For this list, we’re taking all films where suspense is front-and-center into account. We’re including classic Hitchcock and Hitchcockian thrillers, political thrillers, spy thrillers, tension-heavy scary thrillers, serial killer and crime thrillers. We’re considering Hollywood, indie and foreign fare. To be clear: these are all outstanding, highly entertaining must-see suspense films. Brace yourself for an unpredictable, heart-pounding experience. In ascending order, here’s our ranking of the best thriller movies ever made. Unless otherwise specified, all titles are available to rent or purchase across major streaming platforms.
Best Thriller Movies of All Time
101. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
The first Tom Clancy adaptation to hit the big screen is still the best. This is the big-screen debut of Jack Ryan, and Sean Connery plays a rogue Soviet submarine captain who abandons orders and defects to the United States. It’s up to Ryan to bridge communications on the high seas to prevent an all-out nuclear war. A patient, highly technical thriller that’s never less than gripping, The Hunt for Red October is easily the picture that best represents Clancy’s strengths and appeal as a creator. The Hunt for Red October won an Oscar for Best Sound Editing, and was nominated in two other categories.
100. Blow Out (1981)
A high point for stylistic genius Brian De Palma, Blow Out stars John Travolta as a sound effects expert on the trail of a political murder. It’s hard to overstate the beauty of the director’s compositions here. The audiovisual beauty would be breathtaking on its own, but the plot is uncommonly rich and absorbing, bolstered by strong characters and terrific performances (John Lithgow and Nancy Allen co-star). Blow Out is a reimagining of Michelangelo Antonioni’s avant-garde masterpiece Blow-Up. Both are essentials for anyone who loves film.
99. Set It Off (1999)
This action crime drama directed by F. Gary Gray (The Fate of the Furious, Straight Outta Compton) was a landmark moment in the careers of Queen Latifah and co-stars Jada Pinkett Smith, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise. It’s a thriller focused on four female LA friends who plan a bank robbery. A quarter-century later, Set It Off holds up as superior genre filmmaking with memorable, well-developed and highly sympathetic characters. Many have rightfully compared it to the essential crime drama Thelma & Louise.
98. Promising Young Woman (2020)
Aesthetically candy-coated yet psychologically adroit, alternately laugh-out-loud funny and chilling, writer/director Emerald Fennell‘s bold black comedy mystery thriller debut is—truly—unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s something far more unexpected and impactful than the revenge fantasy it appears to be. Oscar-nominated Carey Mulligan gives a volcanically great tragicomic performance as a med school dropout reeling from the aftermath of a heinous crime. Muscular and dreamy, far from subtle, Promising Young Woman flips the bird to cruelty and indecency—and it entertains. Promising Young Woman is something so few films are: unforgettable.
97. The Constant Gardener(2005)
Ralph Fiennes stars in City of God helmer Fernarndo Meirelles’ adaptation of John le Carré’s novel about a British diplomat seeking the killers of his activist wife in Kenya. Released the same year Fiennes joined the Wizarding World on-screen as Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet ofFire, The Constant Gardener was a critical and box-office hit. Rachel Weisz won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
96. Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
Just a year after she charmed audiences in international crossover rom-com hit Amélie, Audrey Tautou starred opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) in a dark English thriller from High Fidelity director Stephen Frears and Spencer screenwriter StevenKnight. Gripping and humane Dirty Pretty Things centers on London-based émigrés working in a posh hotel, and a conspiracy they uncover following the discovery of a human heart clogging a toilet. This is highly effective as a thriller— and the touching story transcends genre.
95. Widows (2018)
Loosely based on a 1980s British TV series, co-adapted by director Steve McQueen and Gone Girl scribe Gillian Flynn, Widows stars Viola Davis as Veronica Rawlings, a representative for the Chicago Teachers Union whose husband Harry (Liam Neeson) happens to be a high-end professional thief. It’s the title of the movie, so it’s hardly a spoiler to say a job goes wrong and Harry’s team gets blown up in the film’s opening minutes. A box-office disappointment in 2018, gloriously entertaining Widows deserves to be seen as widely as possible. 12 Years a Slave and Shame filmmaker McQueen made a multiplex-ready action picture without losing any of his edge.
94. Memento (2000)
Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated breakthrough is a murder mystery in reverse. Guy Pearce, Joe Pantaliano and Carrie-Anne Moss star in the absorbing if disorienting (by design) potboiler about a man desperately searching for his wife’s killer.
93. Eastern Promises (2007)
Arguably David Cronenberg’s most polished and sophisticated effort to date, Eastern Promises stars Viggo Mortensen as a Russian career criminal in London who discovers deep corruption with the help of a midwife (Naomi Watts). For good reason, the most famous scene sees a fully nude Mortensen fight two would-be-assailants to the bitter death in a Turkish bath. He was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.
92. Training Day (2001)
Denzel Washington ignites the screen opposite Ethan Hawke in Antoine Fuqua’s crime movie about a corrupt veteran cop escorting a rookie on his first day in LAPD’s inner-city narcotics unit. Washington won the Academy Award for Best Actor on a historic night for the Oscars, as Halle Berry won Best Actress for Monster’s Ball, and Sidney Poitier was honored for lifetime achievement. Training Day remains one of the most iconic roles for Hollywood’s most respected living actor.
91. Drive (2011)
Nicholas Winding Refn’s breakthrough (still his best movie by a margin) is a triumph of style over substance. A hardly animated but pitch-perfect Ryan Gosling plays a stunt driver who becomes entangled in a web of organized crime. The biggest triumph of Drive is in the details. It’s a fairly conventional crime story, but the storytelling defies convention at nearly every turn. Drive is quietly exhilarating. Refn won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Director prize.
