Not every movie gets the attention it deserves. Some of the best underrated films on Netflix are the ones that never made much noise on release but are absolutely worth your time if you know where to look.
This weekend, we are skipping the algorithm and going deeper into the library. So here are three underrated movies worth watching this weekend.
We also have guides to the best new movies to stream, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best free movies, and the best movies on Amazon Prime Video.
1922 (2017)
If you are in the mood for something slow, unsettling, and quietly devastating, 1922 is worth your time. This Netflix psychological horror drama is based on Stephen King’s novel, which follows Wilf James, a Nebraska farmer in the 1920s, who plots to murder his wife after she threatens to sell the family land and move to the city.
What follows is not just a crime story but a slow, suffocating portrait of guilt eating a man alive from the inside out. Despite being a horror drama, 1922 leans into isolation and consequence rather than relying solely on jump scares.
Thomas Jane delivers one of the most underrated performances in this movie. I really like how the film never lets you fully hate or fully sympathize with Wilf. You understand his logic right up until the moment the deed is done, and then the weight of it just settles over everything like fog that never lifts.
You can watch 1922 on Netflix.
Secret Sunshine (2007)
If you have ever felt like movies do not really capture what grief actually looks like, Secret Sunshine might change that. Directed by Lee Chang-dong, this Korean drama follows Shin-ae, a widow who relocates to a small town with her young son, hoping for a quiet, fresh start.
What unfolds is one of the most emotionally raw portraits of loss, faith, and human stubbornness ever put on screen. What I love most about this film is how it refuses to make grief look clean or linear. Shin-ae does not just cry and heal. She goes through silence, hysteria, false hope, anger, and something closer to revenge, sometimes all within the same chapter of her life. It is uncomfortable in the best way, and it stays with you long after the credits roll.
You can watch Secret Sunshine on Netflix.
Mindhorn (2016)
If you are in the mood for something completely silly and oddly charming, Mindhorn is the kind of British comedy that sneaks up on you. Julian Barratt plays Richard Thorncroft, a washed-up actor who once played a fictional TV detective named Bruce Mindhorn in the 1980s, a character famous for having a bionic eye that could detect lies.
The trouble begins when a real-life suspect on the Isle of Man refuses to cooperate with police unless the actual Mindhorn comes to help, apparently not realizing the character is fictional. Thorncroft, desperate and deluded, obliges.
The film is gleefully absurd and largely slapstick, but what gives it a little more texture than your average comedy is the sad, schadenfreude-laced portrait of a man who never quite figured out who he was without the costume. I really like how Barratt plays Thorncroft’s delusion with a straight face, which makes the whole thing funnier.
You can watch Mindhorn on Netflix.