96
Parasite review
A poor family infiltrates a rich household, and the film turns into something else entirely. The staircase motif is not decoration — it is the thesis.
★★★★★ 5.0/5
Thriller films, reviewed
The thriller is a promise about information — that something is being withheld, that the audience will learn it, and that the learning will cost something. Its craft is entirely about control: what the film shows, when it shows it, and what it lets the audience believe in the meantime. A thriller that resolves too cleanly has usually broken its own contract.
What we look for in thriller
- Information managed deliberately rather than accidentally
- Suspense built from character rather than coincidence
- A resolution that costs something
- Refusal to explain more than necessary
This hub currently collects 10 reviews. Our library is curated rather than comprehensive, and every genre page grows as we publish.
Every thriller film we have reviewed
Ordered by our score, highest first.
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96
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96
The Dark Knight review
Nolan used a superhero budget to make a Michael Mann-style crime film about the limits of order. Ledger's Joker is the argument, not the decoration.
★★★★★ 5.0/5
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95
The Silence of the Lambs review
A trainee FBI agent must earn the cooperation of an imprisoned cannibal to catch an active killer. The film is about being looked at, and it never let…
★★★★½ 4.9/5
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94
Inception review
A heist film with five simultaneous timelines and an emotional core about mourning. The spectacle is the delivery system; the guilt is the payload.
★★★★½ 4.8/5
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93
Get Out review
A Black photographer visits his white girlfriend's family estate and slowly realises something is very wrong. Peele's debut is a perfectly engineered …
★★★★½ 4.8/5
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93
Oppenheimer review
Three hours on the man who built the atomic bomb, structured as a legal thriller and shot largely in close-up. Nolan's most mature film.
★★★★½ 4.8/5
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93
Se7en review
Two detectives chase a killer who stages murders around the seven deadly sins, in a city where it is always raining and never gets dark enough to slee…
★★★★½ 4.8/5
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89
Fight Club review
An insomniac office worker and a soap salesman start a fight club that becomes a movement. The most misread film of its era, and deliberately so.
★★★★½ 4.6/5
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88
The Departed review
An undercover cop and a mob mole race to unmask each other inside the Massachusetts State Police. Scorsese's most propulsive late film.
★★★★½ 4.6/5
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84
Joker review
A failed comedian in a decaying Gotham slides into violence. Phoenix is extraordinary; the film around him is derivative and uncertain about what it i…
★★★★½ 4.4/5
Thriller index
Year, director, runtime and score for every film in this genre.
| Film | Year | Director | Runtime | Score | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parasite | 2019 | Bong Joon-ho | 132 min | 96 | ★★★★★ |
| The Dark Knight | 2008 | Christopher Nolan | 152 min | 96 | ★★★★★ |
| The Silence of the Lambs | 1991 | Jonathan Demme | 118 min | 95 | ★★★★½ |
| Inception | 2010 | Christopher Nolan | 148 min | 94 | ★★★★½ |
| Get Out | 2017 | Jordan Peele | 104 min | 93 | ★★★★½ |
| Oppenheimer | 2023 | Christopher Nolan | 180 min | 93 | ★★★★½ |
| Se7en | 1995 | David Fincher | 127 min | 93 | ★★★★½ |
| Fight Club | 1999 | David Fincher | 139 min | 89 | ★★★★½ |
| The Departed | 2006 | Martin Scorsese | 151 min | 88 | ★★★★½ |
| Joker | 2019 | Todd Phillips | 122 min | 84 | ★★★★½ |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between suspense and surprise?
Suspense is the audience knowing something is coming; surprise is the audience not knowing. Suspense is almost always more durable, because it can be sustained across a whole film.
Why do the best thrillers refuse to explain everything?
Because explanation converts dread into information. The films that endure leave a residue of uncertainty that the audience carries out of the cinema.
Which thriller here is the best starting point?
Se7en for structure and craft, and Parasite for how a thriller can carry social argument.
Read around thriller
Our ranked lists place these films against each other within a decade or a genre, and explain the ordering.