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".
First Blood ( Rambo ) ( Blu-ray ) (1982)
7.7/10
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy
John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is an ex-Green Beret haunted by his memories of Vietnam. Harassed and jailed by the locals in a Northwest town, he mak... Read more
First Love (2019)
6.7/10
Director: Takashi Miike
Leo is a young boxer, successful but unable to show emotion. He has a fight scheduled and is sure that he will win. Instead, his opponent knocks him o... Read more
First Reformed (2017)
7.1/10
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Amanda Seyfried
Forty-six year old Reverend Ernst Toller is the pastor at the historic First Reformed Church in upstate New York. It is seen as the "tourist" church o... Read more
First Snow (2006)
6.3/10
Director: Mark Fergus
Starring: Guy Pearce, Piper Perabo, William Fichtner, J K Simmons, Shea Whigham, Rick Gonz...
Guy Pearce plays a shady travelling salesman who crosses paths with a psychic in this tense and engrossing thriller. After learning he is supposed to... Read more
Five (2007)
3.4/10
Director: Amit Tripuraneni
Starring: Richard Thompson, Anita Crisnel, Marjan Gorgani, Andy Sophocleous, Amit Tripuran...
A supernatural thriller from kiwi director Amit Tripuraneni who also stars as one of five friends on their last big adventure before their lives take... Read more
Five Card Stud (1968)
Director: Henry Hathaway
Starring: Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Inger Stevens, Roddy McDowall
After giving a 'necktie party' for a card cheat, five poker-playing buddies are mysteriously bumped off one by one. Gunslinger Dean Martin and 'preach... Read more
Five Days to Midnight (2004)
Director: Michael Watkins
Starring: Timothy Hutton, Randy Quaid, Kari Matchett, Angus MacFadyen, Hamish Linklater, G...
Originally made for television this tense mix of murder and sci-fi sees physics professor J T Neumeyer (Timothy Hutton) trying to solve his own murder... Read more
Five Fingers (2006)
6.4/10
Director: Laurence Malkin
Starring: Ryan Phillippe, Laurence Fishburne, Colm Meaney, Gina Torres, Touriya Haoud, Sai...
Idealistic Dutchman Martijn (Ryan Phillippe) has travelled to Morocco to set up a food program when he is abducted by Muslim terrorists. His captors... Read more
Five Miles to Midnight (1963)
6.4/10
Director: Anatole Litvak
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Gig Young, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Sophia Loren
Lisa (Sophia Loren) marries Robert (Anthony Perkins), a domineering, jealous American and becomes trapped in a violent marriage. Much to her relief, R... Read more
Flame and Citron (2008)
Director: Ole Christian Madsen
Starring: Thure Lindhardt, Stine Stengade, Mads Mikkelsen
'Flame & Citron' tells the story of two heroes of the Danish resistance to the Nazi occupation, but it is far from your typical World War II period pi... Read more