Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (2024)

Thriller

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (1)

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (2)

By Robert Vaux & David Giatras

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Thrillers and suspense movies tend to attract cinema's very best filmmakers — the genre's intricate plots and potential for meaty performances can be hard to resist. Thrillers also have the benefit of generating scares without the stigma of horror movies, which are often (wrongly) considered too "base" to be considered art.

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That's resulted in a bumper crop of superior thrillers and suspense movies from every era of the genre's history, starting with the advent of sound. A good handful of directors and actors have made names for themselves for their work within the thriller genre, including titanic figures of the film industry, like Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and Anthony Hopkins.

Updated by Arthur Goyaz on September 12, 2024: Thriller and suspense movies sure know how to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. This list was updated to add more movie recommendations and to reflect CBR's current formatting standards.

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1

35 Uncut Gems is an Anxiety-Inducing Thriller

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Uncut Gems is one of those thrillers that are born classics. It introduces one of Adam Sandler's rare dramatic roles in what might be the performance of his career. In the film, he plays Howard, a New York City jeweler whose life falls apart over the course of a single day. Amid angry clients, frustrated lovers, and a failed business, Howard goes all in on a high-stake bet that may or may not destroy him forever.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Uncut Gems

91%

93

7.4

Few movies are so heavily committed to giving the audience a nervous attack. It's best to watch Uncut Gems only in a good mood because the film can leave even the most peaceful viewer on edge. Sandler's character is someone the audience will love to hate. Uncut Gems escalates tension through ordinary errands that blow out of proportion, increasingly positioning the unreliable main character in a fateful blind alley.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (4)
Uncut Gems

R

With his debts mounting and angry collectors closing in, a fast-talking New York City jeweler risks everything in hope of staying afloat and alive.

Director
Benny Safdie , Josh Safdie

Release Date
December 15, 2019

Studio
A24

Cast
Adam Sandler , Julia Fox , Idina Menzel

Runtime
2 hours 15 minutes

34 Nightmare Alley is a Noir Classic with a Twist

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (5)

Most people are familiar with Guillermo Del Toro's remake of Nightmare Alley but few have watched the original movie. It consists of a bleak noir film that goes against the conventional happy endings of Hollywood at the time, following a charming stranger joining a traveling circus and coming up with a wicked plan to carry on a highly profitable fraud.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Nightmare Alley

88%

75

7.7

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The multi-layered circus environment introduces many morally corrupt characters, gradually revealing what secrets they're hiding. The protagonist himself is a big mystery. Viewers witness his rise and fall with a watchful eye, for nothing is what it seems in Nightmare Alley. While the oppressive atmosphere conducts the narrative in an unpredictable direction, the biggest highlight goes to the hazardous relationship between the main character and his femme fatale, an unreliable psychologist.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (6)
Nightmare Alley

Nightmare Alley (1947): In this psychological drama, a manipulative carnival worker rises to fame as a mentalist, exploiting his talent for reading people. As he navigates through a series of morally ambiguous choices, his ambition leads him down a dark and destructive path. The film explores themes of deception, ambition, and the human psyche, set against the backdrop of a post-war American carnival environment.

Release Date
October 9, 1947

Cast
Tyrone Power , Helen Walker , Coleen Gray , Joan Blondell , Taylor Holmes , Mike Mazurki , Ian Keith , Roy Roberts , Florence Auer , Bonnie Bannon , George Beranger , Oliver Blake , June Bolyn

Runtime
111 Minutes
Main Genre
Drama

33 Blow Out is Both A Great Thriller and a Tribute to the Craft

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (7)

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Brian De Palma demonstrates such brilliant self-awareness when it comes to crafting a movie that his fictional stories frequently clash with reality. In Blow Out, John Travolta plays Jack Terry, a sound recordist for B-horror movies. While in search of the perfect scream, he accidentally records evidence that a car accident was, in fact, a murder, unveiling a harrowing conspiracy.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Blow Out

89%

86

7.4

Blow Out feels like a spiritual sequel to Vertigo in many aspects. While Hitchcock's movie deified the immortality of the image, De Palma's movie seeks meaning in sound. The film works as a nail-biting conspiracy thriller but also worships the sacrifices behind the film craft, making cinematic magic out of tragedy in an unforgettable ending.

