Thrillers & Suspense
Thriller and Suspense Films promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension.
A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal, to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging on the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. Plots of thrillers often involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces - the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy.
Below is a grand line-up of the best in contemporary Thrillers & Suspense made since 1965. Following a similar theme, with generally a darker look is the "Film Noir" feature, well worth checking out. The exploits of "James Bond 007" may also be accessed stage left.
Right: Frances McDormand makes an arrest in the Coen Bros "Fargo".
Vanguard (2020)
4.7/10
Director: Stanley Tong
Starring: Jackie Chan
Covert security company Vanguard is the last hope of survival for an accountant after he is targeted by the world's deadliest mercenary organization. Read more
The Grid (2004)
6.7/10
Director: Mikael Salomon
Starring: Jemma Redgrave, James Remar, Dylan McDermott, Julianna Margulies, Bernard Hill
The story opens with a deadly sarin attack in London. NSC counter-terrorism director Maren Jackson (Margulies) enlists FBI agent Max Canary (McDermott... Read more
Doctor Foster: Series 2 (2017)
6.9/10
Director: Jeremy Lovering
Starring: Suranne Jones, Bertie Carvel
Life appears to be going well for the talented doctor and son Tom after the turmoil that followed her discovery of husband Simon’s betrayal. After her... Read more
Notre-Dame On Fire (2022)
6.5/10
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
A film relating from the inside the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of April 2019. Read more
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
7/10
Director: William Brent Bell
Starring: Isabelle Fuhrman, Julia Stiles, Hiro Kanagawa
After orchestrating a brilliant escape from an Estonian psychiatric facility, Esther travels to America by impersonating the missing daughter of a wea... Read more
The Broken Shore (2013)
6.5/10
Director: Rowan Woods
Starring: Don Hany, Claudia Karvan, Anthony Hayes, Erik Thomson, Dan Wyllie
An evocative crime thriller that captures the chilling action and sharp wit of Peter Temple's acclaimed novel The Broken Shore. In this gripping adapt... Read more
Iron Maze (1991)
4.5/10
Director: Hiroaki Yoshida
Starring: Bridget Fonda, J T Walsh, Jeff Fahey
Updates the Akira Kurosawa 'Rashomon' tale. This intense thriller is set in a Pennsylvania mill town where an arrogant Japanese factory owner is found... Read more
Frantic (1988)
6.9/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Harrison Ford, Emmanuelle Seigner, Betty Buckley, John Mahoney
Roman Polanski directs this thriller set in Paris, which finds Harrison Ford more than reasonably concerned when his wife Betty Buckley disappears. A... Read more
The Haunted Strangler (1957)
6.3/10
Director: Robert Day
Starring: Boris Karloff, Jean Kent, Elizabeth Allan, Anthony Dawson
Aka 'Grip of the Strangler'. Set against the backdrop of Victorian society in London, this atmospheric horror features Boris Karloff as a novelist inv... Read more
One Last Dance (2006)
5.8/10
Director: Max Makowskii
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Ti Lung, Francis Ng, Vivian Hsu
A professional hitman ponders another line of business but soon finds that there's a high price to pay for leaving behind a life of crime in director... Read more