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".
Hell Drivers (1957)
7.2/10
Director: Cy Endfield
Starring: Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan, Sid James, William...
A hard-bitten Brit-noir about a corrupt trucking company forcing its drivers to work to the limit in order to make bonuses. Nominated for a BAFTA and... Read more
Timelock (1957)
2.8/10
Director: Gerald Thomas
Starring: Robert Ayres, Robert Beatty, Betty McDowell, Lee Patterson, Sean Connery
A textbook example of how a talented director and cast can do a lot with a little. Lensed in Canada, the story gets under way when a child is accident... 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
Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud ( Lift to the Scaffold ) (1957)
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Jeanne Moreau, Maurice Ronet, Amedee , Lino Ventura
Celebrated director Louis Malle's debut film was a post-modern film noir, starring Jeanne Moreau as a woman who plots with her young lover (Maurice Ro... Read more
Death of a Cyclist (1955)
7.7/10
Starring: Lucia Bose
A couple having an affair strike a bicyclist with their car and do not offer aid out of fear of their relationship being exposed. Read more
To Catch a Thief ( Blu-ray ) (1955)
7.5/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis
Cary Grant is John "the Cat" Robie, a suave ex-burglar whose life of ease along the French Riviera is torn asunder when a new string of robberies is c... Read more
Illegal / The Big Steal (1955)
Director: Don Siegel, Lewis Allen
Starring: Edward G Robinson, Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer
This film noir double feature from the Warner Bros. stable includes Lewis Allen's 'Illegal' (1955, 88 mins.), a remake of 'The Mouthpiece' starring Ed... Read more
Rififi (1955)
8.2/10
Director: Jules Dassin
Starring: Carl Mohner, Magali Noel, Jules Dassin, Jean Servais, Marie Sabouret, Robert Man...
After helming such American noir classics as 'The Naked City' and 'Brute Force', blacklisted director Jules Dassin moved to Paris and embarked on his... 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
To Catch a Thief (1955)
7.5/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, Jessie Royce Landis
Cary Grant is John "the Cat" Robie, a suave ex-burglar whose life of ease along the French Riviera is torn asunder when a new string of robberies is c... Read more