Top 5 Netflix Titles To Give Thanks For This Month

I’m a latecomer to Netflix. I’ve had it barely a year and there’s so much on there! Why didn’t you people tell me about this?

(I’m a member of the Netflix Stream Team)

Meanwhile, I’m all about finding the new stuff, but I also dig finding some of the old stuff that I’d forgotten I loved. When’s Twin Peaks getting up there? (“Up there” means “Netflix.” Apparently I talk like the old folks do about technology.) So below, enjoy my ad hoc, Thanksgiving-themed Netflix list of shows/movies I’m into this month. But you’re probably already seen them all. Because you’ve had Netflix for 10 years.

1) Cropsey: I’m a spooky movie lover, and while I know that Halloween was last month, I can’t help but share this Netflix pick with you in November. Focusing on an East Coast urban legend about a child killer named Cropsey, the documentary highlights the culture around an abandoned State Island sanitarium on whose surrounding grounds inmates and employees still lurk in tunnels and woods. The story is true and the mood and ambiance evoked by the sanitarium ruins rivals any thriller out there today. Once the story focuses on a man convicted of the crimes on which the legend is based, things get interesting as the filmmakers delve into the likelihood that he abducted and murdered the children who went missing around the sanitarium. This documentary remains one of my favorites showing on Netflix this year.

2) Hours: My husband spent a good many minutes scanning Netflix titles for a movie appropriate yet absorbing enough to watch with our daughters, ages 8 and 10. He settled on Hours starring the late Paul Walker about a man whose wife dies in childbirth during Hurricane Katrina, leaving him the sole protector of his daughter surviving on a respirator. Once the hospital is evacuated and the power goes out, dad and baby are left on their own as the storm rages outside.

I’m not exactly sure what possessed my husband to choose this particular film as a “family movie,” but my girls loved it and it certainly sparked a lot of good conversation about the love a parent has for his children. There are some anxiety-producing scenes when criminals break into the hospital, but it all stays PG13.

3) The entire 10 seasons of Friends: I don’t know about you, but if I catch a glimpse of a “Friends” rerun playing on cable, I’m in for the duration. If it’s a marathon, I’m totally screwed. I first fell in love with this series in 1994 and I adore its comedy to this day. There is no better binge watching when you need a pick-me-up. All I have to do is see “The One With…” episode title and I’m a goner.

Netflix features the complete series starting January 1, and if you’re a Friends lover, start watching in 2015 and say goodbye to the next 300 hours of your life. It’s great post-New-Year’s-Eve viewing! Don’t even get up off the couch, just sit there and reminisce about the Friends clan and how Monica afforded that NYC apartment.

4) The X-Files: So we’re established that I like paranormal, scary stuff, right? It’s no surprise then that I’m giving thanks for the X-Files showing on Netflix this month. Normally, I’d troll the Chiller channel or catch an errant X-Files episode playing after 11PM at night. But now I have nine entire seasons to work my way through at all hours. There’s nothing better for this unexplained mysteries lover.

5) Wayne’s World: This movie consistently makes me laugh and brings me back to the early ‘90s. Given that I’m rapidly approaching middle age, both are good things. Also, I went to college in Mil-walk-kay. I think I want to share this one with my kids, but I’ll have to watch it again one last time to ensure monkeys aren’t actually flying out of butts.

What are you watching on Netflix this month? I’m always looking for something good.