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".
7.6/10
'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' (1939) - Evil mastermind Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) escapes a murder conviction when Holmes (Basil Rathbone... Read more
7.6/10
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are widely celebrated as cinema's perfect Homes and Watson, filming more than a dozen adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan D... Read more
7.6/10
"It was a brave man who would cross the wild Devon moorlands in darkness - for the ancient legend of the Hound of the Baskervilles had persisted in fa... Read more
7.6/10
'The Scarlet Claw' (1944) - The village of La Morte Rouge in Canada has an old legend about a marsh monster. Many residents are afraid that the monste... Read more
7.6/10
Following the disappearance of her father, the beautiful Miss Morstan has received each year a mysterious present. She consults Sherlock Holmes (Ian R... Read more
7.6/10
'The Spider Woman' (1943) - Adrea Spedding (Gale Sondergaard) makes her social calls accompanied by an unnervingly unsmiling mute child. She is secret... Read more
6.5/10
Riz Ahmed ('The Road to Guantanamo') takes on the title role of Shifty, which charts an action-packed 24 hours in the life of the young crack cocaine... Read more
6.4/10
Sweeping WWII romance-drama stars Melanie Griffith as a secretary who falls in love with her mysterious new boss (Michael Douglas). She soon discovers... Read more
6.3/10
In this thriller, psychiatrist Dr. Cross (Vincent Price) kills his wife and expects to get away with murder, until he discovers that the slaying was o... Read more
6.7/10
Suspecting a client's death may not be the suicide it is first labeled, gay detective Donald Strachey (Chad Allen) launches an investigation that lead... Read more