The 6th most-watched movie on Netflix right now – according to their Top 10 chart – is a recently-released and little known English-language crime drama called The Night Clerk. Produced by Saban Films and starring Ready Player One‘s Tye Sheridan, the pic tells the disturbing story of a voyeuristic young night clerk who becomes the main suspect of a murder investigation.
Film buffs may see some similarities between this premise and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic thriller Psycho, and for good reason. Based on a novel by Robert Bloch, that picture centered on a woman who flees her hometown after stealing money from her boss, only to get into a skirmish with the owner of a motel she checks into.
A skirmish, of course, would be putting it mildly. In one of the creepiest sequences ever put to film, receptionist Norman Bates watches his only guest take a shower through a hole in the wall, only to enter the bathroom moments later dressed up as his dead mother and stab her to death while the water’s still running. We’d warn for spoilers, but this masterpiece has been spoiled silly by everyone already.
If you like The Night Clerk though, you’re in a pretty good place, because Netflix knows no shortage of captivating murder mysteries. Take, for instance, the acclaimed series You, which follows a psychopath who is willing to do everything – and we mean everything – to get into a relationship with the woman of his dreams.
Should you be in the mood for something a bit more lighthearted, though, the streamer’s original dramedy The End of the F***ing World may be a good alternative. It’s basically got the exact same conceit as You, but the characters are teenagers rather than adults. Why that little detail makes the whole thing less disturbing is tough to explain, so you’ll just have to watch the show for yourself to find out how it works.
But circling back to The Night Clerk, and though its inclusion so high on the Top 10 is a bit surprising given that it’s not exactly a big name movie, we certainly suggest checking it out. It’s far from perfect, but definitely offers a few good thrills.
