What the Tech: Netflix Secret Codes

How many times do you scroll through the menu on Netflix and can’t find something new to watch? At last count (according to a search with the app JustWatch) there are 6,047 movies on Netflix.

But when you look at the main menu, you only see 40 or 50 movie titles. How do you find the others?

If you know some secret codes, you can view Netflix’s vast library of movies and TV shows.

Dating back to its early days of DVD rentals, Netflix established categories of genres and sub-genres and they’re still being used today.

The main Netflix menu shows categories but they’re pretty wide. There is a Horror category of course. But we all know there are different kinds of horror movies. Without looking into the sub-horror movie genre, you would miss some of the classic cult movies, foreign horror films, B-movies, and horror comedies.

Once you have the secret codes, you simply need to search for one in a web browser by going to www.netflix.com/browse/genre followed by the four or five-digit secret code.

For example, the secret code for the horror comedy sub-genre is 89585. Type in www.netflix.com/browse/genre/89585 to see all of the movies in the Netflix library that are in the horror comedy genre.

When I did, I found a fairly recent movie called “We Have a Ghost” that’s rated PG-13. The title did not appear in the main Netflix menu and I might never have run across it.

I’ve found searching the secret codes within the Netflix search bar on a TV screen doesn’t result in seeing the titles in a particular sub-genre. So the best way to do it is on a computer and typing in the address, Netflix.com/browse/genre/ the secret code.

Find one you want to watch, and then search for it on Netflix.

It’s great not for just finding movies for Halloween but also Christmas movies, musicals, screwball comedies, and about 100 other sub-genres.

Where do you find the codes? I’ll have them on my blog.