90. Misery (1990)
The Academy doesn’t pay attention to horror movies very much, but Kathy Bates won the Best Actress Oscar for playing a psychopathic fan who kidnaps her favorite author (James Caan) in a snowstorm, forcing him to write stories for her. Nearly 30 years after its release, Rob Reiner‘s Misery is still unbridled, squirmy psychological terror, tough to watch in all the right ways.
89. The Handmaiden (2016)
This erotic psychological thriller is such a twisty ride that it almost feels like a spoiler to tell you it’s a romance. ParkChan-wook‘s elegant suspenser tells of blossoming love between a wealthy Japanese woman (Kim Min-hee) and a Korean pickpocket (Kim Tae-ri)… and of the men who try to control and oppress them. For any viewer willing to embrace the subtitles, some shocking sex and gore, and a hefty runtime, The Handmaiden is a giddy blast. It won a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.
88. Shutter Island (2010)
Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio in a neo-noir about a U.S. Marshal investigating an isolated psychiatric facility after a patient disappears. The third-act twist isn’t surprising, but handsome craft and terrific performances (the supporting cast includes Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow) make Shutter Island entertaining and worthwhile. Based on Dennis Lehane‘s novel.
87. Wind River (2017)
Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen are terrific in Yellowstonecreator Taylor Sheridan‘s twisting, focused, often shocking thriller set around the mysterious death of a young Native American woman in the modern American West. The outstanding Wind River deserved Oscar nods. The filmmaker and stars fought to have producer Harvey Weinstein’s name removed from the project in the wake of #MeToo, after which Lionsgate took control of distribution.
86. Dressed to Kill (1980)
Since 1960, countless thrillers have referenced Psycho, perhaps none more deliciously than De Palma’s Dressed to Kill, an exercise in style over substance. The psycho killer thriller starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen weaves a lurid mystery that’s compulsively watchable. With mesmerizing set pieces (most notably a breathlessly erotic trip through the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and an appealing blend of elegance and lowbrow throughout, Dressed to Kill remains a twisty cult favorite.
85. Sorcerer (1977)
Due mostly if not entirely to timing (Sorcerer had the misfortune of being released less than a month after Star Wars was released to record-obliterating success), William Friedkin’s masterful reimagining of The Wages of Fear, centered on a perilous South American transport of nitroglycerin, bombed with critics and audiences out of the gate. It’s since been re-assessed, and in 2013 was restored under Friedkin’s supervision.
84. Nocturnal Animals (2016)
As brutal as it is sad—and it’s both—Tom Ford‘s second feature twists the blade in the corpse of a toxic, failed relationship. Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Golden Globe winner for his work here) and Michael Shannon (Oscar nominee for his work here) are uniformly sensational in dark, sumptuously realized parallel storylines (about half of the movie is a fictional book within the narrative). Gobsmacking visually and disturbing thematically, Nocturnal Animals is something like a masterpiece.
83. Fatal Attraction (1987)
The late ’80s and early ’90s saw a boom of erotic thrillers, none more popular than Adrian Lyne‘s scorcher from screenwriter James Dearden’s short film diversion. Glenn Close is iconic femme fatale Alex Forrest, who torments the family of a lawyer (Michael Douglas) following an ill-fated affair. Originally, Fatal Attraction had a downbeat ending that didn’t test well. It was reshot for maximum thrill value. The movie was the highest-grossing film of 1987, grossing over $320 million against a $14 million budget. Nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture.
82. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow star in Anthony Minghella’s technically exquisite, darkly compelling adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel about a disturbed man hellbent on making a playboy’s lifestyle his own by whatever means necessary. Nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Law).
81. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Arguably the most astonishing throw-down acting of Al Pacino’s career is front-and-center in Sidney Lumet’s crime film based on a real-life, desperate robbery and hostage situation in 1972 Manhattan. Funny, sad and relentless, Dog Day Afternoon, nearly a half-century later, holds up magnificently as entertainment and art. Nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Actor, winning for Best Original Screenplay.
80. Hell or High Water (2016)
Director David Mackenzie and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan’s heist movie/drama hybrid was a modern-era shot in the arm for the Western. Jeff Bridges stars as a lawman near retirement, on the trail of bank-robbing brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster). Nominated for four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor (Bridges).
79. Bullitt (1968)
A well-cast Steve McQueen is towering movie-star cool in PeterYates’ gritty yet suave classic from the novel Mute Witness by Robert L. Pike. McQueen plays a San Francisco police lieutenant tasked with protecting a syndicate witness. Bullitt is best-known for one of the greatest car chases ever filmed.
78. Gaslight (1944)
Gaslighting is ghastly and cruel; it’s the psychologically abusive act of manipulating someone into questioning their own sanity. The term is practically synonymous with the 1944 George Cukor picture that won Ingrid Bergmanher first of three Academy Awards for her performance of a victimized wife. A huge hit for MGM, the film was nominated for seven Oscars in total, including nods for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for an 18-year-old Angela Lansburyin her screen debut.
77. Nightcrawler (2014)
Jake Gyllenhaal is frightening and unrecognizable (lamentably overlooked by the Academy) in Dan Gilroy‘s neo-noir, as a stringer who sells video of grisly events in nighttime Los Angeles to local news outlets. Co-starring Rene Russo and Bill Paxton, with a brilliant supporting turn from Riz Ahmed, Nightcrawler was a hit with audiences and critics following a clever online marketing campaign.
76. Munich (2005)
Controversial—incendiary, even—and a masterpiece in the art of suspense, Steven Spielberg’s thriller depicts the aftermath of the 1972 Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Starring Eric Bana and a pre-Bond Daniel Craig, written by Angels in America‘s Tony Kushner and Forrest Gump‘s Eric Roth—based on the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas.
75. Good Time (2017)
This electrifying and fresh crime drama from brothers Ben Safdie and Josh Safdie can be enjoyed as pure escapism thanks to dazzling neon cinematography, pulsing techno soundtrack and remarkable non-stop, forward-moving momentum. Good Time also succeeds as a pointed satire of a contemporary culture becoming more and more self-centered. Robert Pattinson gives arguably a career-best performance as failed bank robber Connie, and it’s hard to think of another actor who could have played this character’s surface charms thinly veiling a twitchy, bug-eyed, desperate and entitled narcissist.
