What to watch on Netflix if you hate Valentine's Day from Pulp Fiction to Beasts of No Nation

Because friendship, redemption, wanderlust and self-discovery can be much better themes than love

John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson are here to shoot Valentine's Day in the head for you (Rex Features)

Not everybody enjoys Valentine’s Day, including many loved-up couples. So if you’re one of the many who see the day of romance as little more than an excuse for card companies to make more money, these are the films for you. Bah, humbug, pass the wine.

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Have no fear, Tarantino is here, and he’s really the only man you need this 14 February.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

The ultimate buddy movie.

Nymphomaniac

A scene from Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac

Turn to Lars von Trier if its a four-hour arty drama filled with explicit sex scenes you’re after. No judgement.

Closer

It’s official, relationships will ruin your life, as proved by the four unfaithful Londoners in this movie. Love, as Clive Owen so eloquently tells Julia Roberts, can “f**k off and die”.

Into the Wild

If life in general is proving a pain in the ass and you’re suffering from a serious case of wanderlust, there’s always the option of giving away all your possessions, burning your money and packing a rucksack to head into the depths of Alaska, a la Chris McCandless. Ideally be a less of a douchebag.

Beasts of No Nation

Nothing could be further from soppy than this brutal Netflix original starring Idris Elba as the fearsome warlord who turns helpless West African boy Agu into a merciless child soldier. Expect blood and lots of it.

We Need To Talk About Kevin

Nothing screams anti-Valentine’s more than a drama about a sociopathic teenager whose mother is forced to deal with the aftermath of the horrors he commits.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Or an exorcism, for that matter. Courtroom drama horror from Scott Derrickson.

Legally Blonde

Reese Witherspoon hopes to make a comeback as Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (Rex Features)

Elle Woods proves that you can well and truly achieve what you want to on your own in this fun 2001 comedy about a pink-loving lawyer who proves everybody wrong.

Pulp Fiction

Relax on the sofa with the epitome of Tarantino cool, because redemption is a far more interesting theme than love.

Good Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting

Say “How do you like them apples?” to Valentine’s Day this year and enjoy philosophising about life on Robin Williams’ bench instead. Romance features in this Oscar-winning classic, sure, but at its real heart is the importance of facing your personal demons and finding self-acceptance.

The Babadook

Macabre, definitely creepy and bizarrely artful.

Blue Ruin

Blue Ruin: A very bloody film noir

This is a bloody, film noir revenge story “as darkly melodramatic as any Greek tragedy”. So there you go.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

If in doubt, ‘borrow’ a Ferrari and take yourself on an adventure around Chicago. Better than any date night.

The Apartment

Career? Love? Career? Love. It’s a tough choice and you can’t always have both, as insurance worker CC Baxter finds out when his boss starts an affair with the elevator girl he has his eye on. Proof that relationships are often simply not worth the hassle.