Netflix‘s trove of underrated, under-promoted films is even wider and extra huge than the streaming service’s subscribers could understand. Past its house web page suggestions and frequently up to date High 10 lists, the platform has tons of of flicks that you just both could have by no means heard of or didn’t even know have been on Netflix.
From the low-budget breakout dramedy that introduced one in every of America’s most embellished dwelling impartial filmmakers to the world to a handful of often forgotten blockbusters and style hits, the streamer has sufficient easy-to-miss movies to fulfill nearly each temper. Listed below are the seven greatest hidden gems on Netflix that it’s best to stream in July.
“Tangerine” (2015)
10 years earlier than he gained Greatest Image, Greatest Director, Greatest Authentic Screenplay and Greatest Modifying for “Anora,” writer-director Sean Baker acquired world consideration and popularity of “Tangerine.” Shot totally with iPhones, the low-budget dramedy follows Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor), a pair of transgender intercourse employees, who spend Christmas Eve trying to find Sin-Dee’s boyfriend and pimp, Chester (James Ransone), after she discovers he has been dishonest on her with a cisgender girl.
Propelled alongside by its personal gritty spirit and street-level fashion, “Tangerine” shares most of the similar qualities with Baker’s greatest movies. It’s concurrently empathic and absurd, heartbreaking and screwball. It loves its characters and empathizes with them utterly, which solely makes it that a lot simpler so that you can fall in love with them, too. If you wish to understand how Baker ended up making as crowd-pleasing and acclaimed a movie as “Anora,” look no additional than “Tangerine.”
“Zathura: A Area Journey” (2005)
“Zathura: A Area Journey” is probably the most underrated movie that Jon Favreau has ever made. The “Iron Man” filmmaker’s 2005 sci-fi riff on “Jumanji” is an imaginative coming-of-age movie a few pair of younger brothers (Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo) who encounter a mysterious board recreation of their basement that transports them — and their home — into outer house. Stranded with nobody however one another and their older sister (Kristen Stewart) to assist them, “Zathura” follows its protagonists as they’re pressured to play via its eponymous board recreation with a view to end it and get again house.
With each its infectious sense of childhood surprise and its capability for startling emotional darkness, “Zathura” calls to thoughts a number of the Steven Spielberg classics that clearly influenced it. The movie doesn’t, by any means, match the facility or artistry of “E.T.” or “Shut Encounters of the Third Variety,” however it nonetheless crafts a compelling and thrilling sci-fi journey of its personal nonetheless.
“Pink Eye” (2005)
“Pink Eye” is a extra psychological type of thriller than the outright horror “A Nightmare on Elm Road” maestro Wes Craven grew to become identified for all through his profession. The movie follows a lodge supervisor (Rachel McAdams) whose flight to Miami takes a darkish, nerve-wracking flip when she is taken hostage by her fellow passenger, Jackson (Cillian Murphy), a terrorist intent on forcing her to her assist him assassinate a strong U.S. politician. Lean, imply and relentless, “Pink Eye” weaponizes Murphy’s capability to return throughout as each charming and villainous to full impact, and it does the identical with McAdams’ pure likability.
Behind the digicam, Craven abandons the bloody, high-concept tips of his extra well-known movies, setting up a bare-bones thriller that feels alternately suffocating and thrilling. In doing so, the late, nice horror auteur proved that he may create real stress and dread onscreen no matter what number of elements he had at his disposal.
“Everest” (2015)
Regardless of its star-studded ensemble solid, “Everest” is an unfairly often-forgotten survival thriller. Dramatizing the devastating 1996 Mount Everest catastrophe, which claimed the lives of eight climbers, “Everest” depicts each that central, lethal expedition and the rescue efforts that have been mounted to attempt to save the lives of its all of the sudden stranded explorers.
That includes humble, low-key performances from Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Jason Clarke, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robin Wright, Keira Knightley and others, “Everest” sensitively and terrifyingly makes use of its real-life tragedy to discover each the power of the human spirit and the fragility of life. It’s an effortlessly participating drama — one which refuses to sensationalize any component of its story even because it creates big-screen moments of convincing, life-and-death hazard and galvanizing heroism.
“Bone Tomahawk” (2015)
“Bone Tomahawk” just isn’t a film for the faint of coronary heart. The movie, writer-director S. Craig Zahler’s directorial debut, follows a small-town Nineties sheriff (Kurt Russell) who leads a posse into the close by desert with a view to save three individuals who have been kidnapped by a clan of cannibalistic troglodytes. In doing so, Russell’s Sheriff Hunt unknowingly walks himself and his allies right into a valley of homicide and untold horrors the likes of which neither they — nor viewers — may ever see coming.
That includes a number of the most ugly, horrifying violence in Western film historical past, “Bone Tomahawk” is a brutal mix of the Western and horror genres that works as each a revenge thriller and a chilling slice of pure nightmare gasoline. In case you are the type of viewer who will get queasy whenever you see blood, it’s best to keep away from “Bone Tomahawk” in any respect prices. However when you have the abdomen needed for it and the curiosity, give it a shot. In the long run, you’ll be rewarded with an unforgettable, upsettingly and viscerally efficient movie.
“The Intern” (2015)
Is “The Intern” the very best movie that Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway or writer-director Nancy Meyers have ever made? No. However it isn’t almost as forgettable or dangerous as its combined preliminary reception and fame may counsel. It’s, quite the opposite, an immensely charming and touching dramedy. Written by Meyers, the movie follows a 70-year-old widower (De Niro) who takes a job as an intern at a contemporary vogue web site and, regardless of the doubts of his youthful co-workers, finally ends up forming a strong friendship along with his workaholic boss (Hathaway).
Anchored by Hathaway and De Niro’s infectious chemistry and the latter’s unexpectedly tender, warm-hearted efficiency, “The Intern” will win you over in case you give it the prospect. It can make you chortle extra instances than you possible anticipate and, in sure moments, maybe even tear up a bit.
“Nonnas” (2025)
Talking of underrated dramedies, “Nonnas” is one in every of Netflix’s most charming 2025 originals. Whereas it loved a short keep within the streamer’s High 10 titles following its premiere, the movie shortly got here and went from the general public consciousness. That may be a disgrace, given not solely the film’s high quality but in addition the caliber of expertise concerned in it. Pairing a reliably charismatic Vince Vaughn up with display legends Susan Sarandon, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro and Talia Shire, the movie dramatizes the real-life story of a New Yorker (Vaughn) who determined to open a restaurant and make use of precise grandmothers as its cooks.
What may have been nothing greater than a maudlin, weightless underdog story is, as an alternative, imbued always with relatable human feelings by “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” director Stephen Chbosky and screenwriter Liz Maccie. For those who, like many, missed “Nonnas” when it initially premiered on Netflix, take this as your signal so as to add it to your watchlist.
