13 best Thai movies to watch on Netflix Thailand

M, a university dropout with big gaming dreams and very little cash, volunteers to look after his terminally ill grandmother. He also has one eye firmly on her fortune.

Why it’s one of the best: Keep tissues within reach. Pat Boonnitipat’s feature debut starts as a sly comedy about who gets what, then turns into a film about duty, guilt and simply showing up. The Thai-Chinese family at its centre will feel painfully familiar to anyone who has survived a big family dinner. During its 2024 release, it became the highest-grossing Thai film to date in several Southeast Asian countries. That family struck a nerve well beyond Thailand.

Aoy runs her family’s stir-fried noodle restaurant in Bangkok’s old quarter until she’s recruited by Team Hunger, an elite private-chef team led by the infamously ruthless Chef Paul.

Why it’s one of the best: Thin-sliced wagyu, wok fire and a side of class tension. Sitisiri Mongkolsiri’s Netflix original swaps street-food comfort for fine-dining theatre and asks what people are really hungry for. For its director, the real subject is human ambition rather than dinner. Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying holds it together as Aoy.

Orn loses her family’s savings to a call-centre scam and gets nowhere with the authorities. So she teams up with two other women whose lives have been upended by scammers to hunt the gang down.

Why it’s one of the best: The Hunger team – director Sitisiri Mongkolsiri and co-writer and executive producer Kongdej Jaturanrasamee – takes on a painfully familiar Thai headache. According to Netflix, the film draws on years of research, including insights from Thairath TV’s SEE TRUE investigative programme. The story is fictional, but its scam operations feel uncomfortably close to home. The critic at Decider found the melodrama overdone in places; the anger driving it is harder to dismiss.

Lhan’s rare blood type makes her a target from childhood. After her parents are murdered, she's taken in by House 89, a clan of assassins. Years later, their killer is still hunting her. This time she chooses to stand and fight.

Why it’s one of the best: Billed as Netflix Thailand’s first action romantic drama, this film puts brutal close-quarters fights alongside a big-hearted story about chosen family. Horror specialist Taweewat Wantha, director of Death Whisperer and Death Whisperer 2, takes the helm. Pimchanok ‘Baifern’  Luevisadpaibul – Nam in A Crazy Little Thing Called Love – leads the cast. She’s a long way from that schoolgirl crush.

Num, a former debt collector, is out of prison and racing against a terminal illness. Another act of brutality pulls him back into the underworld to fight for victims of illegal loan sharks.

Why it’s one of the best: Nadech Kugimiya ditches the romantic-lead polish for scars, tattoos and a full physical presence, opposite DAOU Pittaya Saechua. Netflix bills it as both leads’ debut in one of its originals. Director Surapong Ploensang wanted every punch to carry the weight of guilt and consequence. Num’s time is running out, and making amends is going to hurt.

Thongkam and Sek build a life – and a durian orchard – together in Mae Hong Son. When Sek dies suddenly, Thongkam has no spousal claim to their property and must fight Sek’s family for everything they made.

Why it’s one of the best: Naruebet Kuno’s feature debut reached cinemas in August 2024, months before Thailand’s marriage equality law took effect in January 2025. It makes the stakes of that change painfully clear. Jeff Satur is devastating as Thongkam, while Engfa Waraha gives a sharp turn as Mo, Sek’s adopted sister, with ambitions of her own. Yes, more tissues.

Khem and Wan, two young men from Chachoengsao, go undercover as dancers at Man Suang, a lavish, mysterious entertainment venue in Siam. They befriend Chatra, a drummer with reasons of his own, as the late reign of King Rama III grows tense.

Why it’s one of the best: Palace-adjacent politics, a contested succession and Thai classical dance and drumming make for a period mystery with real polish. Apo, Mile and Bas  – familiar faces from KinnPorsche – lead the cast. It opened in cinemas in August 2023 and arrived on Netflix in February 2024.

Lynn, a scholarship student who aces everything, starts feeding answers to richer classmates for cash. Then the stakes go international.

Why it’s one of the best: It’s a heist film where the loot is exam answers, and it’s tense enough to make your palms sweat. Inspired by a real SAT cheating scandal, it turns pencils and calculators into getaway tools while picking at class inequality. Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying plays Lynn, years before taking on Aoy in Hunger.

A lonely taxi driver strikes up an unlikely friendship with a sex worker named Nui. Their late-night connection deepens as both confront regret and the possibility of a different life.

Why it’s one of the best: This is a quieter kind of Thai romance, finding tenderness in two lonely lives without reaching for grand gestures. Bangkok after dark gives the film its dreamy melancholy, while the relationship stays messy and unexpectedly sincere. Choose it when you want something more contemplative than a rom-com.

Framed as a documentary about a family of spirit mediums in Isaan, this film turns feral when young Mink starts behaving strangely. It’s not clear the goddess is to blame.

Why it’s one of the best: Co-written and produced by Na Hong-jin (The Wailing) and directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter), this Thai-South Korean folk horror starts as a study of Isaan worship before it goes properly nasty. It won the Best of Bucheon award at the 2021 Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and was Thailand’s submission for the 2022 international feature film Oscar. Fair warning: it’s grim.

Thee, a struggling marketing man, moves his family from Bangkok to Laddaland, an upmarket housing estate in Chiang Mai, hoping for a better life.  Instead, strange events and deaths start piling up around them.

Why it’s one of the best: The ghosts are almost secondary to the real horror: keeping up appearances in a shiny new estate. It opened at number one at the Thai box office, beating Thor, and won six Thailand National Film Association Awards. Its inspiration also has local roots: critic Wise Kwai traced the idea to a supposedly haunted Chiang Mai theme park, with the action shifted to a housing estate.

Sorn, a gifted young musician, gets the chance to play the Thai xylophone for a prince’s court. His story is inspired by the life of Luang Pradit Phairoh, a master of Thai music.

Why it’s one of the best: Thai classical music gets its big-screen moment, with the discipline, rivalry and feeling behind the instruments brought to life. It’s a period drama about talent and family that doesn't need to shout.

Jeab returns to his hometown for the wedding of his childhood best friend, Noi Naa. Memories of their friendship and first heartbreak come flooding back.

Why it’s one of the best: This Thai nostalgia classic was 2003’s biggest earner at the Thai box office. Netflix lists the 4K remaster made for its 20th-anniversary cinema re-release in October 2023. Its sweet, simple take on childhood love still lands like a pang.