32 I Saw the Devil is a Gory Anti-Revenge Thriller

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (8)

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I Saw the Devil isn't for everyone. The movie explores the lengths a person will go to get revenge, even if it means losing every bit of humanity in the process. The film follows a top-secret agent hunting down the serial killer who brutally killed his wife. He finds himself in the lair of the most vicious men alive, stooping to their level of monstrosity to get what he wants.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

I Saw the Devil

81%

67

7.8

I Saw the Devil relies on ghastly graphic violence to illustrate the soulless state of its characters. Severed limbs and broken jaws are all over the place in this bleak game of cat and mouse, exposing how the banality of cruelty is the first step to losing one's soul, indirectly selling it to the "Devil." It's a great thriller suspense whose anti-revenge message will leave viewers feeling empty by the end; it's best to carefully choose the day to watch it.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (9)

I Saw the Devil

A secret agent exacts revenge on a serial killer through a series of captures and releases.

Director
Jee-woon Kim

Release Date
August 12, 2010

Studio
Magnet Releasing

Cast
Lee Byung-hun , Choi Min-sik

Runtime
2 hours 24 minutes
Main Genre
Thriller

31 Eyes Wide Shut Exposes the Pleasures of Flirting with Danger

Stanley Kubrick said farewell to cinema with a highly sophisticated erotic thriller featuring Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise at their peak. The two play a charming couple whose sexual fantasies lead them on divergent paths. Consumed by jealousy after his wife recounts a lurid dream, Bill sets off on a whimsical nocturnal odyssey, discovering a bizarre sexual cult whose secrets hint at something darker underneath.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Eyes Wide Shut

76%

69

7.5

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Eyes Wide Shut is a thriller enveloped in a fever dream atmosphere from beginning to end, dissecting the primal oppression of unfulfilled desires versus the pressure of commitment. Tension accumulates and aggravates as Bill digs deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, unveiling the vulnerable layers of every relationship.

Eyes Wide Shut

R

A Manhattan doctor embarks on a bizarre, night-long odyssey after his wife's admission of unfulfilled longing.

Director
Stanley Kubrick

Release Date
July 16, 1999

Cast
Marie Richardson , Todd Field , Sydney Pollack , Nicole Kidman , Tom Cruise

Runtime
159 minutes

Main Genre
Drama

30 The Reflecting Skin is a Vampire Movie Set in Broad Daylight

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Starring a young Viggo Mortensen and Lindsay Duncan, The Reflecting Skin is centered around Seth, a young boy convinced his next-door neighbor, a lonely widow, is a vampire. As mysterious murders start happening in the county, a maddening darkness gradually takes over the sunny afternoons of Idaho's countryside.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

The Reflecting Skin

82%

N/A

6.7

Set in the 1950s, The Reflecting Skin sets up a vampire thriller where the presence of the creature is only merely suggested. That's because the movie is set almost entirely in broad daylight. In that sense, viewers find themselves captive of Seth's fertile imagination as a lingering danger evolves into a violent series of crimes. Beyond its intense premise lies an effective anti-war message through the character of Mortensen, a veteran suffering from the consequences of nuclear testing.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (12)

The Reflecting Skin

Drama

Horror

In the 1950s, a young boy living with his troublesome family in rural USA fantasizes that a neighboring widow is actually a vampire, responsible for a number of disappearances in the area.

Director
Philip Ridley

Release Date
June 28, 1991
Cast
Viggo Mortensen , Lindsay Duncan

Runtime
95 minutes

29 Brawl in Cell Block 99 Gets as Violent as a Thriller Can Get

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (13)

Call it a hard-boiled thriller, a cold action movie, or even a horror story, few movies in recent memory are as intense as Brawl in Cell Block 99. Suspense drives the narrative in unexpected directions when Bradley Thomas gets caught in a police shootout and finds himself at the mercy of his enemies. Locked behind bars, he has a bloody path ahead to accomplish a life-threatening mission: find a way to be sent to a maximum-security prison and kill an assigned target there.

