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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 Thirteenth Floor (1999)

7/10
Director: Josef Rusnak
Starring: Craig Bierko, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gretchen Mol

This thought-provoking dark thriller, in keeping with "The Matrix" and "Dark City", is set in a computer-generated parallel world like 1930s L.A. with... Read more

Winter's Bone (2010)

7.2/10
Director: Debra Granik
Starring: John Hawkes, Jennifer Lawrence

With the threat of her family being evicted from their home in the Ozarks if her bail-jumping father isn't caught within the week, 17-year-old Ree Dol... Read more

The Hunted (2003)

6/10
Director: William Friedkin
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Benicio Del Toro, Connie Nielsen

Haunted by the nightmares of killing he experienced in Kosovo in the past, Aaron Hallam (Benicio Del Toro) has turned into a top special-forces assass... Read more

Red Road (2006)

6.8/10
Director: Andrea Arnold
Starring: Tony Curran, Natalie Press, Martin Compston, Kate Dickie

Winner of the Cannes Prix du Jury Prize, this startling Scottish noir thriller is about a Glasgow CCTV operator who ends up stalking a man she sees on... Read more

Unbreakable (2000)

7.3/10
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Samuel L Jackson, Robin Wright

David Dunn survives a terrible train wreck and begins to believe that he may be immortal. His lack of vulnerability is challenged when he meets comic... Read more

3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)

5.9/10
Director: Demian Lichtenstein
Starring: Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Courteney Cox, Christian Slater, Kevin Pollak, Davi...

Las Vegas is host to International Elvis Week and a group of crims slip into town complete with sequins and sideburns. A casino heist goes down and th... Read more

The Island (2005)

6.9/10
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Steve Buscemi, Djimon Hounsou, Mic...

Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) lives underground in a future where most of the earth has become uninhabitable. Only the idyllic Island can still su... Read more

Syriana (2005)

6.9/10
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Starring: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blak...

Stephen Gaghan (screenwriter of 'Traffic') directs this labyrinthine story of corruption in the global oil industry, based partly on the writings of e... Read more

Just Another Love Story (2007)

7.2/10
Director: Ole Bornedal
Starring: Anders W Berthelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Charlotte Fich, Dejan Cukic, Rebecka Hems...

After Jonas (Anders W. Berthelsen) causes a car accident that leaves Julia (Rebecka Hemse), a mysterious stranger, crippled with amnesia, he's compell... Read more

Side Effects (2013)

7.1/10
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Rooney Mara

Steven Soderbergh directs this psychological thriller following the effects of one woman's mental breakdown on those closest to her. In the hopes of t... Read more