Netflix is the streaming service to be this weekend if you are a fan of crime thrillers, because a high-profile new release of the genre is joined by great company on the streamer to close out August. On last weekend’s Netflix movie recommendations, I talked about To Catch a Cheater, Swiss Army Man, and Reacher star Alan Ritchson’s War Machine.

At the time of writing, only one of those movies is trending on Netflix in the United States. That would be To Catch a Cheater, a thriller about a mother trying to find out exactly what happened the night that her daughter was murdered. That kind of dark thriller is perfectly followed by one of the new releases on this weekend’s list.

That said, the overall tone of these recommendations is not as bleak as it suggests. While the list does feature a crime thriller in the vein of Netflix’s Nordic Noir series like The Chestnut Man and Detective Hole, all three movies on this weekend’s Netflix recommendations come from different genres, offering something for everyone.

That includes one Netflix original movie, the aforementioned R-rated crime thriller, a superhero film that is held by many as the genre’s biggest masterpiece, and a horror sci-fi hybrid that became a viral sensation. Brace yourself for a wild ride through Netflix’s movie library on the final weekend of August, including:

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

First up is one of, if not the best Spider-Man movies around. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse redefined animation as a medium, coming up with innovative techniques that have inspired a series of movies and TV shows with a similar art style. It tells the story of Miles Morales, not Peter Parker, as he learns how to be Spider-Man and meets multiverse variants.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is currently the 10th most-watched movie on Netflix in the United States. The Sony Marvel movie serves as the ideal follow-up to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which continues to do well in theaters, becoming one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. With the trilogy ending in 2027, now is as good a time as any to rewatch the classic start to the franchise.

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M3GAN (2023)

M3GAN is both hilarious and scary. The Blumhouse movie arrived on Netflix on August 24. It follows a companion android who develops a violent way of taking care of the little girl she was tasked with protecting. If you have yet to check out this movie, please watch M3GAN this weekend on Netflix. It works as the perfect popcorn time with friends and loved ones.

M3GAN currently holds a near-perfect 93% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 318 reviews, which is a rare feat for horror movies. It is unique in a way that its lead character is a villain with a charismatic persona, but she does not shy away from dishing out the most violent punishments imaginable. M3GAN does not take itself seriously, and it has a blast with the concept due to that.

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The Whisper Man (2026)

Finally, the last entry on the list is the only Netflix original movie. The Whisper Man stars Adam Scott as a father desperately trying to save his son’s life after he was abducted. To get him back, Robert De Niro’s Detective Inspector Pete Willis, who is the estranged father of Scott’s Tom Kennedy, must come out of retirement and face the case’s connections to the serial killer that changed his life for the worse.

The Whisper Man is a movie that I anticipate will be leading Netflix’s global charts in no time, given the popularity of crime thrillers on the streaming service. On top of that, for fans of the genre, the new Netflix movie comes up as an opportunity to see one of its masters, De Niro, come home, and that makes the R-rated The Whisper Man a thrilling final stop to our Netflix recommendations.