It's one of our favorite ways to spend our free nights: Sitting in the dark, cuddled up under a blanket, just waiting to jump out of skin the moment a shadowy figure appears in a doorway. (What? We just really love a good, suspenseful film.) These nights in are even better if it involves some sort of crime, such as a person on the run from the bad guys, or a detective trying to solve a string of murders.
And thankfully, Netflix has us covered. The streaming service feeds our addiction on a rotating basis, releasing new and creepy documentaries and original thrillers that are bound to keep us up at night -- but are still totally worth watching anyway.
But alas, there's just so much to see on the streaming service (don't get us wrong, we're 100 percent thankful for, considering we're often in the mood for a rom-com, too). Things tend to get lost in the mix, or our recommendations get screwy after watching The Umbrella Academy and finding ourselves on a "time travel" binge.
It's situations like these that lead us to clicking around, coming upon the niche combination of "Crime" and "New Releases." Here, we were able to find something that we hadn't seen before, which had the ability to make us grip the edge of our seats and audibly gasp.
So, we decided to share.
We've rounded up these new crime releases -- some of which have been around for a few months, but are still as thrilling as ever -- with their descriptions. There's a little something for everyone included on the list, from documentaries to cheesy (in the best way) flicks, all of which is bound to keep crime junkies occupied -- at least for a few days.
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Rated: R
This movie is based on an actual terrorist attack that happened on July 22, 2011, which was the worst in Norway's history. There was a bombing and a shooting in which 70 people were killed. The film focuses on one of the young survivors, the families that were impacted by these events, and the country coming together to seek justice.
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Rated: TV-MA
For those looking for a way to see a few of Hollywood's leading men in one suspense-filled film, the answer is Mute, starring Paul Rudd, Alexander Skarsgard, and Justin Theroux. It takes place in the future, and Alexander plays a man who was left mute after an accident. As an adult, he works as a bartender, and goes on a mission to find his girlfriend after she mysteriously disappears.
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Rated: PG-13
A classic action movie involving bad guys and the ultimate heist, mixed with the very real threat of a storm? That's what goes down in this movie, in which criminals decide that the best time to rob $600 million from a US mint facility is right when a category 5 hurricane hits the area. However, a code, a Treasury agent, and two local men come between them and their goal.
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Rated: TV-MA
Game of Thrones fans will be excited to see that Natalie Dormer, aka Margaery Tyrell, has the lead role in this murder mystery (she also co-wrote it with her husband, who also directed it). The actress plays a blind pianist, who overhears a struggle and death of her neighbor (Emily Ratajkowski), which leads to her getting mixed up in London's criminal underworld.
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Rated: R
Inspired by a real event, 211 has Nicolas Cage playing an aging police officer, who, on a routine patrol with a high school student as his passenger, finds himself in a standoff with former mercenaries turned bank robbers. For the most part, there's a lot of action and a lot of shooting involved here.
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Rated: TV-14
In the summer 2014, a 12-year-old girl named Genesis Rincon was hit and killed by a stray bullet in Paterson, New Jersey. This documentary shows while she lost her life that day, many other others were also impacted by the incident -- including Genesis's family, who had to deal with her death, and the family of the men who were accused of the crime.
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Rated: TV-MA
This is one of those movies that has the main characters attempting to do everything "right," but the harder they try, the worse things end up getting. The Spanish thriller follows a workaholic father who's trying to make it home to his family despite being extremely tired, and a teen girl, who finds herself in a bad situation with some guys. Well, the tired dad ends up hitting one of those teens with his car, and the craziness only builds from there.
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Rated: TV-MA
After his friend is shot at a convenience store, a man named Jon, who's a mathematician and also has schizophrenia, discovers a pattern: Every few years, a murder occurs at the same place, on the same day, and each time, five people -- who are the ages 10, 21, 32, 42 and 53 -- are present. Jon takes it upon himself to try and stop the next one from occurring.
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Rated: TV-MA
This Italian film is based on real events and tells a horrific and unfortunate story. After the title character, Stefano Cucchi, was arrested on minor drug charges, he spent a week in prison -- and somehow ended up dead. On My Skin touches on police brutality and how this man wasn't properly treated for his injuries.
The whole thing is extra haunting since it actually happened.
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Rated: TV-MA
What's a broke and talented martial arts instructor to do when he needs to make a little money? Take on a side gig with the mob, of course. That's what happens to the main character in this movie, who uses his skills to help gangsters collect their debt.
It's easy to assume things won't go as smoothly as they'd hoped.
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Rated: TV-MA
Another one with a healthy dose of martial arts -- and yes, things end up getting very violent and a bit bloody. Darc is about an Interpool agent who wants to bring down a human trafficking ring, but realizes he'll need some help doing so. He opts to hire a "brutal criminal" (as described in the Netflix summary) who has inside knowledge of the group that's responsible.
