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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".

Dead Man's Shoes (2004)

7.7/10
Director: Shane Meadows
Starring: Paddy Considine, Gary Stretch, Toby Kebbell, Stuart Wolfenden, Neil Bell

An impressive British thriller from director Shane Meadows who leaves behind the cheerful, Northern working class protagonists of his previous films (... Read more

Munich (2005)

7.6/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Geoffr...

Following the horrific events of the 1972 Munich Olympics in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed (along with their Palestinian captors), Israel's el... Read more

Oldboy (2003)

8.4/10
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Hye-jeong Kang, Ji-tae Yu

Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) has been imprisoned in a room for 15 years with no explanation when, barely sane, he is released. Thrown back into the world... Read more

The Guilty (Den skyldige) (2018)

7.6/10
Director: Gustav Moller
Starring: Jakob Cedergren

Alarm dispatcher and former police officer Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the se... Read more

The Silence of the Lambs (1990)

8.6/10
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine

Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice... Read more

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

7/10
Director: Norman Jewison
Starring: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke, Jack Weston

A bored millionaire (Steve McQueen) masterminds the perfect bank robbery and is pursued by a dogged insurance investigator (Faye Dunaway) determined t... Read more

Hot Fuzz (2007)

7.9/10
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Bill Bailey, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman, Paddy Considine, Steve Coogan, Kennet...

The lads that brought us zombie spoof 'Shaun of the Dead' turn their attentions to the British bobby in this cameo-packed mickey-take of the cops-and-... Read more

Take Shelter (2011)

7.4/10
Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Kathy Baker, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Jessica Chastain, Katy Mixon

In this unnerving drama, Michael Shannon ("Bug") plays a husband and father who harbours the growing certainty that an apocalyptic event will soon tak... Read more

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955)

7.5/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda De Banzie

Hitchcock's brilliant remake of his own 1934 version features James Stewart and Doris Day as an innocent American couple caught up in a web of interna... Read more

Manhunter (1986)

7.2/10
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: William Petersen, Kim Greist, Joan Allen, Brian Cox

From the novel 'Red Dragon' by Thomas Harris ('The Silence of the Lambs', 'Hannibal') comes this thriller about a neurotic FBI agent specialising in s... Read more