74. Gone Girl (2014)
Rosamund Pike was Oscar-nominated for a chameleonic, unsettling turn in David Fincher’s adaptation of Gillian Flynn‘s bestseller about the media circus surrounding a missing woman and her suspicious husband (Ben Affleck). The darkly comic, sometimes brutal thriller had a massive pop culture moment, grossing over $369 million.
73. Sicario (2015)
Masterfully tense Denis Villeneuve direction, gorgeous Roger Deakins photography and stellar performances from Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin are all part of the alchemy that makes this one of the finest action thrillers of the aughts. Taylor Sheridan wrote the smart, provocative script centered on a young, idealistic FBI agent enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war on drugs at the U.S./Mexico border.
72. The Fugitive (1993)
Harrison Ford‘s best, most popular picture since Witness, a Hitchcockian yarn about a wrongfully accused man and an aggressive manhunt, was a critical and commercial phenom. Nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award, and Tommy Lee Jones won for Best Supporting Actor.
71. L.A. Confidential (1997)
One of the most acclaimed films of the 1990s (this picture has one lonely, frankly nonsensical negative review on Rotten Tomatoes), Curtis Hanson‘s stunningly crafted throwback noir—set in the 1950s—is a tale of scandal, murder and conspiracy. L.A. Confidential was nominated for nine Oscars (losing most to Titanic), with wins for its screenplay, and a Best Supporting Actress trophy for Kim Basinger.
70. Black Swan (2010)
One of the few horror movies ever to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, Darren Aronofsky’s supernatural ballet freakout garnered Natalie Portman an awards season sweep in the Best Actress category. Black Swan is a parable about the dangers of obsession and perfectionism. Perfection is not a human trait.
69. The Lives Of Others (2006)
Loosely based on actual events, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s tense, moving Lives of Others stars Ulrich Mühe as a Stasi officer of 1983’s East Berlin tasked with spying on a playwright (Sebastian Koch) and his actress girlfriend (Martina Gedeck). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, in an upset over Pan’s Labyrinth.
68. You Were Never Really Here (2018)
A loose adaptation of Jonathan Ames‘ thin, hardboiled novel, Lynne Ramsay‘s hypnotic, introspective You Were Never Really Here stars Joaquin Phoenix, and proves the violence of the human mind can be more cinematic than the standard bone-crunching we’re used to in this genre. Review: You Were Never Really Here Is One of the Best Crime Movies You Will Ever See
67. Bound (1996)
Three years before reinventing the blockbuster wheel with The Matrix, Lana and Lilly Wachowski directed this spine-tingling, erotic and brutal stripped-down suspenser starring Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon, as a mobster’s girlfriend and an ex-con who fall into a passionate affair as they chase $2 million in mob money. Bound is tense, sometimes hilarious, and surprisingly passionate.
66. Touch of Evil (1958)
Orson Welles directed Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and himself in this darkly irresistible classic noir about corruption and murder on the U.S./Mexico border. Touch of Evil is perhaps best known for a mighty opening tracking shot that influenced the opening of Halloween, and is still studied in film schools to this day. Welles clashed with the studio before the film’s theatrical release, but a definitive director’s cut of Touch of Evil finally was released in 1998, after the filmmaker’s death.
65. Marathon Man (1976)
Is it safe? John Schlesinger’s thriller from screenwriter William Goldman’s own novel stars Dustin Hoffman as a grad student whose life is turned inside out following the death of his operative brother. For Marathon Man, Laurence Olivier earned an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actor, as the villainous Szell.
64. Argo (2012)
Crackling and smart, Ben Affleck’s follow-up to brilliant thrillers Gone Baby Gone and The Town is about real-life CIA operative Tony Mendez and the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Winner of three Oscars including Best Picture. Affleck was notably snubbed for Best Director.
63. A Quiet Place (2018)
John Krasinski‘s miracle of a popcorn thriller blew everybody away in 2018. The elegantly constructed and flawlessly acted A Quiet Place is an edge-of-your-seat horror thrill ride and a touching family drama, and that’s why this was a Hollywood classic from the moment it hit screens. The near-silent picture about a family of four in hiding after the world has been invaded by gigantic, [ingeniously designed and totally frightening] alien spiders received an Oscar nod for its inventive sound editing (watch this with your sound turned way up). This is [PG-13, gore-free] popcorn horror for a general audience done to absolute perfection. But it’s better than that. It’s richer, smarter and stranger than that.
62. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
A few years after a breakthrough turn in Fritz Lang’s early talkie M, and before he rose to Hollywood prominence in The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, Peter Lorre was a chilling villain in Hitchcock’s acclaimed British film about a traveling couple who become entangled in a conspiracy and ransom plot. The Man Who Knew Too Much was remade to critical and box-office success in 1956, with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day starring. Hitchcock expressed a preference for the remake, at least on a technical level, but the original stands up as leaner and meaner these days.
61. The Hurt Locker (2009)
Director Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal’s nerve-shredding, highly acclaimed war thriller stars Jeremy Renner as an explosives expert, in an uncompromising look at the Iraq War and its psychological impact on veterans. Competing against ex-husband James Cameron and Avatar, Bigelow became the first woman ever to win the Academy Award for Best Director. This is also the first film directed by a woman to win Best Picture.
60. Cape Fear (1962)
Years after a blood-chilling, iconic performance in The Night of the Hunter, Robert Mitchum was an intimidating con out for vengeance against the family of the attorney (Gregory Peck) who wronged him. Martin Scorsese remade Cape Fear successfully in 1991 with an all-star cast including Robert de Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis. The tense, graphically violent remake was Oscar-nominated, but the creepy factor is higher in the original thanks to Mitchum’s masterful performance.
