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".
Mr Majestyk (1974)
6.8/10
Director: Richard Fleischer
Starring: Charles Bronson, Al Lettieri, Lee Purcell
Charles Bronson stars as Majestyk, an ex-con and Vietnam vet whose efforts to run a farm are thwarted by narrow-minded locals and corrupt cops. But wh... Read more
Mr Ricco (1975)
5.8/10
Director: Paul Bogart
Starring: Dean Martin, Eugene Roche, Thalmus Rasulala, Denise Nicholas, Cindy Williams, Ge...
A San Francisco attorney (Dean Martin) is hired to defend a black militant accused of murder. Read more
Mr Wong at Headquarters (1940)
Director: William Nigh
Starring: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Marjorie Reynolds
AKA 'The Fatal Hour'. This entry in the Mr. Wong series once again stars Boris Karloff as the inscrutable detective, enlisted by baffled police to so... Read more
Mr Wong, Detective (1938)
6.2/10
Director: William Nigh
Starring: Boris Karloff, Grant Withers, Evelyn Brent
Following in the inscrutable footsteps of Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto, Boris Karloff portrayed Chinese-born crimefighter Mr Wong in a series of classic... Read more
Mr Wrong (1985)
3.8/10
Director: Gaylene Preston
Starring: Heather Bolton, David Letch, Gary Stalker
Aka "Dark of the Night". What would you do if the car you had just bought made noises like somebody's dying breaths. This made in New Zealand psycho... Read more
Mulholland Drive (Blu-ray) (2001)
8/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Ann Miller, Naomi Watts, Robert Forster, Justin Theroux, Laura Harring
A dark-haired woman (Laura Harring) is left amnesiac after a car crash. She wanders the streets of Los Angeles in a daze before taking refuge in an ap... Read more
Mulholland Falls (1996)
6.2/10
Director: Lee Tamahori
Starring: Nick Nolte, Melanie Griffith, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, John...
Set in Los Angeles in the early 1950's, this stylish crime thriller stars Nick Nolte, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Melanie Griffith a... 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
Murder At 1600 (1997)
6.1/10
Director: Dwight Little
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Alan Alda, Daniel Benzali
Centres around a death at the White House. Wesley Snipes is a homicide cop out of his depth and jurisdiction trying to expose the guilty men in a murd... Read more
Murder By Decree (1978)
7/10
Director: Bob Clark
Starring: Christopher Plummer, James Mason, Donald Sutherland, Genevieve Bujold, David Hem...
Christoper Plummer and James Mason take on the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in this entertaining mystery-thriller (which would later influen... Read more