Not all the movies are based on friction and imagination, some of the movies show the real-life incidents that's has happened in the past. You probably must have seen them but overlooked the fact that those amazing plots and suspense were real. To let you be aware of this fact, we have curated the list of the best true stories on Netflix that will give you goosebumps.
*Disclaimer: The movies listed in the blog are available on Netflix on a temporary basis.
1. Fruitvale Station
Director: Ryan Coogler
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer
Fruitvale Station is a drama based on the true story of a controversial shooting that happened in the year of 2009 at the New Year's Day. This true story on Netflix is about a 22-year-old Oscar Grant who is a resident of the Bay Area. The protagonist is a convicted felon—a prison vet and sometime drug dealer of this top movie on Netflix, and he crosses paths with his friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008 before the controversial shooting. Fruitvale Station is a tragedy. But as is the case with many tragedies, there are lessons we can learn from it. Oscar Grant accompanied his family and friends to San Francisco to watch fireworks on New Year's Eve, and, on the way back home, became swept up in an altercation with police that ended in tragedy. A must watch all those who love a movie based on a true story.
IMDb Ranking: 7.5/10
2. Walt Before Mickey
Director: Khoa Le
Stars: Thomas Ian Nicholas, Jon Heder, Armando Gutierrez
Many of us have grown up with the wonderful world of Disney, and have loved watching the cartoon Mickey mouse again and again. Isn't it? But, how many do know about the story of the creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney. Walt before Mickey is one of the best true stories on Netflix. This biographical drama movie is about the early stages of Walt Disney's career, starring Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Pie) as the legendary animator. He eventually mastered the art and business of animation after struggling and failing ten years before the creation of Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney spent his childhood years in Kansas, and his father was hard on him because of his deep love of drawing. “Walt Before Mickey” is a really good movie to watch on Netflix. It is an inspiring and insightful story of a great man who realized his dreams because he always finished what he started and did his work to the best of his ability. 
IMDb Ranking: 5.9/10
3. Spotlight
Director: Tom McCarthy
Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams
In 2012, the Boston Globe's trailblazing nearly 600 articles were making a news about the Boston priests abusing children and how the perpetrators' superiors were covering it up. The spotlight is one of those recommended movies to watch that revolves around the investigated journalism done by the team on the same child-sex abuse allegations on the Boston priests. The team of the spotlight won a Pulitzer for its scalding exposé and it became one of the best movies based on a true story. Also, at the present time, the film is the prescient most loved to win the Best Picture, Oscar. All the credit for this best True story on Netflix goes to the director Tom McCarthy who composed the lavish nitty-gritty content with Josh Singer. Irritating feelings are additionally felt among journalists who mainly wanted to get the story right and similarly as frantically need to get it first. An intense movie for those who have riveting, quietly devastating take on investigative journalism.
IMDb Ranking: 8.1/10
4. First They Killed My Father
Director: Angelina Jolie
Stars: Sareum Srey Moch, Phoeung Kompheak, Sveng Socheata
The world is already a big fan of Angelina Jolie's acting skills, but now that she has also entered the director's squad it is more huge than anything else. First They Killed My Father is a good war movie which is based on a true story that offers a valid alternative solution, by assuming the point of view of five-year-old Loung, whose childlike inability to process the events unfolding around her theoretically mirrors our own. Adapted from her book, this true story on Netflix tells the story of her childhood when Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh was invaded in 1975 by the Khmer Rouge.
IMDb Ranking: /10
5. Schindler’s List
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Adi Rukun, M.Y. Basrun, Amir Hasan
Being one of the best war documentaries, The Look of Silence is also one of the best true stories on Netflix. The movie is about a man named Adi Rukun from Indonesia who looks an Indonesia's bitter past where countless people were butchered during that country’s anti-Communist purges of 1965 and 1966. This recommended movie to watch has a surreal, conceptual feel: Men who participated in the death squads, now elderly, agreed to reenact their gruesome deeds.
IMDb Ranking: /10
6. Changeling
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Angelina Jolie, Colm Feore, Amy Ryan
Changeling has been directed as a detailed period piece about an age when no one thought of photographic evidence or DNA testing. This true story on Netflix falls short of Eastwood's other highs. The plot of the movie is about a desperate mother (Angelina Jolie) searching for her missing son who vanished on March 10, 1928. After a search done by the California police, the kid mysteriously returned to his mother a few months later. However, she soon discovers that he's not her little boy at all. Familiar story? Well, Bollywood may have milked the corrupt cop story dry by now, but for Clint Eastwood, it's one of the best-rated movies on Netflix that was needed to be told with all the characteristic anger and passion.
