Netflix has a truly staggering number of titles, but a lot of the time it still seems like there’s nothing worth watching. If you’re searching by title or broad genre categories, it can also be hard to discover films that are under-the-radar but might really appeal to your specific interests.
However, Gizmodo points out that Netflix engineers created ‘secret’ category codes a while back that you can use to refine your search for titles.
The url for a broad genre category like “drama” is http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/5763, but by using the “secret” codes to adjust that end number, you can get some very specific suggestions; for instance, http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/308 shows me all the French-language coming-of-age dramas. Other niche categories you can explore include “deep sea horror movies” (45028), “feel-good gay and lesbian movies” (3788), “foreign satanic stories” (2490), and “visually-striking movies for ages 5-7” (2851).
Netflix’s catalog changes frequently and varies by region, so the codes aren’t an exact science, but hopefully you’ll have as much fun as I did checking out some of Netflix’s most weirdly specific categories.
You can find lists of the codes here and here. Happy browsing!
(via Uproxx)
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