Daylight saving time ends on November 2 in the United States, when clocks fall back an hour — but culturally, November 1 marks a shift for many film fans: the end of horror binge season and the start of noir season. That first day of the month heralds the yearly social-media ritual known as #Noirvember, a moment when viewers trade demonic scares and relentless slashers for shadowed compositions, duplicitous characters, and moral ambiguity. If you’re ready to swap jump scares for cigarette smoke and chiaroscuro, this is the time.
Film distributors and repertory cinemas join the celebration, from curated noir lineups on services like the Criterion Channel to special theater programs across the country. Most of us, however, will indulge at home. If you need primers, see our earlier noir streaming guides from 2023 and 2024. Below is a fresh set of Noirvember streaming recommendations — a mix of essentials, rediscoveries, and deeper cuts.
The classics
Begin with these foundational noirs to learn the genre’s rhythms: tight plots, moral compromise, and visual contrasts that turn ordinary rooms into theatrical cages.
Shadow of a Doubt
Image: Universal PicturesDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Where to watch: Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital stores
Hitchcock plays this quietly chilling drama without gimmicks: when charming Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) arrives in a small California town to visit his niece Charlotte (Teresa Wright), subtle clues accumulate that suggest he may be far more dangerous than he seems. The tension derives from Charlotte’s precarious position — how does she expose the truth without endangering herself? Hitchcock’s gift for dramatic irony, coupled with taut performances from Wright and Cotten, turns a domestic visit into an escalating cat-and-mouse nightmare. —Tasha Robinson
Touch of Evil
Director: Orson Welles
Where to watch: Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital platforms
Orson Welles returned to Hollywood’s shadowy terrain in this bracing, morally complex noir. Set on the U.S.–Mexico border, the film follows Mexican special prosecutor Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) as he investigates a car bombing that collides with a corrupt narcotics captain’s abuses of power. The movie’s themes of prejudice and institutional malfeasance remain strikingly relevant, while Welles’s baroque presence and the film’s remarkable camerawork — including a legendary tracking opening shot — make it indispensable noir cinema. Janet Leigh’s performance, poised between vulnerability and simmering dread, adds another electric layer. —Samantha Nelson
The Killing
Image: United ArtistsDirector: Stanley Kubrick
Where to watch: Streaming on Tubi and Prime Video; available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other platforms
Before Kubrick’s epic ambitions took off, he made this lean, electric heist picture about the meticulously planned robbery of a racetrack. Sterling Hayden leads a crew of flawed conspirators whose scheme unravels in human ways — jealousy, greed, and petty resentments sabotage even the cleverest plots. Jim Thompson’s hard-boiled dialogue and Kubrick’s disciplined framing turn a conventional caper into a tense, character-driven thriller that still crackles with invention. —Jesse Hassenger
Next steps
Once you’ve covered the cornerstones, branch out depending on what draws you to noir: puzzle-box mysteries, poisonous relationships, twist-heavy narratives, or simply mood and atmosphere. Below are titles recommended across those tastes.
Phantom Lady
Image: Universal PicturesDirector: Robert Siodmak
Where to watch: Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital platforms
Siodmak, a master of shadow and atmosphere, directs this uncommon 1940s noir fronted by a female protagonist. After a man named Scott becomes the prime suspect in his wife’s murder, his resourceful secretary — Kansas (Ella Raines) — doggedly pursues the missing woman who might clear him. The film’s dreamlike nocturnal sequences and a throbbing urban unease make the eventual resolution feel secondary to the mood; Phantom Lady’s strength is its persistent, seductive ambiguity. —JH
Sweet Smell of Success
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Where to watch: Streaming on Tubi; available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and similar services
Set in the cutthroat world of New York gossip and nightclub power, this acidic 1957 drama pairs Burt Lancaster as the domineering columnist J.J. Hunsecker and Tony Curtis as his morally compromised fixer. The film’s razor-sharp screenplay and James Wong Howe’s stark, elegant cinematography render a glittering, corrosive mise-en-scène of ambition, cruelty, and compromise. It’s a sophisticated, icy study of influence and corruption in the media age. —Oli Welsh
Stray Dog
Image: TohoDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Where to watch: Streaming on Plex and the Criterion Channel
Made just before Kurosawa’s international breakthrough, Stray Dog places a rookie detective (Toshiro Mifune) in a desperate chase across postwar Tokyo after his service pistol is stolen. The film blends Hollywood noir influences with Kurosawa’s humanistic instincts, pairing a hotheaded young cop with a more seasoned partner as they descend into a city of scarcity and moral strain. It reads as both a tense procedural and a portrait of a society trying to find its footing. —OW
Deep cuts
For viewers who’ve exhausted the well-known titles, these lesser-seen entries reward patience with unusual perspectives and distinctive moods.