59. Scream (1996)
With characteristically red-blooded Wes Craven direction and career-making Kevin Williamson script, Scream was released before social media and Reddit, before spoilers spread like wildfire. It killed off its biggest star, horrifically, in its opening ten minutes– a wink to Psycho and a warning to its audience: No one is safe. Be afraid. Perhaps Scream‘s greatest feat is that it’s a very knowing, funny film–hilarious even–yet the comedy never undermines the horror elements. This is such a tricky balance to nail down. From The Predatorto even some popular superhero movies, too much snarky and self-aware comedy is an issue that plagues many genre films to this day. Scream gets that balance, and pretty much everything else, just right.
58. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo(2009)
Based on the pulpy page-turner, part one of the “Millennium” series by Stieg Larsson, this edgy, brutal Swedish crime drama stars Noomi Rapace as hacker Lisbeth Salander, who teams up with a journalist (Michael Nyqvist) working to uncover the truth about a wealthy recluse’s missing niece. David Fincher remade The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo in 2011 with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. It’s a technically slicker picture that garnered acclaim and Oscar nods, but the original’s rough edges better serve the source material.
57. Inception (2010)
One of Christopher Nolan‘s most ambitious and most successful blockbusters—arguably his most polished and complete—follows a thief (Leonardo DiCaprio)who steals within the dream world. The modern sci-fi classic was nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture, and grossed over $836 million worldwide. Nolan was shockingly not nominated for Best Director.
56. The Crying Game (1992)
Neil Jordan‘s dense, exhilarating character-driven masterwork is many things. It’s a violent, taut thriller about political unrest. It’s so funny at times one could be tempted to call it a dark comedy. It has one of the most hyped and brilliant plot twists of all time, one to rival Psycho and The Empire Strikes Back. Running through all of this is a touching romance of the best kind—the kind where two people grow and become better human beings because they know each other. The Crying Game won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. It was nominated for six Oscars, winning for Best Original Screenplay.
55. Witness (1985)
Gripping. suspenseful and surprising, Peter Weir‘s Oscar-winning crime drama stars Harrison Ford in his most soulful performance—as a big-city cop protecting the young son of an Amish woman (Kelly McGillis). In a four-star review, Roger Ebert noted Witness is “first of all, an electrifying and poignant love story. Then it is a movie about the choices we make in life.”
54. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
A mesmerizing Frank Sinatra and a chilling Angela Lansbury star in John Frankenheimer’s paranoia-soaked political thriller about sleeper agents in the Cold War. Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake starring Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep saw commercial and critical success.
53. The Bourne Identity (2002)
Matt Damon’s most iconic role started here, in Doug Liman’s espionage action picture about a lethally skilled man suffering from total amnesia as he’s pursued by assassins. The Bourne Identity’s success was powerful enough to touch Bond (the early Craig films), and it spawned a long-running franchise that has seen ups and downs.
52. Rebecca (1940)
After a string of British hits including The Lady Vanishes, Jamaica Inn and The 39 Steps, Hitchcock’s career moved to Hollywood, and right out of the gate he delivered a 1940’s Oscar winner for Best Picture (a consecutive win for Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick). Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine have palpable chemistry in a romantic psychological drama based on a du Maurier novel about a seemingly ordinary young woman who attracts a wealthy widower. At the heart of Rebecca (and this is something many critics of the book and Hitchcock’s film fail to recognize) is a power struggle between a powerful man and a powerless woman. The romance resonates because they’re flawed but not awful people who strangely complete each other. Rebecca is a timeless tale, and this remains the best of many adaptations.
51. Speed (1994)
A pop masterpiece that holds up to this day, Jan de Bont’s action/thriller hybrid stands tall as one of the most heart-pounding of all motion pictures. The bloody yet witty and buoyant popcorn thrill ride about a terrorist plot on a bus was a breakthrough for Sandra Bullock. It also cemented Keanu Reevesas an action star, and Dennis Hopper as a master of unnerving screen villainy. A critical and commercial smash, Speed sees legends operating at peak power. Among numerous inspired touches that make Speed an astonishingly effective work of super-linear filmmaking: it is perfectly divided into three acts, in three vehicles.
50. Wait Until Dark (1967)
Terence Young’s hit film from Frederick Knott’s 1966 play stars an Oscar-nominated Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized by a violent criminal (Alan Arkin) on the hunt for some drugs. The heart-pounding climactic moments of Wait Until Dark showcase what many believe to be the greatest jump scare in cinema history. Scream-your-head-off stuff to this day.
49. Casino Royale(2006)
Casino Royale was the first Bond film written after 9/11, and audiences needed the Bond movies to evolve considerably. Casino Royale rose to the occasion, hitting it out of the park farther than anyone could have anticipated, thanks in no small part to a Daniel Craig performance that many observers considered worthy of Oscar attention. This is a stunning action picture with the weight of romantic tragedy. How often does that happen?
48. Oldboy (2003)
Long before Squid Gameor All of Us Are Dead found international success, Park Chan-wook‘s brutal, kinetic thriller about a drunk in pursuit of his jailer found considerable acclaim. Just be sure to avoid the American remake like the plague. Other outstanding Korean psychological thrillers that have found some stateside success include The Chaser, The Wailing and I Saw the Devil.
47. Blade Runner (1982)
Ridley Scott‘s deliberately paced neo-noir received a chilly reception when it was released in 1982, originally presented in a weird, off-putting cut the studio meddled with. Once the streamlined director’s cut arrived a decade later, observers couldn’t deny the film’s greatness. Blade Runner is likely the 2oth century’s most visual influential picture (itself heavily influenced by Fritz Lang‘s silent expressionist masterpiece Metropolis).