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Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Brawl in Cell Block 99

90%

79

7.1

Violence escalates in a gruesome fashion in Brawl in Cell Block 99. Vince Vaughn is terrifying as a ruthless anti-hero impossible not to root for, even though he spends the entire movie consumed by unspeakable rage. As far as the film's intensity goes, viewers will have a hard time predicting what direction Brawl in Cell Block 99 will go next, making for a hypnotic watch.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (14)
Brawl in Cell Block 99

NR

A gritty crime thriller that follows Bradley Thomas, a former boxer turned drug courier, who ends up in prison after a deal goes horribly wrong. Inside the prison, Bradley is forced into a violent and brutal world when he must carry out dangerous tasks to protect his wife and unborn child from vengeful criminals. The film combines intense action scenes with a dark, atmospheric portrayal of life behind bars, highlighting Bradley's struggle to survive and protect his loved ones at any cost.

Director
S. Craig Zahler

Release Date
September 23, 2017

Cast
Vince Vaughn , Jennifer Carpenter , Don Johnson , Udo Kier , Dion Mucciacito

Runtime
132 Minutes

Main Genre
Action

28 Army of Shadows is a Suffocating Historical Thriller

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (15)

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Directed by legendary crime filmmaker Jean-Pierre Melville, Army of Shadows is a movie set at the height of World War II, blending espionage thriller with a bleak revenge story. The movie follows Philippe Gerbier, who escapes from a Nazi prison camp and goes after the man who ratted him out. Surrounded by enemies from all sides, Gerbier fights a silent battle against the Nazis and himself.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Army of Shadows

97%

99

8.1

An oppressive moodscape of suspicion and danger envelops Army of Shadows from beginning to end. The constant threat of unseen enemies is more aggressive than the actual enemies, hence the Army of Shadows title, conducting intense action in moments of quietude and inertia. The film sets up a gut-wrenching finale, illustrating the bleak reality of the few who manage to survive.

27 Cure is a Psychologically Charged Descent Into Madness

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (16)

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Kiyoshi Kurosawa knows how to make every movie feel like the most devastating thing one's ever seen, taking advantage of a hopeless tone in every frame. Cure revolves around a series of brutal murders sweeping Tokyo, causing Detective Takabe to go down a rabbit hole in search of subtle connections between the killings and their mysterious perpetrator.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Cure

94%

70

7.5

Cure is a thriller deep-rooted in horror, unfolding through an eerie game of cat and mouse. In the shattered psyche of a quiet and hopeless young man, the movie finds evil in its purest form. Cure's psychologically charged suspense relies on ambiguity to dissect humanity's darkest impulses, diving into the unknown with a surprisingly grounded narrative.

26 Burning Delivers an Unsettling Tonal Shift Before Its Climax

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (17)

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One of the most revered movies to premiere at Cannes in the past years, Burning is a thriller suspense movie that sets up a lighthearted story on the surface, only to take a mysterious dark turn halfway through. It follows young Jongsu struggling to make a living when he meets Haemi. A romance sparks between them, but their relationship is threatened when Haemi returns from a trip abroad with Ben, a charming friend with a mysterious hobby.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Burning

95%

91

7.5

Burning might be the best adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story. It takes its time exploring the characters before jumping into nail-biting suspense, where both the main characters and the audience find themselves completely disoriented by how things turn out. Subtle and thought-provoking, but also cruel in its own terms, Burning's lack of answers will strike viewers as surprisingly satisfying.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (18)

Burning

R

Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood, who asks him to look after her cat while she's on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben, a mysterious guy she met there, who confesses his secret hobby.

Director
Chang-dong Lee

Release Date
May 17, 2018

Cast
Ah In Yoo , Steven Yeun , Jong-seo Jeon , Soo-Kyung Kim , Seung-ho Choi , Seong-kun Mun

Runtime
148 Minutes

Main Genre
Drama

25 The Prestige Turns an Un-Filmable Novel into a Thrilling Masterpiece

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The Prestige, one of the best Christopher Nolan movies, stars Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as magicians who become bitter rivals after a trick gone wrong. The film explores their longstanding feud and the lengths both of them will go to in order to be the best. Considered one of Nolan's best films, the suspense is off the charts and keeps the audience guessing until the very end.

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Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

The Prestige

77%

66

8.5

The Prestige is even more impressive considering that the source novel was largely considered un-filmable: essentially a pair of diaries from the two magicians describing their ever-rising feud. Nolan and his associates strip away the convoluted plot device to focus on the core of it — how much the rivals come to hate each other and the dark lengths each will go to in order to out-do the other. The Prestige is structured in the same manner as a magic trick. On a rewatch, the film gives away its big twist in the very first shot of the film with the voiceover: "Are you watching closely?" It challenges viewers to look for the clues hiding in plain sight.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (20)

The Prestige

PG-13

Drama

Mystery

Sci-Fi

After a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.

