Best African thriller movies
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch thriller films from Africa, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
Zulu 2013
As a child, Ali Neuman narrowly escaped being murdered by Inkhata, a militant political party at war with Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. Only he and his mother survived the carnage of those years. But as with many survivors, the psychological scars remain.
66Hijack '93 2024
In an effort to dismantle their military-backed government, four men hijack an airplane, leveraging passengers onboard in the name of social change.
52Saloum 2023
Three mercenaries extracting a druglord out of Guinea-Bissau are forced to hide in the mystical region of Saloum, Senegal.
63The Blue Elephant 2014
After a five-year hiatus, psychiatrist Yehia returns to work at Abbasiya Hospital. He’s assigned to evaluate a patient who turns out to be his old friend. As events unfold, Yehia uncovers dark secrets that challenge his understanding of reality.
74Collision 2022
Over the course of one fateful day, a corrupt businessman and his socialite wife race to save their daughter from a notorious crime lord.
57Clash 2016
In 2013, in Cairo, a tragic fate brings together several detainees from different political and social backgrounds inside a police truck, during the turmoil that followed the ousting of president Morsi.
73Cairo Station 1958
Qinawi, a physically challenged peddler who makes his living selling newspapers in the central Cairo train station, is obsessed with Hanuma, an attractive young woman who sells drinks. While she jokes with him about a possible relationship, she is actually in love with Abu Siri, a strong and respected porter at the station who is struggling to unionize his fellow workers to combat their boss' exploitative and abusive treatment.
75The Black Book 2023
After his son is wrongly accused of kidnapping, a deacon who has just lost his wife takes matters into his own hands and fights a crooked police gang to clear him.
62The Blue Elephant 2 2019
A meeting with a new inmate in the psychiatric hospital flips Dr. Yehia's life upside down. She prophecies that the death of his entire family is only three days away.
74Perfect Strangers 2022
A dinner party unravels when a tight group of friends agree to leave their phones unlocked on the table, exposing juicy interactions and dark secrets.
61Indemnity 2022
An ex-fireman with PTSD goes on the run when accused of a crime he doesn't even remember committing, leading him down a rabbit hole of conspiracy to the highest degree.
60Tòkunbọ̀ 2024
An ex-car smuggler is given three hours to deliver a government official's daughter to her captor — or else his family will suffer the consequences.
56Hunting Emma 2017
Emma le Roux just wants to go home for the holidays. Gentle, beautiful, pacifist Emma. She's made the trip to her father's farm a thousand times. Piece of cake. But not today. Today she will cross paths with members of a violent drug syndicate. Everything starts falling apart, and fast. At first they were driven by hate and revenge. Suddenly, it's survival.
72Diamond Dust 2018
Taha works as a pharmacist and lives a normal life with his disabled father. When a mysterious murder occurs, Taha's world changes forever. He starts tracking down many secrets that leads him to unlocks a whole melancholic world of crime!
75Can’t Complain 2007
A comedy about triplet brothers with only one birth certificate.
72Five Fingers for Marseilles 2018
Years ago, the young Five Fingers fought for the rural town of Marseilles against brutal police oppression. Now, after fleeing in disgrace, Tau, one of them, returns to Marseilles, seeking only a peaceful life. When he finds the town under new threat, he must reluctantly fight to free it.
71Glasshouse 2021
A mother and her three daughters — romantic Bee, sensible Evie, and child of nature Daisy — occupy the titular glass building, which has been completely sealed off to protect its occupants from a dementia-inducing toxin called the Shred that’s poisoning the air outside. Fearful of becoming like the lost souls who wander the abyss outside, the family keep a grasp on their past by performing sacred rituals. When Bee breaks the rules and lets an injured stranger into their midst, the family dynamic is shattered forever, as hidden truths upend the illusions the women have worked so hard to protect.
57Citation 2020
A bright student in Nigeria takes on the academic establishment when she reports a popular professor who tried to rape her. Based on real events.