46. Uncut Gems (2019)
Adam Sandler was, frankly, robbed of an Academy Award nomination for this. Hell, he should have won. The oft-critically-maligned megastar delivers his best performance to date in Ben Safdie and Josh Safdie‘s riveting crime caper about a jeweler who bets the farm on the gamble of a lifetime. Adele Da-no, wait, Idina Menzel delivers a killer supporting turn. Masterful Uncut Gems is so thrilling it might give you a little nervous breakdown. At its heart, this is a picture about an addiction.
45. The Sixth Sense (1999)
A legendary blockbuster that actually lives up to its hype, M. Night Shyamalan‘s ghost story still has the ability to terrify more than 20 years later. An elegant and white-knuckler worthy of its comparisons to Hitchcock, skillfully acted by stars Bruce Willisand Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense was an international phenomenon because it inspired us to explore the dark corners of our imagination. This movie held the top spot at the North American box office for five weeks, and was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture. If you are one of the seven or eight people out there who don’t know the twist ending, then it’s an emergency–you must watch The Sixth Sense right now before anyone spoils it for you.
44. Caché (2005)
MichaelHaneke has made some of the most notorious horror/thriller hybrids of recent decades. The original Funny Games is now perhaps his most well-known, but for this list we’re going with Caché (Hidden), a French-language masterclass that awards patient, perceptive viewers with uncomfortable, suggestive thematic material. Quietly, expertly unsettling stuff.
43. Captain Phillips (2013)
Technically flawless and close to unbearable in the level of tension it generates, critical and commercial hit Captain Phillips pairs Tom Hanks with United 93 and The Bourne Supremacy director Paul Greengrass. It’s based on the 2009 commandeering of U.S. containership Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates, and an ensuing hostage crisis. The final moments of Captain Phillips represent some of the beloved performer’s finest throw-down, heartbreaking acting. It’s the kind of thing that stays with you and reminds you why this is one of our most enduringly popular talents.
42. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White, The Lady Vanishes is about a beautiful English tourist named Iris (Margaret Lockwood) traveling by train in continental Europe, who wakes up from a nap to discover that her elderly traveling companion is missing. When the other passengers on the train deny ever seeing the old lady, Iris enlists the help of a handsome musician (Michael Redgrave) to help her unravel the conspiracy. The last film Hitchcock made in his native England before powerful Hollywood producer David O. Selznick snatched him up and brought him across the pond, The Lady Vanishes was at the time the biggest hit in British box office history, confirming Selznick’s belief that Hitchcock would be a smashing success in America. More than 80 years later (!), The Lady Vanishes is still entertaining as hell, a joy to watch from beginning to end. It’s a high-wire act with no missteps, and an impressively even blend of suspense, comedy and romance.
41. Knives Out (2019)
Rian Johnson‘s exhilarating modern twist on the all-star whodunit was spiced with savage social commentary. This was a major snub in the SAG Awards’ Best Ensemble category, and Johnson’s airtight, giddy, provocative script deserved its Academy Award nod. One of 2019’s noteworthy a-star-is-born stories is that of Ana de Armas. After admiring her nimble, screen-commanding work here, it was thrilling to see her all but walk away with No Time to Die.
40. Minority Report (2002)
Top-tier Spielberg. Tom Cruise is at his most riveting, screen-commanding as a cop of the future fighting to clear his name in an electrifying adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s book about the ethics of fighting crime before it happens. Report is a Hitchcockian “wrong man” yarn, a Philip K. Dick fable, with Spielberg’s stamp and lively touch all over it. This is what we so rarely get but always hope for when we go to the movies.
39. Stranger by the Lake (2013)
This French suspense yarn is set at an eerily quiet cruising ground and nude beach. Its appeal isn’t that far removed from Twilight, only it’s much smarter than that. At the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, Alain Guiraudie won Best Director, and L’Inconnu du lac also won the Queer Palm. The movie features graphic sex scenes, some filmed with body doubles. Stranger by the Lake has so much on its brain that it would be entirely reductive to just label it a “gay movie.”
38. The Birds (1963)
Based on a (very) short story by Daphne du Maurier, The Birds doesn’t have the dramatic heft of some of Hitchcock’s other finest works, but the movie is an essential masterclass in slow-burn terror. It’s a testament to Hitchcock’s skill that he was able to turn a bunch of pigeons and crows into some of the most threatening screen villains of all time. A Hollywood remake is in development, and it’s hard to imagine it will be nearly as freaky as the original, which holds up well nearly 60 years later.
37. Winter’s Bone (2010)
It’s not getting carried away to call this one of the best, richest American thrillers of the modern era. This is also, in many ways, the one that started it all; after boundless festival praise and glowing reviews from Roger Ebert and others, Lawrence received her first Oscar nod for a powerful turn in Debra Granik’s indie about a headstrong girl searching for her drug dealer father through the Ozarks (the movie received three other nods including Best Picture).
36. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
1967 was a landmark year for Hollywood, the year age of innocence ended and a new age began. No movie embodies this watershed moment better than Arthur Penn’s graphically violent, potently sexy biographical crime film starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as infamous bank robbers. Conventions were shattered in a moment; this is the first film of the New Hollywood era.
35. The Conversation (1974)
Two years after The Godfather became the highest-grossing movie ever, Francis Ford Coppola directed Gene Hackman as a surveillance expert facing a crisis of conscience upon uncovering a possible murder. Co-starring John Cazale, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, HarrisonFord, Cindy Williams and Teri Garr. Winner of Cannes’ Palme D’Or, nominated for three Oscars including Best Picture (the same year Coppola’s Godfather Part II won).
34. Collateral (2004)
Michael Mann has made multiple crime classics, arguably none better than his streamlined, character-rich masterpiece Collateral. This is also a career-high point for Tom Cruise, who plays a sociopathic hitman who entangles a mild-mannered cabbie (Jamie Foxx, Oscar-nominated for this the same year he won for Ray) in an L.A. killing spree. Co-starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Collateral is equal parts armrest-gripping excitement and meaty, uncomfortable philosophy. Soaked in neon on digital video (years before it was the norm), Collateral is also the best, most truthful movie ever made about nighttime in Los Angeles.