Release Date
October 20, 2006
Director
Christopher Nolan

Cast
Christian Bale , Hugh Jackman , Scarlett Johansson , Michael Caine

Runtime
130 minutes
Main Genre
Drama
Writers
Jonathan Nolan , Christopher Nolan , Christopher Priest

Studio
Warner Bros.

24 Air Force One Gives Harrison Ford One of His Signature Lines

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (21)

Air Force One stars Harrison Ford as President James Marshall, who is flying aboard Air Force One with his family en route back to the United States from Russia. The plane gets hijacked by a group of Russian terrorists, and Marshall fights to take the plane back. While the thriller has plenty of suspense, some of it is seen through the eyes of the terrorists, since they're unaware they're being taken down by the President himself.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Air Force One

79%

62

6.5

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Ford shines in the role, with his charisma and action hero chops on full display for a rousing, unforgettable thriller. The frankly implausible scenario becomes much more believable with him at the center of it all, from his early, impotent anger to his increasingly confident efforts to fight back. Air Force One has since become one of his best-loved works, and it may be a classic solely because of what he brings to it.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (22)

Air Force One

R

Action

Drama

Thriller

Communist radicals hijack Air Force One with the U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.

Release Date
July 25, 1997

Director
Wolfgang Petersen

Cast
Harrison Ford , Gary Oldman , Glenn Close , Wendy Crewson , Liesel Matthews , Paul Guilfoyle

Runtime
124 minutes

Main Genre
Action

Writers
Andrew W. Marlowe

23 The Grifters Reveals The Ugly Reality of Con Artists

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (23)

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Stephen Frears' The Grifters does for con artists what Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas did for the Mafia: stripping away the romanticized notion of lovable rascals putting one over on their fellow criminals. Instead, it depicts a trio of broken souls — ostensibly family — whose lifetime of cheap hustles has rendered them incapable of trusting another human being. John Cusack's Roy Dillon prefers short cons with low stakes, and fewer consequences if they go wrong. His incestuous mother, Lilly, played by Anjelica Huston, works for a brutal mobster: skimming off the top of his take in a dangerous balancing act.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

The Grifters

91%

86

6.9

There's a grim fascination in watching both the shabby cleverness of their various cons, and in the way they become trapped in their own private hell at the same time. It's compelling not only to see them arrive at their tragically inevitable ends, but to see how small and pitiful their greed makes them. This "family" would cheerfully knife each other over a few hundred bucks, making them the perfect tonic to the likes of The Sting.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (24)

The Grifters

R

A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Release Date
January 25, 1991

Director
Stephen Frears

Cast
John Cusack , Anjelica Huston , Annette Bening

Runtime
1 hour 50 minutes
Main Genre
Thriller

22 Misery Brings Two of Stephen King's Greatest Characters to Life

Misery stars James Caan as Paul Sheldon, an award-winning novelist who is taken hostage by his "number one fan," Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). After Annie saves him from a car accident, she holds him hostage at her home and forces him to redo the ending of her favorite book series that he wrote. It is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. Bates won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her creepy, violent performance as Wilkes.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Misery

91%

75

7.8

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The suspense of the film stems from the viewer knowing that something is off about Annie, despite claiming to be Sheldon's number one fan. After her true intentions are revealed, the viewer must watch in terror to see if Paul can make it out alive. Director Rob Reiner successfully recaptures Stephen King's eerily plausible scenario, then almost dares Paul to think his way out of a seemingly inescapable trap. But while King's novel plays up Paul's helplessness, Caan gives the character much more of a spine: turning Misery into a masterful duel of wits.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (25)

Misery

R

After a famous author is rescued from a car crash by a fan of his novels, he comes to realize that the care he is receiving is only the beginning of a nightmare of captivity and abuse.

