Can’t decide what to watch this weekend? While Netflix has a lot of available hits and blockbusters on its front page, it might be time to skip the trending tab and dig a little deeper. The streaming giant is loaded with lesser-known films that didn’t make a splash on release but are more than worth your time now.
Maybe you’re in the mood for a gripping drama, a moving biography, or a frightening horror flick — whatever you’re feeling, there’s a hidden gem ready to deliver. These underrated picks might not have gotten the attention they deserved, but they offer fresh stories that can be unforgettable if they find their audience. So if you’re craving something different, here are a few overlooked movies streaming on Netflix that deserve a place on your watchlist.
We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
The Outrun (2024)
Directed by Nora Fingscheidt based on the eponymous 2016 memoir by Amy Liptrot, The Outrun is a psychological drama that follows 29-year-old Rona (Saoirse Ronan), who returns to her childhood home in the Orkney Islands after a decade in London. Through a series of flashbacks, the film reveals her troubling experiences with addiction amidst London’s vibrant nightlife. This chaotic past is contrasted with Orkney’s isolated, windswept landscapes and much slower pace of living. Rona reconnects with the land as she deals with her past, eventually seeking a path to recovery and self-discovery.
A quiet yet powerful movie about addiction and recovery, The Outrun offers a nuanced character study that went mostly unnoticed following a limited release in the United Kingdom and Germany. It soars thanks to a riveting performance by Saoirse Ronan, who captures both the vulnerability and surprising resistance of Rona’s character. Her portrayal is perfectly complemented by a stark, visually stunning setting that seems to come to life around her as she learns the depths of her own strength in the process of healing.
The Outrun is streaming on Netflix.
Lion (2016)
After falling asleep on a train in rural India, five-year-old Saroo (Sunny Pawar) wakes up thousands of kilometers from home — alone and unable to find his way back. Lion depicts his frightening situation as he barely survives on the streets of Calcutta until he’s eventually adopted by an Australian couple, Sue and John Brierley (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). Decades later, a grown-up Saroo (Dev Patel) uses his fragmented memories and a new technology called Google Earth to trace his way back to his birth family. As he pieces together the puzzle that is his early life, the emotional toll on his adoptive family complicates his plan.
Although director Garth Davis’ Lion would receive six Academy Award nominations — including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Kidman — it’s still criminally underrated in the broader conversation of the best of 2010s cinema. Never veering into melodrama, the biographical film benefits from Davis’ restrained direction, which brings out the best in the leads. Patel, in particular, gives a quietly devastating performance as Saroo, whose story echoes with anyone struggling with belonging or is similarly tethered to two worlds.
Lion is streaming on Netflix.
1922 (2017)
1922 is a horror drama directed by Zak Hilditch based on Stephen King’s eponymous 2010 novella. Set in rural Nebraska, it revolves around a farmer, Wilfred James (Thomas Jane), who convinces his teenage son, Henry (Dylan Schmid), to help kill his wife, Arlette (Molly Parker). Wilfred wants to kill her because she plans to sell the family land and move to the city. Though the scheming father-son duo successfully executes their plan, they unleash a chain of events that almost seems cursed. The crops wither, rats infest the home, and Wilfred and Henry both become delusional as they’re devoured by this mysterious deluge.
Without much promotional push from the streamer, the brooding and atmospheric tale in 1922 came and went with little fanfare. Those who love horror may want to give this oppressively moody and twisty slow-burn movie a chance if only to see its unique rural gothic aesthetic. Of course, the Stephen King movie’s story is nothing to scoff at either, with the main characters’ descents into madness being impossible to look away from.
1922 is streaming on Netflix.