65Ibrahim El-Abyad 2009
After witnessing the murder of his father as a child, Ibrahim is drawn into the criminal underworld of Egypt. While making a name for himself with his best friend Ashri, he finds his high school sweetheart Houria and manages to rekindle their love, but paths intertwine with Abdel Malik Zarzor, the city's crime lord, who is connected somehow to Houria.
76Suspicion 2024
A young man delves into the sinister world of black magic after the brutal murder of his best friend and his daughter. As he hunts for vengeance, he faces moral dilemmas and shocking betrayals that threaten to shatter his closest relationships. In this gripping tale of friendship, love and revenge, he must confront his newfound powers and decide how far he's willing to go to deliver justice.
66Escaping Tel Aviv 2009
A seemingly ordinary life is shattered when a woman uncovers a hidden truth about her husband, plunging her into a high-stakes international conflict. As loyalties blur and danger escalates, an Egyptian intelligence officer is tasked with a critical mission where failure is not an option.
69The Originals 2017
Samir is the head of a small family and a bank employee and stable in his work, but separated after the decision to reduce the employment and then surprise that his bank balance zero and after days find a box with a mobile phone to meet a call changed his life by recruiting him to spy on people through an organization called The Originals.
67iNumber Number: Jozi Gold 2023
When an undercover cop is tasked with investigating a historic gold heist in Johannesburg, he’s forced to choose between his conscience and the law.
52122 2019
During a bloody night, a young man and his lover are struggling, not to get to the hospital, but to escape and survive.
57Flight 404 2024
A few days before she travels to Mecca to perform Hajj, Ghada faces an emergency which forces her to reach out to people from her tainted past with whom she had cut off contact in order to collect a large sum of money. So, as she collects the money, will she manage to go to Mecca, or get tangled up in the past's webs?
70The Cell 2017
During an operation to capture the head of a terrorist cell, special operations officer Saif, is injured while his partner, Amr, is killed. Saif vows to take revenge with the help of officer, Saber, who's working the same case.
60The Consul's Son 2010
After spending 30 years in prison, a man comes out to find out he has a son. Together with his son and a newly-acquired friend he resumes his criminal life.
63Forced Escape 2017
Follows the escape journey of 4 complete strangers who were accused of a murder they did not commit.
62Laser Mission 1989
A CIA agent is sent to get Professor Braun before the KGB can seize him as the Prof's knowledge, together with a recently stolen diamond, could be used to make a laser cannon.
43The Island 2 2014
Following the events of the first part, Mansour Al-Hefni escapes from prison and reunites with his son Ali and brother to return to the island to recover what they have lost. Mansour must stand against his old love Karima while the leader of the travelers tribe Sheikh Jaafar enters the conflict for rulership
68The Diesel 2018
Stuntman Badr the Diesel lives in a poor neighborhood. He meets Donia El- Sayad, a famous movie star, whose assistant, Afaf, is Badr’s Fiancée. When Afaf gets killed, he decides to seek revenge and find those who are responsible for her death
77Beauty 2011
François van Heerden, a mid-40s Afrikaans family man, has become devoid of any care or concern for his own measure of happiness, and so convinced of his ill-fated existence, that he is wholly unprepared when a chance encounter unravels his clean, controlled life.
53Sons of Rizk 3: Knockout 2024
Years have passed since the brothers have separated in their different ways of life. But one day, a ghost from the past returns to cast a shadow over the sons of Rizk, forcing them to return to a life of crime and theft once again in order to save themselves, in a fateful operation that is the largest, most dangerous, and most important in the history of the sons of Rizk.
68Shark Attack 2 2000
A biological experiment goes bad, this time releasing a gaggle of mutated great white sharks with a taste for human flesh. Soon enough, shark expert Nick West is on the case, leading a crew to study them and eventually bring them back into captivity. West's plans hit a snag, however, when Australian shark hunter Roy Bishop is called in to wipe out the fishy menace.
45Breathing In 2023
1901, South Africa. As the Second Anglo-Boer War rages on, a wounded General seeks refuge in the small home of a woman and her young daughter. As the hurt man settles in, he begins noticing that something is off about the two women, particularly the daughter, and before long, he’ll learn the real reason for why they’ve invited him and for how they’ve survived on their own for so long.
