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 Salton Sea (2002)
7.2/10
Director: D J Caruso
Starring: Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Anthony LaPaglia, Adam Goldberg, Deborah Kara Ung...
In your face, modern film noir with Val Kilmer as a California speed freak and jazz musician with multiple indentities who recounts his sordid and fra... Read more
The Salzburg Connection (1972)
5.2/10
Director: Lee H Katzin
Starring: Anna Karina, Barry Newman, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Udo Kier
An American lawyer on vacation in Europe is asked by a book publisher to stop by the Austrian town of Salzburg to see a photographer who's taking pict... Read more
The Scarecrow (1982)
7.9/10
Director: Sam Pillsbury
Starring: John Carradine, Jonathan Smith, Tracy Mann, Bruce Allpress
Based on the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, the story centers around Ned Poindexter (Jonathan Smith) and his 16-year-old sister Prudence (Tracy Mann)... Read more
The Score (2001)
6.8/10
Director: Frank Oz
Starring: Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Marlon Brando, Angela Bassett, Gary Farmer
Top-notch heist thriller finds Montreal jazz club owner and part-time thief Robert De Niro eyeing a $30 million, jewel-covered scepter locked away in... Read more
The Scribbler (2014)
Starring: Katie Cassidy, Garret Dillahunt, Michelle Trachtenberg, Eliza Dushku, Michael Im...
THE SCRIBBLER follows Suki (Katie Cassidy), a young woman confronting her destructive mental illness using "The Siamese Burn," an experimental machine... Read more
The Secret Agent (1936)
5.8/10
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, Peter Lorre
A week of murder and intrigue in which a spy accidentally kills an innocent man. The real villain is thus free to hunt down his pursuer and continue h... Read more
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
8.2/10
Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Starring: Ricardo Darin, Javier Godino, Pablo Rago, Guillermo Francella, Soledad Villamil
Aka "El Secreto de sus Ojos". Benjamin (Ricardo Darin, "Nine Queens"), a retired court employee, decides to write a book about an old murder case that... Read more
The Secret of Dorian Gray (1970)
Director: Massimo Dallamano
Starring: Helmut Berger, Herbert Lom, Margaret Lee, Richard Todd, Marie Liljedahl, Maria R...
In the late 60s in London, the model Dorian Gray (Helmut Berger) meets an aspiring actress, Sybil Vane (Marie Liljedahl), and they fall in love. Meanw... Read more
The Secrets We Keep (2020)
5.7/10
Director: Yuval Adler
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Chris Messina
In post-WWII America, a woman, rebuilding her life in the suburbs with her husband, kidnaps her neighbor and seeks vengeance for the heinous war crime... Read more
The Sentinel (2006)
6.1/10
Director: Clark Johnson
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Eva Longoria, Martin Donovan,...
Pete Garrison (Michael Douglas) is a veteran Secret Service agent who has had a long and distinguished career protecting the US president, but when in... Read more