Among all the genres of contemporary cinema, “thriller” is probably the most difficult movie category to define. Is there really a difference between a thriller and film noir? Are thrillers just action movies or horror movies with more middle-brow aspirations? What’s the difference between a thriller and a suspense flick anyway?
In 1964, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart infamously said of pornography, “I know it when I see it” — and perhaps the same is true for thrillers. Although there are some obvious key themes (the capriciousness of truth, the indefatigable nature of human cruelty) and motifs (shadows, crime, paranoia, dreams, conspiracy, suspicion), thrillers are more than the sum of their parts.
Instead of trying to define thrillers, perhaps it’s best to work backward: What are the best movies often considered to be examples of thrillers and how do they help set the parameters of the genre? Below, and like a good thriller protagonist ourselves, we’ve embarked on an investigation of the best thriller movies of all time. Let’s take a look, shall we?
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Genre
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Stars
Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
Directed by
Jonathan Demme
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Jonathan Demme’s masterpiece sits between thriller and horror, and it’s one of the few films in the latter category to ever win Academy Awards. In terms of gore and violence, there isn’t too much — but the subject matter is rather grisly. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) enlists the help of incarcerated cannibal Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in the hopes of hunting down a depraved serial murderer nicknamed “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine). While the gruesome hunt would be engaging enough, Demme uses this bloody backdrop to explore gender dynamics and the trauma-worn emotional life of the film’s protagonist. Criticisms around the film’s handling of transgender issues are well-deserved, but the story is actually far more subtle than the latest wave of critics give it credit for.
Basic Instinct (1992)
Genre
Thriller, Mystery
Stars
Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza
Directed by
Paul Verhoeven
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Paul Verhoeven’s movies tend to sit on the edge between so-bad-it’s-good and artful genius — as all the best examples of camp do. Although this film garnered a kind of proto-virality over one particularly lascivious scene involving Sharon Stone, there’s more to this movie than a pair of lewdly spread legs. Released in 1992, Basic Instinct was quite ahead of its time as far as depictions of sex go — and its high-art aspirations had New York Times critic Janet Maslin offering the compliment of comparing it to Hitchcock’s work. But, like many of the best movies ever made, Basic Instinct also was rather divisive.
Memento (2000)
Genre
Mystery, Thriller
Stars
Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano
Directed by
Christopher Nolan
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Early 2000s nostalgia is at an all-time high, and there’s a certain retro goofiness to this bizarre mystery story. Nonetheless, Memento is one the only mainstream movie to ever be told partially backward in a narrative gesture that cleverly mirrors the protagonist’s retrograde amnesia. The aesthetic might not hold up, but the avant-garde gesture underneath the movie’s somewhat silly conceit is almost preposterously ambitious for a mainstream movie. Knowing that it’s an early Christopher Nolan film only makes the obsession with time and memory feel even more appropriate.
Parasite (2019)
Genre
Stars
Directed by
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A movie so excellent the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences got over its widespread xenophobia to sing its praises! Although it functions perfectly well as a completely unhinged mystery — with a number of truly unexpected twists — Parasite also is a poignant Marxist commentary on the difficulties of escaping poverty and the class resentment increasingly fomenting in the underground. Bong Joon-ho had made a series of absurdly amazing movies before mainstream critics realized his genius, including some great sci-fi movies, but Parasite is his best work yet.
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Stars
Directed by
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David Lynch’s deeply inaccessible nightmares are some of the most divisive movies in cinema history, with enthusiasts praising his unabashed embrace of surrealism and his detractors simply claiming that nothing he creates makes any damn sense. It’s true that Mulholland Drive doesn’t exactly have a coherent plot, but if you can embrace the logic of dreams there’s something gorgeously maddening about Lynch’s menacing cosmology. No one could dispute the noir-inspired beauty of Lynch’s cinematography, nor could anyone argue with Naomi Watts’ power as an actress — playing both a naïve actress who stumbles upon criminal enterprises from beyond this world and a broken-down mirror-world version of the same character. You can check out our list of the best David Lynch movies for more of his work.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Genre
Fantasy, Drama, War
Stars
Ivana Baquero, Maribel Verdú, Sergi López
Directed by
Guillermo del Toro
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An imaginative fairy-tale thriller from director Guillermo Del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth probably is not the scariest movie on this list, but it is absolutely worth a watch for its thrilling premise and symbolism. Ofelia’s (Ivana Baquero) mother has just married a sadistic military captain, who forces them to live with him in a village where supernatural beings come out of a nearby labyrinth to draw Ofelia into her destiny.
Misery (1990)
Genre
Drama, Thriller
Stars
James Caan, Kathy Bates, Richard Farnsworth
Directed by
Rob Reiner
WATCH ON AMAZON
Stephen King’s meta-textual short novel about a literary fanatic who captures her favorite author and holds him hostage for her own gratification was turned into an excellent and darkly suspenseful movie by director Rob Reiner. Kathy Bates became an unlikely horror icon after turning in this deeply deranged performance, and the film’s foot-breaking climax is one of the most viscerally nauseating moments ever captured on film. Fun fact: Misery has the rare honor of being the only Stephen King movie to ever capture an Oscar, which went to Bates as best actress for her turn in the movie.
Drive (2011)
Genre
Drama, Thriller, Crime
Stars
Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston
Directed by
Nicolas Winding Refn
WATCH ON AMAZON
Critics claimed that Nicholas Winding Refn’s moody neo-noir was an amateurish example of style over substance, but Drive’s growing cult of followers counter that style is substance when it’s done right. Neon-drenched brutalist landscapes, minimalist existential dialogue, elegant and overstated costuming, and an Italo-disco-influenced soundtrack provided by Johnny Jewel’s cabal of witchy women elevate what was unfortunately advertised as a rather average action movie into the realm of high art.
Spellbound (1945)
Genre
Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Stars
Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov
Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock
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Hitchcock created the blueprint for what would go on to define the thriller genre, and although his more popular or critically beloved movies like Rear Window and Psycho certainly could have earned a spot on this list, Spellbound’s dream sequences — guest-directed by none other than Salvador Dali — give a magical quality to this creepy little whodunnit. There’s more than one avant-garde twist here: The two frames of red that pop up at the movie’s conclusion represent an early example of experimental usage of color in mainstream cinema.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Genre
Drama, Thriller, Mystery
Stars
Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sydney Pollack
Directed by
Stanley Kubrick
WATCH ON NETFLIX
Eyes Wide Shut is perhaps Stanley Kubrick’s least appreciated movie — it turns out that stories involving underground and ultra-opulent Satanic sex cults aren’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea. The real-life tension between the soon-to-be-divorced Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman is played up in this story about the danger of unrequited lust. Kubrick’s expectedly beautiful cinematic eye is on full display, and Kidman’s notorious monologue about her eroticized memories of a sexual encounter she wished she had pursued is somehow melancholic, disturbing, and heart-wrenching all at once.
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