52Casanegra 2008
A Moroccan-Norwegian co-production about the dark side of Casablanca (Casanegra). In a country where good virtues are the norm in public, Casanegra shows the vices: domestic violence, alcohol abuse and drug abuse. Meet Karim and Adil and their struggle in the big city.
67Blood Vessel 2023
Brought together by chance, six people fleeing a town devastated by oil pollution stow away on a mysterious ship — not realizing the dangers that await.
55Huda's Salon 2022
A woman's visit to a hair salon turns into a nightmare when she is blackmailed by its owner.
6330 Years Ago 2016
"Omar" is back from abroad to divide his fortune to his family of nine members equally, but he tells them that his money is cursed, and the curse haunt who get the money wherever he goes, and has already convinced his cousin "Emad" about it after the occurrence of the victims in a strange way between family individuals in a row, trying to uncover the mystery behind the curse
69Losing Lerato 2019
Thami has recently lost his job at a top firm following accusations of fraudulent activities. This is the last straw for his wife Noluthando who, fearing a drop in her standard of living, abandons her marriage, taking their daughter Lerato with her. Thami is desperate to maintain a relationship with his daughter, while Noluthando does everything in her power to ensure that Thami is denied access to Lerato. After exhausting all known avenues, and desperate to be reunited with his daughter, Thami kidnaps Lerato from school, intending to flee Johannesburg for Kimberley by bus. This is an ill-conceived move which angers Noluthando and puts him on a collision course with the law. Thami’s actions put his life, that of Lerato and their fellow passengers in danger and leads to a high-stakes hostage situation on the bus. Then a shot rings out…
83Mami Wata 2023
In the oceanside village of Iyi, the revered Mama Efe acts as an intermediary between the people and the all-powerful water deity Mami Wata. But when a young boy is lost to a virus, Efe’s devoted but rebellious daughter Zinwe and skeptical protégé Prisca warn Efe about unrest among the villagers. With the sudden arrival of a mysterious rebel deserter named Jasper, a conflict erupts, leading to a violent clash of ideologies and a crisis of faith for the people of Iyi.
63Alexandria, Private 2005
When a woman is accused of a high-profile murder, a young lawyer takes on her defense, only to uncover a web of secrets, deceit, and hidden motives. As he digs deeper, the case becomes more personal—and far more dangerous than he ever expected.
66The Egg and the Stone 1990
A philosophy teacher finds himself and his ethics surrounded by a corrupt society, and as he's mistaken for an exorcist and fortune-teller. He uses logic and psychological tricks to practice wizardry, until he masters it and controls people, meanwhile losing his ethics.
66Number 37 2018
Entrapped in his apartment, Randal, a recent paraplegic, is given a gift of binoculars by his devoted girlfriend, Pam. But Randal is in financial debt to a sadistic loan shark, and when he witnesses a powerful criminal commit a murder while observing his neighbours through binoculars, he initiates a treacherous blackmail scheme.
61Birds of Darkness 1995
Three lawyers, brought by friendship but separated by interests, Fathi Nofal, who turns from a committed lawyer to an opportunist, while Ali al-Zanati joins religious extremist groups to make financial gains , and the third Mohsen only works as a simple employee away from conflict.
71The Shame 1982
A family inherits their father's drug business which leads to their undoing.
72Italia's War 2005
Yaseen is a lawyer who works for senior attorney, Kamaal. When he discovers that Kamal is involved in an illegal business with a tycoon, he gets publicly disbarred and loses his job. His fiance gets abducted to Italy when he tries to redeem himself, so he relentlessly forms a plan to set things right.
62Transit Prisoner 2008
"Ali ileum" open safes talented thief, but even he was talent he was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of security guard, and there recognize the Colonel, "Shawki", and the way the film mafia is recruiting
62The Prince of Darkness 2002
The film revolves around Saeed AL-Masri (Adel Imam), one of the pilots of the October War who lost his eye-sight after his plane crashed during the war. Saeed AL-Masri is forced to live in a home for disabled people that is managed by a very bureaucratic managers which they turn it into a prison.
