02 Thrillers & Suspense | 12 Mystery & Detective
Film list 02 : Thrillers & Suspense
Playlists of films I’ve enjoyed that get your heart rate moving. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. 😎
You might have noticed there’s a separate list for Mysteries. Are they connected? Do they overlap? Yeah. Without getting too geeky here…
…Mysteries focus on the mystery. There’s something to solve, something that is unknown to us and probably the protagonist. There’s probably more focus on the mental, because the story probably involves something that’s already happened, as opposed to some big event that’s going to happen.
…Thrillers lean on excitement to keep our attention. There may be elements of mystery, but there’s a heavy focus catching a villain or stopping something bad from happening. A good thriller has skillful plotting that keeps us apprehensive and exhilarated. And there’s probably a lot of action.
…Suspense is about something around the corner, something waiting to happen. It’s slightly different than a thriller in that there may be danger, but not as much action.
So, with that being said…here are some favorites.
Action thrillers light (think: Liam Neeson)
The Accountant (2016)
The Commuter (2018)
Non-Stop (2014)
Speed (1994)
Taken (2008)
Action science-fiction thrillers you might have missed : classic
Logan’s Run
The Omega Man
Soylent Green
Action science-fiction thrillers you might have missed : modern
Snowpiercer
What Happened to Monday? (2017)
Cat-and-Mouse / Escape, Confinement, Kidnapping Thrillers
A Simple Favor (2018)
Alone (2020)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Breakdown (1997)
Flightplan (2005)
Hard Candy (2005)
Hush (2016)
The Invisible Man (2020)
Mute Witness (1995)
Red Eye (2005)
Resurrection (2022)
Run (2020)
Sleeping With the Enemy (1991)
Unsane (2018)
Conspiracy Thrillers
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Game
Get Out (2017)
Oldboy (2003)
The Pelican Brief
Crime & Mystery Thrillers
Blue Velvet (1986)
Reminiscence (2021)
Sev7en (1995)
Dark Comedy / Satire Thrillers
I Care a Lot (2020)
Legal Thrillers
12 Angry Men
…And Justice for All
A Few Good Men
A Time to Kill
Changing Lanes (2002)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Fracture (2007)
The Insider (1999)
Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
Michael Clayton (2007)
Presumed Innocent
Primal Fear
The Runaway Jury (2003)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2015 remake)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Witness for the Prosecution
(haven’t yet seen)
A Cry in the Dark
Anatomy of a Murder
Dark Waters
Denial (2016)
Find Me Guilty (2006)
Gingerbread Man (1998)
Inherit the Wind
Just Mercy
Philadelphia
Reasonable Doubt (2014)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Shadow Doubt (1998)
The Verdict
Mystery Thrillers
Malice (1993)
Prisoners (2013)
Searching (2018)
Side Effects (2013)
Tell No One (2006)
Political Thrillers
All the President’s Men (1976)
Psychological Thrillers
Black Swan (2010)
Enemy (2013)
Get Out (2017)
The Gift (2015)
The Girl on the Train (2016)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Gone Girl (2014)
I See You (2019)
Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
The Lighthouse (2019)
Psycho (1960)
Run (2020)
Split (2016)
Unsane (2018)
Vertigo (1958)
Revenge Thrillers
Cape Fear (1991)
Hard Candy (2005)
The Invisible Man (2020)
Romantic Thrillers
Match Point (2005)
Spy Thrillers
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Bridge of Spies (2015)
No Way Out (1987)
Sneakers (1992)
Spy Game (2001)
The Third Man (1949)
Suspense movies with plenty of thinking
Science…or supernatural? Films that keep you guessing as they twist and dance.
The Game
Source Code
The Gift (2015)
Suspense movies with some thinking
The Butterfly Effect
Contagion
Frantic (1988)
Malice
Michael Clayton (2007)
Outbreak
The Sixth Sense
Spy Game (2001)
Us (2019)
Suspense movies with plenty of action and not much thinking
Cellular
Eagle Eye
Enemy of the State
In Time (2011)
Suspense movies that are slow-moving, but worth seeing
Blow-Up (1966)
Ex Machina (2014)
Mystic River (2003)
The Pledge (2001)
Science-fiction : apocalyptic thrillers
Annihilation (2018)
Science-fiction : post-apocalyptic thrillers
A Quiet Place (2018)
The Girl With All the Gifts
It Comes At Night (2017)
Supernatural Thrillers
Fallen
The Forgotten (2004)
The Shining (1980)
What Lies Beneath (2000)
Survival Thriller
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Split (2016)
Us (2019)
Thriller-horror
The Babadook (2014)
Hereditary (2018)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Stir of Echoes (1999)
The Others (2001)
The Thing (1982)
Us (2019)
The Witch (2015)
Twist ending thrillers
Angel Heart (1987)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2015)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Village
The Weird, the Bizarre, the Hard-to-Categorize
Blue Velvet (1986)
Gerald’s Game (2017)
The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
The Lighthouse (2019)
The Machinist (2004)
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