of the pieces is the greatest, but it’s hard to go wrong with the title-poem opening tale “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs,” which stars Tim Blake Nelson as kind of a singing gunslinger.
9. The Two Popes (2019)
- Director: Fernando Meirelles
- Writer: Anthony McCarten
- Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, Juan Minujín, Luis Gnecco
- IMDb Ratings: 7.6
- Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
Who would have thought that a comedy about two friends would be as fun and appealing as the narrative of papal succession? The connection involving Pope Francis, who would eventually succeed Pope Benedict (Anthony Hopkins), as well as the current Pope Benedict (Fernando Meirelles) in the City of God, is given a lively vitality (Jonathan Pryce).
Despite holding radically different opinions, the two men become friends because they have the same sense of faith, kindness, and worry for the future of the Catholic Church. In addition, they enjoy eating pizza together, watching sports, and listening to ABBA. As a result, the movie is incredibly sympathetic and pleasant, even if it doesn’t steer away from the contentious moment in the Church’s history.
8. The Kindergarten Teacher (2018)
- Director: Sara Colangelo
- Writer: Sara Colangelo, Nadav Lapid
- Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gael García Bernal, Ato Blankson-Wood, Libya Pugh
- IMDb Ratings: 6.7
- Rotten Tomatoes: 90%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
Sara Colangelo’s debut film is one of the very few remakes of foreign films that successfully achieves the goals that their early ancestors had in mind. Remakes of foreign films for the American market aren’t unusual, but they are highly infrequent.
The Kindergarten Teacher follows Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Lisa, a failing elementary school teacher who desires to do nothing more than flee her mundane, challenging existence via her poems. The film poses the topic of what we’re prepared to do for a bit of popularity.
Her life takes when one of her pupils, Jimmy (Parker Sevak), exhibits a tremendous ability for poetry, which she appears to lack; her life spirals out of control.
To please her writing coach (Gael Garcia Bernal), she uses the youngster’s gift to her benefit and accepts his poems as her own. However, she quickly escalates her conduct, cutting the boy off from his family members and friends and seeking to utilize his skill for her benefit.
Lisa is unnerving in a way that deviates from Gyllenhaal’s comfort zone, rivaling her brother’s talents in movies like Velvet Buzzsaw and making viewers wonder how much faith we place in other people and what the prospect of stardom can do to us.
7. Mindhorn (2016)
- Director: Sean Foley
- Writer: Julian Barratt, Simon Farnaby
- Cast: Julian Barratt, Simon Farnaby, Essie Davis, Steve Coogan
- IMDb Ratings: 6.3
- Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
Mindhorn is an incredibly entertaining blend of combat and Hollywood satire, particularly if you like British comedies that combine the best of Steve Coogan and Monty Python. As just the titular character, the former star of a legendary action television series now washed ashore, Julian Barratt gives a stirring performance.
When Mindhorn becomes involved in a true murder mystery, including some of his show’s top viewers, he must transform into an actual hero. Although Mindhorn doesn’t treat itself too seriously, filmmaker Sean Foley adds just enough mystery to keep the plot moving. Also, check out the excellent appearances of some of the most adored British actors on the scene.
6. Wheelman (2017)
- Director: Jeremy Rush
- Writer: Jeremy Rush
- Cast: Frank Grillo, Caitlin Carmichael, Garret Dillahunt, Shea Whigham
- IMDb Ratings: 6.4
- Rotten Tomatoes: 88%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
Netflix has a surprising talent for creating the precise kind of grindhouse genre movies that studios no longer make. For example, Wheelman, an underappreciated thriller by Jeremy Rush, effectively combines Drive and Locke into one action-packed vehicle pursuit story.
The notion could have seemed a bit out there if Frank Grillo weren’t so captivating. Grillo, best known for playing Crossbones in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, provides a far more courageous portrayal as a grizzled getaway driver who learns he has been put in place. Wheelman provides all you need if you’re seeking a fast-paced, pulpy thriller within 90 minutes.
5. I’m Thinking of Ending Things (2020)
- Director: Charlie Kaufman
- Writer: Charlie Kaufman, Iain Reid
- Cast: Jesse Plemons, Jessie Buckley, Toni Collette, David Thewlis
- IMDb Ratings: 6.6
- Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
I’m Thinking of Ending Things is one of the scariest films you’ll have seen. The movie’s main character is a young woman (Jessie Buckley) who, while contemplating breaking up with her lover, visits her boyfriend’s parents at her farm. The movie is challenging to explain since it is rife with significance and more concerned with feeling than the story.
It makes you feel uneasy, but that’s the idea, and the brilliant directing and acting make it well worth seeing.
4. Candy Jar (2018)
- Director: Ben Shelton
- Writer: Chad Klitzman
- Cast: Jacob Latimore, Sami Gayle, Tom Bergeron, Helen Hunt
- IMDb Ratings: 5.8
- Rotten Tomatoes: 71%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
The finest adolescent rom-com you’ve ever even seen is Candy Jar. Lona (Sami Gayle) with Bennett (Jacob Latimore), who start as competitors in the debate club, are the movie’s main characters. But soon, situations compel them to compete against one another.
They discover that regardless of their differences, they are similar and might harbor romantic affection for one another. Candy Jar is the epitome of an enemy-to-lover game. Highlights include Christina Hendricks and Uzo Aduba as the sometimes crazy but always devoted mothers of Lona and Bennett.
3. Happy (2017)
- Creator: Grant Morrison, Brian Taylor
- Cast: Christopher Meloni, Ritchie Coster, Lili Mirojnick, Patton Oswalt
- IMDb Ratings: 8.1
- Rotten Tomatoes: 84%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
If you’ve ever wondered what one of the filmmakers of Crank was doing these days (as we all do), he’s currently producing Happy, a fantastic piece of television. Christopher Meloni plays an assassin who begins to see his daughter’s fictitious companion, an animated blue unicorn, inside this somewhat violent, darker-than-black comedy series (voiced by Patton Oswalt).
This one is not for the weak of heart; it’s over-the-top schlocky, excessively vulgar, yet occasionally blisteringly amusing. Unfortunately, it was terminated after two seasons, yet despite the little sense of emptiness, it’s still worth seeing.
2. Ip Man (2008)
- Director: Wilson Yip
- Writer: Edmond Wong, Tai-lee Chan
- Cast: Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan, Ka-Tung Lam
- IMDb Ratings: 8
- Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
A masterfully staged martial arts tetralogy follows Bruce Lee‘s famous career as he equally overcomes Japanese and Western opponents. Even if the entire series is overt Chinese advertising, it’s still worth watching for the thrilling action scenes.
1. Beasts Of No Nation (2015)
- Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
- Writer: Cary Joji Fukunaga, Uzodinma Iweala
- Cast: Abraham Attah, Emmanuel Affadzi, Ricky Adelayitor, Andrew Adobe
- IMDb Ratings: 7.7
- Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix
The war movie tells the tale of Agu (Abraham Attah), a young boy who is turned into a child soldier once war happens in his African nation. It is based on Uzodinma Iweala’s book of the same name. Though it’s undoubtedly tough to watch, you’ll want to stick around for the compelling performances and gripping storyline.