Every month, Netflix adds more high-quality movies that make it harder to find the time to do anything else.
I often struggle to decide which great film or underrated flick I should put in my queue to watch when I have free time.
You shouldn’t have the same problem, which is why I made this list of my top three new Netflix movies you should stream in August 2026.
From a pitch-black satire about social media obsession starring Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen to a 2024 horror film featuring Sydney Sweeney, these films are all underseen, underrated and deserve a wider, more appreciative audience than they’ve received in the past.
‘The Kid Detective’ (2020)
Adam Brody in The Kid Detective. Stage 6 Films / Courtesy Everett Collection
Abe Applebaum (Adam Brody) used to be a kid detective famous for solving minor crimes around his neighborhood. He’s all grown up now, but he’s still haunted by the one case he never solved – the disappearance of his friend, Gracie. When high school student Caroline (Heated Rivalry‘s Sophie Nélisse) asks him to find her missing boyfriend Patrick (Lian McLean-Smits), Abe agrees to take the case, partly due to Caroline’s insistence but mostly so he can redeem himself for never finding Gracie.
The Kid Detective starts with a promising premise — what if Encyclopedia Brown grew up into a has-been slacker? — and spins an intriguing mystery that gets progressively stranger and darker. Patrick’s disappearance reminds Abe of Gracie’s, which causes him to doubt his detective skills and his place in the world. If he’s not “the kid detective,” then who is he? Brody has been getting his flowers lately for his great work in Netflix’s hit series, Nobody Wants This, but he gives his best performance to date as a man who never quite grew up. I won’t spoil The Kid Detective’s ending, except to confess that it left me wrecked. It will probably do the same to you.
The Kid Detective is now streaming on Netflix.
‘Immaculate’ (2024)
Sydney Sweeney. Courtesy of Neon
Sister Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney) is a novice nun who just joined an Italian convent that treats dying clergy members. Because she’s new to the ways of the catholic order, she brushes off some weird things she sees, like strange symbols on some of the nuns’ bodies and disturbing nightmares of hooded figures surrounding her. But Cecilia can’t ignore a shocking development that occurs during her stay — she becomes pregant, even though she’s a virgin. Something is amiss at this nunnery, and Cecilia is determined to find out before time runs out and she gives birth to something she’s not entirely sure is even human.
Immaculate is a clever twist on the devil baby trope — just when you think you know where it’s going, its plot takes a turn in another direction. That’s a good thing, as one of the film’s best assets is its unpredictability; it could’ve been a cheap imitation of Rosemary’s Baby, but instead, its own weird thing. The movie’s other secret weapon is Sweeney, who showcases another side to her she’s never shown before. She’s completely believable as an innocent nun, and her transformation into a final girl battling to save herself is Immaculate’s chief pleasure.
Immaculate starts streaming on August 13.
‘Ingrid Goes West’ (2017)
Aubrey Plaza in Ingrid Goes West. NEON / courtesy Everett Collection
Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza) isn’t the most stable person – her personal life is in the gutter, her mother just died, and her only means of escape is through social media. When she discovers Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen) online, she sees the popular influencer as her way out of her humdrum life and into Taylor’s picture-perfect, highly curated Venice Beach world. Ingrid quickly moves cross-country and tries to get close to Taylor by pretending to be everything she is: cultured, stylish and always cool. Ingrid’s lie works – Taylor likes her enough to invite her into her inner circle – but how long can Ingrid keep up the illusion without her growing desperation to be loved exposing her charade?
Ingrid Goes West has the bones of a stalker thriller – think Single White Female for the Instagram age – but it’s less interested in cheap thrills and more focused on how people like Ingrid use social media as a way to avoid their problems. Taylor isn’t exempt from this criticism either; she advertises a life that doesn’t exist, and which Ingrid craves. Plaza and Olsen deliver performances that toe the line between satire and melodrama. Both of their characters are seriously disturbed, but only one of them knows it.
Ingrid Goes West is now streaming on Netflix.
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