Release Date
November 30, 1990

Director
Rob Reiner

Cast
James Caan , Kathy Bates , Richard Farnsworth

Runtime
107 minutes

Studio
Columbia Pictures

21 Se7en Is a Dark, Poetic Murder Mystery

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (26)

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Se7en stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as two homicide detectives who investigate a serial killer who is basing his murders on the seven deadly sins. As the murder victims pile up, the pair race to find the John Doe killer (Kevin Spacey) and hope to bring him to justice. The film is a hard watch and is famous for its twist ending of "What's in the box?" While promoting the film, the identity of the killer was a mystery and Kevin Spacey did not receive top billing in order to keep the surprise reveal under wraps. His presence lends the film a problematic quality that goes beyond his status as a psychopathic serial killer.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Se7en

83%

65

8.6

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Be that as it may, Se7en is now regarded as one of the best thrillers ever made, with one of the best endings in cinema history. It helped cement Pitt's rise to the ranks of international superstar, as well as making an A-lister out of co-star Gwyneth Paltrow. It remains one of director David Fincher's calling cards, as he elegantly guides the audience through a hellscape of a city in search of a killer who always stays two steps ahead of his pursuers.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (27)

Se7en

R

Thriller

Drama

Crime

Mystery

Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.

Release Date
September 22, 1995

Director
David Fincher

Cast
Brad Pitt , gwyneth paltrow , John C. McGinley , Morgan Freeman , Kevin Spacey

Runtime
127 minutes

Main Genre
Crime

Writers
andrew kevin walker

20 Black Swan Shows an Artist on the Razor's Edge

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Natalie Portman won the Oscar for Darren Aronofsky's study of a ballerina slowly losing her mind under the pressures of a big performance. Black Swan draws heavily on Roman Polanski's thrillers of the 1960s, creating a haunted world where reality and hallucination become indistinguishable. In the process, it reinvents the idea for the celebrity-obsessed 21st century.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Black Swan

85%

79

8.0

As a study of the artist under pressure, it flips Aronofsky's The Wrestler: showing someone on top of their game in contrast to the earlier film's end-of-his-rope ex-star. But once those fears came scuttling out of its protagonist, the psychological analysis turned into something far more terrifying. The finale blends triumph and tragedy to the point where the two become indistinguishable.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (29)
Black Swan

R

Thriller

Documentary

Nina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.

Release Date
December 3, 2010

Director
Darren Aronofsky

Cast
Natalie Portman , Mila Kunis , Vincent Cassel , Barbara Hershey , Winona Ryder , Benjamin Millepied

Runtime
108 minutes

Studio
Fox Searchlight Pictures

19 Sorcerer Is William Friedkin's Forgotten Classic

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (30)

The late William Friedkin had the misfortune to open one of his greatest — and bleakest — films in the wake of Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope. Forgotten at the time, his update of the French film The Wages of Fear has matured to become one of the best thrillers of the 1970s. Four men, all wanted for various crimes, take an unconscionably dangerous job driving two truckloads of sweaty dynamite across a barely maintained jungle highway. It's all in the service of a sinister oil corporation, who has decided that human lives don't matter nearly as much as insurance payoffs.

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Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Sorcerer

82%

68

7.7

Within that framework, every bump and pothole becomes a white-knuckle moment, which Friedkin turns into some of the most intense set pieces in movie history. But the film's strongest segments involve the four protagonists, who all richly deserve their fate and yet still find ways to elevate themselves amid the worst circumstances available. This character work gives the shocker ending an extra twist of the knife, especially how willing they are to all but sign their own death warrants in the name of a few zeroes on a ledger somewhere.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (31)
Sorcerer

PG

Thriller

Adventure

Drama

Four unfortunate men from different parts of the globe agree to risk their lives transporting gallons of nitroglycerin across dangerous Latin American jungle.

Release Date
June 24, 1977

Director
William Friedkin

Cast
Roy Scheider , Bruno Cremer , Francisco Rabal , Amidou , Ramon Bieri , Peter Capell , Karl John , Friedrich von Ledebur , Chico Martínez , Joe Spinell , Rosario Almontes , Richard Holley , Anne-Marie Deschodt , Jean-Luc Bideau , Jacques François , André Falcon , Gerard Murphy , Desmond Crofton , Henry Diamond , Ray Dittrich , Frank Gio , Randy Jurgensen , Cosmo Gus Allegretti , Nick Discenza , Frank Pesce , Tom Signorelli

Runtime
121 Minutes
Main Genre
Thriller

Writers
William Friedkin , Georges Arnaud , Walon Green

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18 Wait Until Dark Effortlessly Adapts a Creepy Play to Screen

