Ben Mendelsohn and Shailene Woodley’s ‘To Catch a Killer’ is Top of the Netflix Streaming Chart

is sitting at the top of the streamer’s movie chart. While the film is underrated by some, there is no way to deny that it was a complete flop at the box office, taking just $3.1 million at the box office on its initial release.

Damián Szifron directed and wrote the project, with Jonathan Wakeham also serving as a writer. Szifron and Woodley are also producers alongside Stuart Manashil (Watcher) and Aaron Ryder (Arrival). The movie plays out with very similar traits to The Silence of the Lambs, with a young agent being recruited by the FBI to track down a serial killer with her unique, disturbed view of the world. The synopsis reads:

“A modern-day Clarice Starling, Eleanor (Woodley) is a young police investigator wrestling with the demons of her past when she is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator (Mendelsohn) to help profile and track the work of a disturbed individual. As the police and FBI launch a nationwide manhunt, they are thwarted at every turn by the individual’s unprecedented behavior. Given her tortured psyche, Eleanor may be the only person who can understand the mind of their assailant and bring him to justice.”

Shailene Woodley originally rose to prominence with her roles in young adult media like the ABC Family/Freeform series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, the Divergent trilogy, and the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. She has since appeared in The Descendants, and Big Little Lies. Additional cast members include Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo, Ralph Ineson, Rosemary Dunsmore, Michael Cram, Jason Cavalier, and Mark Camacho.

Is ‘To Catch a Killer’ Worth Watching on Netflix?

In a crowded market of thrillers, To Catch a Killer did not stand out enough to be noticed two years ago. However, one audience review on Rotten Tomatoes puts it, “When you see a 2023 film come up on Netflix in 2025 it’s usually a box office flop being microwaved for a few extra click dollars. This film was indeed a flop (it made 3 million in the US) but that doesn’t mean you should skip it.”

That seems to be the general feel for the movie, which scored a middle-of-the-road 53% on the critics’ side and 62% from audiences. In the main, the comments are unanimously positive towards the movies’ leads, with Woodley solidly portraying her troubled police investigator, and Mendelsohn bringing his usual gravitas – let’s remember, he was one of the high points of Marvel’s Secret Invasion.

If you like dark and brutal crime thrillers, then To Catch a Killer is probably one that you will be able to find something to enjoy in, as long as you can forgive a dialogue-heavy plot. As the site’s consensus puts it, “To Catch a Killer is an above-average thriller with some surprises, even if it never quite hits the heights scaled by true genre classics.” That has clearly been enough to entice in a strong viewership on Netflix.

To Catch a Killer (2023)

Release Date

April 21, 2023

Runtime

119 minutes

Director

Damián Szifron

Writers

Jonathan Wakeham, Damián Szifron