Gillian Flynn’s third mystery novel, Gone Girl, became an instant best-seller when it debuted in 2012. The movie adaptation of the same name, released just two years later, racked up plenty of critical and commercial acclaim in its own right, with the darkly funny psychological cat-and-mouse game of the Dunnes' marriage keeping audiences guessing until the very end.
But if you're not ready for the twists and turns to be over just yet, don't worry: We've got you covered. There are plenty of psychological thrillers to find across the best streaming services, but figuring out which ones pack genuinely surprising plot twists is another question entirely. We've brought together our top picks for the most gripping movies like Gone Girl for you to check out next. So read on to (hopefully) add some more entries to your must-watch list.
A Simple Favor
To kick things off with a more comedic option we have A Simple Favour — though don't get me wrong, the humor in this movie is dark. Think more Heathers and less Pitch Perfect, though you'd be forgiven for assuming the latter since it does star the acapella A-lister herself, Anna Kendrick.
Stephanie (Kendrick) is a widowed mommy vlogger who becomes best friends with the secretive mother of her son's schoolmate, Emily (Blake Lively). The two share everything with each other. But when Emily suddenly vanishes one day, Stephanie is forced to take matters into her own hands to get to the bottom of her friend's disappearance.
Things begin to unravel as she uncovers more about Emily's past and learns she isn't the person she claims to be, and the two BFFs soon find themselves trapped in a web of conspiracy and murder.
Watch it on Prime Video
Fractured
If you liked Gone Girl, you need to add Fractured to your must-watch list. This psychological thriller will keep you guessing until the credits start rolling.
Sam Worthington stars as Ray Monroe, a widower who gets another chance to play happy family with his second wife and young daughter. After driving home from a tense Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws, the family pulls over at a rest stop, where their daughter stumbles into a construction pit. In a panic, Ray jumps after her to save her, but hits his head and wakes up in a daze as paramedics rush him to the hospital.
The three are separated at the hospital, and this is when things take a turn for the bizarre. After hours of waiting, Ray demands to see his family, but the nurses claim to have no record of them. That he came in alone. As Ray tries to piece together what happened, he believes the doctors and nurses may be conspiring together in a sinister plot. Meanwhile, you're constantly left wondering who to believe.
Watch it on Netflix
Tell No One
This French thriller is severely underrated. Adapted from the mystery novel of the same name by Harlan Coben, Tell No One is brimming with conspiracies and twists and turns you'll never see coming.
The story follows Dr. Alex Beck (François Cluzet), a grieving husband who suffers a three-day coma and awakens to find his wife was killed by a high-profile serial killer. The cops are skeptical of his story, and as a viewer, it's hard not to share their distrust, which thrusts Alex into the role of questionable narrator from the get-go.
Eight years later, he gets a mysterious email containing a video clip of his very much still-living wife. Cryptic messages claiming to be from his wife follow. She says she's afraid to reveal herself: "Tell no one," she warns Alex in an e-mail. "They're watching." Meanwhile, two more deaths connected to his wife’s murder surface, and Alex's life is turned upside down even more as he frantically searches for answers.
Watch it on Prime Video
Side Effects
Side Effects has it all, from corrupt doctors to personal vendettas and big pharma conspiracies — and, of course, plenty of murder to go around.
At the center of it all is Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara), a troubled woman who we see in therapy after an apparent suicide attempt following her husband's release from prison. None of the antidepressants she's prescribed seem to work at first. But one experimental drug gives her some curious side effects that, without spoiling anything, throw her life into chaos.
But of course, just as in Gone Girl, not everything is as it seems. Mara and her co-stars Jude Law, Channing Tatum and the rest of the A-list cast deliver impressive performances, making for a gripping psychological thriller that fans of Gone Girl really shouldn't miss.
Watch it on Starz
Dark Places
Dark Places is another of Gillian Flynn's novels that got the big screen treatment. The story follows Libby Day (Charlize Theron), a woman still grappling with the trauma of seeing her mother and two sisters murdered at the age of 8.
Her older brother goes to jail for the crime, his conviction largely based on Libby's testimony. However, decades later, true-crime fan Lyle Wirth (Nicholas Hoult) starts digging into the case, and Libby's version of events is called into serious question.
Dark Places and Gone Girl overlap in a lot of ways, so it's definitely worth a watch if you're looking for more of the same vibe. They both kick off with a crime where the guilty party seems immediately clear to audiences — in Gone Girl, it's the disappearance of a man's wife, and in Dark Places, it's the grisly murder of a family — and it's only as events being to unfold that the truth begins to come clear.
Watch it on Max
