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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".

Identity (2003)

7.3/10
Director: James Mangold
Starring: John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall, J...

What if every choice we ever make was already made for us? What if there really were no coincidences in life and our destinies were already predetermi... Read more

And Now... Ladies and Gentlemen (2002)

6.2/10
Director: Claude Lelouch
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Patricia Kaas, Thierry Lhermitte, Alessandra Martines, Claudia Car...

Intriguing, beautifully photographed tale from Claude Lelouch ('A Man and A Woman') has Jeremy Irons as the prime suspect in a burglary when a cache o... Read more

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)

6.7/10
Director: John Hough
Starring: Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow, Roddy McDowall

Would-be race car driver Larry (Peter Fonda) is joined by free-spirited girlfriend Mary (Susan George) and mechanic pal Deke (Adam Roarke) on a rubber... Read more

Memories of Tomorrow (2005)

5.8/10
Director: Amit Tripuraneni
Starring: Richard Thompson, Rachel Gilchrist, Ray Trickitt

The slick look of this debut outing from film student Amit Tripuraneni belies its wing and a prayer NZ$15,000 budget. Cast and crew donated their tim... Read more

Necronomicon: The Book of the Dead (1993)

Director: Brian Yuzna, Christophe Gans, Shusuke Kaneko
Starring: Belinda Bauer, Bruce Payne, David Warner, Dennis Christopher, Jeffrey Combs, Mil...

This anthology is divided into four segments: "The Library" which is the wraparound segment involving Lovecraft's research into the Book of The Dead a... Read more

Insomnia (1997)

7.3/10
Director: Erik Skjoldbjaerg
Starring: Stellan Skarsgard

Disgraced Swedish detective Jonas Engstrom (Stellan Skarsgard) travels to northern Norway to solve a brutal murder in "Insomnia." Unable to sleep thro... Read more

The Backwoods (2006)

5.7/10
Director: Koldo Serra
Starring: Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine, Aitana Sanchez-Gijon, Virginie Ledoyen, Lluis Homa...

A young English couple (Paddy Considine and Virginie Ledoyen) are going through a rough patch and decide to spend some time in the Basque country with... Read more

Crank (2006)

7/10
Director: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor
Starring: Jason Statham, Amy Smart, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Efren Ramirez, Dwight Yoakam, Car...

Jason Statham stars in this cranked-up thriller as hitman Chev Chelios, who wakes up one morning to discover he has been injected with something calle... Read more

The Red Shoes (2005)

5.9/10
Director: Young-jun Kim
Starring: Hye-su Kim, Seong-su Kim, Yeon-ah Park, Su-heui Go, Ha-rim Seo

Sun-Jae (Hye-su Kim) discovers her husband has been cheating on her and leaves him, moving into a dilapidated building with her young daughter. When... Read more

Cracker: Nine Eleven (2006) / Lucky White Ghost (1996)

8.5/10
Director: Antonia Bird, Richard Standeven, Vernon Antcliff
Starring: Robbie Coltrane, Ricky Tomlinson, Freda Foh Shen, Michael Pennington

Two feature length stories from Robbie Coltrane's sleuthing forensic psychologist. 'NineEleven' - Fitz returns to Manchester after ten years in Austr... Read more