As movie lovers, we worry that as Netflix keeps building a library with more and more of its own movies and decreasing the number of movies it licenses from outside studios, eventually the number of licensed movies will be close to zero. The world’s largest streaming service having a library of mostly forgettable movies with nothing in it from before 2015 is obviously bad for customers, but it seems to be the way things are heading. But that dystopian future has not come to pass quite yet, which is why it’s important to watch good movies on Netflix before they expire from the service. 

Our list of picks for movies to watch before they expire from Netflix in March 2022 includes a pair of DIY double features. One pairing is films from director Jane Campion, whose most recent movie, The Power of the Dog, is a Netflix Original that’s a leading contender to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her movies leaving the service are the 2003 thriller In the Cut and the 2009 romantic drama Bright Star. They’re staying on Netflix just long enough to maybe get a little bit of a bump from Campion’s Oscar buzz (the Oscars are on Sunday, March 27), and then expiring at the end of the month. We highly recommend that you have yourself a mini Jane Campion film festival before those two leave (Netflix owns The Power of the Dog outright, so it isn’t going anywhere). The other double feature is a pair of great vampire horror movies, Interview with the Vampire and The Lost Boys. They’re very different takes on vampires, but their contrasts make them a fun pairing, and they’re both the kind of minor classic movies we’d love to see stay on Netflix.

On the TV side, we recommend you watch the mockumentary comedy series Hoff the Record, which stars David Hasselhoff as a fictionalized version of himself trying to mount a career comeback in the U.K., before it expires on March 30. 

These are just a few recommendations from the larger list of things expiring; the full list is below. And Netflix is always quietly adding movies and TV shows to the list of expiring titles, so we’ll be adding more stuff to the list as the month goes on. If you’re curious about everything coming to Netflix in March, we have that list, too.

Looking for more recommendations of what to watch next? We have a ton of them! We also have hand-picked selections based on shows you already love, as well as recommendations for Netflix (movies/shows), Amazon Prime Video (movies/shows), Hulu (movies/shows), Disney+ (movies/shows), HBO Max (movies/shows), Apple TV+, and Peacock.

Hoff the Record (March 30)

For fans of: Celebrities taking the piss out of themselves, mockumentaries

This comedy series ran for two short seasons in 2015 and 2016 on a rather obscure British channel called Dave, and it never made much of a splash when it came to Netflix, either. Which is too bad, because it’s a darkly funny mockumentary in the vein of The Comeback or the British version of The Office. It follows ’80s and ’90s icon David Hasselhoff, playing an exaggerated, obliviously self-absorbed version of himself, as he moves to England and tries to jump-start his flagging career. It features a standout supporting performance from Brett Goldstein, aka Roy Kent, the best part of Ted Lasso, as the Hoff’s Roy Kent-ish personal trainer. Watch it before it expires so you can tell your friends they also need to watch it before it expires.  

Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 (March 31)

For fans of: Minions, the Pharrell Williams song “Happy” 

Year: 2010 (Despicable Me) and 2013 (Despicable Me 2)
Director: Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin
Stars: Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Kristen Wiig
Genre: Comedy, Animation, Family
Rating: PG
Metacritic score: 72 (Despicable Me) and 62 (Despicable Me 2)

These two animated family movies dominated Netflix’s Daily Top 10 Movies chart all throughout February, especially Despicable Me 2, which reached the No. 1 spot a few times. So you better hope your kids find something else to watch over and over again by the end of this month because otherwise, you’re going to have to have a difficult conversation about streaming rights and/or shell out to buy the movies so you’re not subject to the vicissitudes of streaming. Despicable Me is the one where supervillain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) adopts three little girls as part of his nefarious plan to steal the Moon and grows to love them. Despicable Me 2 is the one where Gru is persuaded to fight El Macho (voiced by Benjamin Bratt), a supervillain who, unlike Gru, is actually bad. Did you know Despicable Me 2 is the most profitable movie in Universal Pictures’ history? Crazy! The Minions are billionaires. None of the other Despicable Me or Minions movies are currently available on a subscription streaming service, but Peacock is probably working on it. 

Bright Star (March 31)

For fans of: Poetry, romance that rips your heart out of your chest, beautiful cinematography

Year: 2009
Director: Jane Campion
Stars: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider
Genre: Drama, Romance, Biography
Rating: PG
Metacritic score: 81

This gorgeous period drama from director Jane Campion is about the 19th century poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his romance with his muse Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish), for whom he wrote many of his most beautiful poems. The story is a tragedy (if you know anything about Keats, you know why), but it’s a moving exploration of passion, loss, and the artistic spirit, with Campion’s signature painterly cinematography.

In the Cut (March 31)

For fans of: Erotic thrillers, movies that were misunderstood when they came out but are actually great

Year: 2003
Director: Jane Campion
Stars: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kevin Bacon, Nick Damici
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: R
Metacritic score: 46

This feminist film noir got mediocre reviews and was a box office flop when it was released in 2003, with most attention at the time paid to America’s sweetheart Meg Ryan‘s nude scenes, but it has come to be regarded as a subversive masterpiece about female desire and male violence. Ryan plays Frannie, a New York City writer who starts hooking up with a homicide detective (Mark Ruffalo) who’s investigating a murder in her neighborhood. But as their relationship gets more intense, she starts to suspect he might be the killer. It’s a daring erotic thriller unmistakably told from a woman’s perspective, and director Campion bathes everything in golden yellow summer afternoon light that makes New York look different than it’s ever looked on film.  

