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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".

The Boondock Saints (1999)

7.8/10
Director: Troy Duffy
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly

A clever, funny, high energy tale focusing on two Irish brothers in Boston who become, by accident, the "saints" of the neighbourhood by killing some... Read more

Thunderball (1965)

7/10
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Sean Connery, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois M...

Bond (Sean Connery) must thwart SPECTRE's most audacious plot to date, when its agents hijack a British bomber, armed with two nuclear warheads, and h... Read more

Heist (2001)

6.5/10
Director: David Mamet
Starring: Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Sam Rockwell, Ricky Jay, Rebecca Pidgeon, Delroy Lin...

In this caper film from writer/director David Mamet, Gene Hackman is a New England shipbuilder who doubles as an expert thief, who's looking to retire... Read more

Casino Royale (2006)

8/10
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo G...

The new Bond is not only blonde, but he does an awful lot of running. Daniel Craig has chipped off the suave, sophisticated facade of previous Bonds,... Read more

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

6.3/10
Director: Jonathan Mostow
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken

A decade has passed since John Connor (Nick Stahl) helped prevent Judgment Day and save mankind from mass destruction. Now 25, Connor lives "off the g... Read more

Marathon Man (1976)

7.5/10
Director: John Schlesinger
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane, Marthe Keller

A nail-biting thriller with Dustin Hoffman as a university student who unwittingly becomes involved with the C.I.A., Nazi war criminals and the beauti... Read more

Original Sin (2000)

7.4/10
Director: Michael Cristofer
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Jane, Jack Thompson

Ninteenth-century Cuban coffee plantation owner Antonio Banderas is surprised when the plain mail-order bride he sends for from the US turns out to be... Read more

Le Cercle Rouge (1970)

8.1/10
Director: Jean-Pierre Melville
Starring: Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Francois Perier, Gian Maria Volonte, Andre Bourvil

This heist classic from Jean-Pierre Melville ("Le Samourai") features Alain Delon as a crook just out of the slammer who joins forces with suspect-on-... Read more

Psycho (1960)

8.5/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, Vera Miles, John Gavin

Hitchcock's most famous movie, the shocker that still keeps people away from showers. Janet Leigh is a woman on the run who befriends mother's boy mot... Read more

The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)

8.2/10
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Javier Godino, Pablo Rago, Guillermo Francella, Soledad Villamil

Aka "El Secreto de sus Ojos". Benjamin (Ricardo Darin, "Nine Queens"), a retired court employee, decides to write a book about an old murder case that... Read more