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 Silence of the Lambs ( Blu-ray ) (1990)
8.6/10
Director: Jonathan Demme
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine
Young FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice... Read more
The Silent Partner (1978)
7.5/10
Director: Daryl Duke
Starring: Elliott Gould, Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, John Candy
Elliot Gould, Christopher Plummer and Suzannah York star in this terrifying thriller that pits a mild-mannered bank clerk against an evil and sadistic... Read more
The Sin Eater ( aka The Order ) (2003)
7/10
Director: Brian Helgeland
Starring: Heath Ledger, Shannyn Sossamon, Mark Addy, Benno Furmann, Peter Weller
AKA 'The Order' Oscar-winning screenwriter Brian Helgeland writes and directs the compelling religious thriller - renegade Catholic priest Heath Ledg... Read more
The Sinner (Season Four) (2022)
7.6/10
Starring: Bill Pullman, Jessica Biel, Christopher Abbott, Carrie Coon, Natalie Paul
In the fourth and last season, the now-retired Ambrose travels to northern Maine to recover from the previous case. A tragedy occurs there involving t... Read more
The Sinner (Season One) (2017)
8/10
Starring: Bill Pullman, Jessica Biel, Christopher Abbott, Carrie Coon, Natalie Paul
Follows the story of a young woman who commits a horrific act of violence and rage, and to her surprise, has no idea why. The investigator who becomes... Read more
The Sixth Sense (1999)
8.1/10
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Starring: Toni Collette, Haley Joel Osment, Bruce Willis, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg
Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a distinguished child psychologist haunted by the painful memory of a disturbed patient he was unable to help. So... Read more
The Sixth Sense ( Blu-ray ) (1999)
8.1/10
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Starring: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Olivia Williams, Toni Collette, Donnie Wahlberg
Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a distinguished child psychologist haunted by the painful memory of a disturbed patient he was unable to help. So... Read more
The Skin Game / Rich and Strange / Number Seventeen (1931)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Betty Amann, Edmund Gwenn, Frank Lawton, Henry Kendall, Jill Esmond, Joan Barry,...
'The Skin Game' (1931), based on John Galsworthy's popular stage play, was decidedly atypical of the Master's subsequent suspensers. The aristocratic... Read more
The Skin I Live In (2011)
7.6/10
Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Marisa Paredes, Elena Anaya, Jan Cornet, Roberto Alamo
Marked by his typically twisted storyline and skewed eroticism, this kinky thriller from writer/director Pedro Almodovar stars Antonio Banderas as a n... Read more
The Skulls (2000)
5.6/10
Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Joshua Jackson, Paul Walker, Hill Harper, Leslie Bibb, Christopher McDonald, Ste...
A thriller set among a prominent University Ivy League campus in which a secret society exists called 'The Skulls'. Only an elite few are invited to j... Read more