IMDb Ranking: 7.8/10
7. Tell Spring Not to Come This Year
Director: Saeed Taji Farouky
This powerful and beautifully shot war movie is one of the best true stories on Netflix that tracks the intense, grim lives of the Afghan national army as they fight the Taliban alone after the US departed. This film pursues the Afghan National Army (ANA) for one year as they are sent in Helmand territory without the help of NATO out of the blue. Just Like "Restrepo," "Tell Spring Not to Come This Year" explores the deep personal motivations, desire, and struggles of a band of fighting men on the front line.
IMDb Ranking: /10
8. To the Bone
Director: Marti Noxon
Stars: Rebekah Kennedy, Lily Collins, Dana L. Wilson
To the Bone follows Ellen played by Lily Collins, a 20-year-old woman with an eating disorder, as she embarks on an uncertain and difficult journey toward recovery. Marti Noxon, the film’s writer and director, has been open about her own struggles with anorexia; Ellen’s story is an autobiographical dramatization of her own journey. This best true story on Netflix intends to significantly raise awareness, educate viewers and open conversations about these severe psychiatric disorders. The movie that tackles a very sensitive issue with the honesty and authenticity that come from having been there herself certainly deserves to be the top movies on Netflix.
IMDb Ranking: 6.9/10
9. Lion
Director: Garth Davis
Stars: Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, Rooney Mara
Like its legend, Lion is one of the best true stories on Netflix winds up torn between two worlds. Garth Davis' film is working from the genuine source material: Saroo Brierley was isolated from his family as a youngster in India and embraced by an Australian couple; years after the fact, he found his origin utilizing Google Earth. Yet, in attempting to tell the entire of this almost impossible story, the film can't make sense of whether it's more put resources into youthful Saroo's nerve-racking voyage or more seasoned Saroo's sentiment of relocation. Movies like lion make up to be the best-rated movies on Netflix.
IMDb Ranking: 8.1/10
10. A Futile and Stupid Gesture
Director: David Wain
Stars: Frank Gingerich, Morgan Gingerich, Annette O'Toole
A Futile and Stupid Gesture, the best rated true story on Netflix that is about the life and untimely death of Doug Kenney, one of the co-founders of the National Lampoon. The movie tries to address that by offering a crash course in Kenney’s influence, laying out every important part of the man’s short but vital career onscreen in madcap biopic form. After Harvard, A Futile and Stupid Gesture takes us through whatever is left of Kenney's vocation and presents the distinctive individuals in his circle. Adjusted from Josh Karp's book of a similar name, "A Futile and Stupid Gesture" backtracks the genuine story of how two subversive Harvard graduates took the street less voyaged, began the most unsafe ironical magazine in American history, and moved toward becoming ground zero for an age of comics that incorporated any semblance of Bill Murray and Gilda Radner.
IMDb Ranking: 6.8/10
Suggested Reads:
20 Underrated Best Movies On Netflix Which You Have Probably Missed Out
Need A Reason To Fall In Love ? 23 Best Romantic Movies On Netflix India
Best Hollywood Movies On Netflix To Check Off Your List This Weekend
11. The Most Hated Woman in America
Director: Tommy O'Haver
Stars: Melissa Leo, Brandon Mychal Smith, Juno Temple
The Most Hated Woman in America is a fictionalized biography of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, a controversial activist for atheism and the separation between church and state in America, beginning in the 1960s. The film weaves along, amusingly, determining a large portion of its life from the vivid and free thinker ravings of its hero, so the brutal completion might stun those new to this bit of history and it will unquestionably be wrong for children. Murders by suffocation and body dismemberment are shown on screen. 
IMDb Ranking: 6.1/10
Horror True Stories On Netflix
12. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Director: Scott Derrickson
Stars: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Shohreh Aghdashloo
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a true story about a happy go lucky college girl who suddenly starts seeing strange visions, falling into body-contorting convulsions, speaking in strange voices and mutilating her body. Doctors at first suspect epilepsy or psychosis. But when Emily does not respond to medical treatment, her family went to their family priest who finally condemned that it was a demon possession. This true story of Netflix goes around telling the story in the courtroom where Emily's family priest Father Moore was charged with Emily's death who passed away during the exorcism done by Father Moore. This movie is one of those recommended movies on Netflix that deals with the story that tells about demons and God.
IMDb Ranking: 6.7/10
13. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
Director: John McNaughton
Stars: Michael Rooker, Tracy Arnold, Tom Towles
Despite the fact that the title makes Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer appear to be a cut-rate slasher flick, the motion picture is really a standout amongst the most aggravating and startling examinations of mass killers at any point shot. This true story on Netflix tells a fictionalized story based on real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, who was initially shelved for being too disturbing but later went on to gain a cult fandom. It is no doubt of the top movies on Netflix because of its uncompromising honesty in a world where most horror films cheapen death by trivializing it.
