‘Ambitious, stylish and suspenseful’ trilogy of crime thriller movies added to Netflix

'A stylish, suspenseful, gritty and intriguing crime saga.'

Based on the novels of the same name by author David Peace, the movies were made for Channel 4 and are set in Yorkshire during the 1970s and 1980s.

The first film in the trilogy takes place in 1974. It follows a cocky young journalist named Eddie Dunford (Andrew Garfield) as he tries to make a name for himself at The Yorkshire Post and investigates the disappearances of several children.

In the course of his investigation, however, he uncovers a dark and tangled web of local corruption.

The second and third entries, set in 1980 and 1983, continue the story with different lead characters. In the former, Paddy Considine plays the lead, while in the latter, it's David Morrissey and Mark Addy.

It's worth noting that the Red Riding trilogy has a vast ensemble cast that appears throughout the movies. This includes Daniel Mays, Eddie Marsan, Jim Carter, Maxine Peake, Michelle Dockery, Peter Mullan, Rebecca Hall, Robert Sheehan, Sean Bean and Sean Harris.

JOE is making our way through the Red Riding films now and can confirm that they are well worth seeking out.

The dark story, electric performances and rich period detail suck viewers in immediately.

Meanwhile, the three-film approach gave screenwriter Tony Grisoni more room to flesh out the world, characters and mysteries of the movies, as well as the audience more time to dive into them.

The Red Riding Trilogy together holds an 86% Rotten Tomatoes score, while its first entry, Red Riding 1974, has a perfect 100% rating.

You can check out some of the rave reviews for the trilogy below:

Dallas Morning News: "This is a hugely ambitious piece of work that packs a cumulative wallop when it's all over."

Denver Post: "Red Riding Trilogy, with its remarkable performances, its brilliantly constructed puzzle, its dispiriting cycles of violence, isn't an easy ride. But it is an exhilarating one."

NYC Movie Guru: "A stylish, suspenseful, gritty and intriguing crime saga."

The New Yorker: "The Red Riding Trilogy is an exhausting, morbidly fascinating, and finally thrilling experience."

Times-Picayune: "It is ambitious, it is gripping, and it is dark. It's also entirely irresistible cinema, an uncompromising and hard-to-turn-away-from nightmare in three acts."

Red Riding: 1974, Red Riding: 1980 and Red Riding: 1983 are all streaming on Netflix in the UK and Ireland now.