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (32)

Suspenseful plays make a tempting subject for filmmakers, with elevated public profiles and scripts often all but pre-written. They're also trickier than they look, and can result in canned theater more often than not. Wait Until Dark defies those pitfalls with deceptive ease, despite the fact it more or less takes place in a single apartment over the course of a very short period of time.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Wait Until Dark

96%

81

7.7

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Audrey Hepburn has never been better as "the world champion blind lady" whose home is invaded by criminals looking for loot she doesn't know exists. What starts as deception soon turns deadly, when the crooks' supposed victim proves far more resourceful than they anticipate. Alan Arkin's sinister Harry Roat proves a perfect foil for Hepburn's heroine, resulting in a deadly (and rapidly escalating) duel of wits between them. Director Terence Young uses sound as much as imagery to conjure the suspense, as well as some of the most vicious gaslighting ever put to film. And the finale — in which Hepburn seeks to even the playing field but for one sadly forgotten light — is a must-see.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (33)

Wait Until Dark

Not Rated

Thriller

A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment.

Release Date
October 26, 1967

Director
Terence Young

Cast
Audrey Hepburn , Alan Arkin , Richard Crenna , Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Runtime
108 minutes
Main Genre
Thriller

Writers
Frederick Knott , Robert Carrington , Jane-Howard Hammerstein

17 The Fugitive Gave Tommy Lee Jones His Oscar

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (34)

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Harrison Ford made his name on multi-movie characters like Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but The Fugitive is his rare solo film that can stand among the best of them. Based on the well-regarded 1960s TV series, it follows Ford's Dr. Richard Kimble — wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife — who escapes custody and seeks the real killer to clear his name. The answer to the mystery is less important than the chase itself, as Kimble has to out-think both the police and a killer who has already gotten away with murder.

Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

The Fugitive

96%

87

7.8

Under the auspices of director Andrew Davis, The Fugitive condenses a four-season slog into 130 minutes of tension-fueled adrenaline. The film's various set pieces all shine on the same basic premise that Kimble can't let himself be caught, including a few riffs on Hitchcock that capture some of The Master's magic. But the film's real strength is the long-distance showdown between Ford and Tommy Lee Jones as his implacable pursuer, which netted Jones an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

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Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (35)

The Fugitive

PG-13

Thriller

Action

Crime

Drama

Dr. Richard Kimble, unjustly accused of murdering his wife, must find the real killer while being the target of a nationwide manhunt led by a seasoned U.S. Marshal.

Release Date
August 6, 1993

Director
Andrew Davis

Cast
Harrison Ford , Tommy Lee Jones , Sela Ward , Julianne Moore , Joe Pantoliano

Runtime
130 minutes
Main Genre
Thriller

Writers
Jeb Stuart , David Twohy , Roy Huggins

16 Blood Simple Is The Coen Bros' Dark Debut

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (36)

Joel and Ethan Coen's remarkable careers began with Blood Simple, with their signature bloody humor, complex plotting, and human ineptitude on full display. The title refers to the way people lose their heads amid extended violence, which they translate into a bungled case of framing that goes sideways deep in the Texas prairie. What starts as a simple murder-for-hire job spins wildly out of control, complete with mixed identities, buried corpses, and a would-be mastermind in M. Emmett Walsh's sleazy detective who isn't nearly as clever as he thinks he is.

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Title

Tomatometer Rating

Metacritic Metascore

IMDb Rating

Blood Simple

94%

84

7.6

The Byzantine storyline stems from easy-to-understand emotions: jealousy, greed, and sometimes just boredom. With Frances McDormand's anti-femme-fatale caught in the middle, the audience can pull for her safety as the other characters each fall to pieces in their own unique ways. As is typical with the Coens, the human truths it reveals are bleak, even if the movie itself is laughing at them just a bit.

Greatest Thriller Suspense Movies of All Time, Ranked (37)

Blood Simple

R

Crime

Drama

Thriller

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.

Release Date
January 18, 1985

Director
Joel Coen , Ethan Coen

Cast
John Getz , Frances McDormand , Dan Hedaya , M. Emmet Walsh

Runtime
99 minutes
Main Genre
Drama

Writers
Joel Coen , Ethan Coen

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