62The Escape 1991
Ahmed Zaki plays a peasant, Mountasir, who gets involved in a criminal racket run by his friend Midhat. Mountasir is betrayed by Midhat and goes to jail. Upon discovering that his wife was forced into prostitution by Midhat, he swears to extract revenge when he leaves jail.
72Rise to the Abyss 1978
Abla travels to France and gets recruited by the Mossad under the pretext of working as a journalist. By the time she discovers the truth, she's already in too deep. As Abla recruits her fiancé, an engineer in the Egyptian army, the General Intelligence Directorate assigns Khaled to arrest her.
100The Second Wife 1967
A story in the Egyptian countryside about an unjust mayor who controls everything in the village with his power.
65Badal Faqed 2009
The film's events revolve around twins separated by days, each of them raised in a different environment. One was adopted by a dancer and lived with her in a poor, marginalized life in a slum area, and the other was adopted by a good, high-ranking family, and the first became a drug dealer and the second a police officer.
69Mako 2021
Eight documentary makers decide to go to the location of Elsalam Ship which sunk years ago to make a new documntary where they face unforseen dangers.
39Beauty and the Beast 2005
Timeless tale of Beauty and the Beast set in the period of the Vikings. Freya, a warrior and the beautiful daughter of a Viking king, is held prisoner on an island castle by a Beast whom has been cursed by his god Odin.
49The Dealer 2010
Hatred generated from an early age between on and Yusuf, ended the first rings migration on to Ukraine and Prison Joseph on his hands in Egypt, and in Ukraine set to allow wife to and Habiba Joseph preceding her newborn son, and works with drug dealers and run away with money to an unknown location, and Joseph travels to Turkey to work in the drug trade, even above the star and Ahlgreman meet again, to finish the story, one of them killed.
65Chief Omar Harb 2008
Omar Harb runs a gambling casino. A quiet young man lands a job at the casino, despite his family's abhorrence and disapproval, to get the money necessary for his marriage. He excels at work and catches the attention of the manager who chooses him for a challenging task.
55Cry of an Ant 2011
The role of the film as part of a comic story deals with the circumstances of life and social and economic conditions difficult, which became the Egyptian people suffering from high prices as an issue.
70Cairo 30 1966
Mahgoub is a villager who moves to Cairo in search of a better life. When he enlists friend Salem's help to find him a job, Salem not only gets him a job at the ministry where he works but he finds him a bride as well. But the bride is the mistress of Qasem Bek, who will be visiting her once a week.
71Son of Adam 2018
A family and businessman (Adam) is accused of running a criminal empire while he denies the accusation by being the one who take criminals down.
55October 1 2014
September 1960. As Nigeria prepares for independence from the British, a seasoned police detective rushes to find the serial killer slaughtering its native young women.
64After School Hours 1998
A possessed young girl wreaks havoc on her family as well as her school.
73The Thief and the Dogs 1962
This film, inspired by Naguib Mahfouz' The thief and the dogs, tells the story of Mahran, a thief who quickly ascends to be the head of his gang. However, his second in command conspires against Mahran to take his position and his wife. After his prison term, Mahran is thirsty for revenge. But being chased by the police and by his new enemies destines him to a tragic life in hiding.
68Detention Letter 2017
(Khaled Degwy) who are enrolled in one of the terrorist groups that the killings, believing they are fighting for the sake of God, and when his brother (Ahmad) tries to join this group (Khaled) refuses, he is trying to stop him, but he joins, and one day arise a dispute between (Ahmad) and one of the members of this community, (Ahmed) get killed, (Khalid) go mad who seeks revenge against the group, the same moment the issue Answer the arrest of the police against (Khaled).
57Shehata's Shop 2009
Shehata is the son of a modest gardener who saved all his money to open a fruit stand and named it after his favorite son. Shehata's siblings get so jealous of their brother and plot against him. A representation of the downfall of society and its decaying morals.
57Buried Alive 1989
A young woman goes to teach at the Ravenscroft Institute, a spooky old girls' school overrun by ants and staffed by some unusual types. Spurred on by a series of horrific hallucinations, she begins to investigate the mysterious disappearances of several students.
48