Crossfire
Image: RKO Radio PicturesDirector: Edward Dmytryk
Where to watch: Streaming on the Criterion Channel; available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other platforms
Crossfire blends noirish mystery with a social-thought drama: a brawl-turned-murder among servicemen triggers an investigation that exposes prejudice and fractured psyches. Robert Mitchum’s quest to uncover the truth anchors the story, while Gloria Grahame’s troubled femme adds emotional depth. Though it resolves with a more conventional moral stance than some noirs, Crossfire’s wartime dislocation and its focus on veterans make it a singular postwar work. —JH
Bedelia
Director: Lance Comfort
Where to watch: Streaming on YouTube as a public-domain film and available via the Internet Archive
Under its polished surface, 1946’s Bedelia is a quietly sinister study of manners and menace. Margaret Lockwood stars as a seemingly demure wife whose evasions about portraits and photographs hint at darker secrets. As the plot moves from Monte Carlo back to an English country estate, the film tightens into a slow-burning psychological duel between Bedelia and those who suspect her. Its genteel veneer makes the revelations feel all the more chilling. —OW
Blast of Silence
Image: Magla ProductionsDirector: Allen Baron
Where to watch: Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital platforms
Shot largely on real New York locations, Blast of Silence feels like an illicit time capsule: a lonely hitman returns to his old neighborhood during the holidays and drifts through familiar streets that now feel alien. Allen Baron’s minimalist direction and the film’s location-based grit create a bleak, melancholic mood, while the protagonist’s weary voiceover turns the picture into a compact, haunting character study. —JH
Neo-noir
Modern filmmakers have revisited noir’s core traits, translating its motifs into contemporary settings and concerns. These neo-noirs are especially faithful to the genre’s tone and preoccupations.
Bound
Image: Gramercy Pictures/Everett CollectionDirectors: Lana and Lilly Wachowski
Where to watch: Streaming on Kanopy; available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other platforms
The Wachowskis’ debut is a taut, sensual reinvention of noir conventions, centering on seduction, deception, and a high-stakes theft. Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly deliver electric performances as two women entangled in a scheme that constantly threatens to unravel, while smart dialogue and polished direction keep the suspense taut and the tonal stakes high. It’s a sleek, provocative modern noir. —TR
The Actor
Director: Duke Johnson
Where to watch: Streaming on Hulu; available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital platforms
Released theatrically in March 2025, The Actor channels classic noir through a contemporary lens: an unemployed actor (André Holland) wakes up with amnesia in a desolate Midwestern town and must piece together his identity amid a cast of suspicious characters. Shot in black-and-white, the film leans into uncertainty and the corrosive effects of memory loss, making it an affecting, modern homage to genre tropes. —Jake Kleinman
L.A. Confidential
Image: Warner Bros./Everett CollectionDirector: Curtis Hanson
Where to watch: Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital stores
This 1997 adaptation of James Ellroy’s novel is a sprawling, sun-drenched detective story that revisits noir’s obsessions with corruption and redemption. Set in 1953 Los Angeles, it features a trio of flawed policemen — each with his own moral compromises — who unravel a web of scandal that exposes the city’s rot. With standout turns from Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce, plus a meticulously layered plot, L.A. Confidential is a modern classic in the noir tradition. —Samantha Nelson
Source: Polygon