33. The Terminator (1984)
Micro-budgeted science fiction thriller The Terminator was an overnight smash in its day, announcing writer/director James Cameron as one of the foremost action filmmakers and Arnold Schwarzenegger as an icon. In the first movie, Schwarzenegger played the T-800, an android from a future in which artificial intelligence has rebelled and overthrown humanity, sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of future resistance leader John Connor. It’s a simple story with a gripping emotional hook. Low-fi sci-fi at its absolute finest.
32. Dirty Harry (1971)
Punishingly unpleasant and brutal even by today’s standards, Dirty Harry nevertheless stands tall as an enthralling and darkly provocative work of genre filmmaking. Clint Eastwood is iconic as a cop who comes in too strong, but has undeniable appeal in his desire for law and order (a modern take on an archetype that’s appeared in storytelling for a very long time). Dirty Harry doesn’t go down easy. It’s film history, too.
31. Chinatown(1974)
Smoky, erotic and dangerous, the artwork for Roman Polanski‘s detective story teases a modern, darker take on the classic noir. Chinatown is considered one of the finest mystery films to this day, and Robert Towne’s Oscar-winning script is timeless. A bitter fight between writer and director transpired over the ending (there was some hope on the page). The director’s vision won out; the despairing final moments are among the most famous in film.
30. From Russia With Love (1963)
James Bond’s second Eon big-screen outing (starring SeanConnery) was an expansion and improvement upon Dr. No; this is generally considered one of the finest pure espionage movies in history. A key reason From Russia With Love is so strong is the chemistry and relationships. There’s a surprising amount of heart in Bond’s trusting bromance with Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendáriz), and Connery’s shirtless, innuendo-laden hotel-room introduction to DanielaBianchi‘s Tatiana Romanova is a prime old-Hollywood example of how to generate sweltering erotic heat without explicit content. The best part? The close-quarters, no-holds-barred fight to the death between Bond and Robert Shaw‘s Red Grant is a thing of savage, terrible beauty.
29. Seven (1995)
Often stylized as Se7en, Fincher‘s harrowing police procedural stars Pitt and Morgan Freeman as detectives who partner on a case of brutal ritualistic killings. From the handcrafted opening titles to the heart-stopping final moments (don’t let anyone spoil the ending for you), Seven is really unsettling and creepy stuff. Handle with care. Seven earned about 10 times its budget at the worldwide box office, and was nominated for a Best Film Editing Oscar, but lost to Apollo 13.
28. Peeping Tom (1960)
‘Released in 1960, the same year as Psycho, Peeping Tom has been endlessly compared to it ever since. Both have been argued to be the first slasher. Whereas Psycho was a runaway box-office success, English auteur Michael Powell’s psychological drama, about a serial killer who murders women while using a portable movie camera to record their terrorized dying expressions, was a notorious bomb. Though Powell’s exquisite technical mastery was undeniable and he was previously thought of as one of the nation’s finest filmmakers, critics of the time trashed Peeping Tom for what was perceived as sadism and depravity; Powell’s career never recovered.
27. Fargo (1996)
You betcha this is the best black comedy thriller hybrid in cinema history. Now tied with Daniel Day-Lewis as the most decorated living movie star in the eyes of the Academy Awards, Frances McDormand delivered a heroine for the ages in Marge Gunderson, a good-natured cop investigating a series of senseless, grisly and moronic crimes in the frozen American North. Fargo is trenchantly funny, strange and thrilling.
26. The 39 Steps (1935)
Though Hitchcock had been directing movies for nearly a decade (his first film was The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog in 1926), The 39 Steps is his first masterpiece. Based on the 1915 adventure novel of the same name by John Buchan about an everyman civilian (Robert Donat) who is unwittingly entangled in an international espionage plot (wrongfully accused men forced to clear their names were a staple of Hitchcock’s films), The 39 Steps was a smash hit in its day, and firmly established Hitchcock as the master of the thriller. In 1999, The British Film Institute ranked it as the fourth best British film of the 20th century.
25. Get Out (2017)
Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning comedic chiller is one of the edgiest studio-produced movies of the century—and one of the most influential, birthing a new movement in horror that’s unfolding right now. Daniel Kaluuya stars as a young Black man terrorized by his fiancée’s nutso white family. Initially, there were widespread reports of Get Out polarizing Academy voters with many of the infamously archaic members flat-out refusing to watch it. This makes the picture’s four nominations (including Best Picture) and win for Best Original Screenplay, feel even more triumphant.
24. No Country For Old Men (2007)
In their best movie since Fargo, Joel and Ethan Coen spin a Cormac McCarthy thriller about a drug deal gone to hell and an ensuing manhunt into a staggering deconstruction of the classic Western. Pitch-black modern themes and characteristically gorgeous Roger Deakins cinematography linger in the mind, but it all comes down to Javier Bardem‘s chilling killer Anton Chigurh, often cited as the most realistic depiction of a psychopath in film history. No Country for OldMenwon four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor.
23. Zodiac (2007)
David Fincher‘s gorgeously photographed police procedural about the real-life Zodiac killer will make your blood run cold, particularly a slaying in broad daylight (you’ll know it when you see it). Zodiac stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr. (who appeared here mere months before Iron Man catapulted his star back into the stratosphere). Zodiac was acclaimed upon release, and many consider it a masterpiece today. In 2016, the BBC compiled a list of the 21st century’s best films based on a poll of 177 international critics. Zodiac placed 12th.
22. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite of his films, Shadow of a Doubt is a chilling and superbly acted suburban nightmare in which a young woman named Charlie (Teresa Wright) slowly discovers that her beloved Uncle (also named Charlie, Joseph Cotten) is a serial killer. The handsome Cotten was well-known as an affable leading man, and casting him in such a role was exemplary of the way Hitchcock loved to toy with his audience’s expectations.