Interview with the Vampire (March 31)

For fans of: Sexy vampires, romantic horror

Year: 1994
Director: Neil Jordan
Stars: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater
Genre: Horror, Drama
Rating: R
Metacritic score: 59

This adaptation of Anne Rice’s famous vampire novel is truly one of the sexiest horror movies ever made, with sensuous sets, costumes, and cinematography and smoldering chemistry between two of the world’s biggest movie stars. Brad Pitt stars as the tragic, complicated vampire Louis, who was turned into a vampire by the evil Lestat (Tom Cruise) in New Orleans in 1791. Louis hates the bloodthirsty monster he’s become, especially after he feeds on a girl, Claudia (11-year-old Kirsten Dunst, who’s extraordinary playing an adult trapped in a child’s body), and Lestat turns her into a vampire, who they treat like a daughter. It started a franchise that will continue in an Interview with the Vampire TV show on AMC, with Game of Thrones‘ Jacob Anderson in the Brad Pitt role. If you want to watch the original before the new version premieres later this year, now’s the time. 

The Lost Boys (March 31)

For fans of: Teen vampires, horror comedy

Year: 1987
Director: Joel Schumacher
Stars: Jason Patric, Corey Haim, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, Dianne Wiest
Genre: Horror, Comedy
Rating: R
Metacritic score: 63

How about a throwback vampire classic double feature? The Lost Boys, the era-defining ’80s horror movie, is also expiring from Netflix at the end of the month. The Lost Boys follows two teenage brothers, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam Emerson (Corey Haim), who move with their mother Lucy (Dianne Wiest) to Santa Carla, California, a sunny beach town with an extraordinarily high murder rate. Those murders are committed by a gang of vampires who have been juvenile delinquents for centuries, led by the seductively sinister David (Kiefer Sutherland). When Michael gets initiated into vampirism, Sam teams up with the comic book-loving Frog brothers (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander) to save him. The Lost Boys is a terrifically fun movie whose youthful, punky take on vampires remains hugely influential on the horror genre. Last year’s Netflix vampire hit Night Teeth owes a lot to The Lost Boys, for example. But there’s no substitute for the original. Hit play on Netflix and pretend you rented it from Blockbuster in 1989.

Leaving Netflix in March

March 3
Parker
Safe Haven


March 6
The Secret


March 15
Howards End


March 21
Philomena


March 27
Lawless


March 28
Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom

March 30
Doctor Foster: Seasons 1-2
Hoff the Record: Seasons 1-2
Mercy Black


March 31
300 (2007)
A River Runs Through It (1992)
Ali (2001)
As Good as It Gets (1997)
Bad Teacher (2011)
Bee Movie (2007)
Best of the Best (1989)   
Braveheart (1995)
Bright Star (2009)
Caddyshack (1980)
Caddyshack 2 (1988)
Cadillac Records (2008)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan (2012)
Crocodile Dundee II (1988)
Cross: Rise of the Villains (2019)
Despicable Me (2010)
Despicable Me 2 (2013)
Deuces (2016)
Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
Elaan (1971)
Five Nights in Maine (2015)
Free Willy 4: Escape from Pirate’s Cove (2010)
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
Good Burger (1997)
Gremlins (1984)
The Hangover (2009)
Happy Feet 2 (2011)
The Holiday (2006)
Hook (1991)
I Love You, Man (2009)
In the Cut (2003)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Jagat (2015)
Jonah Hex (2010)
Jumanji (1995)
The Karate Kid (2010)
Katt Williams: American Hustle (The Movie) (2007)
Killa (The Fort) (2014)
Kiss & Cry (2017)
Kung Fu Panda (2008)
The Legend of Zorro (2005)
LIFE 2.0 (2010)
Live by Night (2016)
The Longest Yard (2005)
The Lost Boys (The Lost Boys: Special Edition) (1987)
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
Malibu’s Most Wanted (2003)
Maximum Risk (1996)
Metro (2016)
Mighty Raju Rio Calling (2014)
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
My Dog Skip (2000)
Nacho Libre (2006)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
The New Guy (2002)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! (2017)
Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us (2018)
Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Runaway Bride (1999)
The Runaways (2010)
Salaakhen (1975)
Scooby-Doo (2002)
Stargate (1994)
The Sum of All Fears (2002)
The Tenth Man (2016)
That’s My Boy (2012)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Think Like a Man (2012)
Troy (2004)
The Ugly Truth (2009)
Universal Soldier: The Return (1999)
Unthinkable (2010)
Watchmen (2009)
White Boy (2017)
Wild Wild West (1999)
Willy and the Guardians of the Lake: Tales from the Lakeside Winter Adventure (2019)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Woo (1998)
Year One (2009)