IMDb Ranking: 7.0/10
14. Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield
Director: Michael Feifer
Stars: Kane Hodder, Adrienne Frantz, Michael Berryman
Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield is the best-ranked movie of Netflix that shows the story of a true-life serial killer who was one of the most gruesome serial killers in American history. The lead is played by Kane Hodder who did a great justice to his role and the story. This true story on Netflix plots how a decent and timid Wisconsin farmer turned into a brutal serial killer. Rural Wisconsin was a quiet place until the man they called "The Butcher of Plainfield" began his rapid descent into madness. Just like the classic horror film Psycho get this thriller movie on your bucket list and get swayed away from the mysterious robberies and murders that happened in Wisconsin that shook the history of America.
IMDb Ranking: 3.7/10
15. The Amityville Horror
Director: Andrew Douglas
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Melissa George, Jimmy Bennett
This top movie on Netflix is about a family of five who moved into their dream home, realizing its grisly past. But it's not long before the head of the family is plagued by nightmares. This movie and the house are legendary for two reasons. One, this movie is scary as hell. Two, it really is based on a true story. Make sure to see it before you see the remake, which is also good. All in all, the cinematic features were flawless and we would recommend this true story on Netflix to any true horror movie buffs.
IMDb Ranking: 6.0/10
Disaster True Stories On Netflix
16. 6 Days
Director: Toa Fraser
Stars: Jamie Bell, Mark Strong, Abbie Cornish
6 Days is one of the true story movies on Netflix that shows the real-life hostage situation of the 1980 siege of the Iranian embassy in London. Here in this war movie, you'll see Jamie Bell playing a SAS soldier leading a team of heavily armed, black-clad heavies called in as a backup should talk and stall the terrorists. The movie shows the actions that took place over the six days of the siege, moment to moment, the clock ticking and making people glued to their seats.
IMDb Ranking: /10
17. Alive
Director: Frank Marshall
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton
Alive (Best True Story on Netflix) is much realistic as it's based on a real situation. While watching this top movie you will notice that no background music is used in this film, yet it creates sensation and keeps us stick with the chair. The 1993 movie is based on the true story of an Uruguayan rugby team forced to eat the flesh of their dead companions to survive being left for dead in the Andes Mountains after a plane crash. This is surely a highly recommended movie for all.
IMDb Ranking: 7.1/10
Dramatic True Stories On Netflix
18. Heavenly Creatures
Director: Peter Jackson
Stars: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse
New Zealand director Peter Jackson abruptly shifted gears of offbeat and darkly witty gore films with this stylish, compelling, and ultimately disturbing tale of two teenage girls whose friendship begins to fuel an ultimately fatal obsession. The story shows a brutal murder carried out by two girls, ages 15 and 16, who crushed the skull of one of their mothers with a rock. It was whispered at the time that the girls had a lesbian relationship. It is no doubt one of the good movies to watch on Netflix.
IMDb Ranking: 7.4/10
19. Honeytrap
Director: Rebecca Johnson
Stars: Jessica Sula, Lucien Laviscount, Ntonga Mwanza
This true story on Netflix is a harrowing rite-of-passage drama inspired by a real-life crime of love, betrayal, and murder that happened in 2009. It is based on the notorious “Honeytrap” case from 2009, when a teenage girl in Brixton, south London, lured a lovestruck admirer into a brutal trap set by gang members.
IMDb Ranking: 5.8/10
20. Boys Don't Cry
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Stars: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard
Boys Don't Cry being of the top movies on Netflix shows a brutal sexual assault, a graphic murder, and a depiction of an emotionally abusive family. This true story of Netflix will sometimes make you feel uncomfortable knowing that it is based on the true incident and how worse mentality people can have, but sometimes you will love the way how people in love support each other and are caring to each other.
IMDb Ranking: 7.6/10
Shocked, aren't we? Well, now you know that these best true stories on Netflix are based on real-life incidents.
Suggested Reads:
Best Bollywood Movies on Netflix You Can't Afford To Miss Out
Best Thriller Movies On Netflix You Need To Stream Right Away
25 Best Shows To Binge-Watch On Netflix India - magicpin Bucket List
FAQ
Q: Which are the best thriller movies on Netflix?
A: Creep, Gerald's Game and Killing Ground
Q: Which is Netflix and how does it work?
A: Netflix is an online platform/website which screens the top-notch series of movies, documentaries and tv shows based on monthly subscription packs.