21. The Dark Knight (2008)
Best known for a towering Heath Ledger performance that gave the movie an air of myth months before it was released, Nolan’s aggressive expansion of the Batman saga was one of the most thrilling crime sagas since Heat, critically revered as it became the fourth film to gross $1 billion worldwide, forever altering the way audiences and movie studios would look at the superhero film. The Dark Knight‘s head-scratching exclusion from the Best Picture race was a key factor in a major rule changeup the following year. It’s perfectly possible this is the most influential movie of the century so far.
20. Halloween (1978)
The essential popcorn scare-fest is a masterpiece of suspense that has stood the test of time. It’s aging just as well as the Hitchcock and Howard Hawks classics that inspired it. With likable characters, incredible music and other unique artistic flourishes, ingenious use of widescreen space and a lack of cynicism, John Carpenter’s beloved classic about a masked lunatic stalking teen babysitters still stands head-and-shoulders above the legions of films that ripped it off. There’s an elegance and earnestness to Halloween that the imitators didn’t even attempt to recreate.
19. Strangers on a Train (1951)
A misunderstanding between a young tennis player (Farley Granger) and a charismatic psychopath (Robert Walker) leads to a swirling mess of murder and menace in one of Hitchcock’s most stylish and perfectly paced thrill rides (the hair-raising finale, fittingly, takes place on an out-of-control carnival ride). Based on the 1950 Patricia Highsmith novel of the same name, Strangers had a somewhat mixed reception upon release, with some criticizing its sordid storyline, which was twisted even by Hitch’s standards. It’s also darkly hilarious. The film has aged beautifully, with Hitchcock’s bold and dazzling stylistic choices picked apart in film schools across the world, and its edgy and morbid take on human nature has been reflected in more modern works like Fargo (film and TV series), A Simple Plan and Gone Girl.
18. Heat (1995)
Crime movie maestro Michael Mann‘s sprawling opus brought viewers some of the most heart-stopping action scenes of all time. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are towering presences in an epic, novelistic thriller about a face-off between bank robbers and cops. Along with the likes of Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing, Heat is one of the best heist movies ever.
17. Vertigo (1958)
These are the confessions of the greatest of all filmmakers, the Master himself: Alfred Hitchcock. Beyond its incomparable artistic merits, Vertigo is the ultimate cinematic indictment of what we now call toxic masculinity. James Stewart was cast against type as an ex-cop struggling with a fear of heights, and romantic obsession. Vertigo was a critical and commercial failure when it was released. This is Hitchcock’s most personal work, a complex statement on manhood and obsession, a staple of film school curriculums. From a purely technical standpoint, it’s as intoxicating a piece of pure cinema as any, thanks to Bernard Herrmann‘s stirring, hypnotizing score and Robert Burks‘ cinematography, which ingeniously uses color to add layers of meaning to the narrative.
16. The Shining (1980)
A box office meh and a critical disappointment upon release, Kubrick’s labyrinthine freakout The Shining is now widely recognized as a horror essential, one of the most oppressively frightening of all films. Jack Nicholson is iconic as an isolated drunk who gradually loses each and every single one of his marbles. Kubrick and co-writer Diane Johnson took King’s text as, at best, a suggestion for the film, a jumping-off point. King famously wasn’t a big fan of the end product.
15. Notorious (1946)
One of Hitchcock‘s most exquisite films (yes, Notoriousreally is on the same level as Vertigo and Psycho), this elegant thriller cast Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman against type as bitter lovers tangled in a post-World War II spy mission in South America. Bergman plays a drunk with a haunted past. Selected by the Writers Guild of America as one of the finest screenplays ever written, Ben Hecht‘s script succeeds on multiple levels: it’s a chilling, enraged response to the horrors of the war that was only just sinking into the public conscious, and it’s a note-perfect psychological exploration of a romantic relationship that’s toxic in both directions.
14. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Envelope-pushing horror pictures that ruined illustrious careers, only to be revered years later, is a key theme in classic American film. Case in point: previously respected actor Charles Laughton‘s sole feature as director: a strange, expressionistic and poetic chase film about a twisted wolf in sheep’s clothing. Robert Mitchum is the very face of opportunistic evil, as menacing as any screen villain you’ll ever see, playing self-titled “Reverend” Harry Powell, who’s actually a serial killer hellbent on finding $10,000 a dead man hid inside his daughter’s doll. It’s clear to we the viewers, but not Powell’s zealot followers (including doomed bride Shelly Winters) that this is no man of God. Night of the Hunter is an unforgettable meditation on religion, darkness and light. Key images of death and threat haunt the memory, and silent film legend Lillian Gish is unforgettable as the face of maternalistic virtue and strength.
13. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
John Huston’s highly influential noir from Dashiell Hammett’s story was originally published in serial stars Humphrey Bogart as world-weary, cynical, truth-seeking private eye Sam Spade. The detective stumbles into a web of criminal intrigue surrounding the titular statuette after taking a case from a mysterious beauty (Mary Astor). In an era where the rise of cryptocurrency baffles a lot of folks and obsesses others, The Maltese Falcon gains a strange new relevance. It will always be the stuff that dreams are made of.
12. The Third Man (1949)
Joseph Cotten stars alongside Valli and Orson Welles (this is his most iconic film aside from Citizen Kane) in Carol Reed‘s masterful noir about a pulp novelist investigating the death of a friend in postwar Vienna. The Third Man has been named the greatest British film ever made by the British Film Institute.
11. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction tells a pretty standard, run-of-the-mill crime story about a crime boss, his wife, and some hired guns. It’s the telling of it all that makes this one of the essential films of the 1990s, one of the ultimate movie experiences to get lost in. Pulp Fiction is told in an extravagantly nonlinear fashion, but it’s hard to feel too disoriented when mostly we’re just thrilled by the hilarity and excitement of what’s playing out in front of us moment-to-moment. Quentin Tarantino’s trademark dialogue is never about moving the plot forward; it’s about immersing us in the realities of the characters. Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules has the most important arc, and in a roundabout kind of way, Pulp Fiction is a movie about redemption. Pulp Fiction won Cannes’s coveted Palme d’Or, and Tarantino won his first screenwriting Oscar. A star was born.
Top 10 Best Thriller Movies of All Time
10. Rear Window (1954)
Hitchcock explored voyeurism throughout his career, but never as directly as in this pitch-perfect mystery about a man who witnesses a murder while gazing out his window. One of the biggest reasons Rear Window works better than just about any other suspense thriller is because we love the characters so much. The Master of Suspense was also a wizard at getting stellar performances out of great actors, and James Stewart is as powerful as he is effortlessly charming as photographer L.B. Jefferies, despite spending the entire film in a wheelchair. This is Grace Kelly‘s most iconic role, and her transformation from a glamorous, passive, indoor girl to a risk-taking adventuress touches us more every time we see the film.
9. Parasite (2019)
Bong Joon-ho‘s funny, terrifying, tragic, tense, erotic, gross and compulsively, feverishly entertaining crime comedy/thriller examines the internationally relevant topic of classism. Following astounding, highly deserved top honors at the SAG Awards, Parasite became the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
8. Blue Velvet (1986)
David Lynch‘s disturbing, influential classic mystery tells of the secrets that lie beneath American suburban order. Kyle MacLachlan stars as a young college student who discovers a severed human ear, and a criminal conspiracy. Co-starring Dennis Hopper, Isabella Rossellini and Laura Dern. Lynch received an Academy Award nod for Best Director.
7. The French Connection (1971)
At the height of the New Hollywood renaissance, Friedkin directed Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider in a hyper-realistic crime thriller set in the mean streets of New York. The psychology of the characters (most notably Hackman’s gruff cop Popeye Doyle) is highly complex, though the film’s pace is so fast this might not all set in upon first viewing. A climactic car chase is still considered one of the best ever filmed. The French Connection was produced with studio money, but the production was often guerilla, spearheaded by a determined, brilliant Friedkin. This is the first R-rated movie to win Best Picture at the Oscars.
6. Taxi Driver (1976)
Written by Paul Schrader and directed by Martin Scorsese, this iconic psychological thriller is widely considered to be one of the best movies ever made. Robert De Niro plays a lonely, haunted Vietnam veteran who descends into violent madness. Co-starring Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel and Cybill Shepherd, Taxi Driver has accumulated countless accolades over the decades: It’s a part of the National Film Registry, Sight & Sound named it the 31st greatest movie ever, and it was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture. You talkin’ to me?
5. Double Indemnity (1944)
The essential noir. This is one of a handful of the finest crime movies in history, the first Hollywood studio film about murderers; groundbreaking stuff that was utterly shocking in 1944. It’s still a disturbing watch. It’s also fun and funny. And sleazy. Barbara Stanwyck is one of the film’s most manipulative and iconic villains, a femme fatale who ropes an insurance salesman (Fred MacMurray) into a killing. AFI named Stanwyck’s Phyllis Dietrichson the eighth greatest villain ever. When Hitchcock saw Double Indemnity, he declared the two most important words in motion pictures were “Billy” and “Wilder.”
4. North by Northwest (1959)
Following the commercial failure of the downbeat Vertigo, Hitchcock made his most pleasurable crowd-pleaser. Working with a nimble and clever screenplay by Ernest Lehman (ranked 21 on the Writers Guild of America’s Greatest Screenplays of All Time), Hitchcock made a movie for everyone—with humor that makes you guffaw, romance that makes you swoon and suspense that stops your heart and makes your palms sweat. Cary Grant always did incredible work with Hitchcock, and this might be the performance of his career.One of cinema’s giddiest, most dazzling delights, North By Northwest rivals the original Star Wars for sheer entertainment value.
3. Jaws (1975)
Spielberg’s film of Peter Benchley‘s New England-set killer shark book overcame a rocky production to become the inaugural summer blockbuster, the first film ever to gross $100 million in North America. A deliberately paced marvel of character-rich suspense, Jaws won three Oscars and was nominated for Best Picture, though Spielberg wasn’t nominated for Best Director. Jaws is yet another horror series that went downhill in a hurry. 1978’s Jaws 2 is a mediocre rehash; Jaws 3D and Jaws: The Revenge are astonishingly bad.
2. Psycho (1960)
This is where popular modern horror begins. Hitchcock went to unprecedented lengths to convince American theater chains not to allow anyone into the theater once screenings of Psycho began, to keep a tight lid on the plot’s many twists and turns. Audiences played along, delighting in the experience (it’s a lot of fun to scream in a movie theater), and it became the most profitable black-and-white sound film ever made. A full 60 years later, Psycho is still shocking, nerve-frying even. An unnecessarily prolonged epilogue with too much expository dialogue has always stuck out like a sore thumb, but that’s not enough to detract from Psycho’s permanent standing as an indispensable cultural landmark. It’s the granddaddy of shock cinema.
1. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Jonathan Demme‘s classic psychological thriller based on the popular book by Thomas Harris stars Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling. As a serial killer sweeps the midwest, Starling seeks the help of incarcerated Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), resulting in a “quid pro quo” tête-à-tête that’s become Hollywood legend. The Silence of the Lambs is one of three movies in history to win the “Big Five” Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best [Adapted] Screenplay, Best Director). In the American Film Institute’s 2003 special, “100 Heroes and Villains,” Clarice Starling was named the sixth all-time greatest screen hero ever; Lecter was named cinema’s all-time most unforgettable villain. Next, check out the 100 best movies of all time, ranked.
